Robot Operator

If you’re in the electrical utility sector and you hear NERC Audit you’re likely to start sweating. Not because you may not have a NERC compliance plan, but because of the simple fact that there really isn’t any good information that exists that tells you everything you have to do and exactly how to do it. As you know there is NERC, FERC, and even SERC. How can you keep them all straight along with the litany of other regulatory issues you have to deal with? One of my best pieces of advice is to breakdown the different standards of NERC into manageable pieces.

Creating a NERC Compliance Plan

First, take apart all the standards and sectionalize them. NERC has done a decent job of trying to separate these into groups. For instance, Cyber Security has standards that go from CIP 001-009. However, if you break apart all the different issues that go into just those standards, you will no doubt have a million different action items on your plate. My specialty and focus has been on CIP 4, because this is where I have listened to a lot of screaming clients who have become frustrated with the auditing process taking place. The fines that these audits generate can cost upwards of $7,500 per person per day. I was recently at the TechAdvantage Expo in Atlanta, and spoke with many industry executives who said they have had to pay fines of several hundred thousand dollars and more for not complying with CIP 4.

The best thing to do is break apart the standards and review each one in detail and then parse them out to your different department heads, who can be made responsible for implementation. As the NERC compliance plan manager, you will need to get buy in from your senior management so that they will dictate to your peers the fact that they will need to report to you on their findings. You will need to coordinate their efforts and then tell your senior management you want to provide them with updates on the plan bi-weekly or at least monthly. By doing this, it will help keep them engaged and continue to provide you with the resources you need to devise a NERC compliance plan.

Let’s just take, for example, the Cyber Security standards. The very name could be a little misleading because it would imply that this standard should go to your IT department. They are the ones that will need to implement all kinds of cool techno stuff that will provide you with cyber intrusion protection tools, right? Not necessarily. Take for example the CIP 004. This clearly states that you must have a system in place for conducting awareness training, background risk assessments, and access documentation and credentialing on all of your employees and contractors. You may now look at this and then realize this is more of a security department or HR concern rather than a technical one.

Second, when you’re looking for vendors to help you analyze all of the different options, remember this one true statement. No single company has a system to manage all NERC compliance plan issues. I’ve seen it many times before where companies advertise that they can make you NERC compliant by just hiring them. This is a fallacy. There are many consulting companies out there that are very reputable and can certainly assist you with the interpretation and development of a NERC compliance plan, but they cannot implement the systems and technology to make you compliant. I go back to the CIP 4 standard for Cyber Security where vendors proclaim to be able to achieve compliance in a certain time frame. One of the most important issues as part of that standard is conducting a risk assessment background check on anyone that has access to critical assets. To do a background check, you need to be a certified CRA (Credit Reporting Agency). But even to this same point, doing things that might involve other pieces of that standard, for instance handling encryption and password protection of those assets that same company would not be the correct fit.

Remember that creating a NERC compliance plan is a goal driven task. Have yourself or a consulting company review the different aspects of NERC that apply and coordinate with your top managers to make this a goal for you and your peers.

Implementing a NERC Compliance Plan

One of the morals of this story is to get your suppliers to illustrate how they comply with a specific standard of NERC. If they say they comply with multiple standards, then ask them to show you how and run it by NERC for verification. Also, make sure their pricing is in line with how they sell it to you. There are multiple occurrences where a vendor will sell something to one company and then turn around and sell the exact same thing to another company but at a much higher mark up since there is a regulation surrounding that industry. Don’t be fooled by those gimmick tactics and allow vendors to prey on your fear of not having a NERC compliance plan in place.

In summary, get a breakdown of which standard applies directly to you, create a matrix chart of which pieces of which standard apply to what departments, get your senior managers involved to dictate these goals to your peers and provide them with updates. Then, when going out to vendors, have them prove how it directly relates to a NERC compliance plan; ask them if they sell that same tool to others and how much it is. Doing these things in this order will help you become the go-to person on regulatory issues, and, in a utility company…that is highly valued.

By: Devon Wijesinghe

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“Just because you have a computer, doesn’t make you a writer,” said a publishing executive at a recent Book Expo of America.

Fact is 81% of all Americans think they should write a book (according to Write & Publish magazine) and only two percent of that crowd ever actually complete a manuscript – and get it published.

True computers have made writing a book easier and print-on-demand (POD) has made publishing a snap. Problem is there are about 150,000 new books a year and they’re not all selling!

So here are some simple things to do to move you from book idea, manuscript to real sales!

Learn about writing. Taking writing courses. You can go to American Christian Writers website and get info on their American School of Christian Writing, The Writer’s Institute and/or Writer’s Mini Course. Also subscribe to their newsletter (The Christian Communicator or The Advanced Christian Writer). Take time to go to various writers’ conferences where you’ll meet editors, publishers and other authors. You may even find a mentor at some of these events.

Getting a writing mentor is so critical to your success – if you listen and heed their advice! There are tons of book coaches. Google book coach.

Finally, read! Best-selling Christian fiction author, Victoria Christopher Murray, said on a recent Chocolate Pages Show, “In order to be a good writer, you have to read good writing.” I am so surprised when I talk to many Christian writers and I ask if they have read any of the “best-sellers” – as least the Christian or spiritual books. They answer, “NO.”

Some have never even read “The Purpose Driven Life” (the best selling book of all time), The Shack (a Christian publishing phenomenon in the book world) or The Secret (at least take cues how they have marketed the mega-star of a book). Most Christian authors don’t even take note of any of the top 10 New York Times or CBA best-sellers.

Ughh! You have to know what the market is buying and read it to see why the book is highly acclaimed. By doing a little homework, you can improve your writing. You have to move it from a hobby to a craft if you want a viable book.

Books Every Writer Needs at Their Fingertips!

- On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Knowlton Zinsser

Best book I’ve read on what, specifically, makes up a great piece of writing

- The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., E. B. White

Also subscribe to Writer’s Digest. Invaluable information every month!

Learn about self-publishing and how the book industry works. I have had writers come to me and tell me their “publishing nightmare” stories. They talk about how printers or subsidy publishers took advantage of them.

Yes, there are companies who will swindle you. But, if you are well-informed, it will lessen the chances of someone ripping you off. Don’t rely on one source for all your information. Use Google and do some research! You must do your due diligence.

Know where to get an ISBN, how to get national distribution, where to find a cover designer, typesetter, printer, etc. Ask other self-published authors what they’ve done and how it has worked for them. Follow the leaders. Do what they did to achieve success.

Study what Kendra Norman Bellamy, Stephanie Perry Moore, Marilynn Griffith or Kim Brooks have done. Most authors have their “publishing testimonial” on their website or offer publishing tips to new authors. Read their advice – you can learn from mistakes or from mentors. Mentors are cheaper.

Learn about marketing and publicity. Build a platform. No book will sell without telling others about it – over and over again. Not just once. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Creating “buzz” requires a strategy and a strong platform. (See this Podcast show)

Once the book is published a lot of authors believe it will sell by itself. Many Christians sway the other way and are too humble to tell anyone about their book. They believe if they put it up on Amazon or tell a few of their “yes buddies” it will take off. NOT! Just like any product that is sold for cold cash, it must be marketed and promoted in order to sell. It takes money to make money.

Learn about agents. Agents are not your “literary fairy God-mothers.” They are in business to make money. And they make money by selling “marketable” writers to publishing houses. Besides having a great book, decent platform, an audience – you must also have a good book proposal. The proposal is what sells your book. Part of that proposal is the marketing plan. Again, it’s about the bottom line.

It took former Heart & Soul editor Stephanie Stokes Oliver 25 years to have her first book published. And she had a platform and was a professional writer. She had to find the right publishing house. She says she went through 10 agents and eventually got the divine connection and got three book deals.

Learn about Web 2.0, podcasting, blogging, social networking. Did you know you can blog on Amazon.com if you’re an author? You can even put up video reviews. How cool is that? You must embrace technology and keep up with what is moving books. Obviously the best way to move books is to get people talking – and the more they hear your passion and get curious about all the “buzz” they keep hearing from you online – the more you will attract customers.

So, “get out there” by joining Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. Do a Blogtalk Radio Show and get a Youtube channel. Post up your blogs in RSS feeds and even do some daring stuff like join a lot of “nings” or start one! Join the Chocolate Pages Network (a new social network for Christian Authors). There is so many ways for an author to get exposure online – hey, it may even up on Oprah as part of her “Book Club.”

By: Pam Perry

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