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Our Data Solutions team is continually growing and evolving with changes in regulatory requirements, geospatial advancements, and new technologies. Born out of an engineering company, our Data Solutions group is grounded in both gas and electric engineering and industry knowledge with a deep understanding of regulatory environments. Since their early days, they’ve partnered with educational organizations, thought leaders, and industry organizations to shape best practices and standards, build new tools, and provide better analysis and answers for our clients.<\/span><\/p>\n Courtney Moore, a Project Manager in Data Solutions, and Ellie Lynch, Vice President of Digital Transformation, go in depth about how we go beyond for our clients\u2014and how we always have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Courtney is a Geospatial Project Manager with over 15 years of experience helping clients achieve their geospatial goals. Focused on harnessing the power of data to drive innovation, she works to maximize outcomes for utility operators. <\/span><\/p>\n Courtney\u2019s expertise is pivotal in ENTRUST’s mission of #PoweringTransformation, using cutting-edge geospatial solutions to enable smarter, more efficient decision-making and support the evolving needs of utilities today and into the future.<\/span><\/p>\n A prime example of our leadership in innovation for natural gas and hazardous liquids operators is our Gas and Liquids High Consequence Area (HCA) analysis tools. Both tools were first created when the PHMSA pipeline Integrity Management (IM) rules went into full effect in the 2003\/2004 timeframe. The IM rules require operators to identify pipeline segments where a release could affect HCAs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Gas and Liquids HCA tools, now both in their third generation, provide that capability. Both tools are based on Esri\u2019s world-leading GIS technology platform. We have been a business partner of Esri for over three decades and a gold business partner for over ten years. We have cultivated relationships with academia in the crafting of these tools, including the incorporation of cutting-edge Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) algorithms into the Liquids HCA Tool through a partnership with George Washington University starting in 2018.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since then, we’ve continued to update and enhance the analytical capabilities of both the Gas and Liquids HCA Tools. Not only do we keep in step with regulatory changes, but we also make enhancements to our tools based on client feedback and needs, incorporate the latest refinements in source data, and stay compatible with the latest Esri platform improvements. <\/span><\/p>\n These tools have reshaped how our clients approach IM analysis and reporting. It saves time and effort while producing traceable, repeatable, highly accurate, and granular results. Our tools and our approach to innovation have produced leading-edge HCA analysis tools for pipeline safety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Our commitment to being adaptable to change includes our partnerships with industry leaders, organizations, and even other vendors to prepare and consistently deliver cutting-edge solutions. Members of our Data Solutions team participated in the inception of the Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS) pipeline data model, and we continue to provide subject matter expertise in PODS, Esri’s ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing (APR), and Utility Network (UN). <\/span><\/p>\n The data standards that we have assisted in developing have provided pipeline operators the ability to store and manage critical geospatial asset information as well as incorporate linear referencing (pipeline stationing) into the management of their assets throughout the network.<\/span><\/p>\n We have consistently embraced cutting-edge innovations across various domains. We continue to expand our expertise as the main geospatial platforms such as SmallWorld, Esri, ArcFM, and other products expand and change. We have invested heavily in community practices that foster a culture of continuous improvement, experimentation, and industry outreach. <\/span><\/p>\n This approach has led to the adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, and statistics, which have revolutionized how we solve our clients\u2019 challenges. By leveraging these technologies, we have been able to deliver more accurate predictions, optimize operations, and provide our clients with actionable intelligence that drives their success.<\/span><\/p>\n Her leadership is instrumental in ENTRUST\u2019s mission of #PoweringTransformation, leveraging cutting-edge digital tools to help clients stay ahead in an evolving landscape. Ellie\u2019s commitment to continuous learning extends to academia, where she serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Northwestern University for a Network Science course.<\/span><\/p>\n Our sector within ENTRUST supports operators in various areas leveraging data to make informed decisions across our various departments and business units. <\/span><\/p>\n We help operators validate their system of record information, both in identifying potential errors within and across data systems so that when operators are making decisions based on data, they understand the validity of the information that they are basing their decision on. This work is in the form of our data improvement program support, as well as machine learning tools that help identify errors across systems to guide data improvement program planning. <\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, we help operators implement asset knowledge governance structures that prioritize asset knowledge quality and completeness so that folks have the critical information they need when they need it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We are a partner of utilities throughout many segments of asset operations, using GIS-based information to support our team\u2019s work, but also requiring insights and information beyond the location and composition of the systems, and reliable asset information is essential to our team\u2019s services and our client\u2019s operations. <\/span><\/p>\n When we were executing our GIS projects, it became clear that the governance and standardization of the data work we completed was necessary for the long-term value of the data for our downstream users (engineering, consulting, automation) and that our other sectors needed the same governance and data management support embedded into non-data projects to extend the value of the work we do beyond the immediate output of the project. This led to us formalizing our GIS data standards practices and extending it to an asset-focused data governance model.<\/span><\/p>\n Data governance is a key differentiator for the services that our teams provide. Every ENTRUST project, from design to regulatory consulting, leverages data in some manner. This ranges from our Data Solutions team building the data standards for a data improvement project to our Asset Integrity team developing and implementing procedures that support and sustain quality information throughout all operational practices. As we build our products and services, we partner with our customers to ensure that we\u2019re delivering reliable data in formats that align with our customer\u2019s needs and technical roadmaps.<\/span><\/p>\n Not only do we leverage our data systems expertise to help utilities comply with regulations, but we also help utilities build workflows and procedures that sustain their regulatory requirements. Data is at the core of demonstrating compliance with regulatory requirements. Some regulations are about the data quality, while others require documentation proving that the utility has complied. <\/span><\/p>\n ENTRUST\u2019s Integrity and Regulatory consulting team are experts in regulatory requirements and partner with our Data solutions and Digital Transformation teams to help our clients develop standards, procedures, and practices that efficiently and effectively comply with regulatory requirements. Additionally, we have developed several software solutions specifically designed to provide the analysis required by code for operators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When regulations are implemented, our regulatory compliance team helps operators interpret the code, develop procedures to comply with the regulation and identify analyses, and we develop repeatable digital solutions that efficiently meet regulatory reporting requirements. When we design workflows or develop procedures for ongoing operations, one of our core focuses is to build them in a way that is sustainable by the organization and team responsible for collecting and reporting on information to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n Nearly all aspects of our projects leverage spatial information in some manner, whether it\u2019s core asset information, maintenance records, sensor information, or more, we\u2019re using spatial information to help our customers make informed decisions. We have brought together a team of GIS system experts, programmers, and solution developers into the Digital Transformation team to help build digital solutions that our engineering teams and consultants use to complete their work and provide excellent products to our clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We formed the Digital Transformation team to help our various business units and teams leverage emerging technologies and implement effective technology solutions to address challenges faced by the utility industry. This team tests out new technologies, builds tools to make existing processes more efficient, and helps spread creative solutions found by one group across the organization. We are constantly on the lookout for novel ways to address our customer\u2019s problems and evolve our services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Digital Transformation partners with our business teams to build digital solutions that meet the emerging needs of our industry. We have a portfolio of commercial-grade digital solutions that address regulatory requirements that we license to our customers and use to provide our consulting services. Our current tools include Gas and Liquids HCA analysis tools, an MOC solution, and more that address key regulatory requirements. <\/span><\/p>\n We recognize that asset information is core to a utility\u2019s ability to meet the increased constraints and demands on the systems, so we build out solutions and services to support the maintenance of that core information and extract insights to prescribe action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Innovation is not just about finding a way to use a new technology or tool but instead, it\u2019s about using all the tools in your toolbox, new and old, to change a process or find a better way to solve a problem. The key to innovation is to continuously learn and find valid business use cases to apply your learnings.<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes it might be using a new technology, while other times it may just be using what you already have differently. At ENTRUST, we encourage our team members to continue learning, to learn new skills and to test out new tools to address their biggest problems. When one team finds a solution that works for their problem, we work with that team and others who are facing similar challenges and replicate what they\u2019ve done for the benefit of a larger group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been building cross-team and cross-department Communities of Practice where people who are using similar tools, or conducting similar work can share their experiences, explore new ways to do something, and socialize their questions or approaches. Our talented engineering teams are constantly trying to do something more efficiently or better than they did last time \u2013 one of the keys to innovation is figuring out how to share those innovations with others who may benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n We are always learning and seeking continuous improvement for our projects, processes, and deliverables. This past year, we\u2019ve been focusing on establishing an enterprise foundation for digital delivery of our solutions to our customers. The means providing our customers access to the data and to the information that we create throughout our project process, whether it\u2019s the initial feed study options for a design or a preliminary analysis output for a complex study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Furthermore, we will continue to explore applications of emerging technology across the utility industry, from integration and adoption of Generative AI techniques to applying graph database models to address data standardization and integration. And, finally, across the company, with every new project we take on and in our existing programs, we\u2019ll continue to look at what we\u2019re doing and see how we can improve it, to evolve to meet our customers’ changing needs.<\/span><\/p>\n As technology continues to evolve, so do we. This culture of innovation has been instrumental in our ability to remain a leader in our field, consistently delivering progressive solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/entrustsol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20230401_1253322-225x300.jpg\")
A Look Into the Past with Courtney<\/span><\/h2>\nData Solutions During the Early 2000s<\/span><\/h3>\n
We\u2019ve Adapted\u2014Decade After Decade<\/span><\/h3>\n
A Look Toward the Future with Ellie Lynch<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Ellie Lynch is the Vice President of Digital Transformation at ENTRUST Solutions Group, where she leads efforts to align people, processes, and technology to deliver innovative solutions that drive efficiency and growth. With a background in engineering design and a Master\u2019s in Data Science specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Ellie is at the forefront of addressing challenges in the engineering and utility industries. <\/span><\/p>\nTransitioning from GIS to a Utility Technology Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Move Toward Digital Solutions\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
What Does Innovation Mean for ENTRUST?<\/span><\/h2>\n
We are #PoweringTransformation for Our Customers Every Day<\/span><\/h2>\n