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Inetum-Realdolmen and Fluvius provide a digital premium service
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Published on Wednesday, May 3rd 2023
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The elimination of the revolving counter caused quite a stir among owners of solar panel with digital meters in recent years. To address their complaints, the Flemish government agreed to a one-off premium for people who made an energy-saving investment. Since the summer of 2021, the premium can be requested via an application that Inetum-Realdolmen developed together with Fluvius, the grid company that manages Flemish public utilities in the streets (electricity, natural gas, sewage, cable distribution and heat).
Owners of solar panels and heat pumps can claim compensation for the loss of the revolving counter. To manage those applications, there was a need for a new premium in the digital premium service, and one was set up in a few months. On the My Fluvius customer portal, applicants are guided to the right premium through a few questions and have the option of easily uploading the necessary supporting materials.
Since the launch of the premium platform, a large percentage of those entitled have already applied for their compensation. So the application had to be there from day one, and it succeeded. All applications were processed correctly.
“A quality, robust implementation done on a tight schedule – that’s what we’ve become accustomed to from this strong team!”
Peter Wuyts, Team Leader Development Factories, Fluvius
Of course, the development of the successful premium service has taken some doing. It is the result of close cooperation between experts from Inetum-Realdolmen and Fluvius. Fluvius set out the initial outlines for the look and feel of the application. Inetum-Realdolmen’s team lead provided a common starting point by engaging with the business stakeholders and the design team at Fluvius. By being on-point about input and ideas from the beginning, there was less chance of miscommunication along the way.
After the official launch, four months remained to breathe life into the digital premium service. After all, there was another major release at Fluvius after four months, so that boat could not be missed. To meet such a tight deadline, it was important to make timely adjustments. The architect who designed the foundation in the initial phase remained involved throughout the process. By keeping a finger on the pulse and with regular reviewing, quality and maintainability could be kept high. Issues such as security were also addressed throughout the development process. The team took ownership to test both functional and non-functional issues (e.g., security and performance) as often as possible. All the steps taken added up to a successful going-live.
Fluvius awarded Inetum-Realdolmen a position as one of the partners to build and maintain the customer portal through a procurement process. Above all, the quality of the team and of the proposed solutions were the deciding factor. There was always room for open dialogue during the regular consultation times and at other times. After all, we are convinced that only with such an approach can we be our customers’ trusted technology expert and business partner.
In addition to maintenance of the digital premium service, the framework must be kept up-to-date with new premiums if the legislature decides to issue them. This digital counter is a portal for end customers; currently, we are also further developing a portal for employees of Flavius’s partners. Dubbed the Partner Portal, it serves as a central access point for those external employees to securely use internal applications and exchange information. In the meantime, a lot of contractors, as well as all Public Centers for Social Welfare (PCSWs) of Flanders, are working with the portal. All in all, an interesting next step in a great collaboration!
