Automated claim acceptance + processing — £123M outlay handled.

Utility / Claims Processing / Workflow Automation / Rule Engine / SAP Integration

Following an OFWAT investigation, Southern Water — a major UK utility — needed to pay back claims to existing and historic customers within a regulator deadline (an expected outlay of £123 million). Xpertnest won the bid against four rival suppliers and delivered the complete solution — built, tested and deployed — within roughly three months (14 weeks). Delivered as Project Touchdown, the solution automated the validation and processing of customer claims, checking whether a customer already had a claim for a historical payment to identify duplicate claims before payment processing — integrated with SAP IS-U and SAP CRM, with a smooth legacy-data migration and high data-security standards.

Business requirements & challenges

Business requirements & challenges

Following an OFWAT investigation, Southern Water had to pay back claims to existing and historic customers within a regulator deadline, with an expected outlay of £123 million — at a scale and speed that ruled out manual review.

Key requirements

• Validate customer claims against historical payments (is this a duplicate of a prior payment/claim?)
• Auto-validate each claim using multiple sets of rules via a dedicated rule engine
• Integrate seamlessly with SAP IS-U and SAP CRM for data consistency and process automation
• Improve customer satisfaction with a user-friendly interface for claim submission and status tracking
• Migrate data smoothly from legacy systems while maintaining high data-security standards
• Communicate the result back to the customer using preconfigured rules and templates
• Run 24×7 to reduce dependence on manual processing and cut cost
• Deliver in time to avoid OFWAT regulatory fines and penalties

Solution

Solution

Built on Xpertnest's e.IQ platform using pre-built agent templates for the UI and workflows. A configurable rule engine validates each claim, integrated bi-directionally with SAP IS-U and SAP CRM to auto-fetch information for claim-duplication validation and payment processing. Validated claims are auto-accepted and passed for payment; exceptions are routed for manual management. Delivered with an agile, DevOps, continuous-integration approach and a proven data-migration methodology.

• e.IQ platform — pre-built agent templates for UI and workflows
• Rule engine validations: customer, property location, contact details and current address
• SAP IS-U + SAP CRM integration — auto-fetch information for duplication validation and payment (IS-U for utility-specific processes & data; CRM for customer relationship management & communication)
• Secure customer portal: registration, secure login, claim form, document upload, claim & payment status
• Auto-acknowledgement and templated customer communication
• Auto claim acceptance → pass for payment; unvalidated claims → exception managed manually
• Data-migration strategy for legacy information, using a methodology proven across financial services, telecom and utility projects
• Agile development with rapid sprints and a DevOps / continuous-integration approach for faster timelines and immediate feedback

Stack

Technologies used

How it works

Process workflow

1. 01Customer registers and logs in securely; provides contact details with email/phone validation and a legal declaration
2. 02Claim form submission → auto-acknowledgement
3. 03Submission of required documents
4. 04New claim enters the rule engine — customer, property location, contact details and current-address validation
5. 05Workflow management, with SAP information auto-fetched for claim-duplication validation
6. 06Validated → auto claim acceptance → pass for payment
7. 07Not validated → exception, managed manually
8. 08Claim and payment status surfaced back to the customer

What's new

Key innovations

Business benefits

Business benefits

24×7 automated claim processing that saved Southern Water from a regulatory penalty and substantially reduced manual headcount — with huge savings on manual processes. (False positives = cases where fraud is suspected but investigation shows the suspicion wasn't warranted.)

• 24×7 automated claims processing with huge savings on manual processes
• Automated claim validation, acceptance and customer communication
• Automated claim-duplication validation via SAP
• Enhanced customer experience — user-friendly submission and real-time status tracking
• Seamless SAP IS-U / CRM integration for data consistency and process automation
• Faster implementation — deployable in 14 weeks, supporting the OFWAT timeline
• Exception handling for claims requiring manual management

At a glance

Key highlights