I Want My Data When I Want It, Chapter One

I Want My Data When I Want It, Chapter One
It was great to see some of my old colleagues from the Energy Pipeline Industry last night. Ever since my work with DATAP Systems, Valmet Automation, PRCI, PIG, TechCorr, El Paso,  Scientific Surveys Ltd, and many other pipeline operators, service companies, organizations, and consultants, I have heard the same thing over and over again, “I just want my data, when I want it, and I want to be able to find it quickly……”, there are more “ands” to add here, but this is chapter one of this line of thought.

The pipeline business is data intensive with data flowing from SCADA, shipping and transport, custody transfer, integrity management and pigging, security (videos, satellite photos, etc.), and knowledge based information.

Technical research is expensive, but it is more expensive to do the research unnecessarily. Much of our work through the years has been with scientists and engineers at the research and development level. Their biggest fear is that they will essentially rework existing research. The only way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to make the body of work (reports, white papers, notes, brochures, Wikis, email, etc.) open or available to full search. Google has done a wonderful job and continues to improve the search engine every day.

Information when you need it is the goal. The main thing is to have systems in place that capture all the enterprise data, save it to a corporate database, and make sure the process is conducted in a secure environment. So once the data is acquired, then it becomes most important to provide the user with reports that are highly supportive of the company’s goals and objectives. ERP, BPA, and content management software are the very tools that make sure that your company’s data and information are secure, accessible, and are working for you. These types of solutions are offered by SAP, Oracle, Salesforce.com, and of course we also offer solutions with enterprise software.