Message-ID: <21299255.1075842463973.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 02:51:00 -0800 (PST) From: maria.pavlou@enron.com To: drew.fossum@enron.com Subject: IT news from FERC Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Maria Pavlou X-To: Drew Fossum X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Drew_Fossum_Dec2000_June2001_1\Notes Folders\Discussion threads X-Origin: FOSSUM-D X-FileName: dfossum.nsf Electronic Filings/Demo of FERC home page and search functions might be a good topic for one of our staff meetings. Nancy Bagot could present in person or via Video Conference. Also, I gathered the Koch and Dominion materials regarding standards of conduct in electric proceedings. I'd be happy to present but I also thought Tony would be a good choice as it would help him get up to speed on the Marketing Affiliate Rule. Let's discuss. thanks, Maria ---------------------- Forwarded by Maria Pavlou/ET&S/Enron on 11/01/2000 10:38 AM --------------------------- Nancy Bagot 10/31/2000 02:02 PM To: Shelley Corman/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Dari Dornan/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Glen Hass/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Bambi Heckerman/NPNG/Enron@ENRON, Robert Kilmer/FGT/Enron@ENRON, Frazier King/FGT/Enron@ENRON, Ray Neppl/NPNG/Enron@ENRON, Maria Pavlou/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Janet Place/NPNG/Enron@ENRON, Michele Winckowski/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Mary Kay Miller/ET&S/Enron@ENRON, Donna Fulton/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Sarah Novosel/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Michael Van Norden/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Janet Butler/ET&S/Enron@ENRON cc: Subject: IT news from FERC On Friday I attended an industry luncheon with Fernanda Young, FERC's Chief Information Officer. She discussed some of the electronic filing and research changes coming to FERC. The crux of the discussion is that within a few years (by 2003), FERC's internet website will include a searchable database that functions very much like Lexus/Nexus (except for the exorbitant fees). For electronic filing, the first step begins tomorrow with comments (without service lists) being filed electronically. Filers do not have to duplicate with a paper copy. All filings, which can be received by FERC in almost any format, will be converted to Adobe Acrobat (.pdf files) by FERC for viewing online and available within minutes of being received. The electronic PDF version will be the official copy for pagination citations. The next round of filings to be accepted electronically will include interventions and protests. Coming on line further down the road are documents with extensive service lists, as Fernanda is intent on cleaning up those lists of duplicate or "stale" names, companies and parties before going forward with electronic service of parties. That process could be very involved, since each party will have to be contacted with a chance to respond before being removed or changed from a service list. Another sticking point with major filings is the issue of electronic signatures, which is a security issue rather than a legal issue. Electronic signatures demand the highest level of security and will be very costly to implement. Fernanda believes that encryption offers sufficient security and she will urge the Commission to make an initial recommendation that does not include electronic filing. This will be discussed with industry through a series of informal outreach sessions over the next few months; Fernanda expects some pushback on electronic signatures from some industry members, especially attorneys and law firms. As for internet access and research capabilities, the FERC homepage will be revamped to include better design and more accessible information for non-FERC watchers (ie, the general public). RIMS and CIPS will eventually be combined into one database that will be searchable (by words contained in a document's Abstract) and easy to use for researching and printing documents. All documents will be in PDF format. The timeline for these changes is relatively short, with the full transition of the database and electronic filing requirements completed by 2003.