Open Grid Europe: Gaining new geospatial data capabilities to better understand asset performance
Explore Open Grid Europe’s journey with SAP HANA Cloud
Open Grid Europe (OGE) operates Germany’s longest-regulated supraregional natural gas network. To future-proof its operations in transmitting new energy sources, OGE wanted to revamp its geospatial data capabilities. By deploying an intelligent data application driven by SAP HANA Cloud, OGE gained deep insights into its asset performance.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Oil, gas, and energy | Essen, Germany | ~1,500 employees |
Project Manager for IT Applications, Open Grid Europe GmbH
Consolidating diverse data sets into a single database instance
Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE) operates the longest-regulated supraregional natural gas transmission network in Germany, with assets including more than 30 compressor stations and 12,000 kilometers of pipeline. The company plans, constructs, maintains, and repairs pipeline systems, as well as leading concept design, project management, engineering, and implementation efforts. OGE’s customer base includes shippers, downstream network operators, and connection customers.
As part of the extensive pipeline network, the compressor stations pressurize gas so that it can be transported further along the network. To optimize station maintenance, OGE previously used a third-party on-premise geospatial database for Esri ArcGIS, a mapping and analytics platform. However, this geospatial data was siloed and lacked context. For example, information from various partners, such as downstream network operators, remained separate from important geospatial data. Multiple disparate applications, including the SAP ERP application, operated individually with no integration. OGE needed a holistic understanding of its data – including geospatial data.
In addition to missing geospatial capabilities, OGE’s on-premise deployment required significant maintenance. Two employees were tasked with constantly monitoring databases, and a third-party IT service provider was needed to maintain updates. “From the operations side, there was a lot to do,” said Stefan Vancraeyenest, Project Manager for IT Applications, Open Grid Europe.
Providing a powerful integration of GIS and business data
OGE needed a central repository to unify its disparate databases and to gain a comprehensive overview of its data. Whether data comes from SAP, third-party, cloud, or on-premise sources, SAP HANA Cloud helps smooth the process of connecting these sources. With the intelligent data application driven by SAP HANA Cloud and Esri ArcGIS, OGE has the flexibility to either virtualize or replicate data, providing a single gateway to its information. See the figure below to compare the previous and new data landscapes.
By uniting SAP Web IDE and the conversational AI capabilities of SAP solutions (formerly SAP Conversational AI services) with the latest geographic information system (GIS) functionality from Esri, OGE now has a powerful integration of its GIS and business data. This provides rich location context to critical business information through interactive maps. Ultimately, it enables its business users to make better decisions, faster.
Further, SAP HANA Cloud offers the high-performance processing that OGE needs. With the multimodel processing engine, the company knew it would be able to analyze transactions while simultaneously acquiring real-time analytics. The robust spatial engine was one reason that OGE chose this database.
OGE also sought self-service and simplified management capabilities to take over the time-consuming task of maintaining on-premise databases. SAP HANA Cloud looks after these administrative aspects. And OGE can scale its compute or storage capabilities on demand, without up-front costs.
Project Manager for IT Applications, Open Grid Europe GmbH
Unifying data sources in an intelligent data application
With data sources unified in an intelligent data application, OGE gained an all-new integrated view of its assets that gives context to its operations. Now, the company can use 2D or 3D maps provided by Esri ArcGIS to monitor its stations and pipelines and zoom in to get more-detailed information about operations and maintenance. Schematic and profile views produce more insights that weren’t possible previously.
The ability to monitor assets in real time, even in remote areas, keeps the transmission process safer for the environment. The streamlined operations allow OGE to serve consumers optimally today and tomorrow. Clear GIS–enabled analytics delivered through a user-friendly cockpit give stakeholders the information they need with little or no IT intervention. For example, field workers have solid guidance in locating pipelines and identifying maintenance and repair needs, while IT maintenance staff can be assigned to more value-adding tasks.
Project Manager for IT Applications, Open Grid Europe GmbH