Exelon

Major energy provider saving millions of dollars by using Micro Focus software to track configuration of 10,000 servers.

Outcomes

+ Reduced discrepancies between the number of resources recorded and actual network resources, resulting in expected savings of $2 million
+ Identified 800 servers that were not being billed to the correct owners
+ Removed 1,000 retired servers
+ Allowed application teams to perform their own troubleshooting and analyze their IT environment

Challenge

Manage configuration of more than 10,000 servers, reduce costs, and improve service quality.

Exelon’s IT department wanted to improve the way it managed the configuration of more than 10,000 servers, reduce costs and improve the quality of services it delivered. To do this, it needed a more efficient method of monitoring IT assets, with a single source for integrating configuration items with IT service management systems and processes. This would provide a more accurate picture of those assets and result in lower chargebacks for those resources to Exelon business units.

Details

About Exelon

Exelon is a Fortune 150 energy provider that generates, sells, transmits and delivers energy to more than 7.8 million electricity and natural gas customers. It operates in the United States and Canada and has more than 30,000 employees. Exelon companies include Exelon Generation, Constellation, and energy utilities BGE, ComEd, and PECO. Whitlock Infrastructure Solutions is a business service management and IT service management consultancy. Based in North Carolina, Whitlock specializes in providing services for IT management software

Solution

Exelon utilized Universal CMDB, in conjunction with:

  • Universal CMDB Browser
  • Universal Discovery
  • Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
  • Asset Manager
  • Project and Portfolio Management (PPM)
  • Operations Manager i (OMi)

Whitlock Infrastructure Solutions worked with Exelon, and deployed Micro Focus solutions to implement a configuration management process based on a central configuration database.

Results

Using this software, Exelon realized the following benefits:

  • Reduces discrepancies between the number of resources recorded with Asset Manager and actual network resources, resulting in expected savings of $2 million over three years
  • Identifies 800 servers that were not being billed to the correct owners, further improving the accuracy of cost calculations
  • Removes 1,000 retired servers from Asset Manager, also improving the ability to calculate costs
  • Provides topology tools, improving the ability to analyze problems and perform change management
  • Allows application teams to perform their own troubleshooting and analyze their IT environment using Universal CMDB Browser

As well as providing a more accurate picture of IT assets, Micro Focus software allowed Exelon and Whitlock to more efficiently track those assets. Exelon achieved this by focusing on meeting business use case requirements during the initial process of discovering the attributes of its IT system. This meant it did not have to search for the attributes of configuration items that were not needed.

Exelon now also has a view of the life cycle of each configuration item and network component, helping it plan and budget to fix hardware or software issues. For example, if Java code needs to be updated, Exelon can now easily determine the required remediation efforts and risk by using application and topology maps. Managing this entire process is now simpler. Whitlock assisted Exelon to move from a “spaghetti-like” set of interfaces to a clearer provider–repository–consumer model for configuration data.

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