Statnett

Holistic risk management for Statnett

Statnett uses Synergi Life for risk management

Statnett, the operator of the Norwegian transmission system, opted for a holistic and integrated risk management strategy to improve the decision-making process. The company chose the Synergi Life Risk Management (including EasyRisk functionality) module.

Risk management is extremely important for companies that manage vital critical infrastructure. Statnett’s overarching risk management has progressed from a manual system mining data in numerous Excel sheets located across the organization, to an integrated and holistic risk management strategy.

Christine Markussen Heyerdahl is Risk Advisor at Statnett. She says the main drivers for the acquisition of the risk management software solution were two large cable projects that were initiated.

“It started in 2013,” says Heyerdahl, “with what was fundamentally a mapping of risk management at Statnett. This turned into a procurement process. Statnett needed a dedicated risk assessment tool. Prior to that, we had been doing all our risk management manually. Decision making was more time consuming than necessary, and gathering risk information from different sources required time and effort within the organization.”

Software tool for risk management

Much of 2014 was spent evaluating some of Statnett’s existing tools that had been acquired for other purposes. They also had possibilities for adding risk management functionality. “We realized that none of the existing tools covered the full set of requirements and functionality that Statnett needed,” says Heyerdahl. “We needed one tool that could cover enterprise risk, information technology, projects and HSE. We saw different risk management needs with various levels of maturity in the organization. We needed a tool covering a very wide scope,” she says.

Flexibility was most important and the software also needed to incorporate domain knowledge. “It was a challenge to find a tool with enough flexibility to meet all the different requirements,” she says.

“We needed a risk management software tool that was simple to use – not too big and complicated. That is, we wanted a dedicated niche tool for risk management. We weren’t looking for a tool for quality or document management,” says Heyerdahl. The procurement project became a way to take stock of the entire risk management strategy of the company, and an opportunity to think holistically.

Interactive and transparent process

The tender was sent out in 2014, and after the evaluation of several external tools the contract was signed with DNV for Synergi Life - EasyRisk Manager, in the spring of 2015. The module supports the overall process of identifying, analyzing, qualifying and mitigating risks in an interactive and transparent process, based on best practice risk management principles.

The system supports all stages of decision-making, from the front-end users to the back office. Every delivery of the Synergi Life EasyRisk Manager module is different, as no two companies have the same setup and systems. Still, the possibilities for tailormade systems must not be overdone, as the resulting solutions could become more complicated than necessary.

“DNV was able to give good advice in this respect and they were able to inform us about the consequences of the alternatives we were discussing. For example, projects might have made a decision regarding their solution that would affect enterprise risk management. DNV warned us when we suggested alternatives that would be too complex,” says Heyerdahl.

Holistic risk management solution

“The acquirement of Synergi Life has been a driver for holistic risk management. We had the responsibility to support and improve our risk management processes. Before, decisions would take much longer. Now we have better data security, a database instead of Excel sheets. We have an overview and an organized, integrated approach,” she says. “Our reports present data in a much better way, and among the results are risk assessments that facilitate better discussions regarding risk management in relation to decision-making.

Statnett is now committed to getting the most out of their risk management solution.

STATNETT IN BRIEF

Statnett is the system operator in the Norwegian energy system. This means operating about 11 000km of highvoltage power lines and 150 stations all over Norway. Operations are monitored by one national control centre and three regional centres. Statnett is also responsible for the connections to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Denmark and the Netherlands. Statnett is a state enterprise, established under the Act relating to state-owned enterprises and owned by the Norwegian state through the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

PROFILE:

• Customer name: Statnett
• Website: www.statnett.no
• Market: Energy
• Employees: 1200
• Product: Synergi Life - Risk Management

Top reasons why we chose Synergi Life:

• Flexible
• Easy to use
• Efficient
• Dedicated risk tool
• Capabilities to tick all the boxes

This is what we gained:

• Transparency and traceability
• Initiated holistic and effective risk management strategy
• Data security, incl. database instead of spreadsheets