I’m Kayla. I run EHS and process safety work. I also wrangle change on the IT side some days. I’ve used VelocityEHS MOC, Enablon MOC, and ServiceNow Change. Not a test drive. Real plant stuff. Real people. Real mess.
For an even more granular look at the daily grind, I laid everything out in this reflection on the management-of-change software I lived with.
So, did the software help? Yes. Mostly. But not in the way the sales deck says. Let me explain.
If you're scouting for fresh options, take a look at QUSoft—their change-management platform leans hard into the kind of pragmatic, field-friendly design I'll be talking about.
What I used, where, and when
- VelocityEHS MOC at a mid-size chemical plant (batch and blend). About 350 staff. I lived in it for two years.
- Enablon MOC at a refinery unit. Heavy on compliance. I used it for about nine months.
- ServiceNow Change for IT change work (firewalls, patching, ERP tweaks). One year in a PMO role.
All three made audits smoother. Only two fit real plant life.
A few moments I won’t forget
The relief valve change that almost bit us (VelocityEHS)
We bumped a PSV setpoint on a reactor. It looked simple. One form. One wrench. Done, right?
I opened a change in VelocityEHS. The risk tool flagged “vent header impact.” That sent me to a P&ID we had to update. The workflow forced a PSSR before start-up. We pulled the calc again and found a backpressure issue. It was small, but not tiny. We added a temp blind. We updated the SOP. We trained the operators on night shift too.
That checkbox saved me a 3 a.m. call.
The bypass that would not die (Enablon)
We put a temporary bypass on a high-high level trip. Storm season. The job needed speed.
I logged it in Enablon on my phone. Photos, drawings, and a sunset shot with my glove in frame (by mistake). I set an expiry for 14 days.
Here’s the rub. Our unit had spotty Wi-Fi. The app cached the form, then stalled on sync. Techs went back to paper for a shift. We backfilled later, which we all hate. When it did sync, the auto-reminder for expiry worked great. We pulled the bypass on time. Still, that offline gap? Feels risky.
The firewall Friday (ServiceNow)
Different world, same stress. A partner needed a new VPN tunnel. Friday change window.
In ServiceNow, I used a standard change template. CAB approval clicked in fast. Risk score was low. We hit the window, logged the back-out plan, and went live.
It was clean and tidy for audit. But the screens were many. Too many clicks. Also, the language fits IT, not a plant. An operator would stare at it and walk away.
Facilities pros who spend their day juggling space, assets, and work orders might find more joy in a purpose-built tool; I wrote about what actually helped after I used CAFM software for a full year.
What worked for me
- Clear workflow. Steps mean less guesswork. Who checks what, and when.
- Risk scoring that is simple, not cute. Color helps. Numbers help more.
- PSSR baked in. No PSSR, no start. No exceptions.
- Links to docs and training. When I change a valve, the SOP and training task pop up. No hunting.
- Photos and markups from the floor. Snap, scribble, attach. Even with gloves.
- Audit trail that does not feel like a trap. Time stamps, comments, and who said yes.
Lab managers looking for the same iron-clad traceability can steal a few cues from my hands-on review of a lab QMS platform with real-life examples.
VelocityEHS hit the sweet spot on speed. Enablon was deep on compliance and reporting. If you're weighing that option, here's a quick Enablon snapshot that lines up the core modules and licensing quirks. ServiceNow ruled the CAB world.
Where I got stuck
- Too many required fields. People paste junk when they’re rushed. That helps no one.
- Slow pages with lots of clicks. A plant does not wait for spinners.
- Offline is still clunky. If your unit drops Wi-Fi, the app should not leave you hanging.
- Reports that need a wizard. I just want “open by risk,” “late tasks,” and “changes by unit.”
- People game risk. They pick “medium” to skip pain. The fix is reviews, not more fields.
- Licenses. They add up fast. Techs sharing logins is a red flag, and yes, it happens.
Small truths I learned
- The form does not keep you safe. The talk does. Do the toolbox talk.
- Photos beat paragraphs. A marked-up P&ID beats both.
- One owner. Not five. If everyone owns it, no one owns it.
- Templates are gold, but old templates are landmines. Clean them each quarter.
- Celebrate a clean close. Sounds cheesy, but it keeps people in the game.
That “talk” piece is changing shape fast. More crews hash out last-minute tweaks in unit-specific group chats than around the whiteboard these days, mirroring a wider shift toward niche real-time chat platforms overtaking traditional social media. If you want to see the numbers behind that surge, check out this analysis of why specialised XXX chat sites are now pulling more daily users than Facebook—the breakdown arms you with stats you can show leadership when pitching a dedicated shop-floor chat channel.
My quick picks (based on real pain and some joy)
Shopping for MOC tools sometimes feels like sitting through an industrial version of speed dating—back-to-back ten-minute demos where you size up compatibility fast. If you’ve never watched an actual speed-dating session unfold and want a taste of how those rapid-fire introductions are orchestrated, Vacaville hosts a well-oiled series you can peek at here: Speed Dating Vacaville for event calendars, format breakdowns, and proven ice-breaker prompts that translate surprisingly well to grilling software vendors during demo day.
- VelocityEHS MOC: Best balance for a busy plant. Fast to set up. Good risk flow. Needs stronger offline.
- Enablon MOC: Great for heavy compliance and big companies. Deep reports. Can feel heavy in the field.
- ServiceNow Change: Keep it for IT change. It shines for CAB, windows, and standard changes. I wouldn’t use it for process safety MOC.
If you’re small and scrappy, a tight SharePoint list with Power Automate can hold you for a bit. But once OSHA or corporate shows up with a binder, you’ll need real MOC. A solid primer on modern Management of Change fundamentals lays out why that jump matters.
And if your world tilts more toward point-of-sale chaos than process safety, here’s what surfaced when I ran my shop on ImmorPOS353.
Real setup tips that saved me time
- Keep your risk model simple. 3×3 works. Color it.
- Build two paths: low risk (short) and high risk (full checks).
- Tie MOC to your CMMS (SAP PM or Maximo). One asset list. One source of truth.
- Auto-create training tasks when SOPs change. Don’t rely on email.
- Use QR tags on gear. Scan, open the right change, done.
- Make “temporary” changes expire. Force a review before it goes stale.
- Cap approvers. Three is plenty. Add a safety reviewer for high risk.
One more story, because it still bugs me
We swapped a pump seal kit during a shutdown. Simple job. The MOC called for a seal flush redesign. New piping, tiny line, new clamp.
The fitter marked the isometric in the app. I saw his note: “Clamp hits motor foot.” We caught it before start-up. We flipped the clamp, updated the drawing, and saved a day.
That’s the quiet win you never see in a report.
My wish list for makers of MOC tools
- Voice notes that auto-transcribe. I talk faster than I type with gloves.
- Redline P&IDs in the app with layers. Not a clumsy PDF pin.
- Better offline with clear sync states. Green means safe to walk away.
- Smart risk hints from sensor data. High temp? Flag it.
- A gentle bot that asks, “Did you update the SOP?” right when I need it, not five screens later.
The verdict
Would I buy