NBV Q&A

A Short History of Nearly Everything NBV

First Developed For?

The very first NBV was developed for what was then TXUR - now TRUEnergy - in 2001. We won a competitive tender against some of the big utility software groups; and negotiated to keep the IP. The key here is that it was developed from the ground up to suit the Australian market conditions for NUOS settlements. Actually, that's a slight exaggeration; since the only market that was deregulated at that time was Victoria Electricity. So; NBV 1.0 was solely to process Victoria Electricty; which was all Australian NUOS settlements....

How Did it Get its Name?

Would you believe, NBV stands for Network Billing Validation. Or Verification. Either way, as product marketers; we make really good software developers!

So What Happened Next?

We released NBV 2.0 - this time including support for Victoria Gas. This was interesting as we had to make useability and process decisions in relation to the differences and similarities of gas and electricity. One of the biggest was trying to hide the details of the B2B complexities from the users ; allow users to focus on the key business processes, not the nitty gritty B2B compliance. That's a an ethos we still support today.

NBV 3.0

As the eastern seaboard deregulated, NBV kept pace. The next in line was South Australian Electricity.

NBV 4.0

Then came NBV 4 - where we added B2B Compliance for New South Wales.

At the same time, we were desperately looking for client number 2 for NBV. With extensive contacts and experience, we were pretty sure that this would be relatively easy. But, as salespeople, we tend to make great developers!!

NBV 5.0

And to South Australia Gas; one of the more interesting markets to incorporate into NBV. Without doubt the most one sided market in Australia. If you want to see how monopoly power distorts commercial sanity; take  a look at some of the market rules operating in this market.

At about this time, we finally sell NBV to client number 2 ; Country Energy. At the same time; they request the network version of the product ( but that's another story ).

NBV 5.2

Client number three - AGL comes on board. Then Integral Energy, who interestingly want to do a number of things that are very different to other similar retailers. This forces a rethink of some fundamentals. The end result is Validation Pathways and Tests; the foundation for NBV's highly regarded intelligent and flexible validations framework. At the time, felt like a big step into the unknown.

Started to find that sales were becoming easier for NBV - we now had a longer track record of success across more than one site. And we had lots more real world experience in NUOS settlements. It makes a pretty big difference when you have seen the same problems as your clients ( and hopefully, found the solutions ).

NBV 6.0

We added support for a new client ( Energex Retail arm ) for Queensland Electricity.

NBV 7.0

Without doubt our biggest release ever. NBV 7.0 was a release specifically for the latest new client - Origin Energy; and the new market is Queensland Gas. By this time, it's 2007, and Origin are one of the super giants. They also have a highly committed team looking to make NUOS settlements as easy as possible. They introduce some terrific ideas to NBV - in particular Packages; the natural workflow in Network Settlements. Then there's streamlining the payment processes, adding support for General Ledgers, updating accruals. We add some ideas of our own; particular some updated Tests for the Pathways. There's over 500 days in this release - and it shows.

NBV 8.0

Zoom forward to 2009 - we add Synergy and Western Australia Electricity to the fold. Every state in Australia seems to think that they can do settlements just a little bit better than the other states ; Western Australia is no different; hence just one more slightly different specification. We add a number of changes that we've been looking at for awhile - Batch Activity screen goes in, and a whole new way of modelling the cancel/rebill process. NBV 8 goes out - a well polished, highly flexible and highly performant application.

So what markets are actually supported by NBV?

To be clear, NBV 8 supports the following markets for NUOS Settlements;

Victorian Electricity

Victorian Gas

South Australian Electricity

South Australian Gas

New South Wales Electricity

Queensland Electricity

Queensland Gas

Western Australia Electricity

Who uses NBV anyway?

AGL

Origin Energy

TRUEnergy

Synergy

Country Energy

Integral Energy

Minol Australia

JackGreen

Aurora

APG

What support would I receive with my NBV Solution?

Implementation

• NUOS Settlements is a simple concept, but the solution is complex and Shine have developed an empowering, elegant and user-friendly solution named Network Billing Validation (NBV). The implementation process includes training, custom configuration and some hand holding.

Training

• Training is one of the most important aspects of any change initiative, and Shine offer training to key personnel in how to use NBV, and we provide complimentary, expert consultancy to ensure that our clients receive maximum benefit from their investment in a Shine solution.

Growing Functionality

• Shine is committed to exploring how NBV can provide even more benefit to our clients. And more to the point; we have 10 live installations including the big 3 retailers; AGL, TRUEnergy and Origin. We're constantly improving the product; and you get the benefits through the free upgrade process. So NBV is always getting better - faster, better tests, more productive ; and up to date for today's NUOS Settlements in Australia.

Proactive Maintenance and Bug fixes

• Identification and resolution of bug fixes (including patches to software, database or data). This goes without saying.
• Proactive maintenance of application (looking to find problems before they cause outages)
• Provision and installation of new releases

User group support

• Shine proposes to host the NBV user group for the benefit of the user community. This forum will provide peer support, industry networking opportunities, information on system developments, and a forum for determining future modifications and enhancements to NBV.

B2B format changes

• One of the few constants in life is Change, and Shine is committed to keeping NBV compliant with the B2B specifications. In particular, since we're the defacto industry standard, we're able to share the costs of B2B specification changes  through our innovative B2B Insurance scheme.

User Guide and Updates

• Shine have developed a detailed and user-friendly User Guide for the NBV system; and it's online. It's constantly up to date; and designed for real world use in the field.

Help Desk

• Shine will provide a help desk during business hours, staffed by people who understand the system and who value your time.  Queries and problems can also be logged via email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or via our website.
• Access to support components on Shine's NBV website nbv8.shinetech.com ( FAQ , Hints and Tips, Release Notes etc)
• Service Level Agreement to be struck for varying severity levels. E.g - Sev 1, working on within 8 hours till resolution. Sev 2- working on within 3 business days till resolution and Sev 3 working on as agreed

Benefit of 'battle scarred veterans' providing implementation, support and fine-tuning

• Shine's consultants have designed, built, tested and implemented NBV into Production and have proven the system with input files from 15 Distributors flowing to 10 real life retailers. Data quality is one of the major challenges for this business process and our consultants have determined processes to cater for many data issues. We have learned much about the likely scenarios and we would like you to benefit from our experience.