UBM Error

Summary Backlog Processing and Error Resolution

Efforts are focused on clearing a significant backlog of billing errors, with initial progress showing a reduction from 11,000 to 4,882 unresolved items. Operations teams are actively processing these, prioritizing critical customers first.

Prioritization Strategy: Prepay customers (e.g., BillPay, AP) are top priority, followed by others based on urgency and impact. A specific "Banyan priority list" guides this order, emphasizing clients with pressing issues.

Error Types: Five key error codes require manual intervention:

Passive Balance/Overlapping Service Dates: Often indicates duplicate bills or mock bill submissions.

Duplicate Bills: Requires deletion or merging of records.

Bills with Invoice Dates Pre-Dating Go-Live: Needs validation to prevent historical data conflicts.

Integrity Check Errors (2015/2016): Bills from DSS with line-item/subtotal mismatches requiring manual edits.

Quick Wins: Some errors (e.g., duplicate bills) can be resolved faster, reducing the effective backlog size.

System Challenges and Remediation

Persistent issues with the DSS system not recognizing account or meter numbers correctly are causing integrity check failures, necessitating manual remapping.

Remapping Complexity: For customers with dynamic account statuses (e.g., Banyan), remapping must be done manually by operators, not via automated dev files, due to the risk of linking to closed accounts.

Auto-Resolved Errors: Three error types (e.g., observation type misalignment, supply/distribution block discrepancies) are now auto-resolved to reduce operator workload while retaining visibility. Notifications to customers for these errors still function if configured.

Performance Impact: Reparsing activities are causing system sluggishness, which is being monitored but accepted as a necessary trade-off during backlog clearance.

Outsourcing Team Ramp-Up

A third-party team in Mexico began processing non-MFA downloads last week, targeting 1,200-1,500 tasks daily.

Current Output: The team is achieving ~50% of the daily target as they onboard and gain familiarity.

Technical Hurdles: Access issues persist for specific utilities (e.g., Constellation, DTE), unrelated to international access restrictions. Internal IT support is engaged to resolve these.

Task Allocation: Non-MFA tasks are being prioritized using a new report highlighting vendors with the highest outstanding tasks. A full list is pending compilation.

Operational Improvements

Several initiatives aim to enhance efficiency and prevent future backlogs.

DL Helper Tool Update: Repopulating tasks functionality is prioritized post-current projects to avoid redundant work for download teams.

Communication Channel Migration: The DS Ops and product discussion thread will move to a dedicated Teams channel for better organization and collaboration.

MFA Management: A centralized MFA solution (non-phone-based) is planned but deferred until immediate backlog pressures ease.

Progress and Next Steps

Significant reductions in error volumes have been observed (e.g., Sheets errors dropped from 600 to 129), validating current strategies. The focus remains on clearing the backlog to prevent late payments, shut-offs, and fees. Reparsing will continue overnight, with results expected by the next business day.