ETRM Selection
Choosing an ETRM against how your crude, gas, NGLs or refined products actually move, not against the vendor's demo book.
Advisory. Fixed scope, ending in a documented decision and an implementation plan with the risks named.
A marketer, midstream operator or terminal owner replacing an ETRM, consolidating two after an acquisition, or moving off spreadsheets that have become the system.
The current system is end of life, an acquisition has left you with two books, or a vendor proposal has landed and nobody on the team has run a selection before.
What you are buying
The work we do
- Map the deal lifecycle for each commodity you trade, from capture through scheduling, actualization, inventory and settlement
- Write a capability model from that map, separating what the system must do from what the business does around it
- Name the integrations up front: pipelines, terminals, measurement, ERP, credit and market data
- Build a shortlist that includes staying on what you have and fixing what surrounds it
- Script demonstrations from your own deals, including the awkward ones: an exchange, an apportioned month, a prior-period adjustment
- Compare total cost over a realistic horizon, including the scheduling and accounting time nobody counts
What you receive
- A capability model for your commodities, written in the language your schedulers and accountants use
- An integration inventory with an owner for every record that crosses a boundary
- Demonstration scripts every vendor runs the same way, and a scored comparison
- Total cost of ownership over the horizon you choose
- A documented decision with the reasoning, and an implementation plan with the risks named
How we know it is finished
The decision is documented with its reasoning and the implementation plan is in your hands. Overseeing the implementation is a separate engagement, scoped once a vendor is chosen.
What we need from you
- A scheduler, a trader and a revenue or commodity accountant who know the current process end to end
- A set of real deals and a closed month we can script against
- Any proposals or quotes already received
- A decision-maker who attends the demonstrations
Most ETRM selections are decided by the demonstration, and most demonstrations are built by the vendor. They show a clean crude purchase flowing to an invoice. They rarely show an apportioned month, a quality equalization adjustment arriving six weeks late, or an exchange balance carried across three terminals.
Start from the lifecycle, not the feature list
A feature list tells you the system has scheduling. A lifecycle map tells you whether it can schedule your barrels: batched or fungible, nominated in cubic metres and priced per barrel, with line fill someone has to own. We map each commodity you trade from deal capture to settlement, then write the requirements from that map. The commodity matrix shows how different those lifecycles are.
Script the awkward months
Every vendor passes the easy scenario. The selection is decided by the hard ones, so that is what we script: the month that was apportioned, the prior-period adjustment that re-opened a close, the Canadian stream that does not behave like a US lease barrel. Every vendor runs the same script and is scored the same way.
Integration is half the program
The ETRM is rarely what goes wrong. The handoffs are: pipeline confirmations, terminal lifting data, measurement statements, the general ledger. We name every one of those at selection, with an owner, because a program that discovers them during build is already over budget.
What you keep
The code and the data·Your existing relationships·Approval and control·The ability to stop·The off switchWhat that means
ETRM Program Assurance
Someone on your side of an ETRM implementation who has run one before, whether the program is starting or already in trouble.
Learn more ↗Commodity Systems Integration
The connections between your ETRM and pipelines, terminals, measurement and accounting, designed so every record crossing a boundary has an owner.
Learn more ↗Start with a 45-minute briefing.
Bring the program, the proposal or the month-end that will not close. We will tell you honestly where to start.