The External Corrosion Direct Assessment process will likely be a widely adopted method for assessing and reducing the impact of external corrosion on the integrity of pipelines. NACE's ECDA Recommended Practice has done an excellent job of specifying the process. The challenge will be extracting the process from the recommended practice and effectively implementing it into the field to meet operator's and regulator's needs. One operator has done this by developing a procedure that helps assure implementation is effectively conducted through anticipating challenges in implementing the process and integrating good operating and process practices into the procedure. This paper provides insight into 18 different challenges of implementing the ECDA process and examples of how they were addressed.