BC Hydro e.catalog

BC Hydro Case Study

As one of the largest electric utilities in Canada, BC Hydro serves more than 1.5 million customers in an area containing over 94 percent of British Columbia’s population. BC Hydro endeavours to provide energy solutions to its customers in an environmentally and socially responsible way by balancing British Columbians’ energy needs with the concerns of the environment.

In the past, BC has been fortunate to have an abundance reliable hydro electricity, while this source of power is renewable, it is not limitless. In fact, if the rate of consumption continues to rise by two percent per year, BC Hydro would not be able to meet the growing demand by the end of this decade without adding new sources to their customers. With that in mind, “Power Smart” was introduced in 1989 to reduce energy consumption so in the years ahead, BC Hydro could continue to provide the best long-term value from their electricity use, and to create a future where efficient usage is a way of life.

In an effort to reduce power consumption, Power Smart has launched a new online catalog using SoftCare’s OpenEC® Trade*Catalog called e.Catalog to help B.C. businesses identify and source the energy-efficient products they need. Created for contractors, consultants and business customers, e.Catalog generates awareness of energy saving products by providing users with information on what products are available in British Columbia and where they can be purchased. e.Catalog is the first and only online energy-efficient product catalog of its kind anywhere in North America. e.Catalog saves time and money by providing a single convenient source for finding energy-efficient products. Since product information is standardized, business customers can compare multiple brands of energy-efficient products from different manufacturers.

Currently, e.Catalog lists more than 1,700 products – primarily lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment – supplied by 17 different manufacturers. While products are not sold through the Web site, e.Catalog lists a network of more than 175 B.C. distributors who carry the products. Users can select their city, find out which distributors carry the products they need, and follow-up through the phone number, email address, or Web site provided

e.Catalog also helps users keep updated with changing technologies. “Energy efficiency standards are constantly changing, and products that were considered efficient five years ago are now considered outdated as newer, improved technologies are developed,” says Bev Van Ruyven, Vice President of BC Hydro Power Smart. “e.Catalog is updated regularly, so users can find the latest information on energy-efficient products as soon as they become available.”

SoftCare’s OpenEC® Trade*Catalog as the base for the e.Catalog to display energy-efficient products has been advantageous as OpenEC® Trade*Catalog is extremely flexible and configurable which allows it to meet B.C. Hydro’s demanding requirements.

BC Hydro uses OpenEC® Trade*Catalog’s unique Application Program Interfaces (API) to pull Power Smart product information from vendor’s systems for presentation to the contractor network. The catalog allows suppliers to send standard product information (price, description, item number etc.) plus send “product specific” information and images for presentation to the contractor networks. For example, a supplier of compact fluorescent light bulbs would send standard product information plus additional information such as wattage used, lumens, product size, a full description of where the product is most usefully deployed, a promotional deal description and a product image (either JPEG, GIF) to the catalog. The catalog presents this unique information for each product to allow contractors to determine the most energy efficient products when delivering product solutions to their clients.

Visit e.Catalog at www.bchydro.com/ecatalog/ (external Internet access required).

Although BC Hydro does not use all of the features of OpenEC® Trade*Catalog, it can be configured to include the following features:

• Facility to have variable pricing & terms by trading partner
• Electronic ordering using a “Shopping Cart” or a true Business-to-Business model
• Provide multiple formats for online presentation of a company’s product
• Enable Promotions Management by providing a range of functions to facilitate managing promotions which allow products to be “advertised” using time-dated or user specific promotions
• Allow a company’s business information to be available to its trusted partners via the web
• Allow suppliers to maintain and update catalogues electronically or to have the update and maintenance of the catalogue controlled centrally
• Provide the ability to create product comparison tables which compares product features and price
• Provides the ability to maintain and publish valuable information for each distributor/store including distributor/store name, description, toll free phone number, phone number, fax, address, email address, contact name, map URL, store hours.
• Provide “real time” 24 x 7 product pricing and availability online
• Provide integration with back office systems (e.g. stock levels, expediting, accounting, etc.) using the OpenEC® Trade*Catalog APIs

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About SoftCare

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in British Columbia, SoftCare EC Inc. develops e-business software. Our OpenEC® product suite allows companies to conduct business-to-business e-commerce. Our e-business software is open and scaleable allowing for integration with existing and future technologies, lowering operating costs and streamlining the business process while delivering benefits to all electronic trading relationships.

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