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The Align Project

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September 3, 2019

NERC's management team decided to delay Release 1 of the Align compliance monitoring and enforcement program tool, planned for the last quarter of 2019, and NERC's Board accepted this schedule change at its August Board meeting. The primary drivers for the delay are related to ensuring data security, refining compliance audit and investigation business processes, and addressing stakeholder concerns. 

 

The project team continues with its other scheduled activities, including completing user acceptance testing, identifying critical enhancements, completing data integration and reporting efforts, and developing training materials—with the intention of launching Release 1 in 2020.

Please refer to the FAQ page for more information on Align Release 1.

 
 
 
 
 

 News and Communications

 Important Links
Type
  
Name
  
Align Project Change Agents.pdfAlign Project Change Agents
Align Technology Project Summary Sheet.pdfAlign Technology Project Summary Sheet

 Benefits
​Benefits
The objectives and benefits of the Align Project are:
  • Single, common portal for registered entities, enabling consistency of experience
  • Real-time access to information, eliminating delays and manual communications
  • Improved capability to support the Risk-Based Compliance Oversight Framework
  • Enhanced quality assurance and oversight, enabling consistent application of the CMEP
  • Improved analytics, including visibility into compliance and reliability risks
  • Increased capability to implement audit best practices and processes (planning, fieldwork, reporting, quality assurance)
  • Standardization and implementation of common business processes and workflows, enabling increased productivity (estimated 15 percent gain for ERO Enterprise CMEP staff)
  • Reduced application costs across the ERO Enterprise (reduce current costs by roughly 29 percent, $320k annual savings)
  • Projected investment break-even within five years