In today’s world, the only constant is change. As the pace of technological innovation quickens, organizations must develop effective ways to adapt their core business models. This fact is especially true in the energy sector, where legacy infrastructure and strict regulations make it challenging to stay on the cutting edge of digitization.
 
After all, it’s hard to transform a well-established energy company into a Silicon Valley-style tech company overnight. While large corporations like Shell and BP are working tirelessly to make this transition, most firms don’t have the resources of an international conglomerate at their disposal.
 
Thankfully, there are a number of innovative solutions that can help any organization improve how they approach technology. One of the most promising trends for the energy sector is digital oilfield technology, which has the potential to revolutionize the industry. Let’s explore what a digital oilfield is and how it can benefit your company.
 
What Is A Digital Oilfield?
By definition, digital oilfield is a concept that enables organizations to maximize productivity, reduce cost, and minimize the risk associated with operations. When imagining a digital oilfield in action, it can be tempting to envision a high-tech operations center with hundreds of computer screens manned by dozens of experts. However, the inner workings of this new approach to oil and natural gas management are far more intricate.
 
How Does A Digital Oilfield Work?
In practice, a digital oilfield isn’t a physical location, but rather a collection of sophisticated hardware and software that helps to digitize the day-to-day operations. A typical technology stack includes sensors to monitor oil and natural gas extraction sites, servers to store incoming data streams, and software to analyze and interpret the information collected.
 
Through this technology, digital oilfields empower decision-makers with up-to-date business intelligence, which can pay dividends for any organization. In fact, there are several impressive benefits associated with implementing a digital oilfield, including improved compliance, increased productivity, and responsive maintenance for critical systems.
 
How Can Digitization Benefit Your Company?
In the world of business, there are numerous benefits associated with digitization. When it comes to oil and natural gas processes, key benefits include:

• Improved Compliance With Regulations: One key advantage of digital oilfield technology is the ability to have real-time information on critical operations. This can help to ensure an organization remains in continuous compliance with environmental and worker safety regulations.
• Increased Productivity: Real-time feedback on operations in the field helps to promote increased productivity. When the status of processes is known, its outcome can be optimized to maximize profits and minimize inefficiencies.

• Responsive Maintenance For Critical Systems: Digitization can help firms know the current state of their critical infrastructure. This can assist with both proactive and reactive maintenance, which in turn helps minimize downtime and maximize profits.

 
As we have seen, digital oilfield technology provides organizations with some great benefits. If your company is looking to adopt digitization technologies, please contact the Accupoint team to find out how to the first steps.

Managing field service contracts had never been easier with the arrival of Propel Field Service Management (FSM) solution from Accupoint Software.

Propel allows real time monitoring and management of all rig service work and corporate service contracts from a single interface.  Propel manages all contract pricing and issues and tracks work orders, as well as, completion status.

When a technician arrives on site, Propel can handle site inductions and pre-work site safety checklists.  Propel logs contractor time on site, tracks technician’s movements and provides real time location fixing, which is essential in case of emergency.
 
Propel is also a powerful audit tool and reporting platform.  It will accommodate any form of audit, inspections, surveys and checklists and any scoring or rating system.  All inspections are GPS located and photos can be attached easily.  Rectification of hazards and sub-standard work can be tracked using Propel’s Inspection Workflow system.

Realtime data visibility is enhanced with unlimited custom dashboards that enable managers and employees immediate access to the current status of the work being performed and outcomes relative to their responsibilities.  The  Propel dashboard streamlines contract reporting with auto assembly of real time or set period data in multiple graphical and tabular formats with the ability to add text and tables of contents.  Reports can be published to the Dashboard, viewed online or printed and emailed from within the application.

The Propel Messaging center handles and tracks all contract communications.  Emails generated by Propel users will appear in both Propel and email client app and all responses are automatically logged.  Users can open, close and track email trails and Propel keeps a permanent record of communications, even if deleted off of the email client server.

The Propel FSM System will change the way that contracts are managed and provides an end-to-end total service solution for oil and gas industry.   For more information, or to arrange a no-obligation demonstration contact us today. 

Procedure management is extremely important in any business. Procedures help direct employees on the how and why of task completion.  In addition, they can provide evidence that an organization is compliant with legal regulations and contractual requirements. For this reason, having a proper procedure management system is a must for all businesses.

When it comes to procedures, there are a few things that auditors will look for first. For example, auditors will verify that a procedure was put through the proper approval process. Also, auditors will look to see if a system is in place to objectively review the procedure. In order for businesses to answer these questions, proper documentation must be gathered.

One of the most difficult things about procedure management is keeping track of documentation. Since there are many ways that employees correspond with one another, there are many documents that may surface in the process of developing and maintaining a procedure.

For example, while email correspondence may be available for one procedure, physical or paper documents may be available for another. Because of this, many companies choose to rely on QMS software to keep track of all the documents related to the procedure management process. The use of an integrated document management system streamlines the corresponding auditing process.

Web-based software applications have the added benefit of providing the ability and store procedures in a convenient location. This streamlines the audit process and ensures that procedures are accessible to team members during operations.

To learn more about Accupoint Software’s comprehensive procedures management solution, please contact us to arrange a platform demonstration. 

​Last week we continued our discussion on more aspects of a great management of change program. In Part 1 & 2 of our overview, we explored the actions that precipitate making the change. Today, we will discuss the implementation of the change, as well as required follow-up actions.
 
First, we will want to execute any pre-implementation changes and corresponding mitigation efforts that were identified. Subsequent to the implementation we will want to perform any post-implementation tasks that are required.  Example would include updating procedures or modifying training materials to address the change.  
 
Next, we need to confirm the effectiveness of the change.  Once the change has been implemented it is important to make sure that the change does what it was intended to do. Sometimes organizations experience undesirable results. When this happens, we must determine if the system should be restored to the old model, or develop a new MOC to address the unintended results.
 
Finally, we need to follow-up and confirm the success of our mitigation efforts. This ensures that the new system will not produce any unseen difficulties for the organization. Also, we need to verify that the change is going to leave the system running smoothly and safely. Once all of these steps have been completed in their entirety, then the change can be closed.
 
After closure, we still have one final but critical step remaining. We must perform surveillance audits to confirm the changes were carried out consistently and the system is being used as intended. Comprehensive process audits are a great way to determine implementation results.   Randomly selecting a few processes related to the change and auditing them is a good way to achieve this. It is important to remember that audits should be performed at periodic intervals.  The frequency of audits depends on several factors, but should be scheduled in a manner that guarantees the sustainability of the change.
 
For more information on how Accupoint Software can help streamline your MOC program, contact us today.

Last week we talked about three crucial aspects of a great Management of Change (MOC) program. Those areas were the specificity and detail in the change requests, followed by risk and reward analysis, and the proper selection of a MOC evaluation team. This week we’re going to touch base on a few more important parts to a fully functional MOC program.
 
The API Spec Q2 requirements take a risk-based approach to quality management. When making changes, risks must be identified and measured by level of acceptability. Risks that are deemed unacceptable must be paired with mitigation plans. These plans are then designated to be carried out before, during, or after the implementation process. The purpose of the mitigation plans is to help bring the risk down to an acceptable level.
 
The next area we will address deals with the approval aspect of MOC. Many organizations get into trouble in this area, confusing the need for approval with the need to inform. It’s important to note that every change doesn’t have to have the same approver. A great MOC program should have an approval matrix describing who needs to approve which type of decisions, as well as a list of people who “must be informed”. If your organization gets these steps right, the approval process will be quick and painless.
 
This leads us to the communication section nicely. As stated before, there are those who need to “approve” and those who “must be informed”. We need to track our communication efforts with respect to the MOC.  In other words, any message and corresponding response must be documented. The person responsible for sending the message is also responsible for getting a confirmation from the recipient. This means after the change is communicated, a receipt confirmation should be requested. Also, it is important to make it clear to your organization that an email response should be expected from the recipient. Simply flagging it as “Request a Read Receipt” isn’t going to get the job done. Once the recipient has responded, stating that they have received the message and understand the information, then the responsibility shifts to them to carry out the appropriate action.
 
Be sure to check back next week for part 3 of our overview of Management of Change. For more information on how Accupoint Software can help streamline your MOC program, contact us today.