Enhancing Efficiency in Energy Companies: A Case Study of Northern Natural Gas
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Application Security
Applicable Industries
- Transportation
- Utilities
Applicable Functions
- Human Resources
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Autonomous Transport Systems
- Tamper Detection
Services
- System Integration
- Training
About The Customer
Northern Natural Gas is a company based in Omaha, Nebraska, operating an interstate natural gas pipeline that extends from the Permian Basin in Texas to the upper Midwest. The company provides transportation and storage services to approximately 75 utilities and numerous end-use customers in the upper Midwest. It also offers cross-haul and grid transportation between other interstate and intrastate pipelines in the Permian, Anadarko, Hugoton, and Midwest areas. As the company grew, it faced challenges with its approval process, which was becoming cumbersome and time-consuming for its 1,100 employees.
The Challenge
Northern Natural Gas (Northern), a Nebraska-based company operating an interstate natural gas pipeline, was facing challenges with its approval process. As the company expanded, the approval process became increasingly cumbersome and time-consuming for its 1,100 employees. The process, which relied on email and manual forwarding of messages for requests and approvals, lacked a reliable audit trail, leading to requests often getting lost in the routing process. Northern sought a solution that would provide secure, automatic notification of approvals, saving employees' time. They needed an audit-compliant security approval process with a reliable audit trail. The solution had to be fully functional, integrating seamlessly with existing systems at an affordable price. Furthermore, Northern required a product that could handle all levels of requests, from customer service interaction to internal employee matters.
The Solution
Northern opted for the Integrify solution due to its competitive pricing and the functionality it offered. Integrify is a flexible business process management tool that automates requests and streamlines approval processes. It provides form creation, routing definition, and tracking tools to those responsible for processing requests, thereby minimizing data entry and simplifying requests for approval and fulfillment. Being web-based, Integrify allows easy user accessibility and management of approval processes. It eliminates problems related to labor-intensive processes such as manual paper handling and email requests, reducing costs per transaction by 60 to 90 percent compared to paper-based processes. The Integrify team spent a week on-site installing and implementing the software. The only challenge during the installation was updating the internal information so the Active Directory database could ensure proper routing of requests. Upon completion, Northern had applied Integrify’s technology to several key areas of its business.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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