Solving information governance challenges within the energy sector – a spotlight on two Fortune 500 energy providers

The challenge

Energy companies face a huge regulatory compliance burden  

In addition to complying with state-level regulations, enforced by public utility regulators, energy providers, and utility companies are also subject to a host of environmental, safety, privacy, and financial regulations, many of which require companies to store data in a specific format and for a specific period.

Energy companies must comply with health and safety regulations such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). These regulations require companies to maintain records related to workplace injuries, illnesses, and safety incidents.

They must also comply with financial regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). These regulations require companies to maintain records related to financial reporting, accounting, and internal controls.

Failure to comply with these regulations can result in hefty fines and legal penalties. Given these requirements, utility companies face more complex records retention and disposal issues.

Sensitive customer data must be appropriately managed and secured

Utility services receive sensitive customer data: names, home addresses, credit card information, and even information about when people are away from home. This data comes with a considerable privacy responsibility. Utility companies must ensure they properly manage and secure this data to lower the likelihood and impact of a data breach.

The growing volume of digital and physical records increases the complexity

Utility and energy companies face challenges around the sheer volume of data that needs to be stored. Energy companies generate a vast amount of data, ranging from seismic data to production data to financial data. Utility companies also generate large quantities of physical records, including historical records in paper format. Many documents must be kept for 10-20 years, and certain inspection and maintenance records must be kept in their original form for the life of the equipment or facility.

Despite the rise of digital records, energy companies still rely heavily on physical records for several reasons, such as legal requirements and historical significance.  

This challenge is made more difficult as many legacy physical records management tools have been sunsetted or acquired by other companies. For example, the OmniRIM Physical Records Management platform has undergone several ownership changes recently and ceased product support in late 2022.

RecordPoint has been working with two leading, Fortune 500 energy providers since 2016 and 2020, respectively, helping them comply with their state’s public utilities commission regulations and other regulations.

West Coast utility needed a solution to regulatory troubles

After poor recordkeeping practices led to numerous safety incidents and fires, this large California-based utility received multiple recordkeeping violations and fines from its state regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission. A subsequent probe showed an urgent need for information management and recordkeeping improvements to improve safety, reduce risk and enhance reliability. The potential for more fines and penalties was a concern as the utility sought a solution to minimize this risk.

The utility partnered with RecordPoint to implement a companywide records management policy to protect vital records and ensure appropriate retention practices.

A centralized platform reduces the risk of non-compliance and penalties

RecordPoint offered centralized governance and search across relevant file repositories and business systems: on-premises file shares and business systems like SharePoint Online, In-place management allowed the utility to streamline its records management activities  

A lower overall risk posture

By adopting RecordPoint, the utility improved its records and data management practices, lowering its risk posture and demonstrating its compliance with environmental, safety, financial, and privacy regulations. RecordPoint also meant the utility could make better decisions to optimize records management practices ongoing.

Oklahoma natural gas company needed a replacement for its physical records solution

This Oklahoma natural gas company relied on OmniRIM to manage its significant collection of physical records. When OmniRIM was sunsetted, the company needed to fill the gap and engaged RecordPoint to help with a transition to a centralized solution.  

A centralized records management solution for digital and physical records

RecordPoint provided a robust physical records solution that solved the customer’s initial problem and provided a modernization pathway to expand into electronic records management. RecordPoint’s highly experienced consultants helped the organization restructure, rework, and re-think how they were organizing its records.

Physical records successfully migrated from legacy system

This company successfully migrated from their legacy OmniRIM platform to RecordPoint while maintaining compliance.

By centralizing physical and electronic records management, the customer reduced duplication of effort and ensured that all records were easily accessible from a single location. Managing physical and electronic records together can lead to better organization, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.

RecordPoint also provided an additional layer of customized reporting, and this allowed the company to maintain compliance during the transition to RecordPoint. Once they were fully onboard the platform, they have been able to make better information management decisions through the improved reporting capabilities RecordPoint provides.

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