INDUSTRIES

Background
Parallel to the electricity and gas routes, a distribution network operator (DSO) has laid many thousands of kilometers of optical fiber, which can only be marketed on the free market with considerable effort due to the requirements in the regulated business.

Initial situation
A regional energy supplier, which owns electricity, gas and telecommunications networks in Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Hesse, decided to set up its own company to market fiber-optic capacity.

Special feature
As part of a large energy group, many structures already exist in the IT area. In reality, these structures lead to long processes and little individuality. However, adapted and fast processes are a major competitive advantage, so the task was to combine good and cost-effective standard solutions with optimized individual solutions. Equally critical for success is the definition of the business processes of a newly founded company.

Implementation
In addition to the customer-focused sales processes, planning, construction, operation and fault clearance processes also had to be defined and interlinked. In order to really leverage the synergy of the demerger, it was essential to integrate the existing capacities from the regulated business into the process flow in a process-oriented and, if possible, automated manner. This was done despite the fact that the existing documentation structures were not optimal in terms of topology and topography. The basis for the interface processes and services was a contract, which was set up before the foundation, and accordingly made many assumptions. This contract also had to be broken down into OLAs (operational level agreements) as SLAs (service level agreements) in order to be able to guarantee quantity structures, performance promises and service capacities right down to the specialist departments.

Customer benefits
To enable our customer to concentrate on its core business, we took over the development of the IT infrastructure, managing the group's internal IT service provider on the one hand and establishing individual solutions on the other. This included mapping sales processes in a CRM system based on Microsoft Dynamics and introducing Microsoft Teams.

Business processes were defined, measurement systems developed and transferred to the line organization. Since even the best business processes have to adapt to the market and the complete environment again and again, process owners were appointed, and a continuous improvement process was established.

Background
Germany is in the midst of the energy transition, which is causing a multitude of changes. Local grids are facing the challenge of voltage fluctuations due to an increasing share of decentralized (mostly renewable) generated and fed-in electricity. Conventional measures taken by grid operators to ensure grid stability usually rely on further grid expansion and the use of controllable local grid transformers.

Initial situation
Against this background, the aim of the research project is to develop an "intelligent" and modular control system as an integral component of future resilient smart grids. The planned control system consists of a power electronic actuator with corresponding control and measurement electronics as well as software for power control, energy management and communication.

Special feature
The special feature of the planned control system lies in its advantageous characteristics, such as the following:

• Steady state of volatile energy flows in grid parallel operation
• Smooth transition from grid-parallel to island operation
• Black start capability, cascading and autonomous network reconstruction of several island networks
• Modularity AC as well as DC side
• Tariff optimization

Implementation
The research project is being implemented by a consortium of partners from research and industry. The consortium includes representatives from the relevant areas of the energy industry (power generation, grid operation) and with the relevant expertise (project management, research and development, power electronics). Cratos was the initial idea and impulse provider of the project and has taken over the management of the consortium. For the implementation of the project, partial financing through a funding program is sought.

Customer benefits
On the one hand, the project serves the development of an innovative control element as described above as well as the empirical evaluation of the network efficiency in operational use. On the other hand, the benefit of the research project for the consortium partners is the use of the project results (practical as well as scientific results).

Background
Energy suppliers belong to the critical infrastructure companies and are therefore subject to the strictest security regulations and requirements. As a basis for the implementation of these security requirements, the implementation of an Information Security Management System (ISMS) is indispensable. This system defines rules and methods to ensure information security in a company.

Initial situation
A regional energy supplier in the north of Germany has had an ISMS in place for several years now, in accordance with the security requirements. The implementation of the security requirements is audited internally and externally regularly. In order to constantly increase security, measures are defined that are based, in part, on risk analyses and, in part, on the audit reports.

Special feature
The implementation of security measures is usually very time-consuming and must be scheduled in addition to the projects already running in the company. Due to the current market pressure, organizational restructuring was also carried out, which placed an added burden on the implementation of the measures.

Implementation
A very efficient management approach was chosen to implement the new measures. Based on the agile project approach, both a suitable meeting structure and time-efficient management were set up. This structure enabled the employees to concentrate on the content of the planned activities.

Customer benefits
The successful implementation of the measures significantly supported the recertification of the regional energy supplier. At the same time, the targeted management measures ensured that the company's employees were not overwhelmed in terms of time. Our managers' many years of project experience, background knowledge of IT security issues and high level of social competence helped the customer to successfully carry out its audits and measures.

Background
Through the input we get in our consulting projects with our clients, as well as our constant interest in the topics of energy, mobility and sustainability, coupled with creativity and vision, we come up with many ideas that we discuss internally. One of these ideas revolves around the topic of sector coupling, i.e. the interlinking of energy and mobility. In this case, however, a very specific form of mobility, namely in agriculture.

Initial situation
Since we as Cratos do not have a lot of knowledge about agriculture, technologies used there and specifics, we were looking for a partner to take our idea further. A globally active and experienced manufacturer of agricultural machinery was interested in our idea, so we set up a partnership.

Special feature
Anyone who deals with mobility in agriculture, i.e. agricultural machinery, will quickly understand that many things are very special. This also applies to the use profiles of agricultural machinery. Many of the machines are used on only a few days or weeks a year. Then, however, with many operating hours per day and with a high performance required. Our partner expressed this very aptly: "When a tractor pulls a piece of metal (plow) through the ground, a lot of power and performance is needed!"

Implementation
These very specific user profiles, however, also result in many opportunities, which we explored in more detail in a number of workshops. Expert knowledge paired with creative workshop methods led to many ideas, which were subsequently examined for their viability in a business model. These included the following topics: Use of alternative fuels, from methanized hydrogen to synthetic fuels; reverse power generation; virtual power plants; control energy pooling; and many more! It quickly became clear that only the combination of several use cases would make ecological and economic sense.

Customer benefits
Our partner from the agricultural machinery sector has an existing business model and can make a decision for the future business orientation on this basis. Essential information on developments and framework conditions to be observed in the energy supply and market are available in order to be able to evaluate opportunities, risks and entire business models, in the implementation of which we are happy to provide support.

Background
The energy market is in a state of upheaval: market liberalization, the energy transition and the dual role of many consumers as feeders are making the tasks for energy suppliers increasingly complex. In addition, digitization is everywhere - from customer acquisition, relationships and switching to billing and networking among energy supplier units.

Initial situation
Against this background, our client, a regional energy supplier, decided to reorganize with a consistent digital focus. For the transition to the new organizational form, we were called in at short notice as an organizational developer and facilitator due to our broad technical and management experience in the energy sector.

Special feature
At the same time as the new organization, there were personnel changes at the management level. In this respect, several new beginnings had to be developed, designed, moderated and transformed at the same time, so to speak. Our comprehensive communication with all those involved and at several levels was therefore crucial to success.

Implementation
In a first step, we held intensive discussions with all the main department heads and the board members and developed a two-stage workshop concept on this basis. The time frame for this was extremely ambitious, but we were able to keep to it. The resulting two-day workshop was considered a complete success by all participants, not least because it took place as a team event far away from day-to-day business. In this way, a new culture of discussion across hierarchical levels was not only promoted, but also intensively practiced. A second workshop a month later served to consolidate and fine-tune the new organization.

Customer benefits
With this strategically very important project, our client took a decisive step towards an "agile organization" with our support. The communication structures in the company now allow a new, active approach to successfully deal with upcoming challenges and to positively assert themselves in the dynamic market environment.

Background
Digitalization opens the door to unprecedented opportunities for energy providers to sustainably expand their business model and make it more efficient: Customer loyalty, network control, price optimization are just a few buzzwords. But how can these very diverse parameters be optimally linked with each other? Our client called on us to manage the technical product development project.

Initial situation
The goal was to make energy "tangible". To this end, a product was to be developed that would control electricity and heat in households of consumers and feeders, measure consumption and generated quantities, but also create forecasts and thus be able to influence both consumption and generation. These forecasts are based on a host of external data - residents' schedules, weather forecasts for hours of sunshine, wind strength, shading and much more.

Special feature
The variety and abundance of interfaces and their coordination presented a special challenge. No two houses in Germany have the same framework conditions for their energy systems - and for reliable forecasts and models, all contingencies must be created, at least in principle, sometimes down to the individual data point of a heating system. Where "smart meters" are already quite common today, this product development with its consideration of heat and electricity, consumption measurement and generation forecasting represent a trend-setting innovation and a milestone in energy transparency.

Implementation
Before the first finished device could be installed in the house, we had to do a lot of coordination work. Literally all possible scenarios had to be considered, thought through and created in advance. We contacted a whole range of manufacturers (heating, photovoltaics, control technology) and involved them in the development, controlled all interfaces in the development and guided the service provider who took over the programming. Only thanks to agile development was it possible to keep to the schedule, up to and including the structuring and monitoring of all tests in an external test laboratory.

Customer benefits
With the "Box", our client now has a digital device with which he can offer his customers clear added value. Consumption of electricity and heating can be measured transparently and predicted precisely. The systems are controlled via an online portal or via an app using a smartphone or tablet. This enables a novel and exciting "user experience" that gives the abstract topics of saving and generating energy a whole new quality of experience.

For the energy supplier itself, the "box" provides new data on the utilization of its network and opens the way to a virtual power plant: if many customers are equipped with it, it can feed electricity into the network at optimal times or draw it out very quickly. Both serve to ensure stable supply and grid security and are also highly interesting from an economic point of view: a win-win situation for all parties involved.

Background
In the course of the separation of a business unit into a new company, a new and independent solution for its identity management had to be introduced. This solution had to be in line with the customer's consistent cloud strategy.

Initial situation
At the start of the program, our customer was technically still closely interwoven with the original group. Users were distributed in various Active Directories and a Novell eDirectory, each under the sovereignty and control of the company from which they had to be outsourced. Also, new employees had to be created via the old systems; necessary technical independence did not exist.

Special feature
Under no circumstances was there to be any interruption to ongoing operations during the implementation or migration of users. In addition, a complete restructuring of the client infrastructure required cloud-based authentication in Azure AD.

Implementation
The program was divided into several sub-projects, some of which operated independently of each other. The implementation of SailPoint was carried out consistently in an agile manner, while all other activities (AD user migration, migration of applications with regard to authentication and federation, implementation of cloud technologies, etc.) were managed using classic waterfall methods. Atlassian Confluence & Jira as well as Azure DevOps were used for the organization of the (sub-)projects. The following technologies, among others, were implemented: SailPoint IIQ, AADC, Windows Hello.

Customer benefits
For our customers, this program not only represented an imperative step towards legal independence, but at the same time an essential enabler for follow-up projects to implement the new IT strategy ("Public Cloud First"). The onboarding process was fully automated, so that a new user can start working immediately from day one - e.g., from the home office - on almost any client and has direct access to all applications assigned to him at the start.

Background
Due to Microsoft's announcement that support for the Windows 7 operating system will be stopped in January 2020, many companies are forced to update their IT infrastructure and thus all Windows 7 workstations.

Initial situation
At the time of the project launch, our customer was running over 53,000 clients and over 2,000 virtual desktops with Windows 7, spread across many locations in twelve countries in Europe and North and South America.

To be able to carry out the migration to Windows 10, a new SCCM infrastructure based on ConfigMgr 2016 ("current branch") was set up together with the service provider for the managed workplace. The roll-out of Windows 10 then followed either by replacing the older devices with a pre-installed new device or by completely reinstalling existing Windows 10-compatible devices.

In addition, several thousand applications had to be combined and then migrated to the new SCCM environment.

Special feature
To carry out the roll-out as efficiently as possible and in a resource-saving manner, the users had to be enabled to carry out the reinstallation of their device themselves. To meet this requirement, all processes had to be clearly aligned with the user experience, both technically and organizationally.

During the ongoing roll-out, processes were also set up to keep workstations up to date with Windows 10 in line with Microsoft's evergreen approach.

Implementation
In consultation with the customer, we decided to use a classic project management process model for the roll-out. This was mainly done against the background of many dependencies that existed between the individual phases (Technical Enabling, Application Enabling and Roll-Out), which had to partially overlap due to time constraints. Using modern roll-out management software, we were finally able to decide for each individual workstation, whether and when the installation of Windows 10 or the replacement of the computer could take place, based on the necessary software and the creation of the technical requirements at the respective location.

Customer benefits
For our customer, the project was an essential step towards modernizing the IT infrastructure and a prerequisite for achieving the strategic goals in the Managed Workplace environment.

Background
Technically, the renewal of workplace IT is often driven by the manufacturers of operating systems and software based on them.

In the case of our customer, however, there was an added motivation: The usage behavior of classic services, such as email, has changed significantly over generations. While Generation X still relies heavily on communication via email, Generations Y and Z are taking full advantage of the possibilities and benefits of social networks. Not only in private, but also on internal company platforms, collaboration is being completely reorganized in this way. The almost exclusive use of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets), which are highly networked and always-on, awakens the desire to want to use this convenience in the professional context as well.

The adaptation of freely available and innovative services by companies has already become a selection criterion for prospective applicants, thus presenting companies with new challenges in the "war for talent".

This is where the project and our assignment come in.

Initial situation
Our client wanted to update the workstations of its employees in terms of IT. The goal was to increase responsiveness and enable more flexibility. The strategy had two orientations: "Cloud First!" and comprehensive user orientation. Employees should not even get the idea of setting up an individual "shadow IT" or posting company knowledge in an unsecured public cloud. In addition, new possibilities for using mobile end devices were to be opened.

Special feature
Our measures involved 3,500 users with extremely high-quality requirements. The users were to be given access to all relevant company data, including telephone and e-mail, from anywhere and at any time - regardless of their end device (smartphone, iPad, laptop) or their location, worldwide.

Implementation
The project encompasses all parts of the workplace infrastructure, including cloud-based identity management, Windows 10 roll-out, Office 365 and Office 2016. A hybrid approach was chosen as the process model to implement the classic project content with a clear scope (including roll-out) and the innovative content as best as possible.

Customer benefits
The project has an extremely high business significance for our client. So, it is important for him that we meet his strategic goals across the board. Now its IT can react very quickly and flexibly to user needs. The integration of a secure cloud makes it much easier for employees to handle all relevant data. This increases their satisfaction with the working environment and their productivity. At the same time, data security is increased through clearly defined processes in a uniform and secure environment.

Background
During re-municipalization, a large energy group sold its majority stake in a regional energy supplier to various regional municipalities. However, this carve-out entails considerable changes that need to be reliably managed.

Initial situation
Due to the carve-out, a regional energy supplier in Westphalia is transformed from an energy group back into a medium-sized company. The carve-out of all components and areas necessary for operation is a complex task. While the conversion of the process IT as an encapsulated area proceeded relatively straightforwardly, a new service provider had to be found for the business areas (shared services of the network business, HR, IT). Our involvement in this project began with the support of the tender for the largest part - the shared services of the network business.

Special feature
Preparing the tender is a very demanding project. Considerable adaptation effort resulted from the earlier energy company running a complex and individually customized system landscape.The amounts of data from the old to the new service provider, including adapting to completely different data structures, was certainly one of the biggest challenges. The network management processes also had to be adapted - especially due to the significant differences in billing and feed-in structures, as well as balancing processes. However, we also successfully designed and went with these phases of this overall complex project.

Implementation
In order for this transition from the old to the new service provider to proceed smoothly, extensive and very thorough preparatory work was crucial. Because the German Federal Network Agency has extremely strict requirements with regard to market communication and balancing rules, a smooth transition was extremely important. This was so successful, not only did the end customers not notice anything about the change, but also the billing, which was very complex in some cases, immediately ran correctly with the new service provider in the background.

Customer benefits
This project affected our client's core business and was therefore absolutely critical to its success. By changing the service provider, our client not only benefits from much more attractive conditions, but its processes have also been significantly simplified. With the current standard solutions, employees can work much faster, easier and more cost-effectively - which in turn benefits the end customers. In this respect, we have been able to sustainably strengthen the basis for future clearly positive business development.

Background
Companies often employ their IT service providers for years. Invoicing based on time and materials is quite common - but not always economically sensible. It can be worthwhile to regularly review services, contracts and conditions.

Initial situation
An energy provider with several international subsidiaries had to spend considerable sums year in, year out on operating its IT systems. Despite this, the budget was often exceeded, even though the agreed service levels were not always met. This had to change.

Special feature
The situation in the individual local companies in terms of the number of IT service providers, services, conditions, and type of cooperation varied greatly. Initially, the willingness to cooperate was also rather restrained. This quickly changed when it became clear what potential savings, we could make possible with this project.

Implementation
Our assignment involved customer branches in several European countries and comprised two stages. First, we analyzed the current situation and conducted interviews with IT and business managers. The service portfolio was examined, and, above all, the specifications and services provided were compared with the expenses. Significant discrepancies emerged. In a second step, we then jointly defined a service portfolio that was put out to tender.

Customer benefits
The new service contracts are now all based on SLAs. In addition to the favorable conditions for our client, we have linked the SLAs to a bonus-malus system to ensure that the defined services are provided on time and in full. In the first year, we were already able to save almost 50% of the expenses (around 2 million euros). Incidentally, the service providers are also definitely benefiting from the new agreements, as they are given more planning security than before. Moreover, the greatly reduced number of service providers has also made our customers' organizational processes much simpler and more efficient.

Background
With the IT Security Act in force since July 2015, operators of so-called "critical infrastructures ("KRITIS") are obliged to ensure the security of their IT systems in accordance with particularly strict guidelines. This can include - as in the case of our client - ensuring IT security physically as well: through buildings, access barriers, personnel, all the way to IT solutions that actively protect security.

Initial situation
In order to meet the legal requirements and ensure the necessary security to the full extent, our client commissioned us to set up a Security Operations Center.

Special feature
As project managers, we are responsible for the entire scope of this project, including matters that go beyond mere IT. Starting with the support of the bidding phase up to the recommendation and selection of the equipment: from bullet-proof windows to access controls and separation locks up to the design of the guard rooms for shift work.

Implementation
In addition to the above-mentioned framework conditions, the project naturally also includes the actual IT measures, from rebuilding the databases to setting up practically self-learning web crawlers. They actively scan our client's network for threats around the clock to report possible attacks and take countermeasures before an attempted intrusion can become a threat.

Customer benefits
As a KRITIS operator, our client is subject to legal controls. In this respect, the audit-proof implementation of the project is business-critical. Our deployment ensures the security of our client's IT system - both physical and digital.

Background
The separation of group companies is by no means a trivial undertaking from an IT perspective. Particularly in the case of grown and consolidated IT services, such a project can bring long-forgotten circumstances to light. If the separation of the system, in this case the Exchange infrastructure, is also accompanied by the migration to a cloud service, the complexity of the project increases. In the course of a corporate separation, the task was to separate the entire mail infrastructure completely, clearly and quickly into two unrelated areas. In addition, the existing system was to be dissolved and migrated to the cloud as part of this separation.

Initial situation
The size of the project included 60,000 users with a total of 90,000 mailboxes and 80,000 archives. Migrating all of this seamlessly so that business operations could continue unrestrictedly and smoothly was a major challenge and condition - otherwise our client would have to fear antitrust-related penalties.

Special feature
The mail infrastructure of this group is a network that contains many old liabilities as a result of various acquisitions and disposals and has strong dependencies within the mailboxes as a result of various restructurings. The transition to a cloud-based service, which is not very customizable, proved to be one of the greatest challenges, not only from a technical point of view.

Implementation
The project was divided into three main parts: Enabling, i.e., all preparatory measures for the technical upgrade; migration of all mailboxes; roll-out of Office 365 Pro including Skype for Business, SharePoint online and OneDrive for Business for all users. Throughout all project phases, we were the central point of contact for all parts of the company for the migration, coordinated the in-house units and acted as the interface to the external infrastructure service provider.

Customer benefits
For our client, the project was business-critical because it meant he had to meet his legal requirements. We did this for him on time, securely and transparently, and at the same time set up a new, future-proof package of applications for his employees. The operating costs for the entire "e-mail" area have dropped, while the scope of services has increased: The services are more readily available, worldwide and platform-independent, access barriers have been eliminated (no more VPN), which in turn relieves the local infrastructure and increases flexibility. With the new IT solution, employees work more productively and more securely - now and in the future.