Project management solutions allow TNB Genco to meet ambitious global objectives
February 2, 2022 | 7 minute readTenaga Nasional Berhad is the largest electricity utility in Malaysia and provides clean, consistent, reliable power to over 9 million customers.
Since incorporation as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tenaga Nasional Berhad in August 2019, TNB Genco launched with a deep commitment to solve Malaysia’s long-term energy needs. Always ensuring a balance between demand and supply with end-to-end capabilities ranging from power plant development to operations to shut-down management, TNB Genco is fiercely loyal to its Malaysian roots as it charts a course to become one of the world’s top utilities industry players.
TNB Genco launched operations in October 2020 with its sights set on sustainably delivering value to all stakeholders with a devotion to drive continuous growth, efficiency, and performance. The utility will accelerate plant turnaround programs for new fleets and sustain the impact of value uplifts, develop a pipeline of new assets, and unlock productivity savings.
Working through the pandemic
The company’s commitment to constantly find better ways to create energy took an unexpected turn shortly after TNB Genco’s startup. Ambitions to become a top power generation solutions provider ran headlong into the pandemic in early 2020.
As was the case with many organizations worldwide, TNB Genco swiftly changed the way it worked. Most of its 3,400 employees went remote.
Despite working virtually in a slow, manual, paper-based system, productivity expectations did not change. Project management and delivery would remain on time and within budget. It was clear that automating operations was imperative to improve efficiencies.
“COVID changed how we worked,” says Norhazree Azman, Portfolio Management, TNB Genco Asset Development. “All processes within TNB Genco were pen and paper. It was a huge leap for us to move to full digitalization.”
Two Oracle solutions meet digital challenges
Maximizing project management solutions amid the pandemic became more than a nice-to-have, recalls Ahmad Faraid Mohammed Yahaya, Head/Senior Vice President (Asset Development). Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service provided the solutions to meet TNB Genco’s digitalization challenges, he says.
“Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service enables us to cope with the post-pandemic challenges through digital construction planning and delivery,” Ahmad Faraid says.
TNB Genco constantly is on the lookout for solutions that elevate their quality of service. With Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service, the utility is solidifying the construction and project management process for its impressive capital hydroelectric and renewables projects, including a 50-megawatt solar plant in Malaysia’s Kedah state.
TNB Genco uses Oracle Primavera Cloud Service for initial project management planning and scheduling. Oracle Aconex handles everything around the collaboration between TNB Genco’s documents, supply chain work, and tracking of all the documentation associated with it.
Tasks that previously took weeks now take days, Norhazree says. The manual pen-and-paper processes were woefully slow and provided little clarity around workflows. Digitalization now offers full visibility to see at any point in time where a document exists.
“We can immediately see if a document is on my side, the contractor’s side, with the vendor, or with the consultant,” says Norhazree. “The efficiency comes not only from time spent scanning, rescanning and sending via snail mail or email, but also in the quick and easy review in Oracle Aconex.”
Connecting the entire team
Standardization in project delivery also was lacking before Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service implementation. Project participants—TNB Genco, contractors, subcontractors, and consultants—used their own systems, which clouded transparency to project stakeholders.
There also was no single source of reference, which hampered project information sharing and retrieval. The pen-and-paper manual system consumed limited office space, consequently increasing soft costs. Automating processes with Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service provided project standardization and improved collaboration and transparency with increased flexibility. Project activities were completed in days rather than weeks, Ahmad Faraid says, and paper waste was trimmed. Engineering teams typically would go through mountains of paper to perform a series of reviews, revisions, and diversions. Those processes are now automated.
“And the best part is, you can't delete anything from Oracle Aconex,” Norhazree says. “It's fully auditable and trackable with a full audit trail.”
"Oracle Primavera Cloud Service meets the project team’s requirements, TNB Genco business objectives, and are in line with our ‘Reimagining TNB’ strategic vision to be more agile and capitalize on digitalization. It puts the information at your fingertips with visually rich content.”
—Ahmad Faraid Mohammed Yahaya, Head/Senior Vice President (Asset Development), TNB Genco
Advantages of Oracle Primavera Cloud Service
Ahmad Faraid points out that Oracle Primavera Cloud Service streamlines TNB Genco’s project management planning and scheduling in three ways.
- Visibility and transparency on reporting real-time data.
- Focusing on what matters: Project risks identification and effective mitigation strategies can be formulated, which translate to time saved for unnecessary corrections and avoiding excessive costs.
- Simple-to-use collaboration platform between project parties—TNB Genco, EPC contractor, and the consultant.
“The Oracle Primavera Cloud Service modules meet the project team’s requirements, TNB Genco business objectives, and are in line with our aspirational ‘Reimagining TNB’ strategic vision, transforming the organization to be more agile and capitalize on digitalization,” Ahmad Faraid says. “It puts the information at your fingertips with visually rich content.”
They no longer waste countless hours on the phone requesting project updates. Oracle Primavera Cloud Service’s configurable dashboard increases engagement among stakeholders so they instantly can see a project’s progress. It’s indispensable not only from a technical perspective, but crucial to watch costs and track a project’s budget.
“Previously we did the risk management in pen and paper or in Microsoft Excel,” Norhazree adds. “The best part about Oracle Primavera Cloud Service is the risk module is integrated with it. It's a holistic platform for our project team, where everything is in one place.”
Advantages of Oracle Aconex
Oracle Aconex’s project management cloud application unites teams and centralizes the management of information and processes across projects worldwide.
A construction project management platform that easily connects all project team members, processes, and data for ultimate collaboration, Oracle Aconex helps all stakeholders move ahead with cohesive certainty. A unique data ownership model allows each project organization to own and control their own data, which helps build trust and drives greater platform adoption.
“When we looked at the rapid deployment, nobody can beat Oracle Aconex."
—Norhazree Azman, Portfolio Management, TNB Genco Asset Development
“Oracle Aconex is a collaborative, reliable document management solution that enhances project cost monitoring,” Ahmad Faraid says. “You can view the digital model to be built, perform standardized field inspections, and it is accessible through the mobile app.”
How Oracle solutions support business objectives
As TNB Genco transitions into post-pandemic recovery, digitalization is key to supporting the Reimagining TNB initiative. Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service combine to support the company’s ambitious business objectives and will shape its trajectory to become a global force in the utilities industry.
TNB Genco also was “highly satisfied” with Oracle’s high standard for its security protocols, which surpass Malaysian statutory and regulatory requirements.
“Fast deployment, rapid scalability for effective and competitive solutions while ensuring data governance to meet statutory and regulatory compliance are the key features of Oracle software’s support of TNB-related businesses,” he says. “Since TNB Genco is one of TNB’s core businesses, it is of utmost importance that these features are met as many ambitious goals lie ahead for us. In addition, the Oracle team was extremely helpful and professional, making the collaboration with TNB Genco project teams a breeze.”
Oracle provides ICT-approved solutions
Full support from TNB’s information and communications technology infrastructure was required. The challenge largely surrounded Oracle Aconex, since Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) already was familiar, and progressing to Oracle Primavera Cloud Service was a logical next step.
There were three requirements facing Oracle Aconex:
- Industry familiarity.
- Rapid deployment.
- Scalability to have the flexibility to ramp up and run down the licenses when required.
TNB’s decision to implement an automated collaboration solution faced heavy internal scrutiny, especially around cybersecurity. Competitor Procore made the short list of solutions, but TNB Genco selected Oracle Aconex instead, Norhazree says.
“When we looked at the rapid deployment, nobody can beat Oracle Aconex,” he says. “Oracle Aconex came out on top because our ICT division sanctioned it as the only solution that has the external collaboration capabilities with outside parties that we need.”
The rapid success is influencing other TNB divisions and business units to consider Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service for their own use. Its Engineering team is in talks to implement the same solutions, particularly Oracle Aconex.
Easy-to-use automation versus tedious, cumbersome manual processes. Norhazree mused about the journey that transported his organization from rudimentary pen and paper to this technological destination.
“COVID has changed the way we work,” he says. “If not, we’d still be stuck using pen and paper instead of having Oracle Aconex and Oracle Primavera Cloud Service.”
Oracle Construction and Engineering, the global leader in construction management software and project portfolio management solutions, helps you connect your teams, processes, and data across the project and asset lifecycle. Drive efficiency and control in project delivery with proven solutions for project controls, construction scheduling, BIM/CDE, and more.
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