Plan a POLT pilot
Use a small, agreed workflow to assess whether POLT fits the people who enter, retrieve, and review your operational records.
A practical first meeting
Invite an operations lead and one or two people who regularly enter or retrieve logs. Use a 20-minute conversation to review the current workflow, walk through an example in POLT, and identify what must be demonstrated next.
Understand the task
Identify the record being created, the information required, the frequency of updates, and who uses it at handoff.
Demonstrate the full path
Create, update, retrieve, and review the history of one fictional record. Include the output needed by the next person.
Choose the next decision
Determine whether the workflow fits well enough for a defined evaluation and identify the utility sponsor and IT/security contact.
Agree the scope before creating accounts
A possible starting point is one workflow, three to five evaluators, and two to four weeks. These are discussion examples, not a fixed package or commitment. Confirm the scope and commercial terms together.
People and responsibilities
Name the utility sponsor, participating users, administrator, IT/security reviewer, and POLT contact.
Environment and data
Identify the approved environment, permitted data, account controls, retention period, and what happens to records after the evaluation.
Timing and support
Set start/end dates, meeting cadence, support hours, escalation contacts, and any fee or procurement requirements.
Measure entry, retrieval, and handoff
Record a baseline with the existing process, then repeat the same agreed tasks in POLT. Set acceptance targets with the utility before starting.
Entry time
Time a representative log from opening the form to confirming the saved record. Check completeness as well as speed.
Retrieval and handoff
Ask a second user to find a specific record, identify the latest revision, and prepare the agreed handoff output.
History and collaboration
Confirm that a schedule change retains its original value and attribution, and that two users cannot silently overwrite each other's edits.
User fit
Record confusing labels, missing fields, accessibility needs, and support requests. Separate must-have changes from preferences.
Keep the evaluation's operating boundaries explicit
Use fictional records for the first demonstration. Actual utility data requires the organization's approval of hosting, access, and data handling. Agree which existing system remains the official record and how any parallel entries will be reconciled.
POLT records and presents information. Operators continue to use approved procedures and systems for coordination, outage approval, dispatch, trade execution, and equipment control. The evaluation does not establish regulatory compliance or approval for operational reliance.
Decide whether to continue and plan how to close the pilot
Review results
Compare the agreed measures, user feedback, incidents, and unresolved requirements.
Choose a next step
Proceed to procurement, extend for specific questions, or close the evaluation.
Close access and data
Export the agreed records and history, remove access that is no longer needed, and carry out the agreed retention or deletion process.