IBP1067_19

INTEGRATE AND CONSOLIDATE CONTROL

ROOM ACTIVITIES
Jim Dixon1, Rene Varon 2

Copyright 2019, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP

This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Pipeline Conference and Exhibition 2019, held
between 03 and 05 of September, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the
Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the final paper submitted by the
author(s). The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is
presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute’ opinion, or that of its
Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Pipeline
Conference and Exhibition 2019.

Abstract

While trying to be effective in their operations, pipeline companies are committed to regulatory
compliance that they are subject to. Such regulations and in general, the nature of their
operations, require Operation Control Centers to interact with multiple work groups, inside and
outside of the company; therefore, Control Room Management (CRM) practices demand the
participation of an entire organization, beyond Control Room. This paper presents how pipeline
companies are implementing their Control Room Management (CRM) applications, as a
consolidated solution to overcome its operational and compliance challenges, focusing on
creating a collaboration tool for their organizations. The paper also describes how a
collaborative approach is an effective way to implement a solid Control Room Management
(CRM) plan, since it provides a consistent way to standardize processes and ensure compliance
with the regulations.

1. Introduction

The American Petroleum Institute (API) recommended practice (API - 1168) for
Pipeline Control Room Management (CRM) provide Pipeline Operators, and Pipeline
Controllers with guidance on industry best practices on Control Room Management (CRM) to
consider when developing or enhancing processes, procedures, and training. The document
addresses pipeline safety elements in Operation Control Centers for hazardous liquid pipelines
in the transportation sector:

• Personnel roles, authorities, and responsibilities;

• Guidelines for shift turnover
• Provide adequate information;
• Fatigue mitigation;
• Change management;
• Training;
• Operating experience; and
• Workload of Pipeline Controllers.

______________________________
1
Product Movement Manager – Pipeline Company (USA)
2
Electrical Engineer & EMBA – Tory Technologies, Inc.
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In the same way the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
and State partners enforce regulations thru Inspections and Audits; information is provided
concerning regulations for Control Room Management (CRM) for gas and hazardous liquid
pipelines regulated under 49 CFR Parts 192 and 195. These regulations address human factors,
engineering and management solutions for the purpose of assuring the performance reliability
of operator personnel that controls pipeline operations.

Control Room Management (CRM) applications are becoming more and more
predominant now days for pipelines and strategic assets supervised and controlled with SCADA
systems, to ensure safe operations.

Pipeline Operators in the U.S and around the world are overseen by government entities
and national agencies, to supervise, enforce and audit their Operation Control Centers, to
guarantee their compliance with best industry standards and to ensure public safety.

For that instance, the American Petroleum Institute (API), largest U.S. trade association
for the oil and natural gas, released the first guideline for Pipeline Control Room Management
(CRM) API Recommended Practice 1168 First Edition in September 2008, followed by a
Second Edition in February 2015, based on federal regulations 49 CFR 192.631 & 195.446. and
created a standard to be followed by the industry.

The United States has the largest network of energy pipelines in the world, with more
than 2.4 million miles of pipe. There are approximately 72,000 miles of crude oil lines in
the U.S. that connect regional markets operated by multiple private companies. Figure No. 1
shows the crude and multiproduct pipelines in US territory. These pipelines are supervised and
controlled from different centers located across the national territory, all of them committed to
ensure safety operation of these assets.

Figure 1. Crude & Multiproduct Pipelines in USA

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Pipeline Operators then are required to implement processes and procedures to ensure
the compliance with these regulations. Multiple Pipeline Operators have decided to implement
software solutions to consolidate all these processes and ensure the compliance with the
industry recommendations. Through these implementations, it is realized that commercial
solutions would help not only to comply and reinforce the regulation, but also consolidate the
interaction of Pipeline Controllers with multiple applications in the Operations Control Center.
This paper presents how companies have been able to simplify the daily activities of their
Pipeline Controllers by implementing a truly collaborative application for their Operation
Control Center.

2. Operator Challenges

Pipeline Operators operate their pipelines from Operation Control Centers, where
Pipeline Controllers are responsible for the safe and efficient operation and transportation
throughout their pipeline networks. While trying to be effective in their operation, Pipeline
Operators are committed to regulatory compliance, as an interstate pipeline operator. Therefore,
operators must implement a practical Control Room Management (CRM) application to
facilitate the activities of the controllers, but at the same time to ensure compliance with the
requirements defined by Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in
49 CFR.

For this purpose, Operation Control Centers are using multiple applications, some
developed in-house, and some provided at the corporate level. With multiple systems being
utilized, the Pipeline Controllers were required to document information utilizing multiple
tools, with different interfaces and different workflows. At the same time and since the
information is distributed through multiple systems, it can be complicated to evaluate and
review past events, responses, and reconstruct sequence(s) of actions taken by Pipeline
Controllers and other groups within a company.

A couple of the main challenges facing Operation Control Centers are multiple
applications must be accessed, and information must be manually entered, which takes time
away from the Pipeline Controllers. Another factor is the information that is gathered and
documented to support the response of events, there is not a consistent way to ensure
transparency of the data. Finally, it is the state of readiness for any regulatory revision by
government agencies, which can be a time-consuming task for Pipeline Operators. Other
challenges to consider and overcome are related to:

• Different groups within an organization, using multiple applications to store and collect
operational data.
• Different procedures across multiple work teams to report and access data to the
Operation Control Center.
• Lack of auditability of information that is gathered or documented to support internal
procedures.
• Readiness for any regulatory revision by government agencies, to consolidate and
organize relevant information.

In addition to these challenges facing Operation Control Centers, there is also

consideration for investment in resources and time to consolidate a solution that would fit
operations and fulfill company requirements.

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3. The Solution

A Control Room Management (CRM) software application should facilitate and

maintain documentation to demonstrate standard operating procedure within the Operation
Control Center, as well as, all actions taken to ensure the safe operation of any pipeline system
under abnormal operation conditions, and justify that a specific deviation from any procedures
were necessary to protect the integrity of the system and personnel, as required. Pipeline
Operators have started market research to find software solutions for the management of their
Operations Control Centers, capable of consolidating the functionalities required by the Control
Room Management (CRM) regulation, while interacting and integrating with corporate
applications already in use; multiple Pipeline Operators have identified a commercial solution
as the perfect fit for their Operation Control Centers.

The selected application for Control Room Management (CRM) was a web application
developed to allow Pipeline Operators to adhere to API 1168 recommendations. Furthermore,
the application was designed specifically to fulfill the requirements defined by Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and 49 CFR 192.631 and 195.446

The solution was conceived as a web-collaboration tool, as shown in Figure 2, to offer

an environment to follow, distribute and communicate relevant information and activities
between the control room and the rest of the organization, also including external groups.

Figure 2. Collaborative Environment

The application implemented by multiple Pipeline Operators included a set of modules

with specific functionalities to address the requirements listed in API 1168. The following list
describes the features included within multiple modules.

• Electronic Event Log - This module allows the user to track and document all the
relevant pipeline events and the corresponding actions taken at the Operations Control
Center, including events such as phone calls, attention and recognition of alarms,
equipment-related events, pipeline incidents, tasks performed by the operators during
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their shifts, etc., as required in API-RP-1168-4.1.1, 4.1.2, 5.3.2, 5.3.3. This module also
included functionalities to document and manage shift turnover, as required in API-RP-
1168-5.1, 5.2, 5.3.

• Management of Changes (MOC) – Process used by Pipeline Operators to manage

changes to their facilities and processes, organizations, and documents to ensure that
changes are adequately identified, planned, controlled, and communicated, API-RP-
1168-3.5. Change Management is a regular part of Operation Control Center operations
that shall be managed and governed by effective processes and procedures. For change
management to be effective, Operation Control Center personnel shall be a part of the
decision and implementation process if the change could affect Operation Control
Center operations, API-RP-1168-8. Changes that affect the Operation Control Center
such as pipeline operational changes, procedural changes, SCADA changes, etc., must
be properly documented, approved, communicated and acknowledged by all personnel
within the Operations Control Center. The MOC module facilitates the entire MOC
workflow process, allowing for Supervisors and Managers to review and approve
changes as well as requiring Pipeline Controllers to acknowledge the change so all
personnel are fully aligned with the change and understand the impacts, if any, that are
associated with the change.

• Callout Management – An Operation Control Center staffed by personnel charged

with responsibilities for remotely monitoring and/or controlling the entire or multiple
sections of pipeline systems, API-RP-1168-7. This function helps Operation Control
Centers organize the information related to on-call service-crews. The application
maintains and updates the schedules of these groups, facilitating and ensuring quick
access to the right people when required.

• Abnormal Operating Condition (AOC) Management - A condition identified by the

Pipeline Controller that may indicate malfunction of a component or deviation from a
normal operation that may; a) Indicate a condition exceeding design limits; or b) Result
in a Hazard(s) to persons, property, or the environment, API-RP-1168-3.1. Abnormal
Operating Condition alarms must be properly documented in a timely manner. This
module automatically generates an AOC record for every AOC alarm reported by
SCADA. Pipeline Controllers can then complete the record with the information
relevant to the abnormal condition recorded. This module also generates an automatic
event in the electronic event log to register the AOC incident in the daily log.

• CRM Training Management – A Pipeline Operator’s training program shall provide

Pipeline Controllers and Operation Control Center personnel, training to carry out their
roles and responsibilities as defined by the Pipeline Operator, API-RP-1168-10. The
regulation requires regular reviews and updates to the training plan for the Pipeline
Controllers. This module allows for tracking the training plan updates but also the
fulfillment of the plan for each Pipeline Controller.

• CRM Document Management – Provides and maintains adequate information related

to processes, procedures, as well as roles and responsibilities to Pipeline Controllers and
other personnel interacting with the Operation Control Center, API-RP-1168-6. This
module allows for regular reviews, updates and the status of critical documents related
to Control Room Management (CRM). The module notifies users when documents are

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due for reviews, updates and documents the review cycle history. This module can
integrate with other document repositories such as SharePoint.

4. Summary of Advantages

Pipeline Operators have identified specific benefits of implementing a commercially

proven, industry standard Control Room Management (CRM) application; among these
benefits are:

1. Centralized data repository: The application is then the go-to place for all aspects of
Control Room Management (CRM), from the daily event log, to CCD defeats, to AOC
review to Control Room Management (CRM) documentation and training tracking.
2. Consistency: One of the main advantages of using a tool that includes all this integrated
functionality, is that company personnel need only learn one tool. All data entry and
workflows are consolidated and consistent across all modules.
3. Simple workflows: Some tools overcomplicate approval of workflows, for Pipeline
Operators simplicity is very important to minimize deployment time and learning
curves.
4. Company-wide collaboration: Extending the use of the Control Room Management
(CRM) application to multiple work groups of a company allows the consistently of
getting necessary input for other work groups and maintaining all personnel are
informed of the relevant activities and issues, like projects, outages, MOC’s,
maintenance activities, etc.
5. Notifications: E-mail notifications has been an excellent mechanism to receive
reminders about pending tasks or new events requiring attention.
6. Configurable Security: Security configuration can be a critical factor when selecting a
solution. From access to specific data of the operation to access menus related to
modules and functionality of the application, the flexibility to configure and control
such access can allow Pipeline Operators to implement a better control over their
Control Room Management (CRM) information. This also ensures compliance with the
reparation of duties requirements and multiple levels of approvals.
7. Integrated Document Repository: It makes for a convenient way to centralize all Control
Room Management (CRM) documentation in one place. Finding documents related to
any Control Room Management (CRM) record is now easy and effective.
8. Cloud-based: Knowing the application can always be available on the cloud without
having to spend and maintain IT resources to maintain the application is important to
Pipeline Operators. Updating the application is a simple process mostly handled by the
provider and only needing a Pipeline Operators approval to promote updates from
testing to production.

4. Conclusions

By implementing the Control Room Management (CRM) application, multiple Pipeline

Operators have achieved several tangible goals, from consolidating information relevant to the
Operations Control Center, to integrating third party applications within a unique tool, ensuring
Control Room Management (CRM) regulatory compliance.

Modules such as Electronic Logbook, Outages Management, and MOC, are the
foundation for Pipeline Operators to implement best industry practices, which allows the
Pipeline Operators to achieve specific goals:
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The Control Room Management (CRM) collaboration environment has facilitated the
way Operation Control Centers interact with other work groups within an organization,
improving productivity and efficiency. The nature of the application, as a web tool, allows
Pipeline Operators to share information between its internal work groups, without losing track
and auditability of data and documentation.

Facilitating Pipeline Controller Tasks - Having one single system to capture and
document events, but also generate tickets for service requests, check availability of field
personnel, manage their shift, report critical events, document abnormal operations, etc., can
make the processes and procedures for all Pipeline Controllers easier, and at the same time help
standardize and reinforce procedures within the Operations Control Center.

Consolidating Control Room Management (CRM) Information – The application truly

consolidates all the relevant information that Operation Control Centers need to support their
daily operation in one single repository database, from events, to schedules, shifts, on-call
contacts, outages, MOCs, equipment status, project status, client status, etc. all in one
application, all events related and linked to easily rebuilt any incident or response from the
Operation Control Center.

Collaboration Tool – The Control Room Management (CRM) application brings

together the communication and interaction of Operation Control Centers with all the other
work groups inside and outside of the organization. This type of applications provides a very
natural environment to share information from and to the Operation Control Center. Facilities
to interact with other dependencies, including Maintenance Groups, Project Teams, Regulatory
Agencies, Management, etc. are part of the application core; integration with team schedules
and capabilities to keep track of people on-call within the same application, make the solution
unique.

8. References

RENE L. VARON, JUAN P. TORRES IBP2306_7 - In-House Development vs Industry

Standard to Follow - Control Room Management (CRM). – Rio Pipeline Conference &
Exhibition 2017.
API RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 1168 SECOND EDITION, Control Room Management
(CRM)