2027 Event Agenda

Infrastructure readiness, not application configuration, turned out to be the primary determinant of how fast PPL could move. That finding reshaped the program.

PPL Corporation is in the middle of a multi-year ADMS transformation that has forced hard decisions about version discipline, environment strategy, funding models, and what it actually takes to coordinate operations, IT, cybersecurity, and vendor partners as a single integrated program. This session shares what was learned the hard way: what worked, what didn't, and the inflection points that changed the trajectory.

At the center of PPL's effort is a concrete, operating vision: a touchless, AI-enabled control room where operators shift from executing switching actions to supervising system behavior. Advanced analytics and AI models assess network conditions and recommend optimized responses before outages occur. Event-driven automation reduces manual intervention during normal operations and storm response. Simulation environments let operators validate actions before they touch the live grid. The control room moves from reactive command center to proactive, self-optimizing system.

Getting there has required more than technology investment. Governance had to be redesigned to support faster decisions. Release strategies had to evolve from multi-year cycles toward continuous delivery. Parallel operations and pre-production environments reduced cutover risk. And organizational roles are changing as automation increases, a shift that requires as much attention as the platform itself.

Attendees will leave with transferable insight on:

• Why committing to a version and progressing with discipline outperforms waiting for a perfect release
• How infrastructure, environment strategy, and data readiness shape delivery timelines more than application work
• What it takes to run operations, IT, cyber, and vendor coordination as a unified program
• How parallel operations, simulation, and phased cutovers reduce implementation risk
• What governance and funding models must look like to enable continuous delivery
• How to move the control room from operator-driven to system-assisted, and ultimately system-led

This is not a vendor roadmap or a theoretical framework. It is a field-tested account from a utility in the middle of the work.