Background

Like so many enterprises, Phillips 66 collects deep, rich data from their operational technology systems. The problem is it was trapped in site-specific on-premise historians. Moving it to the cloud would unlock a lot of new insights and operational efficiencies. While the mission was clear, the path to get there was complicated. Yet, Chris Glenn, Director of Digital IT, Refining Operations Systems, Data and Sustainability, understood overcoming complexity was essential to meeting their business transformation vision.

Fusion bridges the gap between siloed operational data and analytics in the cloud. For the first time, OT data is as simple to use as IT data, thanks to our partnership with Fusion.

Chris Glenn Director of Digital IT, Refining Operations Systems, Data and Sustainability, Phillips 66

Challenges

Data is needed to solve complex business challenges. Phillips 66 had to breakdown information silos but that wasn’t a straight-forward process. While moving data is easy, piping data with all of its context is complicated. Operational data was sitting safely behind firewalls. Any movement had to include all the context needed to make the data useful, but it also had to be moved in a cybersecure manner. Traditional methods would take years to move all their data. They didn’t have years.

Solutions

Fusion Data Pipeline serves the needs of multiple personas. While early use cases were clear, the team knew an enterprise-first approach to their data strategy would best serve their business transformation goals.

• Real-time and interpolated data feeds were built to support persona-driven use cases across the enterprise – from operators to data scientists.
• Operational data is co-located with business system data for maximum context and flexibility of analysis and reporting.
• Secure, easy access – internally and externally – was a high priority to optimize the use of the data.
• Automation of data pipelines was essential to maintaining the system over time.

We can’t always anticipate how the data will be used, so we built a data pipeline that would adapt as the needs of the business evolve. Fusion has several capabilities that made it essential for making OT data not only available but usable…

Chris Glenn Director of Digital IT, Refining Operations Systems, Data and Sustainability, Phillips 66

Applications

Fusion accelerated transformation by more than 12 months. With Fusion, there is no custom to pipe time series data, securely and with their full context, into the Azure platform. As a bonus, the use of Fusion made it easy to upgrade from TSI to ADX.

• Secure, scalable OT data pipeline, with context
• Fits within current data strategy and architecture
• Allows them to meet current and future demand
• Significantly reduced runway by 12-18 months +

Benefits

A data foundation that scales across current and future use cases. Specific uses cases were the catalysts for their journey, but Phillips 66 is building for the long-term. It is now the means to many ends.

• Data is available to feed a focus on energy sustainability
• Improved data visibility driving actionable insights
• Applied machine learning and automation
• Simulation engines improve planning
• Automated Reporting/Dashboarding