Quick Facts

• Completed an end-to-end review of the CER’s data architecture, ecosystem, governance practices, quality standards, and internal data culture.
• Connected with leaders and data professionals across every CER business area through one-on-one interviews, working sessions, and senior leadership briefings.
• Produced an Enterprise Data Strategy that reflects Government of Canada data direction and the federal AI agenda.
• Mapped out a structured 3-year rollout plan complete with key milestones, staffing needs, and measurable success indicators.
• Handed over clear, ready-to-use recommendations for strengthening data delivery, raising quality standards, and embedding a data-first mindset.

Project Description

Bronson teamed up with the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) to shape an enterprise data strategy that empowers the organization to manage and make the most of its data across all of its regulatory responsibilities.

The CER serves as Canada’s federal energy regulator, with oversight of more than 71,000 kilometres of pipeline, 86 international power lines, and the country’s energy export activity. That mandate places one-of-a-kind, sector-wide energy data in the CER’s hands.

With Government of Canada data direction continuing to evolve, AI capabilities expanding quickly, and demand growing for smarter regulatory services, the CER needed a clear plan to elevate how it handles data, governs it, and uses it to drive innovation.

Bronson turned those priorities into a custom-built data strategy paired with a 3-year delivery plan. The result is a complete set of frameworks, governance models, and practical next steps that move the CER closer to becoming a fully data-driven regulator.

Business Challenge

The CER produces and safeguards data that plays a central role in regulatory oversight, environmental stewardship, public confidence, and the strength of Canada’s energy infrastructure. Yet its data systems, processes, and culture had fallen behind both its growing mandate and the federal government’s broader digital push.

Several specific obstacles stood in the way:

• Weak spots across architecture, governance, quality, and processes that made it hard to draw real value from the CER’s data.
• A clear need to sync up with the 2023–2026 Data Strategy for the Federal Public Service and Canada’s national AI agenda.
• No unified governance model spelling out who owns what, how decisions get made, or which standards apply.
• Limited fluency with data and analytics across teams, which slowed progress toward a stronger data culture.
• Pressure to modernize regulatory services while continuing to safeguard public trust, safety, and the environment.
• A more disciplined approach was needed — one grounded in evidence, structured for clarity, and capable of confirming that the technical foundation could carry the highest-value use cases.

To move forward, the CER needed a grounded, outcome-focused strategy backed by a realistic plan for execution.

Our Solution and Outcome

Bronson took a hands-on, partnership-based approach. We blended executive conversations, interactive workshops, and a thorough current state review to make sure the strategy reflected what the organization actually needed.

By collaborating directly with executives, data specialists, and program teams across the CER, we shaped a strategy that was practical, in step with federal direction, and tuned to the realities of energy regulation.

The work produced four core deliverables:

1. Current State Assessment Report – A clear-eyed look at how the CER manages, governs, and uses data today, supported by what we heard from stakeholders during interviews and workshops.
2. Stakeholder Engagement Summary Reports – Recap documents from each round table, business session, and executive briefing, capturing feedback that directly shaped the final strategy.
3. Enterprise Data Strategy Document – A full strategic blueprint covering vision, intended outcomes, principles, goals, and a governance model with defined roles, standards, and ways of working.
4. 3-Year Implementation Roadmap – A staged delivery plan that lays out timelines, milestones, resourcing, key initiatives, and success measures across each year.

Key Deliverables