The ERO Enterprise has begun rolling out the third release of the Align software platform and the ERO Secure Evidence Locker (SEL), but some of the functionality planned for the release has been separated out and will be released later this year, SERC staff said Tuesday.

Speaking at SERC’s 2022 Open Forum, Todd Curl, the regional entity’s senior manager for risk awareness and oversight, said that Release 3 of Align — which adds audits, spot checks, compliance investigations and complaints to the functionality covered in previous releases — went online in December.

A spokesperson from NERC told ERO Insider that REs are currently working out plans for training and adoption. Curl said SERC intends to conduct training sessions in the second quarter of 2022, “consistent with what several other regions are doing.”

NERC originally planned for Release 3 to happen in the third quarter of 2021, and to be the final stage in Align’s deployment. (See Release 2 of ERO Align Tool Goes Live for All Regions.) As intended, Release 3 would have also included inherent risk assessments and compliance oversight plans. However, the ERO Enterprise’s experience implementing the first two releases in 2021 led NERC to set more modest goals for the release.

“As the ERO Enterprise subject matter experts worked together to identify the specific requirements needed around this very large Release 3 functionality, it became clear that these processes, which had never before been automated or harmonized, would be simply too complex for one single release,” Curl said. “So, given the importance of the smooth transition for these processes to the effectiveness of the CMEP [compliance monitoring and enforcement program], there were some adjustments to the original plan.”

These remaining functions have been separated into a separate Release 4, which will roll out in the third or fourth quarter of 2022, according to NERC. As with previous releases, the functionalities added in Release 3 and 4 only apply to new cases. Registered entities should continue to process and submit supporting evidence for existing self-reports using their current tools.

First Two Releases Already Online

Release 1 and 2 of Align, along with the SEL, went live last year. (See ERO Align Tool Goes Live for NERC, MRO, Texas RE.) The first release took effect starting in March and covered creating and submitting self-reports and self-logs, creating and managing mitigating activities and mitigation plans, and responding to requests for information. The second, which came online in July, added technical feasibility exceptions, periodic data submittals, attestations and self-certifications.

Align began in 2014 as the CMEP Technology Project, with the rollout date originally set for September 2019; this was delayed because of concerns about the software vendor’s sale to an Australia-based company whose investors include a private equity firm based in Hong Kong. (See NERC Investigating Chinese Tie to Software Vendor.)

This security issue prompted NERC to include the SEL in Release 1 rather than debut it later as originally planned. Because the SEL is intended to provide secure storage where potentially sensitive information can be kept separate from work papers managed through the Align tool, it is not part of the main software package, and REs are allowed to construct their own lockers for CMEP evidence if they meet NERC’s reliability and security specifications.