How Xcel Energy Transformed Field Worker Experience with SAP Fiori

How Xcel Energy Transformed Their Employee Experience

Utility worker performing electrical maintenance on power lines from bucket truck

An industry leader, Xcel Energy provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is a leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Xcel employs thousands of field workers charged with keeping power safely flowing to homes and businesses. In 2020 the company decided they wanted to make adjustments to how field workers tracked their hours, making it easier and more convenient for their team.

Xcel had shifted to SAP in 2017 and over the next couple of years updating systems and replacing field devices. By 2019 Xcel’s Operations team had identified Field Employee Experience as a top initiative.

The time entry system in place was slow and cumbersome. It required that Xcel’s field workers be on a desktop to enter their hours worked which often meant they could not enter their time until back in the office or at home. Mindset had been helping Xcel since 2016 and was tapped to help transform the process.

Utility worker in bucket truck performing electrical line maintenance on power pole

THE SOLUTION

Based on input gathered from Design Thinking sessions with the field team, Mindset created a Fiori application hosted on SAP’s Cloud Platform to allow the field workers to access their time cards on their mobile device while in the field.

SAP Fiori mobile app interface showing employee time tracking with work orders and hours summary

hours per year

saved by each field worker due to Fiori mobile Field Time Entry application

Millions

in cost savings

estimated due to hours saved by field workers

“This is a BIG win – for our field crews, the employee experience overall – and this team for showing how a small focused team can deliver some pretty cool new capabilities!””

– Tim Peterson, CIO