If you live in the U.S., Canada, and parts of Mexico, most days you wake up, flip on your lights, unplug your phone, and start the day. You don’t have to think about flowing electricity because the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) does.
NERC is responsible for overseeing and enforcing risk reduction for the reliability and security of the power grid. With 6 regions and more than 1,500 registered entities across their jurisdiction, NERC provides comprehensive standards to address the various operating footprints of its electric utility registered entities. these standards help organizations continue to provide secure, reliable power to the almost 400 million people in its scope.
NERC entities, from bulk electric system (BES) providers to regional power plants, are challenged with:
- Staying on top of changing standards and guidance
- Coordinating stakeholders and evidence spread across the enterprise
- Maintaining continuity across human resource shifts
- Avoiding sanctions and costly fines
Most organizations are wrestling with outdated technology solutions that take years and huge budgets to implement or are juggling multiple email threads/spreadsheets/file repositories that lack proper change and version control, and clear progress and responsibility tracking. The stakes are too high to wager company reputation on aging or cobbled-together systems. An effective compliance technology solution seamlessly enables timely collection of evidence, accurate reporting to NERC and its regional entities, and graphical insights into open tasks and recurring assignments.
Karta Corp’s NERC Compliance App pack, available on the Archer Exchange addresses the pain points of NERC compliance teams with plug-in applications that can work independently or in harmony with an organization’s existing Archer solutions. Karta’s NERC compliance management solution helps teams work efficiently, helping them ace audits, and rest easy at night. Key solution aspects include:
- Curating ongoing NERC standards updates - Karta regularly updates the NERC library, so teams don’t have to download and parse the standards on their own.
- Organized evidence collection - No more dragging and dropping email attachments to folders or hoping files follow proper naming conventions. The structured evidence repository allows teams to quickly identify what they have, what’s missing, and what can be used to address multiple requirements.
- Helping teams know what to do and when, and share with leadership - Auto-generated task and obligation management can handle complex scheduling requirements and outbound communications in the centralized platform. Aggregated dashboards across all areas allow teams to report status on-demand and provide early indicators of potential missed activities and audit concerns.
- Collecting employee-reported NERC concerns and organizing for NERC self-reporting - Manage investigations related to potential non-compliance of NERC standards and export investigation results into the required NERC reporting template.
What else should you know?
- NERC compliance and beyond – Built on the Archer IRM platform, the solution allows you to manage multiple activities using a scalable approach.
- No code/low code interface - Changes can be quickly made by business professionals; no developers needed.
- Flexible evidence storage – Organizations can catalog and storing evidence within the tool or via references to secure internal sites.
To learn more about Karta’s NERC compliance management solution, find our listing on the Archer Exchange and attend the Free Friday Tech Huddle session on March 8, 2024, presented by Karta.
*Free Friday Tech Huddles require login to the Archer Community and are available to existing Archer customers. You must pre-register to participate. If you are not yet an Archer customer and are interested in learning more, please contact your local representative or authorized reseller.
Authored by @JKitchin and posted in corporation with Karta Corp.
