As utilities face mounting pressure to harden the grid, developing a comprehensive System Resiliency Plan (SRP) requires immense cross-functional coordination. In my previous article, The Mechanics of a Defensible System Resiliency Plan: Rethinking BCR Automation, I explored the regulatory side of this challenge. We discussed why utilities must adopt a "glass box" approach to Benefit-Cost Ratios (BCRs), focusing on transparent evidentiary trails and ground-truthed data to secure regulatory trust and cost recovery.
But getting a resiliency project approved is only the first hurdle. Once the BCR is accepted and the mandate is set, the challenge shifts from regulatory strategy to financial and technical execution.
Often, the proposed solution to streamline this execution is "automation." Yet, when we look at the gritty, operational realities of how utilities actually build and account for grid infrastructure, we see that simple workflow automation isn't enough. To truly capture the value of an SRP, utilities must address the complex relationship between field compliance, financial closeouts, and legacy IT systems.
But first, before I dive in to the rest of this topic: full disclosure: At Macedon Technologies, we’re passionate about helping IOUs design and implement these types of innovative business process workflows. Whether it’s for rate case documentation or cost classification, our goal is to make your transition to automated planning fast, smooth, and highly effective. Schedule a chat with me if you would like to know more.
One of the most powerful, yet often overlooked, financial incentives for streamlining a resiliency project is accelerating the transition of assets to Plant-in-Service.
When capital projects experience delayed closeouts, utilities accrue Allowance for Funds Used During Construction (AFUDC) charges over a longer period. Reducing the timeline between physical project completion and financial closeout, often a lag of 3-6 months, can result in substantial financial efficiencies and faster realization of returns.
Automating the financial closeout process is a fantastic goal, but it is rarely a purely financial problem. In reality, financial closeouts are almost always delayed by physical, operational bottlenecks: a contractor forgetting "as-built" documentation, missing material logs, or skipping required photographs. You cannot automate a financial closeout if the field work wasn't documented correctly in the first place.
To genuinely accelerate Plant-in-Service, an automation framework must bridge the gap between the physical field and the back office.
Rather than relying on back-end administrators to chase down missing paperwork weeks after a crew has left the site, intelligent process orchestration enforces compliance at the point of work. This means configuring workflows that prevent a contractor or internal crew from closing a field ticket unless all required data, geospatial coordinates, photos, and FERC-compliant coding are submitted and verified.
By guaranteeing perfect data at the source, the subsequent financial closeout ceases to be a manual, error-prone scavenger hunt. It becomes a frictionless, automated step that directly supports the utility's financial health.
Any discussion about modernizing field-to-finance workflows eventually hits a technical roadblock: legacy enterprise systems.
For a utility CIO, introducing new software to orchestrate these processes can sound like adding another layer of technical debt. Integrating modern workflows with 30-year-old monolithic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems is notoriously difficult.
However, modern process orchestration should be viewed as a strategy for managing technical debt, not adding to it. Rather than undertaking a massive, high-risk "rip and replace" of customized legacy systems just to achieve better field mobility or financial reporting, an orchestration layer extends their life. It provides the agile, modern capabilities required to coordinate internal crews and external vendors, while allowing the underlying systems of record to do what they do best: hold the master data.
Building and executing a defensible System Resiliency Plan is a monumental task that impacts every corner of a utility. While transparent BCRs are critical for regulatory approval, realizing the financial benefits of those plans requires flawless execution. By deploying orchestration that respects operational realities—enforcing field compliance to accelerate financial closeouts and modernizing workflows without replacing legacy systems—utilities can confidently bridge the gap between planning for resilience and actually putting it into service.
Want to continue the discussion? Schedule a chat with Tom.