At Oil and Gas Companies, Information Flows, Pools and Occasionally Gets Lost by Vickie Malis

Oil and gas are similar to information. Information flows, gets stored for later use, and profits are affected by its loss. And, oil and gas companies know how to move their products; they can track it to the liter, gallon or pound. Valves open, valves close, oil moves. Where does the information flow? Where does it pool? Where is it now? And who can open and close the valves for information to flow? If firms do not know where the oil is, profits are lost; if firms do not know where their oil and gas information is, profits are lost and fines are found.

The U.S Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is a significant piece of the regulatory puzzle. The organization details specifics on how to retain, store, manage and retrieve pipeline records. There are plenty of ways to do these things, of course: Build-your-own solutions are popular for masochists and companies with unlimited budgets. Make sure they are done correctly, unless a $1.75 million fine sounds like pocket change.

Digitizing records is a suggested method since it makes storage, movement and access control significantly easier, and then companies must implement electronic records management standards. However, consolidation - which is part of PHMSA - means that going with one records digitization and management vendor solves issues as well; too bad oil cannot be digitized and sent over Wi-Fi.

Oil and gas companies should treat their information in the same way they would their products, by using professionals to store it, move it, document it, transport it and control access to it. If it is hidden somewhere in the system (records management), quarry it out, get it appraised for its value (data classification) and store it in one location (centralized database). If any is missing, find out what and how much is absent, document the gaps, show good faith and work with the records management staff to improve the policies and remediate gaps going forward.

Realized efficiencies, lessened costs and even gained revenues are all possible if oil and gas companies use professionals to record and safeguard their valuable information. Information is precious, just like oil and gas; treat it that way.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/records-management-an...
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