Managing pipeline compliance at scale requires precision, efficiency, and the right technology. For one North American natural gas utility, transforming its compliance program was driven by something more: a true partnership. This case study highlights how the combination of American Innovations’ powerful Pipeline Compliance System (PCS) and dedicated support helped the utility streamline processes, reduce errors, and build confidence for the future.
About the Utility
This natural gas utility company has grown significantly through major acquisitions of regional utilities and infrastructure assets. This expansion required integrating disparate operational processes and legacy compliance systems to manage pipeline integrity across multiple states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Colorado, and Maine.
The Challenge
Managing pipeline compliance for 25,000 test points and 1,350 rectifiers was a tremendous effort for the company. After its most recent acquisition, a lean team of 12 technicians faced significant administrative work. Each test point meant separate work orders, paperwork, and manual reporting.
Their legacy in-house IT system served primarily as data storage, and required technicians to write readings on paper that were then typed in line-by-line. The newly acquired, larger team was burdened by SAP, a system that required up to three separate work orders to read, troubleshoot, and fix a single test point.
“Think about having to do that manually, and having a work order for every single test point. It was a tremendous amount of work.”
As the company grew through these acquisitions, leadership saw an opportunity to modernize with a scalable solution that could reduce administrative overhead, improve accuracy, and support long-term growth.
The Solution: Pipeline Compliance System (PCS)
PCS provided a unified compliance solution, replacing a patchwork of manual spreadsheets and cumbersome SAP work orders. Since implementing the solution in 2018, the utility has benefited from:
- Seamless integration between PCS, Survey Manager, and Field Data Collector Software
- Faster dispatching with simplified work order assignments
- Audit-ready reporting with built-in timelines and delinquency alerts
- Scalable growth as their compliance program continues to expand
- Field efficiency supported by American Innovations’ Mesa 3 tablets and data canes
“The seamlessness—being able to sit at your desk, execute everything on your own, and receive everything—is priceless to me.”
The Process: Seamless Field-to-Office Workflow
Once inspection schedules and compliance rules are configured in PCS, the system ensures a seamless, traceable day-to-day workflow:
- Push to the field: Pre-configured survey packages are pushed to technicians via PCS Survey Manager and the PCS Field Data Collector Software.
- Review and verify: Technicians collect readings and send data back through Survey Manager, where supervisors can review and verify the results.
- Commit and trace: Validated data is committed to PCS, replacing outdated data while maintaining a complete historical record for full audit traceability.
This continuous feedback loop, supported by deadline alerts, keeps the organization compliant, responsive, and fully prepared for audits—without extra steps or rework.
Why American Innovations: A Partnership Built on Trust
For the utility’s manager of corrosion control, the decision came down to a simple philosophy:
“I'm a relationship guy. If I have a good relationship with you, I want to do business with you.”
He found that partner in American Innovations, noting their team was dedicated to building a strong relationship from the very first interaction. That commitment extends beyond the sale to a level of hands-on customer support the team finds unique. This includes proactive monthly check-ins and even joining calls with the utility’s IT department to resolve issues.
“Your representative reaches out just to say, hey, is everything good? Do you need anything? We don't have any other vendors that do that.”
This ongoing dedication is a big reason why American Innovations stands apart.
“The investment they make into their customer base is something I have not experienced with any other third-party vendor that we work with.”
The Results
With PCS, the utility has streamlined thousands of hours of manual work and drastically accelerated reporting. This connected process has reduced errors, improved efficiency, and given technicians confidence that surveys will not be overlooked.
“I easily dispatch everything now in a few clicks, whereas before we had a team of dispatchers.”
PCS eliminated the need for at least one full-time administrative position and simplified a process that previously involved multiple teams and systems. Most importantly, the new workflow provides leadership with a new level of confidence in their compliance program.
“Since we established reporting within PCS, I feel a lot more confident that I’m not going to have out-of-compliance facilities.”
Conclusion
PCS has elevated pipeline compliance from a time-consuming burden into a smooth, reliable, and future-ready program. By connecting the field and office, reporting is faster, audits are less stressful, and teams have more time to focus on high-value work.
“PCS has become so integral that replacing it with anything else just wouldn’t make sense.”
For this utility, PCS represents efficiency, peace of mind, and a trusted partnership.
“I would absolutely recommend American Innovations, and I’m very happy with PCS.”
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