Powerlink begins modernisation process with Acclimation

Powerlink has announced that Acclimation will manage the company's Business Suite on HANA migration to drive efficiencies through streamlined practices.

Powerlink, the electricity transmission network provider in Queensland, is migrating from on premise SAP ECC6 on Oracle to Business Suite on HANA hosted in Microsoft Azure.

According to Powerlink, the national electricity market in Australia has changed significantly in the past 10 years, with the growth in renewable generation.

In response to this shift, Powerlink needed to adapt to continue delivering safe, cost-effective, and reliable solutions to customers.

Part of this involved upgrading its SAP ECC6 solution to cloud hosted Business Suite on HANA as the first step in a broader modernisation program and transition to S/4 HANA.

After going through a discovery process, Powerlink went to tender for a partner to manage the migration to Business Suite on HANA hosted in a private cloud environment, with Acclimation awarded the program of work.

The support for Powerlink's migration was delivered remotely by Acclimation during COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Powerlink and Acclimation collaborated over an eight month period to efficiently deliver the migration on schedule without major delays from pandemic impacts.

Powerlink chief financial officer Darryl Rowell says this migration provided the foundations for a more flexible environment for the future.

Rowell says, "The Business Suite on HANA migration was the first step in a wider business transformation journey.

"With the completion of this migration, Powerlink has taken a big first step on the journey to be better positioned to run projects, drive procurement, and implement greater efficiencies for field delivery teams.

Powerlink general manager business IT Mark Pozdena says Acclimation's team had worked closely with Powerlink's in-house experts to deliver a very successful project outcome.

Pozdena says, "Our teams worked very closely together to ensure the solution was sustainable in the longer term.

"We were even able to navigate the obstacles presented by COVID-19 including delivering the migration and a smooth Go-Live while operating remotely from locations across Australia.

Acclimation Northern Region director Peter Cummins says the migration to Business Suite on HANA has helped Powerlink deliver improved efficiencies while also creating a foundation for its broader modernisation program aimed at adding value for customers.

Powerlink is an Australian provider of high voltage electricity transmission network services. It owns, operates and maintains the transmission network that extends 1,700km from north of Cairns to the New South Wales border and comprises 15,337 circuit kilometres of transmission lines and 140 substations.

Acclimation is an Australian, privately owned software and services consulting firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Singapore.

Founded in 2008, Acclimation is an SAP Software and Services Gold Partner with a certification as PCoE (Partner Centre of Expertise).