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Business Side Readiness for Data Management Project Implementation
Client Situation: An international oil company recognized that one of its most vital assets was its assets data (e.g., information which supported where and how to drill oil and gas wells). Such data, however, was not managed systematically either from a process, or organization. Some of their most valuable experts spent excessive amounts of time in non productive ways - looking for data, loading and migrating data from one data base to another – rather than having visibility into which data was available, having it accessible at the right time, and spending more time evaluating the data for improved decision making on prospective wells.
The client used various technical solutions to drill and find oil, most of which were not integrated. The client wanted to evaluate, select and implement the best tools to meet the business needs. Such an approach required selecting a single technology application for common use throughout the company. Web-enabled technology also provided more accessible commercial vendor data. This required significant change by key business staff to accept and ultimately use the common technical solutions.
The technical solutions were evaluated following a structured methodology with pre-determined criteria and weighting. The criteria included: business benefits (40%); application functionality and ease of use (30%); information technology fit (15%); Cost (10%); and vendor (5%). Each solution was evaluated by various user representatives to promote acceptance, ownership and ultimately utilization. Solutions were also tested in an operational setting with an assessed business value determined. Previously, technical solutions were evaluated by IT or users separately. IT and business users, however, worked together in a structured decision process to make the decision that fit both IT and business user needs. The client estimated that productivity improvements would be as much as 50%, as measured by reduction in data management time.
In the past, business users had limited involvement in technology evaluations. To ensure the business got the technical solutions they wanted, each business user group selected their own technical solutions, which led to multiple technical solutions, no standard processes and limited interaction between IT and business user community.
When the client managed team initiated the data management project, they immediately recognized the need for a structured approach to managing the project and interacting with the business community. The business users had to see the reasons for their involvement and see the benefits of the ultimate solutions for them in their specific roles. The project team developed a blueprint of the solution and a case for change.
Endeavor Management Solution: We used several techniques to get the business ready for the technology implementation:
1. Developed and communicated the vision of the application at work in the business
2. Clarified the business and personal case for implementation
3. Modified user business processes to align with the application
4. Modified other user tools to accommodate the revised processes/application
5. Alteration of roles to performance requirements
6. Project Management of the implementation
1. Developed and communicated the vision of the application at work in the business
The vision was developed to include the picture of the organization before the transformation and the ideal scenario once the goals of the effort have been reached. The vision was initially crafted by the team and then revised by the advisory committee/change leaders and IT ops council. The vision included:
- what the future would look like after the transformation,
- why embrace the future now (the rationale for change),
- guiding principles of data management,
- roles and responsibilities,
- work processes and
- an overview of the data management architecture and tools
2. Clarified the business and personal case for implementation
The case for implementation emphasized both the business reasons (i.e., the lack of data and the lack of good drilling decisions based on competitors) and the personal reasons (i.e., the time spent looking for data and re-buying data that was already owned). The change leaders communicated and demonstrated the case for implementation with their respective organizations. Additional information supporting the case for implementation was also communicated during the course of the project.
3. Modified user business processes to align with the application
Initial data management processes were individual, uncoordinated efforts with no formal tracking of requests. The new processes were focused organizational practices, including the standard use of a request tracking tool.
4. Modified other user tools to accommodate the revised processes/application
In addition to the request tracking tool, a common cartography data base was established and an integrated data catalog including production, drilling, reservoir, lease, land and G&G data implemented. The company had convenient access to commercial data through the Internet web access.
5. Alteration of roles to performance requirements
The business functional roles were altered to fit the tools and processes. Data technicians initially had minimum interaction between business units, but after the transformation, an organized information management community shared best practices and looked for further improvement. Each staff member was trained on the new technology to promote uniformity and standardized processes.
6. Project Management of the Implementation
The entire program was managed as a single effort. The work plan had tasks with completion dates and responsibilities. The project team and change leaders identified risks and mitigation plans to ensure the project stayed on track.
Results and Benefits: The company experienced key results such as:
- Less time spent by geoscientists and techs looking for data
- Less time spent by techs loading/migrating data
- Reduced cost for data acquisitions through better selection and reduced redundancy
- Improved exploration results
- Lower cost access to vendor data through creative web based alliances