Blockers (Issues getting in the way or slowing things down)
Initiative
What was released last month?
What is planned for release over the Next Month?
General Updates on Key Projects
Blockers (Issues getting in the way or slowing things down)
bP3-12/Taal Phase 2
@Peter Kossakowski (Unlicensed)
Taal
Peter K. taking over Taal project and respective products as new product manager.
Sourcing of product samples with 3rd party suppliers ongoing in December and January.
Ongoing discussions regarding business model and operational mode. Input from NGU’s is welcomed.
User requirements for BP3 and BP12 defined and shared with Exec Team and Sourcing Team.
bP3:
lantern with phone charging
Non-IoT, Non-PAYG, cash sales
bP12:
2-3 lights for 4 hrs + phone charging
Non-IoT, PAYG enabled through token system
Sourcing of product samples with 3rd party suppliers ongoing in December and January.
Note: Contact PK for any queries.
N/A
bP20-10 / Taal Phase 1
@Peter Kossakowski (Unlicensed)
bP20 Training materials
Updated User Guide, Agent Training and Technician Training
.
bP20 Pilot Kenya - Pilot extended by 2 weeks to continue building feedback and data. Successful so far in validating use case of Light Only and proving the product technically.
JD visited Kenya to review pilot, report is available now, including learnings and recommendations. Updated trainings for Agents, Technicians and NGU Managers also now available (to be implemented before rollout)
bP10 Development - ordering first samples (smaller battery, 10W panel in bP20 casing) and test in China & UK
DRC bp20 Order - Delayed in transit until at least 21 Dec
Rwanda bP20 Order - Short delay, but expected 8th Dec. Rwanda plan to rollout immediately.
bP20 Repair Tool - Delayed due to resource constraints and HR change
x2 bP20 tickets open
Credit transfer during swap
Manual OnTime Bonus
Rollout is possible without both, however it is reccomended to wait until they are both resolved - expected at the end of the week
bPower50 and Redesigned bPower100 (Teide)
@Juma Stephen (Unlicensed)
Tiger12 PCBA CUs
What it is: It is an improved bPower50 PCBA with better protection and can work with both Lithium and Lead acid batteries
Why it is important:
It is the precursor to having bPower50 lithium
Better protection and therefore eliminates possibility of thermal events
Parabolic Antenna
Sample test conducted in DRC and feedback shared with sourcing team. Trial order expected for DRC to be shipped in December or January
DCM - For Lead Acid
Firmware and software development is work on going. The development and testing will be completed on schedule at end Q1 2021. This will be implemented in 2 phases
New units - All units produced in China after the implementation of DCM will have DCM
Existing units with customers will be gradually converted to DCM after all the risk analysis has been done.
Lithium
Battery work development on going, and supplier has been selected
Trial production to be be ready by end of January
Lithium battery
Anti tamper stickers
Anti tamper screws
50 products to be airfreighted to the pilot market for pilot from end of Feb 2021
32” TV
30pcs arrived at DRC and pilot will start by 2nd week of December
2-3 samples to Kenya and RW to be shipped within December
3 Samples to Ivory Coast be shipped by December
Subwoofer v1
2nd Mass production - Paused because of ongoing investigation into (a single) technical fault discovered in Rwanda
Frist Mass Production
500pcs produced
250 shipped between Bboxx NGU’s, inc 230 to Kenya
250 available - China has 250pcs of v1 available. NGUs are recommended to order ~30-50 units for initial market testing OR Interested NGUs can get 2 samples for free
Ongoing customer survey in Kenya (first 30pcs sold)
Currently working on improved version v2
Further commercial orders of 2nd Mass Production will open soon pending investgistion in Rwanda.
Dimmable light
Development is on going and on track. Samples to be shipped to Kigali within December
Normal Antenna
Open for NGUs order
Interested NGUs can get 2-3 samples for free
Torch:
Updated version developed and trial order to be produced in December
bP100 - Engineering sample
Engineering team is progressing on approving the use case and design requirements
Component selection
bP100- Target cost
Working with finance to understand better the target cost for the 2 products use cases
2 Challenges with Overvoltage work in Rwanda
System- Currently configured in way that actions are triggered as tamper alert. This makes it hard to prioritize. Unfortunately this requires development resources which are not available at the moment
Operational- Challenges getting the customers and replace since the same customer have a tamper alert and are avoiding technician visits
32’TV
samples not yet shipped to Kenya/Rwanda due to miscommunication over commercial availability
bP-100
Some NGUs have not provided the expected ARPU for the different packages shared with them. This is delaying the target cost work
Cook LPG
@Paul Büttner (Unlicensed)
N/A
N/A
Appliances
Regulator and hosepipe samples being shipped to DRC and Kenya
Production of 1,000 Bboxx branded stoves started
Kenya
shops stocked with products, teams trained to soft launch the Cook Upgrade and Cook PAYC products
Blockers: ERP configuration for Upgrade, Smart Meter dispense license for PAYC, these will be resolved in the coming days, to install first customers before EOY
DRC
USAID grant project launch event
2nd Soft launch of new adapted Upgrade offer (after stoves from Kenya arrived)
Customer contracts
ERP configuration for Upgrade
Smart Meter dispense license for PAYC
Next Generation Pulse
@Andrew Kent (Unlicensed)
Nothing will be released until the system is ready enough for use, which will be ~Q2 2021
In the background, we have created functionality to do an upfront sale in the new back-end (although this is not yet connected to the front-end).
Pulse Specifications Sheet.
What it is: A detailed document that will explain the entire functionality of Pulse, both current and Next Gen.
Why it’s important: Will help NGUs understand what to expect from Pulse, and what features it provides relative to other offerings in the space
Development is continuing. This month we are designing the following:
Product config: a simpler way of creating products that will allow NGUs to create products themselves, without submitting a ticket.
Sales process: completing the sales process and user interface for creating a customer and making multiple transactions under the same account.
Deliveries: designing the stock processes and user interfaces for managing stock at the shop. NGUs will be able to have multiple ways of delivering to the customer, not just installations
PAYG and on-bill financing: processes for switching on/off customers in the new system, and replacing upgrades with a better method of financing products on existing bills
Managing Field Staff
@Jacques Kagabo (Unlicensed)
@Ruairi McLoughlin (Unlicensed)
Changed the customer info edit to the full page form
What it is: This is not totally new, but it’s the improvement on the existing feature that had the bug when editing the customer details. It’s now in the full page form.
Why it is important: It fixed the bug where NGUs were not able to edit customer details, and the form view is user-friendly than the previous page.
Note: NGUs are not still able to edit customers addresses in Pulse but it will be released in the near future.
Changing the way Latitute and Longitude are displayed on the customer page:
What it is: It’s the ability to display geo coordinates in both date formats (decimals and degrees minutes seconds.. formats)
Why it is important: There were issues on some customers where only two decimals were being displayed and that was not accurate. But today the Pulse user can click on the coordinates that are in decimal format to change them in degrees minutes seconds format. This ensures the accuracy of the latitude and longitude.
Log of coordinates change in ERP’s application customer view (PO-1005)
What it is: it’s the log that will be shown in ERP’s application customer view to keep the records of the changes made on the customer coordinates.
Why it’s important: Because it will show who made the change and the previous value before the change, it will help the user:
to fix the mistakes by reverting to the old coordinates (values)
to know who did that change, so that he may provide the explanation of the change
Selling upgrades through Pulse
What it is: It is a new feature that will allow the Pulse user with the right accesses to sell additional products to the existing customers.
Why it is important: Contrary to the existing systems, today the process of upgrading customers does not consider the energy limit, but with this feature, no customer will be able to add the product that consumes more than the available energy. And Sales Agents won’t need to call CSCC because this action will be done by either Retail Supervisor or Shop Manager.
Call Centre to Pulse: We are finalizing the high-level design. After the design is completed, we will start creating stories in Jira for the development.
Territory Planning Tool: The design is being completed, we are polishing it with the final touches and then it will be shared to the NGU (we have chosen to start with Rwanda).
What it is: Rhodri Davis found that there were a significant number of customers stuck in pending enable/disable status because of a communication breakdown between SMART Solar (SS) and the devices. This was resulting in these customers remaining in the wrong statuses and enjoying free electricity. To limit this impact, he set up a manual process of sending enable/disable messages to the devices twice a week to establish communication between SS and the devices and get them to the correct statuses.
Why it is important: This will ensure that customers are not stuck in pending statuses because of communication issues between SS and the device. In the first round of this project we saw a significant number of customers converted to the correct status. Furthermore, a substantial number started paying again.
Free Stock Assignment:
What it is: This project will allow you to assign stock to a technician without linking it to a customer, to enable “same day installations.”
Development has started, so progress is ongoing. The first story is in UAT. Next will be to develop inventory updates and track stock losses for stock with technicians
Switch on/off improvements:
We have analyzed the causes of customers getting stuck in pending enable/disable and made a list of potential improvements including:
Dashboards in Power BI to improve visibility on customers stuck in pending status
Refined pending enable and disable alerts to make it easier for NGUs to follow up and assist customers stuck in pending via SMS/call/visit depending on severity
Custom lists in Power BI: Soon, NGUs will be able to create custom lists (based on fields that they can add/remove from an existing list) and export the list outside PBI in csv/Excel. This will enable NGUs to get more information on customers they would like to follow up with so they can take necessary actions (e.g. following up with DP only Defaulters) to improve their portfolio quality.
Credit check for upgrades, Phase 2: the initial version, in the agent app, will be released in October. The next step will be to include the credit score in the Pulse Web App. Once this happens, you will be able to turn off the “contract performance” credit score in the ERP back-end.
Collection Rate and Utilization Rate improvements in Portfolio and Finance dashboards:
Collection Rate (currently known as % recurring cash) and Utilization Rate will no longer include defaulters to align with Financial models used for NGU budgets. The potential impact on CR and UR numbers to be communicated to NGUs and other stakeholders ahead of the release
We will start reporting on Total Utilization Rate broken down to its component parts (payment, bonus, manual, enable time) to enable NGUs better explain short-falls in cash collections
ESF Compatible PULSE
@Gilbert Ishimwe (Unlicensed)
Mark a customer as opt-out of ESF (PO-541)
What it is: Customers can now able to Opt-Out of ESF when they want to.
Why it’s important: Currently, customers cannot opt-out of ESF in the system, so this will enable NGUs to ‘opt-out' a customer in the system where a customer won’t be required to make any future payments, his CU will be enabled all time and won’t get swaps unless he opts-in again through the linked account.
Note: The customer should opt-out only once they have finished paying all of their appliances and other loans (so only have ESF remaining). The system will technically allow any client to opt out - this will opt out and write off ALL of the products the customer has (including the appliances), so we do not recommend this.
What it is: A page which allows NGU portfolio managers to follow cohort per cohort the UR of ESF-only customers, and the difference before / after joining ESF.
Why it’s important: This serves as a proxy for understanding clarity of communication to customers. As customers upgrading or opting out will leave the ‘ESF-only’ pool and this analysis, each NGU will be able to make sure that ESF-only customers are happy customers.
What it is: currently services (i.e. Canal+ subscription) can only be sold as upgrades. This allows it to be sold at sign up
Why it’s important: Will allow proper configuration of Canal+
Note: this is related to the canal+ integration but have been worked on under ESF initiative
Manual Downgrades and Upgrades between Solar Systems
What it is: a process for downgrading a customer by recording a repossession, re-installing the non-downgraded products, recording a fake payment for the DP and previous payments made, and manually removing the ontime.
Why it’s important: allows Canal+ and other services/products to be sold, without the risk of customers being trapped into pay plans they can’t afford.
Manual Upgrade between SHS is not to be pushed by Agents.
Update:
Planned to pilot downgrade/upgrade between solar systems in Kenya. But the process have been tested in DRC to two customers and it worked fine
And cover changes to all metrics as a result of opt-out processes
Story in backlog for having filter to access ESF-Only customers
PULSE Product Integrations
@Davis Nteziryayo (Unlicensed)
SunCulture - Phase 1 (Manual switch on/off)
What it is: add water pump customers to ERP and be able to switch on/off manually in the SunCulture sentinel system
Why it’s important: Togo NGU will be able to sell solar water pumps to non Bboxx customers. Also SunCulture water pumps are going to be the first non Bboxx product that will be sold and managed in pulse which make it first market place product.
Update: Key stories in the project have been released and the remaining ones either in UAT or selected for development.
SunCulture - Phase 2 (Integration to automate switch on/off)
What it is: Automatic switch on/off for customers with SunCulture water pumps. Follow up from phase 1 to enable Togo to scale water pump sales.
Why it’s important: Togo NGU will be able to sell solar water pumps to non Bboxx customers. Also SunCulture water pumps are going to be the first non Bboxx product that will be sold and managed in pulse which make is first market place product.
Update: A few stories are going to be releases in the next month including:
Safaricom Kenya integration (Dependent on Telco)
What it is: establish a direct payment integration with Safaricom
Why it’s important: Kenya NGU will be able to rollout paybill and implement pay with account number
Update: Communication issue between Safricom and Bboxx servers is now resolved. Team is working on testing paybill then complete integration.
Vodacom DRC integration (Dependent on Telco)
What it is: add Vodacom M-PESA payments as new payment option for DRC NGU
Why it’s important: DRC NGU will be able to accept M-PESA payments from Vodacom and expand to new territories
Update: Africa’s talking is working on integration stories and they will deploy code within this sprint.
MTN Rwanda integration
Update: MTN has offered an alternative integration option that can speed up development. Team is looking into this option during this sprint to see if it’s viable option for Bboxx.
Complete Care & Repair
@Kamanzi Kenneth (Unlicensed)
N/A
Repair Centre Ruiru (Kenya):
Launch Ruiru repair centre by 31st December
Repair Centre Kisumu (Kenya):
Complete repair centre renovation in Kisumu.
Synchronisation Tool:
What it is:
DC repair technicians use IRT to report spares used. This is the data we use to generate the monthly warranty claims. However, DC logistics officers use ERP stock moves to manage inventory of spares. We often have a variance between spare stock moves done by the logistics officers and what repair technicians report in IRT
Why it is important:
The purpose of the sync tool is to synchronize IRT and ERP and trigger automatic stock moves when technician reports a part in IRT.
Update: UAT the IRT/ERP synchronization tool in Rwanda repair centre
N/A
Supply Chain Integrated Tool
@william
@Jackline Abagwaneza
Barcode Scanning & Tracking:
We tried and tested scannning and tracking TVs from the Warehouse from China up to the warehouse in the NGU which was successful.
Barcode Scanning & Tracking:
What it is: Will be able to scan and track the TV until the shop and through reverse logistics.
Why it is important: This will provide a greater level of protection against stock fraud in the field and allow NGUs to track hardware more effectively.
Update: We are going to start tracking, CU’s, spare batteries and spare PCB’s this month.
B2B Systems Migration (From ERP 7 to SAP)
@Duarte Ferreira (Unlicensed)
Signed off contract between Bboxx:
SAP
Orchard House Solutions
Agreements were reviewed by Finance, SC and last approval by Legal
Completed Statement of Work with 3 phases:
Phase 1 - ASIA (SC & Finance) - Completed April 2021
Phase 1 kick off 01/12/20 - Only impacts ASIA, not NGU’s
Test environment for Finance and SC at end of December (ASIA)
Kick off Bonsai Project 01/12/2020
4 Workshops scheduled:
Organizational Management
Data Migration
Finance
Supply Chain
Bonsai:
What it is: A key foundation in achieving our goals is our ability to ensure our systems can efficiently and effectively continue to support our vision. An exciting new project that will revolutionize some of our key office functions.
Finance & Supply Chain will be implementing a new ERP solution called SAP Business ByDesign. This project has been named “Bonsai”.
Why it is important: Our current ERP has helped us get to where we are today but there are gaps in the future functionality that will be required. After an exhaustive review of potential solutions, Bboxx has decided to purchase an “off the shelf” product which we feel is the best fit for the company.
Orange (CAPEX Free)
@Robin Scanlon (Unlicensed)
Terms sheet shared with Orange DRC for review and negotiation.
Final commercial offer made to Sonatel, now waiting for feedback whether to proceed or not.
Nigeria Market Re-Entry
@Thomas James Newell (Unlicensed)
N/A
N/A
Ernest Akinlola (interim-MD) visited Rwanda and received training on Bboxx launch
Ernest now in Nigeria to build business on the ground and confirm business plan assumptions
Ernest to lead project/implementation plan
Pulse setup/configurations
Shops idenfitication and preparation
Logistics partner identification and negotiation.
etc.
Trafigura investment closed--ongoing discussions with BEAM to secure and finalize investment into Nigeria entity
Stock being prepared to ship (exp. arrival mid-March 2021)
Contracts confirmed for Bboxx internal transfer to Nigeria
