Introduction
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) deliver world-class services of electricity and
water that meet the highest standards of availability, reliability and efficiency. DEWA serves
over 800,000 customers across Dubai, a flourishing global city considered as a leading hub of
business activity in the Middle East and Northern Africa regions.
Since its inception in 1992, DEWA has evolved and grown, measuring and adjusting the ways it
serves its customers and integrating project management across the organization.
The Challenge
Dubai has experienced an unprecedented growth over the last two decades that transformed the
city and propelled its gradual rise to global business prominence. This growth added complexity
to the already daunting task of providing water and electricity services to consumers and
businesses in a region with a population that exceeds two million. In 2014 alone, water
connections increased nearly 30 percent, rising from 23,350 in 2013 to 30,000. The power
demand increased another five to six percent in 2015.
To keep pace with this growing demand for water and electricity services, the advent
of green technologies and the push toward renewable energy, DEWA strives to
achieve the leadership vision which was translated into the federal and local
strategies. These include the UAE Centennial 2071, the
UAE Vision 2021, the Dubai Plan 2021, and the Dubai Clean
Energy Strategy 2050, ensuring the sustainable development of Dubai, to make it
the happiest and smartest city in the world,” said His Excellency Saeed Mohammed
AL Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA.
As more and more projects were initiated, DEWA’s leadership discovered that
standard project management practices were not being observed across the
organization, leading to decreased efficiencies, tempered innovation, redundant
data, and an increased administrative burden on employees. At the time, DEWA
relied on its 40 employed PMI certification holders to reinforce project management
good practices.
The number of certification holders continues to grow. DEWA now employs 60 PMI
certification holders. DEWA’s leadership knows that adhering to proven project,
program, and portfolio management practices reduces risks, cuts costs, and
improves success rates.
How DEWA Increased Efficiencies and Value Using Streamlined Project Management
Processes
May 2018
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Because project ideas and strategies must be linked with data, workflow, and
business processes, and because the complexity within projects is increasing,
DEWA needed a way to measure, integrate, and streamline its project processes
and ensure consistent practices organization wide.
The Solution
DEWA’s leadership established a dedicated team, including senior management
representatives, to begin implementing SAP software for its portfolio and project
management and enterprise asset management systems.
DEWA launched a multi-phase implementation project that concluded at the end of
2015. The first phase began in October 2009 with a focus on customer services.
Phase II followed in January 2012. It focused on procurement, stores, finance and
human resources.
The third and final phase comprises enterprise asset management generation,
projects and portfolio management for generation, transmission and water, fleet
management, business preparation and consolidation processes for the financial
department, and a project system for business support projects. Initiated in March
2014 and launched in
September 2016, phase III aimed to standardize, simplify, and automate the
enterprise asset management and portfolio project management/ project system
processes.
Recognizing that active participation and support of employees was a key factor in
the successful implementation of the software, DEWA held educational sessions to
increase awareness about the project. This would enable employees to more
effectively utilize the system, thereby maximizing its benefits. With the software in
place, DEWA is better able to supplement its existing project management efforts,
including alignment of capital and operational spending, planning and budgeting,
and early identification of opportunities and risks.
“SAP software provides us with integrated solutions that contribute to DEWA’s
objective to achieve sustainable development, especially as indicated by
international best practices,” said Al Tayer. “One of our goals is that our processes
be world class, yet simple and easy to use.”
Through DEWA’s commitment to the delivery of sustainable
electricity and water services at world-class levels of reliability
and efficiency, and its continued appreciation of the value of
project management, the United Arab Emirates, represented
by DEWA, ranked first in the world for getting electricity in
the World Bank’s Doing Business” 2018 report.
