Why You Need a Grid Modernization Roadmap

Do you have a comprehensive roadmap that will help you achieve your digital transformation and grid modernization goals over the next five years? Or are you following your instincts and hoping that you’re making all the right decisions at each fork in the road about your people, process, technology, and data?

Without a roadmap, chances are that you will eventually get to where you wanted to go, but just like a car trip to a remote location where you’ve never been, you’ll most likely get lost a few times and will need to backtrack and try different routes. Not taking the time to plan out the best path in advance leads to increased risk, extra time, and wasted money in the long run.

 

Benefits of having a roadmap

Roadmaps allow organizations to make informed and confident decisions regarding their people, business processes, technology, and data. The benefits related to these four pillars are outlined below.

• People – The most valuable asset for any organization is its people, and a roadmap allows you to keep your staff happy, engaged, and productive as they navigate through the changes in business processes and upgrades to the technology and data that they will interact with each day. A good roadmap will prioritize the need for ongoing organizational change management that includes strong communication, training, and ongoing support. Effective organizational change management reduces the natural resistance to change and can keep employee morale high since it helps individuals understand and appreciate the changes and become an advocate for the new processes, technology, and data.
• Process – Effective business processes streamline the usage of technology and allow staff to complete their work as efficiently as possible. This, in turn, leads to improved safety, reduced costs, and better customer satisfaction. Roadmaps need to include business process optimization tasks that allow an organization to understand how they currently get work done and then map out the future state (the “could be” or “should be” business processes) as the business is transformed with upgraded technology and data. It is important to note that business process optimization is not a “one and done” task. The most successful organizations include roadmap tasks to review and refine business processes on a periodic basis.
• Technology – The digital transformation of businesses has resulted in an explosion of new technology. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the options, and since not everything can be implemented all at once (and some technology has dependencies on other tools and data), it’s important to establish a prioritized roadmap. A roadmap takes all factors into consideration and gives you a solid game plan for selecting and implementing the new technology in an organized and achievable manner. Technology decisions that seem simple in isolation are often a lot more complicated when evaluated from an overall enterprise view. A good roadmap pays for itself with a strong return on investment by allowing an organization to implement the right technology at the right time (along with the right data and optimized business processes).
• Data – High quality data is a critical requirement for advanced applications. With the widespread adoption of grid-edge devices and high-speed communication networks, organizations are inundated with data. A good roadmap provides the opportunity to leverage this treasure trove of information in innovative ways, allowing managers and executives the ability to make better decisions.\

 

Steps for creating a successful roadmap

A tried-and-true recipe for a good roadmap includes up-front planning, individual and group interviews, and ample time to document, review, and refine the plan. Optional help from a trusted advisor decreases the time spent developing the roadmap and can provide other benefits as well.

• Step #1: Planning – Don’t underestimate the value of good planning up-front. For example, setting the expectations and time requirements for all stakeholders in advance of the interviews will make the discussions more productive and avoid scheduling delays. Try to avoid scheduling these activities during the busiest times of the year. Creating a good roadmap takes time and requires a significant amount of communication from executives and key stakeholders across the organization.
• Step #2: Interviews – A systematic series of interviews is needed to gather the required information regarding how business is conducted currently along with good ideas for how to improve operations in the future. The future vision also needs to factor in product roadmaps from the software vendors who are providing the current technology stack as well as knowledge about emerging technologies and new software vendors. Finally, a keen understanding of the regulatory environment is necessary for the development of a comprehensive roadmap.
• Step #3: Time to Document the Plan – The best roadmaps are thoughtfully evaluated and iteratively reviewed with all stakeholders. While it is often challenging to get complete agreement on the order / priority of the tasks included in the roadmap, taking the time to build a consensus is critical. It is also important to summarize the roadmap with easy-to-understand graphics, charts, and pictures. This takes extra effort but saves time in the long run because very few stakeholders have the time to review all the text, but everyone has time to review and understand the visual representation of the roadmap.
• Optional Step #4: Trusted Advisor Support – For many organizations, hiring an external consultant is an effective way to create a roadmap, especially when existing staff is already fully loaded with day-to-day operations. An external trusted advisor can help facilitate the required discussions, document the findings, and ensure that a roadmap is created with the proper balance between schedule, resources, and budget while also leveraging industry trends and best practices.

 

ADMS roadmap example

Projects implementing advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) typically have long timelines and can be very complex with heavy resource requirements and lots of moving parts. An ADMS project roadmap is a critical factor for the success of these projects due to the following reasons:

• A roadmap gives the core ADMS project team something to reference that effectively communicates goals, recognizes priority tasks, and distinguishes objectives to all stakeholders. 
• A roadmap provides a bird's eye view of the deliverables, resources, milestones, objectives, and planned timeline for the ADMS project.
• A roadmap’s strategic approach helps the project team effectively articulate reasons for pursuing the project without getting lost in the details.
• An ADMS project roadmap can give teams and stakeholders clarity around the project right from the start. Having all project stakeholders on the same page from the very beginning is critical for a successful ADMS implementation.

Right to the point

A roadmap provides a high-level view of a complex multi-year effort that is easy to understand for all stakeholders and builds consensus across the enterprise. A good roadmap allows organizations to easily review and adjust high-level task priorities, ordering, scheduling, and resource balancing. It also allows high-level budgetary estimates to be developed along with cost justifications that will enable funding to be secured for mission-critical projects. Effective roadmaps balance organizational priorities and help executives and project teams move forward with confidence.

With digital transformation and grid modernization efforts moving at a swift pace, organizations can’t afford to take the “scenic route” when meeting their operational goals. Establish your roadmap now to give your company a clear path to success.

 

Article originally published on the POWER Engineers website.