The Client
For over 85 years, this regulated electric utility company has been at the forefront of power generation and energy delivery, ensuring reliable service to its customers. But as market demands and regulatory complexities grew, so did the need for a more advanced, efficient system to manage their trading and risk operations. Their decade-old energy trading and risk management (ETRM) system was no longer keeping pace. To stay ahead, they partnered with capSpire to upgrade to the latest version of Allegro—enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and compliance in an increasingly dynamic energy landscape.
The Assignment
capSpire was engaged to upgrade the client’s Allegro v8 system to Allegro v22. The primary objective was to modernize and automate critical processes, replacing manual tasks previously done in spreadsheets, while improving data accuracy for regulatory reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance.
The project focused on integrating all-natural gas trading activities and gas delivery to power generation plants into a centralized ETRM system for accurate and reliable data management. capSpire faced complex challenges, including upgrading legacy customizations and overcoming barriers that had stalled progress in previous efforts.
“Most successful ETRM implementation I’ve seen in 30 years in the industry.”
Trading Manager
The Solution
Our approach to modernizing the client’s ETRM landscape went far beyond a standard upgrade. The existing system had been in use for over a decade, with subsidiaries operating fragmented versions and heavily customized data views. These complexities made the upgrade challenging and led to widespread manual workarounds, such as:
- Manual data entry in SAP
- Manual invoicing
- Estimating plant inventory for regulatory reporting
A major operational challenge involved trade and plant-level reporting. Prior to the upgrade, traders had to select a plant for gas delivery before its final destination was known, leading to frequent trade adjustments. Each adjustment required:
- Unlocking, editing, and re-approving trades
- Tedious workflows prone to errors
- Misreporting when gas was allocated to multiple plants
To address these challenges, capSpire:
- Brought in retail energy experts to assess the client’s pain points, needs, and development blockages
- Developed a comprehensive project plan to upgrade to Allegro v22 while ensuring seamless integration across all plants and subsidiaries
- Redesigned data views for more accessible databases and accurate reporting
- Built customizations that allowed trades to remain unlocked, gas to be traced at settlement time, and rerouted gas to be accurately tracked, eliminating misreporting
With these solutions in place, capSpire successfully migrated all existing data, streamlined workflows, and automated key processes, fully leveraging the efficiency of the upgraded Allegro platform.
capSpire’s engagement didn’t end with the upgrade. At the client’s request, we provided ongoing support and training, further customizing reporting capabilities and centralizing data storage on core tables. These enhancements helped streamline operations and optimize processes across the business.
“The implementation went nearly according to plan, and I even hear about people’s pleasant surprises and the good things they see coming from the system today. Congrats and thanks to everyone for being open-minded, hard-working, and willing to come together to make one of our most successful system implementations in recent company experience.”
Chief Financial Officer
The Impact
- Seamless Upgrade: The client successfully transitioned to Allegro v22, automating risk management, back-office operations, SAP data transfers, and Weighted Average Cost of Gas (WACOG) reporting—all the way down to the trade and plant level.
- Improved Accuracy: The new Allegro system made troubleshooting easier and enabled more accurate reporting across the client’s network of plants, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Tailored Solutions: Custom-built extensions streamlined gas trading processes, allowed trades to remain unlocked, and enabled gas tracing from settlement onward for more reliable and precise results.
- Long-Term Partnership: capSpire became a trusted long-term partner, staying on for an additional two years to provide ongoing support, training, and further customization, empowering the client to maximize the full potential of their upgraded Allegro system.
“By far, the best cross-functional collaborative software integration project I have experienced.”
VP of Risk Management
About capSpire
We solve complex business and technology challenges for energy and commodity organizations. Our mission is to deliver transformative solutions that empower businesses to grow, scale, and succeed.
With three integrated services—Advisory, Delivery, and Operations and Support—capSpire offers holistic solutions that start with strategy and carry clients seamlessly through to scale. What sets capSpire apart is our ability to connect every stage of the value chain, delivering tailored solutions that integrate technology, processes, and industry insight. From strategy consulting and technology implementation to operational excellence, we help to ensure that every solution drives measurable impact and uncovers new growth opportunities.
We empower businesses to maximize their investments and push forward—confidently and strategically—into the future. Together, we’ll power forward.
*All ETRM platforms referenced above are the trade names and trademarks of their respective owners, including ION Group and its subsidiaries.
**CapSpire, LLC and the ION Group are unaffiliated entities.
