Success Story - Gainesville

ABOUT GAINESVILLE REGIONAL UTILITIES

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is a multi-service utility owned by the City of Gainesville. As the fifth-largest municipal electric utility in Florida, GRU employs over 540 people and serves approximately 93,000 retail and wholesale customers. Their comprehensive service offerings include Electric, Natural Gas, Water, Wastewater, and Telecommunication Services.

THE CHALLENGE

GRU Uses ChangeGear To Help Protect Their Electric Grid

The utility market is complex, requiring constant digital transformation to meet community needs and comply with strict state and government standards. A primary driver for GRU is the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP)—a legally mandated set of standards designed to regulate and manage the cybersecurity of the Bulk Electric System (BES).

Key Hurdles Before Implementation:

• Manual Tracking: Prior to ChangeGear, the Systems Control Department relied on spreadsheets to manage and track critical assets.
• Audit Risks: Manual processes were time-consuming and did not support the complex reporting required for NERC CIP auditing.
• High Stakes: The team acts as "911 dispatchers" for linemen, supporting them 24x7x365. Any error in scheduling or change management could impact the protection and uptime of the utility service.

THE SOLUTION

The Systems Control Department leveraged the expertise of a seasoned Configuration Management Specialist to lead the transformation. The goal was to secure and manage critical assets—such as servers, firewalls, and system control domains—that reside within physical and electronic security perimeters.

Key Implementation Features:

• On-Premise Deployment: Due to high regulation and security requirements, GRU utilizes an on-premise version of ChangeGear to ensure data remains within their controlled environment.
• Configurable Workflows: The Service Desk Module provides workflows tailored to specific business processes, ensuring all changes undergo a rigorous assessment and hierarchical approval process.
• Change Calendar: A centralized calendar manages all events and updates to strictly avoid "blackout dates," where updates could risk grid stability.
• CMDB Integration: GRU implemented the CMDB and Incident Management modules to move away from legacy tools and centralize asset data.
• "Air Gap" Capability: The system supports the ability for Systems Control to function independently during a corporate cyber-attack, maintaining grid operations while other systems are restored.

“The Serviceaide team delivered. ChangeGear required a simple configuration and was out-of-the-box. During implementation, we had someone sitting by our side, onsite. Great product with great service interactions.”— Configuration Management Specialist, GRU

THE RESULTS

By employing ChangeGear, GRU transformed the Systems Control environment, eliminating the unpredictability of manual data gathering and improving personnel efficiency.

• Asset Visibility: The team has added 100 CIP assets to the CMDB and is currently classifying all non-CIP assets for comprehensive tracking.
• Measurable Volume: The department now tracks an average of 25 change tickets per month, alongside 590 incident tickets and 225 service requests—metrics that were impossible to track previously.
• Audit Confidence: GRU is entering its next NERC audit with high confidence, expecting a significantly smoother process now that ChangeGear serves as the system of record.
• Future Readiness: As NERC constantly adds new requirements, GRU’s infrastructure is now agile enough to adapt to new enforcement standards efficiently.

ABOUT SERVICEAIDE

Serviceaide is a leader in modern service management. Serviceaide’s vision is to transform service management across ITSM, ESM, and Customer Service. Serving customers around the world, Serviceaide applies breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing to deliver better experiences, provide enhanced self-service, and empower service owners. Serviceaide transforms service through digital labor conversations, automation, and knowledge.