National Grid – Digital Data Strategy & Open Data Platform
Industry: Energy & Utilities
Situation
National Grid was undertaking a major digital transformation initiative to modernise how operational data was managed, analysed, and shared across the organisation.
As the UK’s electricity infrastructure operator, National Grid manages vast volumes of operational and infrastructure data. Increasing regulatory expectations and growing customer demand for data transparency created the need for a more scalable and accessible digital data capability.
The organisation required a modern digital data architecture capable of supporting both internal analytics and external data access while ensuring consistent governance and reliability of published data services.
A key objective was to establish an Open Data Service that could provide secure, reliable access to operational data for internal teams, industry stakeholders, and external users.
To support this ambition, the organisation required a clearly defined Digital Data Strategy, a modern cloud-based data platform, and a structured data architecture capable of integrating multiple data sources across the business.
Action
As Senior Project Manager, I led the programme responsible for defining and establishing National Grid’s Digital Data Strategy and foundational data platform architecture.
Working with technology architects, data engineers, and business stakeholders, I helped shape the long-term data strategy while guiding the implementation of the core platform components required to support it.
Key responsibilities included:
Establishing the National Grid Digital Data Strategy, defining 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year roadmap milestones for the organisation’s evolving data capability
Designing and implementing the Azure UK tenant environment supporting the organisation’s digital data platform
Defining and implementing data ingress services to enable the ingestion of modelled data sources into the platform
Establishing Azure SQL data storage and enterprise data models used to generate composite data views for National Grid customers
Leading development of the National Grid Digital Data Portal, built using the CKAN open data platform
Designing data gateway architecture for Azure Data Factory and SQL Server integration with Salesforce systems
The programme required close coordination across architecture teams, data engineers, and regulatory stakeholders to ensure the evolving platform aligned with both operational and regulatory requirements.
Outcome
The programme established the foundational architecture for National Grid’s evolving Digital Data Platform and Open Data Service.
The Azure-based platform provided a scalable environment for integrating operational data and delivering analytics capabilities across the organisation.
The Digital Data Portal enabled structured access to published datasets, allowing both internal and external stakeholders to access reliable data through a centralised platform.
The work also established a long-term strategic roadmap for the organisation’s digital data capability, ensuring that platform evolution could support future regulatory, operational, and analytics requirements.
Value Delivered
The programme delivered several strategic outcomes:
A defined Digital Data Strategy with 3-, 5-, and 10-year implementation roadmap
Establishment of the Azure-based Foundation Data Platform
Implementation of enterprise data ingress architecture for modelled data sources
Creation of Azure SQL data models supporting composite customer data views
Delivery of the National Grid Digital Data Portal using CKAN
Integration architecture supporting Azure Data Factory, SQL Server, and Salesforce
Programme Environment
The initiative operated within a complex enterprise and regulatory environment involving:
Large-scale operational infrastructure data
Enterprise analytics and reporting systems
Integration across multiple operational data sources
External data publication requirements for regulatory and industry stakeholders
Coordination across architecture, engineering, and regulatory teams