Session: 01-10 Digital Transformation in Inspection, Compliance, and Engineering Management

Paper Number: 174388

174388 - A I Solutions for Tracking Engineering Licensing 

TC Energy practices engineering and geoscience to ensure the safe and efficient operation of our natural gas transmission pipelines across the United States, Canada and Mexico. With over 1,500 licensed engineering and geoscience professionals, professionals in training, and student interns employed by the company, tracking the credentials of technical staff is an important aspect of meeting our commitments to regulators across North America. The objective of this project was to develop a solution for tracking the credentials of our engineering and geoscience team, and use this information to ensure regulatory conformance while respecting regional differences in engineering and geoscience regulation. The presentation will discuss innovative AI tools developed with TC Energy’s low-code/no-code “Citizen Development” system using Microsoft Power Platform technology to answer questions about where engineering and geoscience innovation is happening in the company while ensuring conformance with regional regulations. Results presented will show that a combination of human intuition about the questions to ask, combined with AI tools to identify patterns and matches in data, provided an effective solution that minimized the ongoing effort required for tracking engineering and geoscience credentials. This project resulted in a practical solution that is used to manage the engineering and geoscience practice at TC Energy, which can also be applied to answer additional questions about regulatory conformance.

Presenting Author: Geoff Kneller TC Energy

Presenting Author Biography: Geoff is an engineering leader with over thirty years of experience in the Canadian pipeline, real estate, and public sectors. At TC Energy he guides a world-class engineering and geoscience practice to deliver safe, reliable, cost-competitive and sustainable natural gas transmission assets. His experience includes leadership roles in information systems, land development, managing pipeline rights-of-way and risk assessments, and he has sponsored a portfolio of over $20-million in pipeline upgrade projects. Geoff holds a bachelor's degree in electrical and computer engineering and a master's degree in business administration, both achieved at the University of Calgary, and he maintains engineering licenses in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. He supports regulatory excellence by serving as a member of the executive Council of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, and in 2022 he was awarded a fellowship by Engineers Canada in recognition of his service to the engineering and geoscience professions. In addition to his engineering career, Geoff is a Canadian Armed Forces reservist leading cadet programs in the Calgary area.