Managing Operational
Change with DataOps
for Utilities

ManagingOperational Changewith DataOps
for Utilities

Table of contents
Why utilities need DataOps.............................................................................................................. pg. 3
Making utility DataOps happen........................................................................................................ pg. 7
DataOps fuels utility innovation....................................................................................................... pg. 9
Venturing into DataOps at your utility............................................................................................. pg. 11

About Cognite©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

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Cognite is a global industrial SaaS company that
supports the full-scale digital transformation ofasset-heavy industries around the world. Our core
Industrial DataOps platform, Cognite Data Fusion®,enables data and domain users to collaborate toquickly and safely develop, operationalize, andscale industrial AI solutions and applications.
Cognite Data Fusion® codifies industrial domain
knowledge into software that fits into your existing
ecosystem and enables scale from proofs ofconcepts to truly data-driven operations to deliver
both profitability and sustainability.
WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →Why utilities need DataOps
Utilities are gathering more data than ever — fromequipment, sensors, business processes, customer
interactions and third-party sources. This data candrive down risk from operational change by helping
utilities understand patterns and trends, and also
by increasing flexibility and nimbleness. For utilities
to become driven by data, rather than drowning in
it, they must effectively and efficiently deliver theright, meaningful data to the personnel and applications that need it.
So far, most utilities are not yet using their wealth ofdata to full advantage. Achieving this goal is nearly
impossible when operational data is divided acrossthe utility, buried under layers of complexity, andoften lacking context that makes it meaningful.
Turning data into a useful operational tool requires
robust systems to make data available, under-

standable and usable across the entire utility. The
emerging discipline of DataOps empowers utilities
to build a pipeline that reliably and automaticallysupplies high-quality data wherever it is needed.
“DataOps tackles the high-overhead problems associated with data management and operationalization,” explained Gabe Prado, director of productmarketing for power and utilities at Cognite. “Today, it still takes too many steps to add humanlike
meaning to data and efficiently integrate the data
into applications. The key is to make that processsmooth, clean and dependable so applications
can return value to operations and the business.”

and apply data from across the enterprise to answer
their own questions. This supports optimal alignment of people, processes, technology and assets.
Ultimately, DataOps can help foster a more nimble
and resilient utility, both operationally and culturally.
“From a technology perspective, working with data
is relatively easy. But culture is hard,” said Adriana
Karaboutis, global chief information and digital
officer for National Grid. “Recognizing data as anenterprise asset, and getting past thinking thateach department owns its set of data, can be tremendously helpful in shifting utility culture andsupporting digitalization.”

DataOps allows both operational technology (OT)and information technology (IT) data to be assembled, preprocessed and used cross-functionally.
Personnel can easily discover, access, understand

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →“DataOps is the ability to enable solutions,develop data products, and activate data forbusiness value across all technology tiers from
infrastructure to experience.”

BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM“DataOps is a collaborative data management
practice focused on improving the communication, integration, and automation of data flows
between data managers and data consumers
across an organization.”3

What is Industrial DataOps?

DataOps accelerates the process
by which distributed operational
data is transformed into practical
recommendations

Environmental data

Grid data

Asset data

Prolonged drought
GIS data
Weather forecasts
High temperatures

Available capacity(baseload generation +connected renewables)
Demand forecasts

Inspection
Images/LIDAR
Substation metrics
Transformer performance

DataOps& analysis

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →Wildfire conditions
Vegetation encroachment
Asset failure/damage
Customer/personnel safety

CONTACT SALES →©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

Increased risks

Tree trimming
Pole repair
Transformer maintenance
Ready peaker generators(or activate demand response)
Contingency planningfor de-energizing feeders where
fire risk is highest

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Recommended actions

DataOps solves three fundamental
data problems
Access

QualityTimelinessHow can users get to the data they need? Especially when it resides deep in a control system or across a variety of sources. Who is authorized to modify, correct and update it?

Can data be trusted so that people can trust
decisions, reports and predictions based onthat data? Is the data accurate, complete andconsistent?

Nearly every kind of utility data has an expiration date, after which its relevance drops.

Aside from the owner, who is allowed to access or share each type of data?

Are users across the enterprise all working
from the same “single source of truth”? In
particular, artificial intelligence and machinelearning demand excellent data quality.

How can automation make data easier to use
and apply so that value can be captured more
quickly?

©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

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What are the rules for how data can cross between departments and systems while complying with security and privacy requirements?

When any part of the data supporting operational decisions, financial projection or situational awareness is stale, consequences canbe costly.

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →As almost every aspect of utility operations isundergoing profound change, systematicallyliberating data across the utility supports optimalrealignment of people, processes, technology andassets. This empowers utilities to address challenges related to ongoing disruptions, such as:■ Shifting energy supply and demand patterns,
both short-term (such as from the COVID-19
pandemic) and long-term (from renewables,
technology evolution, shifting consumer needs
and more active grid participation from “prosumers”).
■ Rising risks to infrastructure and safety. Climatechange is yielding more severe storms, wildfires
and floods while also shifting routine weather
patterns. This complicates predictive maintenance, outage response and plans for system
upgrades. Utility assets are more likely to incurdamage or failure, risking harm to utility personnel and the public.

Big change presents opportunities as well as
challenges. Recognizing this, more utilities haveadopted innovation as a business strategy. Robustaccess to data allows innovation to flourish byrevealing the best opportunities and resources,
encouraging exploration and experimentation, andsupporting smart decisions.
“DataOps is at the heart of where everyone is goingin the utility industry,” said Karaboutis. “Data leads
the way toward insights. Today the challenge is:
How do utilities bring in operational data — readings from sensors, substations, etc. — to support
decisions and predictive analytics? Building yourdata foundation will allow you to accomplish digitalization.”

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

6■ Workforce evolution. Remote operations are
increasingly common at utilities — partly due tothe COVID-19 pandemic, but also due to a longterm trend of wider deployment of sensors,
automation and robotics. Also, as experienced
employees retire, the value of their accumulated
experience and insight must be preserved. At
the same time, utilities face daunting competition for new talent with strong digital skills.

CONTACT SALES →Making utility DataOps happen

As utilities adopted computers, this translated into
the IT/OT divide: IT has been mostly managed separately from OT.
Now that the operational technologies of power■ Inconsistent data types. Utility data exists in avast range of formats (structured and unstructured), which are used in different ways by different departments and systems.
■ Metadata deficiencies. The contextual tags andcategories used to characterize data often are
missing, inconsistent or hard to interpret. Without good metadata, data is difficult to understand and use.
■ Vendor lock-in. Many utilities rely on equipment
and software that use proprietary data formats,which can limit a utility’s access to its own data.
The first step in bridging silos is to standardize and integrate utility data stored in department-specific repositories or systems. This
involves creating an inventory of data, systems
and users, then connecting them in useful ways.

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →Security (physical and cyber) can be a sensitive
issue when bridging utility data silos. Compartmentalization has long been a protective strategy for utilities. Malware that enters a utility via
an internet-connected IT system (such as email
or enterprise resource planning) might migrate toconnected systems for customers or operations,increasing the risk of data breaches, outages andeven damage to assets and people.
Cloud-based DataOps platforms can enhance
security. Rather than building direct interfaces
between departmental systems, data is transferred from one system to another via the cloud.
This creates a layer of abstraction that serves as asafety buffer between systems, preventing potentially harmful executable code from accessing thecontrol systems. Cloud-based DataOps also offers
the enhanced layers of security offered by cloudvendors.
“Regulators are very concerned about utility cybersecurity and privacy,” Karaboutis said. “Talking toregulators about DataOps is an opportunity for
utilities to have this discussion in a constructive
way. Both regulators and utilities want to do more
for stakeholders, and DataOps enables that while
managing the complexities of security and compliance.”

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At utilities, silos are the most fundamental obstacle
to spontaneous, ubiquitous data access. Historically, utilities have been highly siloed organizations,especially with limited interaction between operations and other departments.

generation, distribution and consumption havethemselves grown highly digitized, IT and OT are
merging. Utilities must unify their management.
Building a “data backbone” infrastructure does
more than connect silos; it also creates opportunities to overcome these common problems withutility data:©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

Automation helps organizations fix overload andbottlenecks of any kind. DataOps directly addresses
the quandary of data supply/demand noted in the
research paper DataOps in Manufacturing and Utilities Industries →: “While data generation is spontaneous, its consumption is not. With data pilingup every day, fresh ways of thinking are required toaccelerate its consumption and usage.”

The next step in implementing utility DataOps is
to automate context. Data is only useful to people
when it has meaningful context. “Humanizing” data
involves recognizing and replicating the immense
amount of effort that people already invest to
manually place information into context.
The contextualization engine in a DataOps platform automatically applies intuitive, consistentmetadata that clarifies relationships between data
sources and types. For example, operating datafrom a substation would be tagged automaticallyaccording to the originating device/component(such as “transformer 3”), the information conveyed
by the data (such as load or temperature), the date

and time, and pertinent characteristics (such as
condition, efficiency or safety).
Cross-departmental teams work together todevelop metadata schema (labels and hierarchies)that support unaided interpretation by people
working in a variety of roles or departments, on avariety of problems. For instance, a financial analyst
budgeting capital-improvement projects mightwant to identify specific grid assets that are likely tofail in the next three years, how much those failures
might cost and how to replace them most cost-effectively. When the finance department has some
input and insight into metadata, a mass of otherwise arcane technical details can be easily inter-

preted by someone who knows little about howtransformers work. This yields answers to important business questions.
The end result of this preparation is a functional
data model. This “single source of truth” enables
more users across the utility to access and use
data, regardless of where it originated. It allows
people to focus on business or operational issues,
not data issues. It also supports efficient real-timeaccess to data via open application programming
interfaces (APIs) and standard development kits
(SDKs).

Knowledge map

Transformer A

fault range

ls_of_typelast-event-datemanufactured by

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →manufactured by>80 deg C

Step up

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Data sets

IT/operational data
contextualizationenginehas data sheet

03/11/2019©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

Substation D

File C

produced byhas data sheet

DataOps fuels utility innovation

DataOps also makes it easier for utilities to connect
the dots between important issues, allowing roomfor gains in the face of disruption. For instance, the
COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted utilities inearly 2020, causing sudden major changes in theirinternal operations as well as in energy-consumption patterns. To adapt, utilities learned how to
conduct more work by remote, with fewer personnel in offices and at plants. This has accelerated
interest in more sophisticated modeling.
“Remote-working tools depend on reliable accessand trust in data,” Prado said. “The imagery, locational data, video feeds and text chats all get
captured in different systems and have to integrate
together to paint a vivid picture of the operations.
This is how utilities can work smarter, not harder,
even after workplace health concerns return to amore normal level. It can help preserve institutional
memory and improve processes and training.”
The need to support increased remote work hasraised utility interest in increasing the quality andscope of modeling, including digital twin capabilities. “If you need to replicate the experience of aworker on-site at a plant, the digital twin effectively

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →becomes the plant. But it’s also where you can run
simulations and projections, to try out different
scenarios,” Prado said. “When all the data relationships are mapped out and constantly updated, any
authorized personnel can use that model to get amore realistic idea of what could happen and where
the opportunities for improvement are.”On an ongoing basis, DataOps can help utilities
adapt to more routine disruptions. Ideally, thisshould include data about what’s happening in theworld outside the utility.
“Events start coming into the mix of relevant data.
If there’s a big soccer match happening this week,that might affect the amount of energy needed tokeep the grid balanced,” said Karaboutis. “Consider
all triggers or sources of data and ask: How can
we make this more accurate? How can we distribute this data faster, treat it with more rigor, to gain
better insights? Then you start scaling up the use ofdata. DataOps becomes a discipline in and of itself.”
Overall, power systems are becoming more automated and dynamic, generating and using vast
amounts of data as they glean ever more efficiency and safety from limited resources. Similarly,
consumers are using more sophisticated technologies, from mobile apps and smart thermostats torooftop solar, battery energy storage and electricvehicles (EVs). Growing consumer interest in play-9

into applications. This supports short-term gains(such as deploying a predictive model) as well as
long-term success (such as changing an entire
workflow, or optimizing capital investments).

©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

Utilities exist in a highly dynamic landscape, where
market opportunities, technologies and the operating environment are constantly changing.
Harnessing data not only helps utilities understandwhat’s going on around (and within) themselves,
but it also points the way to the future. DataOps
equips utilities to perform better, faster, more accurate analysis and then operationalize the analysis

ing a more active role on the grid is leading utilities
to leverage data as a tool of external communication and interoperation.
“With good DataOps practices, utilities can spot
emerging patterns, especially when they’renuanced,” Prado said. “For instance, if several
consumers in one part of the grid are adding solaror EVs, that can help you optimize and stabilize
power flows at different times.”
DataOps can help utilities more precisely match
consumers with programs and tailor offerings to
consumer desires and capabilities. By combining
market and operational data, utilities could design
special rates and services for EVs or demand
response that leverages home or building automation systems. These represent new revenue opportunities as well as potential sources of avoided
costs or resource aggregation.

©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

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Navigating this much dynamism requires a firm
grasp of utility data. Without this, utilities will missbusiness opportunities and also risk compromising
regulatory compliance, efficiency, customer satisfaction, public trust, safety and reliability.

WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →Venturing into DataOps at your utility

Prado recommends identifying a well-scoped project that has a clear business problem to solve,
such as building a dashboard or a predictive model.
Ideally, this project would draw data from more than
one department or system. Clear goals should be
identified up front: What questions should people
be able to answer with this new data model?

Using sound DataOps principles and tools on
smaller projects creates a common backbone of
support, which allows utilities to safely expand thescope of DataOps.

A utility then must determine which data is available, who owns it and how to access it. Then,
DataOps professionals can then work with utility personnel and data scientists to create a data
model and populate it with cleaned, current datathat is layered with useful metadata.

1. Who needs our data? What internal classes ofdata consumers are emerging at your utility: citizen data scientists, product managers, digitalteams, etc.? Do they have the data access theyneed?

The goal is for DataOps to become a self-sustaining
aspect of utility operations. It’s best to start small,with a single DataOps use case that will quickly
demonstrate success. Once the model is deployed,
the utility evaluates the accuracy of its results andprojections, fine-tuning it where necessary. Whenthe model is deemed accurate, confidence in it will
grow, and it can be applied to optimize workflows,
WHY COGNITE DATA FUSION® →Eventually more users can be added across theenterprise which helps the utility adopt a moredata-driven culture.

Utilities interested in exploring the potential of
DataOps might consider these questions:

2. Are we responsive enough? At this time, canwe easily and quickly find the data needed toanswer ad hoc operational, business or regulatory questions?
3. Are we wasting resources? How much time do
our data scientists spend finding and cleaning big datasets? How often do they succeed in
deploying models into production?

BENEFITS FOR YOUR TEAMS →CONTACT SALES →4. Do we deploy solutions fast enough? How long
does it take our digital teams to deliver and scaleinternally developed digital applications? How
might improved agility and productivity enhance
our business and operations?

With enough high-quality, accessible and understandable data, utilities can tackle these and manyother issues. This not only allows them to navigate
disruption more smoothly and effectively, but it
can also help utilities learn to embrace change as
an opportunity to keep learning and growing whileproviding ever-improved services to their customers.

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automation or decisions. DataOps infrastructure
can be expanded to explore additional use cases,
yielding long- and short-term benefits.

©COGNITE 2023 — COGNITE.COM

DataOps is such a versatile capability that it canbe challenging to figure out where to start. Fortunately, DataOps augments existing systems anddoes not require significant infrastructure disruption. Rather, DataOps becomes the fabric thatweaves together data, process and experts withtooling and contextualization.

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