OATInformation
November 2016
Transforming the Business of Energy
Employee Recognition Week Recap
Personnel Services Corner
Thank you to all who made the fifth annual Employee
Recognition Week a success! The week was filled with
fun activities including daily raffles, an employee
update presentation delivered by OATI President
and CEO Sasan Mokhtari, bingo, a table tennis
tournament, and a Halloween costume contest.
OATI 2017 Open Enrollment
It is that time of year to start thinking about your 2017
Benefits! This year it is all happening through the CBIZ
EMS website (www.cbizems.com). Not sure where to
start? Personnel Services will give you a quick guide!
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Table
Tennis tournament:
Montasir Ahmed
Prakash Pandey
1. Log in to the CBIZ EMS website to review your
current 2016 Benefits. This is found on the home
screen under My Workspace and click on Benefit
Statements.
2. Review the statement. If something is not correct,
please let Personnel Services know.
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s costume
contest:
Scariest: Tim Clifford
Best Overall: Michelle Coon
Group/Department: Communications
Open Enrollment will occur between November 21
and December 06, 2016. Be sure to log in to the CBIZ
EMS System and update your benefits for 2017. How
do you do that? Go to the CBIZ EMS homepage and
click “Begin Event.” This will walk you through nine
tabs. Review and make the necessary changes as
you see fit. You must click “Save and Continue” on
all tabs, and don’t forget to Elect, Confirm, or Waive
the Benefits of your choosing under the Benefit Tab.
Once you are done, the last tab titled “Confirmation”
will pop up, and you can click “Submit.” Personnel
Services will be notified of the change(s).
If you have any questions or need assistance, contact
[email protected]. Also, the Benefit
Enrollment PowerPoint Presentation is located in the
CBIZ EMS homepage under Documents.
Happy Enrollment!
Thanksgiving Day Closing Reminder
North American OATI offices will be closed
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2016 and will resume
regular business hours on Friday, November 25.
OATI wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving!
OATI >> 3660 Technology Drive NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418 >> 763.201.2000
©2016 Open Access Technology International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get to Know Your OATI Executives!
Welcome to the new monthly
feature on OATI executives! Each
month, one OATI executive will be
selected to answer some questions
so you can learn something you
may not already know about them.
The first featured executive is
Kevin Sarkinen, OATI Senior Vice
President of Operations.
If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive,
who would you choose? Why?
Ronald Reagan — His legacy can be summed in one word:
“Freedom.” It would be intriguing to hear his personal
experiences with this legacy to which every human person
yearns.
Can you describe your perfect day?
The perfect day has three components: Constructive
interactions with OATI staff, productive engagements with
customers, and meaningful time spent with family at home.
Do all three happen every day? Not always, but every day I
feel I have a chance at having ‘another great day!’
What is your favorite quote?
A modified quote from Emerson was once given to me with
the definition of success:
Success is: “To laugh often and much, and to win the
respect of co-workers and the affection of children.”
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Place the best construction on all things.
What would you do with a working time machine?
Throw in several more webTrader 8.2 upgrades! Progress
has been great and everyone wants to see the rest of them
quickly completed to move forward with the latest code.
Can you share something about
your family?
My wife Judy and I have 15 children;
13 boys and 2 girls. Four are through
college and have started their careers.
Several are still in school, and two are
still at home who have not started
school yet. Our family activities are
centered around enjoying the outdoors
together and traveling to visit family
across the country. We enjoy gardening
and have fruit trees — apples, pears,
cherries, and raspberry patches.
Kevin’s five year-old son
during harvest time.
What is your greatest accomplishment? What do you
still hope to accomplish?
Being part of the OATI growth, which has been recognized
with tremendous market share in the wholesale energy
industry, has been great to be a part of — seeing the
success of the company, the staff growth, and all the
customer relationships that have been built. The future will
bring opportunities with many more industry segments and
partners, and it is going to be a fun challenge to grow into
these areas aiming for similar success.
Kevin on a fishing trip with some of his sons on Lake Michigan.
Gandhi Jayanti
Gandhi Jayanti is a national holiday in India celebrated
on October 02. This day is celebrated to honor of
the birthday of the “Father of the Nation,” Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma
Gandhi or Bapuji. Internationally this day is celebrated
as the “International Day of Non-Violence” as Gandhi
was the preacher of non-violence and is a symbol of
peace and truth.
Announcing the New OATI Library
OATI is excited to announce the grand opening of
the Haso Peljto Memorial Library at OATI in the near
future. Open to all employees, the library will be
located in the Communications department and will
house books and manuals relevant to the energy
industry. Staff are welcome to visit the library and
check out one book at a time.
We are now collecting donations for the library. If you
are interested in donating any books, please email
[email protected] with the book title and
author.
Stay tuned for more details!
OATI >> 3660 Technology Drive NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418 >> 763.201.2000
©2016 Open Access Technology International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“What is…?” Corner: NAESB
You may have heard the name NAESB before, but
what exactly is it?
The North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB)
was established in 2002 and serves as a forum for the
development and promotion of reliability standards
for the wholesale electric industry. The goal behind
the development of the standards is to promote a
seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural
gas and electricity, as recognized by its customers,
business community, participants, and regulatory
entities.
OATI is an approved NAESB Independent Authorized
Certification Authority (ACA) and as a result can
provide Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) services
to industry applications that require ACA digital
certificates. OATI has worked to achieve compliance
with NAESB standards in a variety of product spaces
including pipeline management software and cyber
security controls.
Compliance
On November 01, 2016 OATI implemented the new
Multifactor Authentication system on Prodterm. This
program helps us meet federal requirements for user
authentication and has affected the system level login
process to production systems at OATI. Application
level logins were not affected by this change.
The new system works by sending an SMS/Text
message to the user’s registered cell phone with a
one-time login code. The user then enters the code
when prompted on the display, allowing the user
access to Prodterm. The application is used for all
authentication types, read only, and read/write, and is
based on the existing Prodterm login authentication
application.
If you have any questions about the use of the new
Multifactor Authentication system, please contact
the IT department at [email protected]. If you have any
questions on the OATI Compliance program, please
contact the Compliance Department at Compliance@
oati.net.
New Employee Bios
OATI has welcomed many new members these past
few months. Get to know them here!
Holiday Party RSVP
New this year, OATI staff and their significant other
are invited to join us for an adult evening holiday
celebration at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest
for an evening of activities featuring hors d’oeuvres, a
cash bar, photo booth, games, dancing, and a live DJ.
Stay tuned for more information to come!
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2016
Time: 4:00 – 8:00 PM CST
Location: Minneapolis Marriott Northwest , 7025
Northland Dr N, Brooklyn Park, MN 55428
Please RSVP to [email protected] by
December 02, 2016. In your email, please indicate
your name and the name of your significant other.
Dussehra
Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami, Dasara, or Dashain) is a
Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over
evil and is observed throughout India.
Dussehra is celebrated in honor of Rama. Plays based
on the Ramayana (Ramlila) are performed at outdoor
fairs and large parades with effigies of Ravana (a king
of ancient Sri Lanka), Kumbhakarna, and Meghanada
are held. The effigies are then burned on bonfires in
the evening.
OATI Blood Drive
One in three people will need a blood transfusion in
their lifetime, yet less than 10% of the US population
donates blood each year. OATI is hosting another
blood drive and invites all employees to participate.
The last OATI Blood Drive collected 17 units of blood,
which are already helping patients in need.
The next Blood Drive will take place on December 12,
2016 from 1:30 – 4:30 PM. Be sure to bring a valid ID,
eat before donating, and do not donate if you have
had any cold or flu symptoms three days prior.
As an added bonus, this year all who donate will be
entered into a contest to win a 450 Sportsman Polaris
ATV! Visit http://www.mbc.org/atv for prize details.
Sign up to donate at www.mbcherohub.club and enter
sponsor code 3184.
Questions? Please send them to [email protected].
OATI >> 3660 Technology Drive NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418 >> 763.201.2000
©2016 Open Access Technology International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
OATIndia
Diwali Celebrations
Table Tennis Championship
Diwali (Deepawali or Dipawali) is one of India’s largest
annual festivals. Diwali is a festival of lights and Indian
Hindus celebrate it with great joy and enthusiasm. The
festival takes place in the Hindu month of Kartik which
falls during the October or November months. It is
celebrated to mark the return of Lord Ram from 14
years of exile and his victory over the demon Ravan.
During this festival, people worship Lord Ganesh
for good welfare and prosperity and the Goddess
Lakshmi for wealth and wisdom. In many parts of
India, Diwali is celebrated for five consecutive days
and is one of the most popular festivals in India.
The pending final match for the Mixed Doubles
championship was concluded in October 2016.
Congratulations to the winners:
Mixed Doubles: Mohit Thakur & Harpreet Kaur 3
OATIndia congratulates all the winners and
participants!
OATindia celebrated Diwali on October 20, 2016 with
various events including a Best Dressed competition,
bingo, and other fun games.
Birthday Celebrations
OATIndia believes that each birthday is an important
milestone in a person’s life. To make this day very
special for their employees, OATIndia celebrated
October birthdays with a cake cutting ceremony,
birthday song, and fun games.
Congratulations to the winners of the OATIndia Best
Dressed competition:
Nisha Saini
Sachin Bansal
Jaspreet Singh
At the Minneapolis, Minnesota Campus OATI
celebrated Diwali on October 28, 2016 with a cake
cutting ceremony!
OATI >> 3660 Technology Drive NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418 >> 763.201.2000
©2016 Open Access Technology International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.