Interview: Q&A on the Go Live of Copperleaf at Teréga
The Copperleaf® solution is live at Teréga, the gas transmission and storage company based in the South-West of France. We spoke to Fabien Fortoul, Asset Strategy Lead at Teréga, and Cigolene Nguyen, Managing Consultant at Copperleaf, to discuss how our solution enables Teréga to optimise asset investment planning.
Can you tell us about Teréga?
Fabien: Teréga operates over 5,000 km of gas pipelines and two underground storage reservoirs in South-West France, representing 16% of the French gas transport network and 25% of national storage capacity. We are at the forefront of the energy transition, committed to developing innovative solutions and accelerating the adoption of new technologies and energy sources.
Can you share a bit about your role?
Fabien: I’m in charge of implementing an asset management system, aligned with ISO 55001. This transformation project is changing our internal business processes, roles and responsibilities.
Cigolene: As the Project Manager for Teréga’s implementation, my primary goal is to ensure that our project team meets the client’s needs with quality, efficiency, and within the agreed-upon timeframe. My focus is on early value delivery and fostering positive interactions throughout the project lifecycle.
What did your asset investment planning process look like before implementing the Copperleaf solution?
Fabien: In 2020, we started thinking about asset management in general, and at that time I didn’t know Copperleaf. We were trying to build a broader vision of asset management, we were not yet focused on solutions. We had multiple tools and parallel decision-making processes, which made it difficult to have a consolidated and forward-looking view of our assets and embed a consistent planning process.
What were the main goals for this project?
Fabien: The main goals of this project were to improve the efficiency of our decision-making processes and the development of our investment plan – based on a consolidated view of our assets over their lifecycle.
Cigolene: The solution and its configuration had to be in sync with Teréga’s asset management maturity improvement specification in June, and completed in time to support their annual review and submission deadline in October. For the second phase of this implementation, we are focusing on developing and implementing asset risk models. This approach supports their objectives to provide consistency in the application of asset modelling methodologies.
The Copperleaf solution helps us improve our asset investment planning capabilities and accelerate our journey towards asset management best practices. This allows us to create and deliver the highest value investment decisions from our asset base.
Fabien Fortoul
Asset Strategy Lead
Teréga
Why did you choose to work with Copperleaf?
Fabien: For us, the main difference was the willingness to co-construct, to understand what our needs were and, above all, to meet them. There was a sense of transparency in the exchanges, so that we were fully aware of what we could and couldn’t do with Copperleaf, and how it could meet our expectations.
What made this project successful?
Fabien: After these exchanges, we were convinced that Copperleaf would meet our needs. But we nevertheless decided to carry out a Proof Of Concept (POC) to implement the solution with Teréga’s data and demonstrate to our internal stakeholders what this solution would bring and the problems it would solve. The POC was clearly a success, and the results that were presented immediately convinced our board of directors.
The business case was important and supported the POC results we saw, the value we could add, and the fact we were able to justify the value Copperleaf demonstrated at the very beginning of our discussions were all elements impacting our decision.
Cigolene: We successfully completed phase 1 with Teréga in just 14 weeks, implementing Copperleaf Portfolio to manage their 10-year business plan, thanks to their proactive engagement. Our team’s agility and clear focus on delivering immediate value ensured on-time delivery. With incremental reviews and swift decision-making from Teréga’s sponsor, we maintained a unified approach between Teréga and Copperleaf, emphasizing quality, timeliness, and broader benefits. This collaborative dynamic was key to our success, allowing for open discussions centered on Teréga’s benefits. As we transitioned swiftly into phase 2, we continued to prioritise essential capabilities and plan for future needs to support Teréga’s asset management maturity. We are now approaching the go-live for phase 2, addressing Teréga’s asset modelling requirements.
What are the key benefits experienced from implementing the Copperleaf solution?
Fabien: The Copperleaf solution helps us improve our asset investment planning capabilities and accelerate our journey towards asset management best practices. This allows us to create and deliver the highest value investment decisions from our asset base.
Fabien & Cigolene: Some of the key benefits include:
- A centralised platform to create and revise Teréga’s 10-year business plan, ensuring readiness for the annual regulatory plan update, with Copperleaf Portfolio set for deployment by the end of June for their October submission.
- A clear connection between the business plan and Teréga’s Strategic Objectives, featuring the ability to optimise various scenarios for board review and endorsement of the annual investment plan. Establishing a structured value framework was crucial for achieving this goal.
- A streamlined process for collecting and refreshing the data in the annual plan across all necessary teams, including Finance, Operations, Asset Management, and Delivery, enhancing transparency and governance of the information.
Have there been any other benefits?
Fabien: Attending the Copperleaf Summit in Brussels and talking directly with various clients was really valuable. That’s something we were not necessarily used to seeing, and it reassured us to be able to talk to so many infrastructure owners who had put their trust in Copperleaf.
How would you describe working with Copperleaf?
Fabien: Working with Copperleaf has been easy and at the same time challenging because they were able to challenge us and help us improve our methodology based on their experience, bringing a clear benefit for Teréga.
Learn more about our client success stories and how organisations are improving their business outcomes with Copperleaf.