Pipeline Integrity: Establishing Data Management Value

For the majority of pipeline operators struggling to establish the business case for data management, records management, or geographic information systems, a step past the traditional information technology approach of return on investment (ROI) must be made. Traditional information technology value propositions are founded on information efficiencies that, for the most part, are extremely difficult to quantify since the processes are either not presently performed or the effort associated with the existing process has not been measured. Without a baseline of the existing process, a comparative analysis using improved efficiencies cannot be quantified to substantiate a return on investment. Justification of a data management system and its associated benefits in terms of its cost relative to the cost of the data it manages (e.g. ILI, excavation, CIS etc.) is compelling since it is only on the order of 2–10%, but typically even this metric is too general an argument for most pipeline integrity managers to feel comfortable defending. This paper will explore the process required to unearth the value of data management to support pipeline integrity. Many examples and cases will be discussed to back-up the approach to establishing value of data management for pipeline integrity.