Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Remote Sensing
Buying Software
Best Practices
Volume 1
Number 10
www.UpstreamTechMag.com
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 10
features
Remote Sensing
3-7
New Releases
8-16
Remote Sensing
17-23
Drilling Simulators
24-29
Standards
30-35
Roundup: HR Software
36-41
Case Studies
42-49
Best Practices
11
Talent Management
Solutions
33
Interview
Saad Bargach
30
departments
3 Facilities
30 Back Office
8G&G
36 IT Comms
17 Drilling
42 Management
24 Production
50 Insider
EDITOR
Jeanne Perdue
E-mail: jperdue@zeusdevelopment.com
MANAGER, DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Tamara Choate
In This Issue
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DESIGNER
Aki Margaritis
Upstream Technology is published once a month by Zeus Development Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. Publisher reserves the right
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Symbol
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ACN
AMD
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ADSK
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BHI
BEAS
BE
BJS
CAM
CSCO
CSN.TO
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DASTY
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HPQ
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Company Name
ABB
Accenture
Advanced Micro Devices
Aspen Tech
Autodesk
Aveva
Baker Hughes
BEA Systems Inc.
BearingPoint
BJ Services Co.
Cameron International Corp.
Cisco Systems Inc
Cognos
Computer Modelling Group
Dassault Systemes
Dell
Electronic Data Systems
EMC Corp.
Emerson Electric
FMC Technologies Inc.
GlobalSantaFe Corp.
Halliburton
Hewlett-Packard
Honeywell
IHS Inc.
Infosys Technologies
Input-Output
Intel
Intergraph
Intl Business Machines
Microsoft
National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
Network Appliance
Open Text
Oracle
Petroleum Geo Services
SAP
Sapient
Schlumberger
Smith International Inc.
Sun Microsystems
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Wipro Ltd.
7-
PetroComputing
Insights 50
Upstream Technology
When
East
Meets
West
The Unfolding of LNG Trade in the Pacific
November 8-10, 2006
San Diego, CA
Includes tour of Sempra's Energia Costa Azul Terminal for first 100 registrants.
SESSION I: FRAMING THE ISSUES
End of the Pipeline and Beyond: The Dynamics of North
America's West Coast Gas Markets
Mike Juden, McKinsey & Company
Asian LNG Supply/Demand Balance: How West Coast
North American terminals are likely to Impact Pacific and
Middle East Trade
Tommy Inglesby, McKinsey & Company
SESSION II: INTEGRATED MAJORS' PERSPECTIVES
Integrated Pacific LNG Supplier's Perspective: Woodside
Jan Cutler, president, Woodside Natural Gas
Integrated Pacific LNG Supplier's Perspective
TBA
SESSION III: EMERGING PACIFIC BASIN TRADE -TAKING A CUE FROM THE ATLANTIC
How the Atlantic trade has unfolded and possible implications for
the Pacific
TBA
Kitimat LNG
Rosemary Boulton, president, Kitimat LNG, Inc.
www.LNGExpress.com/EMW
ShipConstructor Releases
New Software Version
ShipConstructor Software Inc., developer of AutoCADbased 3D product modeling software, has released the
latest version of its ShipConstructor 2006 software.
Our software team had the ingenious idea of marrying the power of a relational database with parametric
functionality an industry first, said Rolf G. Oetter,
president and CEO. Our Database Driven Relational
Object Model (DDROM) provides a quantum
leap in the design for production process. ShipConstructors DDROM gives you flexibility and control by
managing complex interactions
between associated parts as well Devils Tower SPAR
as creating transparency and
collaboration in the shipbuilding process.
Dealing with design
changes is always a challenge.
ShipConstructor 2006 now
makes it easier to deal with
changes - without having to
make hundreds of small adjustments throughout the product
model. With DDROM, all
related 3D model drawings
update as well as all production drawings containing the
changed area. This can save
thousands of tedious and very
time-consuming modifications
and it prevents out-of-date
production documentation being used.
With DDROM, you can make your parts intelligent. We call them SmartParts because they automatically react to design changes of adjacent parts or
pre-defined standards, updating themselves as well as
the production drawings, said Darren Larkins, chief
software architect. The best thing about the SmartParts is that there is absolutely no manual programming
required, because you are using standard AutoCAD
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Quantapoint announced that final beta testing for PRISM 3D and QuantaCAD for
PDMS has started. PRISM 3D is the most
advanced technology available for sharing and
accessing dimensional and other information
from plants digitized using laser scanning, and
QuantaCAD enables this digitized plant to be
accessed within AVEVA PDMS.
Based on client feedback, both PRISM
3D and QuantaCAD for PDMS incorporate
a number of new capabilities to support the
project lifecycle better:
Removal of visual distortion when viewing 3D laser data as a 2D image;
Hover text that shows the location of cursor in the digitized plant;
Tag points that can save a 3D location in
the digitized plant;
Estimate pipe centerline and diameter
with a single click;
Coloring the digitized plant by depth to
show the distance from the user; and
Load the digitized plant around a CAD
model with a single click.
Quantapoint helps clients achieve ZeroDefect Construction by digitizing plants
using laser scanning. With over 750 successful
projects, Quantapoints Digitized Plant results
in reduced costs, optimized schedules, increased
quality and improved safety, with project rework being reduced by more than 80%.
www.quantapoint.com
Using Business FLEX, companies can increase production between 3% and 6% and decrease costs between
2% and 3%. The new update includes support for the
ISA S95 standard for open XML communication services
between plant and corporate systems. It also includes the
Production Control Center, a suite of tools for operations
and production management for offshore platforms that
provides production management, well test reporting and
operations management.
The latest release of Business FLEX takes organizations to the next level of performance by providing a truly
collaborative manufacturing environment that increases
information visibility, production flexibility and the
opportunities for profit, said Tom Fiske, senior analyst,
ARC Advisory Group.
www.honeywell.com/ps
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October 2006
MachineTalker Enters
Petroleum Industry
MachineTalker Inc., developer of smart wireless security
networks, has introduced its remote, intelligent sensors
into the industrial sensing and control market through
an OEM agreement with Sense-Comm Technology LLC.
Sense-Comm has targeted the petroleum and power
industries for initial implementations to improve operational efficiency, environmental safety and condition-based
maintenance (CBM).
Other applications include instrumenting a transfer
pump in a tank farm with several temperature and vibration sensors, and sensing accidental emission of toxic gases
from processing plants to increase personnel safety and
reduce community impact.
The wireless network capabilities of the MachineTalker devices give us a robust platform upon which to
develop solutions for industrial control applications, said
Mikell Becker, president, Sense-Comm. We intend to
enhance data quality and timeliness by pushing intelligence
out to the remote sensing points while interacting with
existing distributed control systems that use either existing
sensor types or advanced digital sensors.
Becker added: Our decision to use MachineTalker
technology for these applications was an easy decision.
The capabilities that Talkers bring are light years ahead of
anything else on the market. Moreover, wireless sensors
that incorporate the latest technology can be implemented
less expensively and more easily than typical wired sensor
installations.
www.machinetalker.com
www.sense-comm.com
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rely on spectral imaging, gravity or magnetic measurements. These and other indirect measurement systems
like seismic geophysical technology, require time-consuming interpretation, which may lead to anomalies or targets
that do not contain oil. Johnson explained that this new
method is a direct detection technology. Every mineral
has its own characteristics and gives special numerical
readings, he said, adding that he believes this new airborne technology has potential to reduce the
lead-time to new discoveries significantly.
Figure 1 shows flight line data and
Total Electric Field readings, which are
compared to the Total Magnetic Field.
Computer analysis is used to compute Apparent Resistivity as well as Natural Field
Induced Polarization, which occurs at the
water-hydrocarbon interface. This polarization helps geoscientists identify oil and gas
anomalies from surface to 20,000 ft depths
or more. The resulting analysis yields 3D pictures of the
underground structures.
The electric and magnetic field data reside in a
custom developed database, which is interfaced with
Geosofts Oasis Montaj software platform that has been
enhanced to permit analysis of the multi-component
airborne data. Using Oasis Montaj, geoscientists can import, view, process and share earth science datasets, grids
and images efficiently within one integrated environment. A variety of Montaj extensions and Montaj Plus
extensions are available for advanced geophysics and
geochemical data processing, analysis, quality control
and modeling, making Oasis Montaj one of the most
robust and comprehensive geoscience mapping and
processing systems in the world.
Software plug-ins are available for ER Mapper,
ArcGIS and MapInfo, providing superior connectivity
between Oasis Montaj mapping software and corporate
GIS applications.
www.efieldexploration.com
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source is towed above the receivers, emitting electromagnetic energy with low frequency. Energy from the source
propagates into the subsurface. If there are no resistivity
contrasts present, the energy will gradually be attenuated
and disappear. If resistivity contrasts are present (such as
that caused by an oil-filled sandstone), EM energy will
propagate back to the seafloor where it is recorded by
receivers. The recorded information can be processed to
create detailed charts of subsurface resistivity distribution.
EM data have the
potential to raise detection
rates by 50% or more, heralding a new epoch for the
oil and gas industry. Consequently, Rocksource is developing its own proprietary
system for integrating EM
data with seismic and well
data to fully exploit reserves detected by remote resistivity surveys. With Rocksource Discover V. 2, geoscientists
will have a new and highly advanced integrated workflow where EM data are incorporated into the analyses.
Rocksource Discover V.2 contains:
EM Screening to identify areas for EM surveys;
EM Feasibility to conduct first-pass modeling;
EM Confidence Modeling to define uncertainties
for input to risk calculations;
EM Survey Design to optimize survey design to
detect hydrocarbons and delineate hydrocarbonfilled structures at the lowest cost;
EM Integrated Processing to process EM data
with and without input from seismic data; and
EM Integrated Analyses to analyze EM data,
seismic data, well data and geological understanding to provide input to probability
calculations, volumetrics and prospect ranking.
www.rocksource.com
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Intergraph Corp. announced the newest version of G/Technology, which integrates geofacilities management with operational support
and service delivery applications. Enhancements include new application programming
interfaces (APIs) that enable customization, as
well as new ways to configure software to tailor
workflows to unique business needs. G/Technology 9.3.3 also supports the very latest versions of CAD software, while extending raster
support for additional formats, such as ECW.
G/Technology offers industry standard
models for the electric, gas, pipeline, water
and communications industries. The hallmark of G/Technology is an open architecture
combined with data management strategies,
the spatial initiatives of database management
systems (DBMS), and compliance to industry
standards. G/Technology 9.3.3 reduces the
administration required for software installation and upgrades due to version compatibility, single set-up and set-up patches. Additionally, expansion packs in G/Technology 9.3.3
ensure that organizations have access to new
capabilities as they become available.
Traditionally, a system upgrade has been a
considerable expense that an organization must
shoulder all at once, said Peter Batty, CTO,
Intergraph. The version compatibility provided
by G/Technology 9.3.3 gives customers the option to upgrade their systems in several stages.
www.intergraph.com
MicroSeismic Inc., provider of 3-D seismic imaging technology, closed a $7 million preferred
share offering to fund capital equipment for
expansion as well as software development. Altira
Technology Fund IV LLC, led the funding round
with $2.8 million, while previous investor CTTV
Investments LLC, the venture capital arm of
Chevron Technology Ventures, and new investor
RockPort Capital Partners also participated.
We are proud to have achieved profitability
in our second full year of operations, said Peter
Duncan, CEO, MicroSeismic. This investment
round will allow us to respond to the flourishing
market demand for our services. MicroSeismic
has developed several proprietary technologies for
detecting passive seismic noise for monitoring reservoir fluid flow, fracturing and compaction. The
company has completed work for more then 20
domestic and international oil and gas companies
and plans to double the number of employees in
the next year.
William E. Wilber James, managing general
partner, RockPort Capital Partners, has joined
Microseismics board of directors. James also serves
on the board of Peabody Energy Corp. MicroSeismic is rapidly defining the market for passive
seismic in the oil and gas industry, he said. The
management team understands the industry and
has positioned the company for growth.
www.microseismicinc.com
www.altiragroup.com
www.rockportcap.com
Upstream Technology
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Last year, the company launched the mini-DART, a portable simulator with the same features as the full-size DART,
but on a smaller scale. The mini-DART allows companies to
train their personnel on location without risk to people or
the environment. It is helping to improve safety performance,
productivity and efficiency of personnel, and is expected to
eliminate unnecessary well costs and reduce downtime. Training available on the simulator includes advanced well control,
rig pre-start-ups, drillstring failure and specific courses developed by the operator.
Drilling engineers rely on years of experience to know
how and when to anticipate problems and to deal with the
unexpected. Because safety and environmental protection are
paramount, it is critical that seasoned drilling crews can learn
how to use brand-new equipment and newly hired drilling
crews can familiarize themselves with old equipment in a
safe environment. In addition, engineers can run multiple
scenarios without compromising live operations. Operators, drilling contractors and service company personnel have
all used DART to become competent in both onshore and
offshore rig operations before experiencing actual moving
equipment.
Some of the benefits of drilling the well on a virtual
reality simulator prior to the real deal include reduced risk
and cost, improved safety and efficiency, less down time and
increased staff competence.
October 2006 19
www.kcadeutag.com/whatwedo/dart_01.htm
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Aberdeen-based Nautronix PLC has won a multi-million dollar purchase order from Shell for the supply of an enhanced
capability NASBOP system to provide acoustic control and
monitoring of a subsea location device within a surface BOP
drilling package. This will be the third NASBOP system Nautronix has delivered to Shell.
Managing Director Mark Patterson said this latest
contract was the oil giants seal of approval for Nautronix
technology: We are delighted Shell has shown their commitment to utilizing Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum (ADS2)
technology and are pleased to be working closely with them
to deliver an enhanced capability NASBOP system specific to
their requirements.
Nautronix collaborated with Shells engineering team
in Houston to support Shells ongoing development of the
SBOP concept. Over the past few years, Nautronix has invested more than 10 million in research and development,
including the introduction of NASBOP to the market about
four years ago. It was first used offshore Brazil and Egypt as
an enabling technology for surface BOP operations where a
reliable acoustic primary control system was essential.
The enhanced NASBOP system takes full advantage of
ADS2 technology by offering additional signaling capability and functionality. New features include new electronic
architecture, lithium batteries and a new power management
system to provide subsea power control from the surface to
support extended periods of deployment.
Nautronix will deliver the NASBOP system to Shell in
the early part of 2007 for installation onboard GlobalSantaFes
Glomar Arctic I for surface BOP drilling operations in the BC10 field offshore Brazil.
www.nautronix.com
Halliburtons Drilling, Evaluation and Digital Solutions Division has entered into a global framework
agreement with Shell International Exploration and
Production B.V. (SIEP) that will enable SIEP and its
affiliates to expand their global real-time infrastructure for the provision of seamless, secure and open
access to proprietary data whenever and wherever it is
required across the globe.
The agreement provides SIEP worldwide access
to Sperry Drilling Services INSITE and INSITE
Anywhere information technology services and
related systems. Specifically, the agreement provides
for rig-site data aggregation, transmission of the data
to SIEPs real-time operations centers (RTOCs), and
data integration using the WITSML standard with
other drilling software in use within SIEP.
This global agreement validates the significant
benefits that both SIEP and Halliburton have realized
from the real-time operating environment in the Gulf
of Mexico. We are extremely pleased to be able to
expand this capability with SIEP while continuing to
develop new benefits from this emerging technology,
said Brady Murphy, VP, Sperry Drilling Services.
www.halliburton.com
www.shell.com
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Exchange Technology
John Berra
president,
Emerson Process Management
Emerson Process Management and Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) announced the expansion of
system interfaces to enable both companies to expand
support of global fieldbus standards. The companies will
exchange technology and engineering support to add the
interfaces that extend their systems and software to offer
customers expanded global interoperability and greater
functionality. First products are expected to be available
in mid-2007. The cooperation grew out of the work
both companies have done with user-supplier consortia
to deliver fully open and interoperable field instrumentation and electric drives using the newly enhanced global
standard Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL).
Siemens will add interfaces to
the companys Simatic PCS 7 process
control system and its Process Device
Manager (PDM) tool to support
Foundation Fieldbus standards, in
addition to the Profibus and HART
standards they support today. This
will enable Siemens to connect to the
extensive array of Foundation Fieldbus instruments and valve controllers
from Emerson, as well as devices from other companies
who support Foundation Fieldbus.
Emerson will similarly expand its DeltaV and
Ovation control systems, as well as the companys
AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager application, with an interface for Profibus DP and Profinet
standards, in addition to the Foundation Fieldbus and
HART standards they support today. This will enable
Emerson to connect to the extensive array of drives,
motor starters and other discrete devices from Siemens,
as well as devices from other companies who support
Profibus DP and Profinet.
Foundation Fieldbus is the established global standard in process automation, commented John Berra,
president, Emerson Process Management. In manufacturing automation, Profibus DP and Profinet are the
Foundation Fieldbus is
the established
global standard in
process automation,
commented John Berra,
president, Emerson
Process Management.
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Interoperable by Design
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As promised, in one short year the PRODML [PRODuction xML] working group has delivered its Candidate
Release, Version 1.0. The fourteen industry participants
released the proposed specifications for industry review and
comment during September, and will review the comments
and update the content, with a target publication of the
PRODML Standards, Version 1.0, on October 16, 2006.
The PRODML participants conducted four pilot
test implementations using field data provided by energy
companies together with applications and pilot software
implementations of the PRODML standards provided by
energy solution vendors. The PRODML Standards address
general purpose optimization data and application interactions, but are strongly based on careful study of three basic
production optimization work flows:
Gas lift optimization;
Optimizing production from free flowing wells based
on real-time measurements and network models; and
Field-wide optimization based on real-time measurements, network models and reservoir surveillance.
The standards are designed to be extensible, allowing
more complex workflows with their data requirements,
future optimization techniques and evolving software applications. After the public review period, the PRODML
standards will be transferred to POSC for further stewardship and evolution. Interested parties may still join the
POSC Production SIG. The Candidate Release Specifications may be found on www.PRODML.org.
Emerson Process Management is now offering a comprehensive DeltaV Operator Training Course using eLearning online training. The new course provides in-depth
information on the DeltaV system, operator user interface,
alarms, trending and module operation. This program is a
cost-effective alternative to traditional classroom training,
as it eliminates the need for costly travel and lodging.
Our eLearning course, offered over the Internet, requires only a personal computer and a broadband Internet
connection. Customers can just log on and learn and stay
on as long as they want, said Jim Siemers of Emersons
Educational Services.
This 12-hour online course includes detailed, stepby-step instructions and illustrations with accompanying
audio presentations, demonstrations, practice sessions,
workshops, quizzes and a final exam. Progress reports to
management are offered throughout the course, as well as
CEU credits for course completion.
www.emersonprocess.com/education/elearning_DeltaV.asp
Yokogawa Electric Corp. has released an upgraded version of its STARDOM network-based control system
that provides a number of enhancements. Key features
of the enhancements are an improved communication
function for controlling widely distributed production
facilities and the capability to enhance control system
reliability by using STARDOM in combination with
other control devices in a large plant.
STARDOM is an open control system comprised
of function-specific control, operation and monitoring components that can be interconnected flexibly
and on a scaleable basis using networking technology.
The system features the same high reliability and
supportability of a DCS while having the openness,
versatility and cost-effectiveness of systems that combine PCs and programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
The DNP3 communication protocol is increasingly employed in control systems for oil and gas facilities
that are dispersed over wide areas. In previous versions,
serial interfaces such as RS-232C were prepared for
DNP3. With this upgrade, an Ethernet interface is
provided. When STARDOM is combined with other
control devices to form a large-scale integrated control
system, dual redundancy in the control network can
now be achieved. For instance, the integrated use of the
CENTUM series control system for oil facilities and
STARDOM for shared-use facilities such as product
storage tanks results in a more reliable control system.
www.yokogawa.com/us
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Significantly reduce procurement cycle time while allowing more vendors to participate;
Streamline proposal information in a consistent format,
for apples-to-apples evaluation of vendor bids;
Enable consolidation and reduction in the number of
plans, driving administrative costs even lower; and
Automatically generate a comprehensive audit trail that
complies with governmental regulations, including Sarbanes-Oxley.
www.HighRoads.com
Upstream Technology
Upstream Technology
benefits) with niche talent management applications because they want fewer, more-integrated solutions to support
more-strategic human capital management. Workstream
Performance 6.0 meets these strategic HCM requirements.
It allows HR administrators, managers and employees to
synchronize their performance management processes with a
configurable and easy-to-use interface that includes European
and Asian languages.
Workstream Performance allows customers to configure
the system themselves easily without IT intervention. It can
be deployed as a stand-alone application, integrated with
other applications such as Workstream Compensation to cre
ate a complete Pay-for-Performance solution, or deployed as
a component of an entire Workstream TalentCenter suite roll
out. It can also be integrated with other major ERP systems,
including SAP and Oracle-PeopleSoft.
Workstream also released Workstream Development 6.0,
a new addition to the Workstream TalentCenter suite that
can also be purchased as a stand-alone product. Workstream
Development 6.0 provides Human Resource departments
with tools to retain high-potential employees and develop
the quality of their overall workforces. Key components of
this solution include a robust succession planning product,
organizational charting and the ability for employees to
create and manage individual development plans through
access to over 10,000 pre-packaged career development
courses, including the entire SkillSoft e-library, as well
as through direct links to the Workstream Competency
Dictionary, thus enabling HR departments to simplify and
manage the competency models, jobs and roles within their
organizations.
Customers want an easy way to empower professional
development of job-related skills and competencies within
their workforces, as well as have the ability to harness the
leadership talent that is necessary to drive overall organizational success, said Kevin Dobbs, Exec. VP, Workstream.
Administrators can choose from hundreds of options
for every aspect of competency development and succession
planning. Workstream Development has deep integration to
Workstream Performance, which enables employee assessment results to trigger the creation of Individual Development Plans to address the competency gaps and training
needs of employees. These IDPs can be managed against
a wide array of skills, behaviors, attributes and competencies. Once training is completed, employee profiles are then
automatically updated within the Workstream Development
product.
www.workstreaminc.com
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October 2006
A talent management application suite is an integrated set of seven applications that help automate the
major strategic talent management processes, including:
Workforce planning includes demand planning (a
proactive, long-term view of the corporate demand for
resources) and supply planning to identify the sources
of talent and build up talent pools large enough to meet
the anticipated demand.
Talent acquisition includes permanent hiring and
managing contractors.
Performance management includes goal and
objective management, competency management/
gap analysis, appraisal definition and management,
and assessment definition and management. This
functionality should be tightly integrated with
career development, succession planning, learning
and compensation management.
Career development includes career path definition, competency gap comparisons with different
jobs or positions, career planning and mentoring.
Succession planning includes tracking high-potential employees and creating development plans
to ready them for assuming key positions should an
incumbent leave that position.
Learning includes learning management, learning
content management and e-learning. Because many
organizations have already selected solutions in this
area, many talent management application suite
providers merely integrate with such solutions.
Compensation management three types are currently on the market: one for incentive compensation (primarily for sales forces), one for designing
compensation programs, and one for performing
compensation planning (determining bonuses and
merit increases). This third type is usually part of a
talent management application suite.
When considering a talent management solution
and vendor, there are six key criteria to analyze, according to Gartner analysts:
Upstream Technology
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Functionality
Vision
Cost
Services
Viability
Source: Workstream
Upstream Technology
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October 2006
Lombardi, purveyor of business process management (BPM) software, announced the latest release
of Lombardi for Office 2003, which tightly
integrates the Lombardi TeamWorks BPM software
platform with the Microsoft Office System. The software makes it easy for any employee to participate
in any business process directly from their desktop
using Microsoft Office software including Word,
Excel, Outlook, Office Communicator and InfoPath with virtually no training required. This new
release expands skills-based and context-sensitive
collaboration, making it easier than ever for process
participants to engage the right people at the right
time anywhere in the organization to drive business
process improvement.
Customer acceptance of Lombardi for Office 2003 has been tremendous, said Rod Favaron,
president and CEO at Lombardi. As a process-driven company, everyone here is dedicated to delivering
the best tools and services designed to help customers extend the reach and value of business process
management to every user in their organization.
Adding real-time presence and collaboration further
extends the value that our customers receive as they
deploy BPM software across their enterprise.
Lombardi for Office 2003s strength is leveraging
the familiar and powerful capabilities of the Microsoft
Office System to simplify adoption and participation
in enterprise-level BPM deployments. According to
Forrester Research, Todays information worker tools
are disjointed, fragmented and stove-piped. They
require people to continually step outside their business process. Lombardi for Office 2003 addresses this
issue by enabling business users to locate and communicate with others easily and directly within the
context of the business process they are using.
Leveraging Microsoft applications, Lombardi for
Office 2003 now allows customers to:
Identify and request help from available experts
for tasks or processes based on skill sets or capabilities;
Collaborate in real-time on process steps via
voice, video and Web conferencing using Office
Communicator and Live Meeting;
Integrate BPM chat capabilities into Web-based
coaches; and
Log chat conversations as part of the process history/audit trail for compliance.
www.lombardisoftware.com
www.microsoft.com
October 2006 35
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Vertabase, a developer of productivity-enhancing software solutions, said that Samson Investment Co., an
oil and gas exploration and production company, has
implemented Vertabase Pro software. First launched in
1999, Vertabases flagship product Vertabase Pro organizes people and projects by simplifying, centralizing and
accelerating access to critical, up-to-date information
by providing resource planning, project management,
project tracking and document management, thereby
providing a framework for increased productivity.
Tulsa-based Samson is a privately held company
with operations in the US, Canada and the North Sea.
With more than 1,300 employees at seven primary locations worldwide, Samson is one of the top 20 independents in the US.
The Samson Information Services and Technology
(IS&T) team develops and manages the telecommunications networks and applications for a wide variety of
business and scientific operations, including: financial
systems, management reporting, geoscience, engineering, data warehousing and geographical information
systems. With more than 180 projects ongoing at any
given time, effective time management is critical to the
IS&T teams overall success.
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Houston-based Flow-Cal Inc., purveyor of measurement data management software, was selected by J-W
Operating Co. to provide a system for their Energy
Services and Energy Development business line.
We installed Flow-Cal straight out of the box and
were generating measurement volume statements within
a week, said Todd Stout, systems integrator SCADA,
J-W Operating Co. Flow-Cal has been a key factor in
streamlining our gas volume and gas analysis processes.
J-W Operating is active in many phases of the oil
and gas industry and chose Flow-Cals client-server system with select enterprise modules to create a customized system specific to their particular needs.
J-W Operatings selection of Flow-Cal highlights
Upstream Technology
CASE
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October 2006
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AMC-12 Satellite
October 2006
Passlogix, provider of enterprise single sign-on solutions, has sold more than 350,000 licenses to companies in the energy industry. Passlogix delivers easily
deployable, cost-effective password management solutions for simplifying user access to multiple enterprise
applications. Many of the licenses are for users outside
the US because the platform is available in nine languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
Three of the worlds largest energy companies as
well as many regional energy companies have adopted the Passlogix v-GO Sign-On Platform to
strengthen security policies and practices, eliminate the
need for users to remember dozens of passwords, and
eliminate calls to the help desk for password resets.
The energy sector faces multiple challenges in
controlling data access by employees, from the need to
adhere to homeland security regulations to the fact that
their distribution networks may extend from remote drill
sites in isolated fields to platforms in the middle of the
ocean, said Marc Boroditsky, president CEO, Passlogix.
Our enterprise single sign-on solution is becoming the
energy industry standard because of its robust functionality, rapid deployment and ability to integrate with virtually any other component of the identity infrastructure,
including two-factor authentication devices.
The Passlogix v-GO platform is compatible with
smart cards, tokens, public key infrastructure (PKI) and
biometrics to enhance network security. Passlogix technology also supplies IT administrators with comprehensive reports on application access-related activity to aid
regulatory compliance.
www.passlogix.com
OpenSpirit, provider of platform-independent, vendorneutral integration solutions for upstream data, has named
Beijing Co-Sail Software Ltd. as its regional OpenSpirit
representative.
During the past few years, China has seen significant
foreign investment, and many of the supermajors are showing an increased interest in developing partnerships with
the national oil companies, said Dan Piette, president and
CEO, OpenSpirit. This global interaction, coupled with
Chinas own interest in acquiring foreign oil and gas properties, makes the need for integrated data management a
priority. The Co-Sail team will be an excellent partner and
we are delighted to have them represent OpenSpirit.
Established in August 1997 with the support of the
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing Co-Sail Software focuses on sophisticated
equipment and software for the global oil and gas exploration market. Co-Sail also provides technological research
and development of new theories, methods and software,
as well as exploration and data management technical and
consulting services.
Co-Sail is dedicated to finding innovative new ways
to exploit E&P technologies, said Leng Chuanbo, president, Co-Sail. OpenSpirit provides the level of seamless integration, support and customer support that our
clients demand. We are pleased to represent OpenSpirit in
China.
www.openspirit.com
www.co-sail-soft.com
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Lose-Lose Procurement
What factors contribute to lose-lose situations? First,
the purchasing decision for enterprise software usually
requires a number of key stakeholders, each having different priorities and objectives. Each stakeholder expects
significant business process change and return on investment, and you inevitably have a too many cooks spoil
the broth scenario.
Second, rigid procurement guidelines, methods,
instruments and rules often disrupt and unfairly influence
the decision making process. In addition, RFP documents
often contain language so arcane that the meaning is lost
on both sides. Often, the buyer is full of fear and trepidation because of procurement rules or due to the organizational mindset that suppliers are the enemy and should be
treated with hostility and doubt. Taking such an adversarial
approach dooms the project to failure from the outset.
Third, the procurement process can mistakenly treat
enterprise software procurements the same as buying
pens and pencils. While procurement is rightly focused
on getting the best deal, the process must be expanded to
recognize the complexity of purchasing and implementing
enterprise software, as low price does not always equate to
the best deal. Using a low price method will most likely
produce an unsatisfactory outcome for both the buyer and
supplier. The customer does not get what they want and
wonders why the supplier is not doing more or appears to
nickel and dime the company at every opportunity.
Upstream Technology
October 2006
Do It Right
As a software vendor and buyer, we have been on both sides of
the procurement experience and have witnessed the good, the
bad and the ugly. It is far too common and extremely unfortunate when either side does not have the right people in place,
or enough information at hand, to make it a successful project.
44
October 2006
Enterprise Software
is here
Non-Strategic
Strategic
Low Value
October 2006 45
High Value
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Interview
Saad Bargach
CIO
Schlumberger
chain. But Bargachs view of the concept of augmentation is a broad one, and is focused on people.
We added the word augmentation because our
industrys problem today is not to do the same amount
of work with fewer people, it is to do a vastly increased
amount of work with the same size workforce.
As a result, one challenge is to grow new hires into
experts in a very short time, so what we need is a sort
of pressure cooker that minimizes the time to competency and makes them into experts in fewer years, he
said. The oil and gas industry needs to develop ways to
virtualize experience in order to conquer its staffing
challenges, suggested Bargach, who considers this approach much more effective than ordinary knowledge
management. An expert can actually witness a frac job
in the field, watch how its done, look at the equipment,
and diagnose a problem without having to be sent
out to the field. Ten minutes later, he can be working
on another job at the other end of the world. We need
to find better ways of exploiting the corporate memory
using both knowledge and context management.
And as the industry moves from remote observation
to remote control, the value keeps increasing, Bargach
said. Not only is it more efficient to have a few experts
at a central location rather than dispatching a lot of experts out to fields all over the world, but it also provides
a better quality of life by minimizing employees travel
and time spent away from their families. Lifestyle issues are looming large in our industry, and our augmentation initiatives will address this directly.
People augmentation will also require better data
extraction, quality control and loading technologies.
Today, reservoir simulation is about 10% simulation
and 90% data preparation, Bargach said. We have to
find ways so our people dont spend days preparing a
job that will allow them to apply their real expertise for
a few hours, but rather the other way around. We have
to get rid of the clutter.
This concern for efficiency, and how IT can posi46
October 2006
tively impact it, extends beyond the field and into the office.
Schlumberger is planning, in partnership with Harvard Business School, to study how to streamline internal administrative business processes. Bargach called the study a bureaucracy buster that could eventually result in a three- to four-fold
increase in productivity, enabling employees to concentrate
more on high-value activities. Bureaucracy increases proportionally with the size of a company, and the wave of mergers and acquisitions in our industry is making companies
bigger, therefore less nimble, he said. We want to make sure
we dont grow our companies into large dinosaurs, but rather
remain agile with the ability to make more informed decisions.
The most radical changes in technology needed for
people augmentation are in the geoscience area, Bargach told
Upstream Technology. We are rethinking the way we handle
things in the geoscience workflow. We need to make a quantum leap in reservoir description, not only in speed, but in
uncertainty management using Bayesian models. We need a
more holistic approach.
Having an explicit model of the business value chain of
IT is a good start, but it is not enough to get everyone marching to the same drummer. Schlumberger realized that the
IT organization needed to change in order to accomplish this
October 2006 47
Geotrace announced that Mark Carrigan is promoted to VP Western Hemisphere, Tigress Software.
Carrigan will initiate and build the Tigress brand in
the Americas, assimilating Tigress into Geotrace and
acting as the Geotrace liaison for Tigress integration.
He combines a deep understanding of the software
business with extensive knowledge of the market
gained over 25 years of experience.
Geotrace is part of the Geotrace Technologies
group of companies and is a leading provider of proprietary technologies aimed at imaging and integrated solutions used to optimize petroleum production.
www.geotrace.com
Upstream Technology
Jeanne M. Perdue
Editor
50
October 2006
Game Changing
E&P Results
Know how.
Put all the pieces together. Achieve breakthrough team performance
with Schlumberger Information Solutions.
Avocet* Integrated Asset Modeler software. Resolved discrepancies in simulations
and saved tens of millions USD on upfront facilities cost. SPE paper 90976.
Petrel* software. Sidetracked lateral wells through the predicted high-quality reservoir
and enhanced average production by 3,000 bbl/d in each well. Hardy Oil and Gas.
ECLIPSE* software through rapid response services. Made critical field development decisions
in a tight timeframe while achieving operational expenditure and activity goals. BG Group.
Petrel software. Accurately visualized the geometry of a complex fault system and drilled
the second most productive basement well in Vietnam's history. Hoan Vu JOC.
*Mark of Schlumberger
2006 Schlumberger
06-IS-329