From Filing Forms to Fixing Them: Why I Joined Systrends

Some of you may already know me. I’m Brooke Schupbach, CPA, Customer Success Manager at Systrends.

What you may not realize is that before joining Systrends, I was on the industry side. For more than a decade, I worked in financial reporting. I started in public accounting, earned my CPA, and then moved into energy industry roles where regulatory reporting—including FERC financial reporting—became a major part of my world. 

I’ve lived filing season from the inside.

I know that when January hits, you already feel April looming. I know precisely how standardized FERC forms are and how little room there is for error. And I know that for months, you’re working long hours juggling internal reviews, auditor requests, state commission submissions, and the final push to file accurately and on time. 

Perhaps most importantly, I know how much of the filing season’s stress comes not from the process itself, but from the tools you rely on to get through it.

FERC Filing Season Is Intense Enough

FERC reporting is extremely standardized. You don’t redesign it. You don’t add creative layouts or custom graphics. You fill out the form exactly as prescribed. So, in theory, the software supporting that process should feel straightforward. But in reality, it often doesn’t.

In the systems I used previously, preparing a filing meant interacting with multiple files at once. There was typically a spreadsheet and a document, and you had to remember intricate details about how the two connected. Data lived in one place. Footnotes lived somewhere else. I constantly reminded users to open the Word file and update disclosures. And I navigated all sorts of trouble linking between documents. 

Sure. It worked. But it required a lot of extra vigilance.

On top of the procedural inefficiencies of industry-nonspecific tools, required functionality like XBRL tagging often came with additional fees. Professional services fees were charged for work that felt like it should have been built into the product in the first place, given the standardized nature of FERC forms. And even something as basic as generating a clean PDF could turn into an unexpected project. 

None of these difficulties were caused by FERC requirements. This friction was created entirely by the tool my company had us using. And when you’re working those long hours required for filing season? No amount of preventable friction feels good.

The Demo That Made Me Rethink Everything

Last year, I was introduced to Systrends’ eForms solution. At the time, I was firmly planted in my industry role with no intention of leaving. April Brady, Systrends’ CEO, reached out to me. I immediately recognized her name because she had helped my company over the years with regulatory reporting process improvements and software implementations.

I agreed to the demo because I’m naturally curious about tools, and I understood our filing process well enough to know exactly where the inefficiencies were. I had just come off another exhausting filing season, and I found myself wondering if there might be a better way.

Just a few minutes into the demo, I realized Systrends was really different.

The reporting tool I’d been using for FERC reporting at the time was broad and clearly built for use across a variety of industries and use cases. We could do FERC filing on it, but the flow wasn’t intuitive and it always felt like we were fitting a square peg into a round hole.

eForms was clearly designed specifically for FERC reporting.

There was one form to open and one interface to work in. You log in, open your form, enter or import your data using structured templates, validate, clear errors, and file directly from within the form. The whole process felt intuitive, almost like preparing a tax return online.

Compliance wasn’t layered on top as an afterthought. XBRL tagging was built in and automated, with no separate fee and no separate process to manage. Validation happened inside the same environment, so you weren’t moving between tools or trying to reconcile outputs.

Even the interface told you this was built for FERC. In broader reporting systems, you’re given a wide range of design and customization features. That makes sense for other types of filings. But for FERC reporting, you can’t use most of them. So instead of helping, they become a distracting point of confusion for my team. With eForms, there was nothing to steer around. No extra formatting tools you weren’t allowed to use. No features that made you wonder whether you were about to create a compliance issue. Everything existed for one purpose: complete the form correctly and file it. The tool matched the task.

And eForm’s output delivered on that same simplicity. When you clicked export, the PDF was exactly what you hoped it would be: clean, readable, and ready to print or send.

I left that demo genuinely excited and I brought the idea back to my team for consideration. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right. My company was in the middle of a massive transformation, updating nearly 15 back-office systems at once. Adding another platform just wasn’t feasible at the time.

I continued on in my less-than-efficient FERC filing option. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that filing season could be better for the people doing the work.

Later, Opportunity Found Me

Some time after my demo with Systrends, I was approached about joining their team. 

In the role of Customer Success Manager, I could support energy companies like mine by helping them migrate to, implement, and use a better FERC filing solution. 

It was kind of perfect for me. I had spent years as their target customer. I knew the review process they dealt with. I knew the pressure they faced. And I knew exactly what it felt like to have software slow you down instead of helping you move forward.

I loved the idea that I could help change that experience for other industry professionals.

I didn’t leave accounting because I disliked it. I left because I cared deeply about accurate reporting and regulatory compliance, and I knew I was stepping into a role where I could help make the whole process better for everyone.

Seeing the Impact Firsthand

Since joining Systrends, my inspiration about improved efficiency has only grown.

I regularly guide new customers through their first filings on their new eForms solution. I watch their hesitation turn into relief when they realize the workflow is more straightforward than they expected. When they see that XBRL tagging is automated, that milestone revisions are tracked, that audit trails exist at the fact level, that collaboration can happen in real time within a single form, it clicks.

And because I’ve been in their seat, conversations are different. When someone says, “I’m nervous about annual filings,” I understand exactly why. When someone asks about how PDFs will look for their auditors, I know what they’re asking beneath the question.

I get to work with people to reduce the complexity that I myself used to face.

FERC Filing Season Should Be Challenging, But Not Chaotic

FERC reporting will always feel hard. The window for filing will always be tight. The compliance requirements will always be strict. And the process will always require discipline and attention to detail. But that doesn’t mean it has to feel chaotic.

You don’t have to navigate multiple disconnected files. You don’t have to pay additional fees for required tagging functionality. And you don’t have to spend hours reformatting PDFs in order for them to be acceptable for review and distribution.

When I saw the Systrends eForms solution for the first time, I believed filing life could be better for the professionals doing the work. Now, I get to help make that belief real. After years of preparing and filing the forms, I now support the professionals doing that work so they can file more efficiently and with more confidence

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Systrends software transforms the way energy companies manage and report regulatory data by streamlining processes, connecting data and teams, and ensuring consistency and ease. Learn more about our solutions at Systrends.com.