Triad collaborates with Ofgem to transform their ECO service
Ofgem asked Triad to modernise its Energy Company Obligation2 (ECO2) system to support version 3 of the ECO legislation. Triad ran a multi-disciplinary team at Ofgem’s HQ. They collaborated and upskilled Ofgem colleagues to create a new generation system capable of complying with the latest government legislation. It was delivered on time, on budget, and to plan.
About the client
About the client
Ofgem is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. They are a non-ministerial government department and an independent National Regulatory Authority. Their role is to protect consumers by working to deliver a greener, fairer energy system. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) mandates energy suppliers to help improve the energy efficiency of their customers’ premises. Ofgem manages the scheme for the government.
The challenge
The challenge
With the release of version 3 of the legislation (ECO3), Ofgem needed to make substantial changes to its ECO service. Ofgem engaged Triad to work collaboratively to modernise the ECO2 system and extend its functionality to support ECO3 without data migration or extended downtime, as the project faced a fixed budget and delivery date.
The solution
The solution
Multi-disciplined team – Triad provided a multi-disciplined Agile team, including a Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master, user researchers, user experience designers, analysts, technical leads, developers, and testers. During the project, we flexed the team composition to optimise costs, address changing skill needs and maintain velocity.
Close collaboration – The tight timescales made team integration critical. Co-locating at Ofgem’s premises helped us build a seamless team and collegiate environment. It hastened our understanding of Ofgem’s governance framework, processes, and technology (based on Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) and .Net).
Transparent operation – We agreed on an effective management and governance approach with Ofgem to keep the project on track and maintain impetus. We achieved complete transparency by using easily digestible flash reports and running tiered management meetings from project level to the senior leadership team.
Agile approach – In line with GDS guidelines, we used an Agile approach, building a business priority-focused Product Backlog managed in TFS. We tightly scoped the first delivery as a “Minimum Viable Product” designed to be extended and enhanced through continuous improvement.
New system development – The ECO service was a monolithic .Net application with websites to support internal and external (energy supplier) users. We worked closely with Ofgem’s leadership, technical architect, and analysis team to design a new system based on microservices and designed to support the roadmap to a Docker-based containerised architecture. We used microservices to implement the new ECO3 functionality pipeline and migrated the back-end functions using strangler patterns. Our in-depth technical knowledge and agile delivery expertise, including CI/CD and DevOps, enhanced the quality assurance process and led to user acceptance testing with minimal rework.
Knowledge sharing – Throughout the project, we focused on knowledge-sharing to build capacity and capability in the Ofgem team and key third parties, to optimise self-sufficiency and minimise handover documentation. Whenever appropriate, we provided coaching and mentoring to team members.
The result
The Result
Due to our efficient development and highly effective engagement with Ofgem, ECO3 smoothly transitioned to live with zero priority one defects, no data migration and minimal downtime. We met the legislative deadline and key architectural objectives.
Through our transparent collaborative style, we built a strong, cohesive team. Adrian Ross, Director of Business Change at Ofgem, commented that he “Didn’t know which team members were Triad and which team members were Ofgem”.
