first break volume 26, July 2008 technology feature

Corporate repositories for knowledge

management
Tarun Chandrasekhar,* Neuralog, considers what knowledge management means for the oil
and gas industry, why it is needed, and the considerations for its design.

Knowledge management is the latest that has been extracted, filtered, subject- Understanding and wisdom:
‘buzz word’ in the exploration and pro- ed to, and passed tests of validation. evaluated appreciation of ‘why’
duction (E&P) industry – it is used rath- When a geologist correlates differ- Understanding is the cognitive, ana-
er loosely to define all activities from ent well logs, creates cross-sections, lytical, and interpolative process using
data archiving to information manage- and analyzes permeability and porosi- which new knowledge can be created
ment to managing business intelligence ty of the subsurface structures, he/she from existing knowledge. Understanding
methods. is creating knowledge from informa- is what the geologist uses to correlate
According to Russell Ackoff1 a sys- tion. The key operator that converts the knowledge obtained from various
tems theorist and professor of organiza- information to knowledge is the set sources to predict the location of a
tional change (Ackoff, 1989), the con- of rules that validate this information. formation or the prospective site for a
tent of the human mind can be classified Commonly, we refer to them as busi- well. Similarly, when stratigraphy from
into the following categories: ness rules – guidelines that govern the borehole logs is correlated with seismic
Data: symbols, collection of values way we do our business. Each organ- wave travel time, accurate geological
of observable, measureable or calculable ization has defined, semi-defined, and interpretations are made.
attributes. Data is raw. It simply exists not-defined but followed by convention Wisdom, on the other hand, is
and has no significance beyond its exist- sets of business rules that help achieve the extrapolative and non-determinis-
ence (in and of itself). It can exist in any its goals and objectives. In the last dec- tic sibling of understanding that is the
form, usable or not. It does not have ade, business process management has process by which we discern or judge
meaning of itself. Examples include shot become a critical aspect of knowledge between right and wrong, good and
points from a seismic survey or well logs management. The validation rules that bad. In the oil and gas industry many
that are created as the logging tools are help create knowledge are as important dry holes have been attributed to wis-
pulled out of the borehole (either paper as the information being processed in dom or the lack thereof! It would be
well logs or digital LIS/DLIS files). to knowledge.­­ desirable for a knowledge management
Information: data that is proc-
essed to be useful; provide answers to
‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, and ‘when’ ques-
tions. When data is organized, proc-
essed, and structured, it becomes infor-
mation. A good example is the organi-
zation of raw well log curves into elec-
trical, acoustic, radioactive, electromag-
netic log types. When paper logs are dig-
itized, and selected curves are grouped
together along with complete log head-
er attributes, geologists can then analyze
this information and extract knowledge.
These logs help answer the ‘where’ ques-
tions about the formation and its porosi-
ty and permeability.
Knowledge: application of data and
information; answers ‘how’ questions.
Knowledge is the appropriate collection
of information, such that its intent is to
be useful. It is a subset of information Transition from data to information, knowledge, and wisdom.

*
E-mail: tarun@neuralog.com.

© 2008 EAGE www.firstbreak.org 93

 technology feature first break volume 26, July 2008

system to incorporate understanding essed are frequently stored on disk in a them. Integrated corporate repositor-
or the rules and processes that govern shared network drive and serve as doc- ies that store the data, information,
understanding. This is feasible, but a ument repositories. While these drives and business rules are even rarer. But
highly challenging task. With artificial provide access to multiple users and having such repositories that store vali-
intelligence, robotics, and neural net- are already in digital form, they lack dated information along side business
works, the design of such a sophisticat- the security and reliability offered by rules provides the opportunity to store
ed system may be in our near future. industry standard relational databases. knowledge.
Wisdom on the other hand, is a Application databases – Most com- Some of the benefits of designing
uniquely human state. It is not envi- mercially available interpretation sys- knowledge management systems using
sioned that it would, at any point, be tems utilize databases to store well corporate repositories include protec-
making the jump to computers. Organ- drilling, production and completion tion and preservation, data availabili-
izational wisdom is the summation of data. These systems may have an ty, providing access to users, interoper-
the wisdom of the individuals of the optional records management compo- ability with other systems, and informa-
organization. Managing it will con- nent. However, these databases prima- tion sharing.
tinue to be a personal (and personnel) rily cater to the needs of the application One of the primary tenets of disas-
challenge. (which may or may not be the prima- ter planning and risk management is
ry needs of knowledge management for building failsafe systems that will pro-
Knowledge management the organization). Data interoperability tect the company’s second most valua-
systems with other applications is limited. ble asset – knowledge (the first being its
A knowledge management system for Corporate repositories – A corpo- people). Well-designed corporate repos-
the E&P industry is a (generally IT rate repository is typically a RDBMS itories have extensive disaster recovery
based) system for creation, capture, stor- that stores the original or pristine data. designs and rely on database technolo-
age, management and dissemination of Its primary purpose, often, is thought to gy (backups, offsite replication) as well
data, information and knowledge within be a vault for storage and safe-keeping as logical design (implementing roles
the organization. of the company’s valuable data. Repos- and security and preventing acciden-
itories are increasingly being placed tal deletion or modification of infor-
Data/information management at the heart of most data manage- mation) to make sure that knowledge
Most organizations utilize one or more ment, information management, and stored within is secure.
of the following data and/or informa- knowledge management systems. Typ- A knowledge repository allows an
tion management systems: ical challenges include implementing organization to make available all the
Physical document libraries – These interoperability and data sharing with data, information and business rules
are often used to store paper well logs, various applications and systems with- that were previously dissipated across
well reports, maps, aerial photographs in the organization. various applications, people and sys-
and surveys and other documents with tems. Users who need access to specif-
information about wells, fields, basins, Integrating business process ic information can now retrieve it and
or regions. Common disadvantages of management all associated data. Well designed sys-
such systems include the difficulty of Oil companies have identified the need tems provide access to different users,
access, sharing and the pre-processing for managing their business processes applications, and databases within an
time required to prepare the data for in order to promote effectiveness and organization while allowing data man-
analysis. efficiency and now utilize both people agers to administer this information
Shared network drives – Scanned and technology to study and improve from one central location. Users can
documents and logs as well as struc- these processes. However, corporate use multiple client technologies – view-
tured information that have been proc- repositories are seldom used to manage er applications, web portals, GIS appli-
cations, and various middleware prod-
Common sense knowledge is information that has been validated by common ucts to directly work with the informa-
sense experience. Scientific knowledge is information (hypotheses and theories) val- tion stored in the system.
idated by the rules and tests applied to it by some scientific community. Organ- Corporate repositories also include
izational knowledge in terms of this framework is information validated by the various modules to import data of vari-
rules and tests of the organization seeking knowledge. The quality of its knowl- ous types from various sources and pro-
edge will be largely dependent on the tendency of its validation rules and tests vide the ability to directly deliver it to
to produce knowledge that improves organizational performance (the organ- a G&G application. Since such repos-
ization’s version of objective knowledge). (Das, S. [2007] Difference between itories are not vendor specific, they
Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom, http://knowmgt.blogspot.com tend to be based on open data stand-
/2007/07/difference-between-data-information.html.) ards and are frequently compatible with
many third party applications. Organ-

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first break volume 26, July 2008 technology feature

izations like PPDM (www.ppdm.org)

and Energistics (http://www.energistics.
org/posc/Default.asp) have developed
proven data models and data exchange
standards that provide the foundation
for a sound implementation of a corpo-
rate repository.
The ultimate goal of a knowledge
management system is to become the
‘collective memory’ of the organization.
All information, complete with the his-
torical raw data, process, and business
rules used for validation is made avail-
able to aid in better decision making.
Implementing business rules that make
the corporate repository the central and
only source for information make peo-
ple, departments, and systems share
information with each other.

Knowledge life cycle

The life of knowledge begins as raw
data. Seismic surveys are shot, wells
are drilled, down-hole surveys are
recorded, production tests are carried
out, and overall a large variety of raw
data is collected. Once this data is
received from the field it is stored in an
original data store. Traditionally, when
data received was on paper, these were
archives with cabinets full of docu-
ments such as maps, seismic sections,
logs, and reports. Today, these continue
to exist, in addition to other digital data
stores, all of which together are the
original data store. Using a corporate
repository that can support both raster
and vector data enables organizations
to consolidate this data store.
It is vital to not modify data at this
stage. The original data store whether
in physical or digital form is designed
to be an accurate and complete repre-
sentation of raw data that is acquired
from the field or other sources. It is
important to retain this data and its raw
nature so that users can revert back to it
in case of incorrect analyses or corrup-
tion of data.
Raw data from the original data
store is processed, formatted, struc-
tured, and made ready for analysis.
In this process, it becomes informa-
tion. One of the crucial processes that
raw data should go through is quali-
Knowledge life cycle.
ty control (QC). All organizations have
QC processes that the raw data pass-
es through. In some companies, these
processes are well defined. Other plac-
es, it is the data operator’s experi-
ence that serves as quality control. The
quality of information being stored is
important. Hence more organizations
are adopting formal QC processes.
The latest trend in information
management focuses on storing these
QC processes and projects alongside
the processed data. This provides a val-
uable framework for users in an organ-
ization to create, manage, and execute
data quality certification as a business
rule. An increasing number of informa-
tion management systems today have
built in certification and quality control
management modules.
Once information is checked for
quality, it is ready to be analyzed. This
happens in G&G application systems
such as Schlumberger’s Petrel, SMT’s
Kingdom, Landmark’s Geographix, or
OpenWorks platform. There are many
application systems that cater to the
oil and gas industry and most organi-
zations have at least one of these sys-
tems in place.
In many oil and gas companies
application databases for interpreta-
tion systems are used as data manage-
ment systems. These databases have
several advantages – they are most-
ly mature systems with robust deliv-
ery mechanisms to their related G&G
applications. They do not require any
additional IT resources (other than the
IT resources responsible for maintain-
ing the G&G application). Howev-
er, they are not corporate repositor-
ies. The primary purpose of the data
stored in application databases is for
analysis. These databases are designed
to cater to that function. Additional-
ly, these databases have the limitation
that they cannot interact with applica-
tions from other vendors. It is general-
ly not realistic to expect the database
of one vendor to be able to store the
data being used in another vendor’s
application system. A corporate repos-
itory is typically application independ-
ent and allows data from different
sources to be stored and delivered

© 2008 EAGE www.firstbreak.org 95

 technology feature
to different applications. Additional-
ly, middleware products such as those
offered by companies like OpenSpir-
it and Volant Solutions provide data
connectivity between corporate repos-
itories and industry standard applica-
tion databases.
The outcome of the analysis per-
formed by any application system is
interpreted by skilled specialists such
as geophysicists, geologists, petro-physi-
cists, or geo-techs and the final results –
the maps, the cross-sections, the evalua-
tions and the reports – are then used for
informed decision making.
The final piece of the puzzle is stor-
ing the outcomes of analyses, the final
results, the decisions taken as well as
the business processes and rules that
govern the process. This knowledge
store then becomes the original data
for the future, thus adding to the col-
lective memory of the organization.
This way, knowledge is not lost when
people retire or move on to other com-
panies. It is preserved, organized, and
used alongside the data which start-
ed it all.
Physical design of a corporate
repository
The physical design of a knowledge
management system needs to enable
a smooth flow of data and informa-
tion between its different components.
Relational databases are best suited
for the needs outlined above. Also, as
mentioned before, the repository data
model should be based on open stand-
ards and support open data exchange
standards.
Integrated model
In the integrated model, all the compo-
nents of the repository – the original
data archive, the information store,
the application or project data and the
knowledge – is all stored in one central-
ized database. This makes it easy to
manage all the information from one
place. However, if all the components
reside physically in one schema of a
database, then there should be business
rules in place that keep data for each
component isolated from the other.
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first break volume 26, July 2008
For instance, if information is changes and after numerous iterations
modified in the application system, the final results are achieved. Once
it should not affect the original the final results are transferred back to
data archive or the information store. the repository, the data in the applica-
Another limitation for this model is tion system can be purged. The hybrid
that application systems tend to have model preserves the sanctity of the data
their own databases and there is no stored in the repository and the knowl-
sense in duplicating that component in edge generated from the application
an integrated model. system at the cost of disk space.
Distributed model Implementation considerations
Alternately, a distributed, de-normal- While the benefits of knowledge man-
ized model could be used where each of agement systems are easy to under-
the four components has its own data- stand, there are numerous factors one
base and there are database and busi- must consider while selecting a strat-
ness rules that synchronize and update egy for implementing a knowledge
all databases when one is changed. management system. Besides the usual
Logically, this allows for a clean imple- considerations for any RDBMS, there
mentation with little chance of cross- are a few key points to bear in mind.
interference. However, this requires the
administration of multiple databases to Existing data management systems
manage one corporate repository. ‘We don’t need a data management
system. We need a system to manage
Hybrid model the different data management systems
The hybrid model uses one database we have!’ is a common refrain. Most oil
to manage the original data archive, and gas companies have been managing
the information store and the knowl- data and information using one or more
edge base. Application data is stored management systems. These systems
within the application system and vari- tend to be limited to certain depart-
ous input output routines connect and ments, divisions, or business units and
synchronize the two databases. There generally do not interact with each
is some amount of duplication where other. When the organization decides
original data or the information from to set up a corporate repository to host
the corporate repository is copied over all the company’s knowledge, the big-
to the application system for analysis gest challenge is in designing how this
and the final results are copied back to knowledge management system will
the repository. Critics argue that this work with existing data and informa-
causes duplication and wasteful utiliza- tion management systems.
tion of disk space. However, logically, In some cases, the company may
this design does make sense. The pri- decide to move all the data stored in
mary purpose of the corporate reposi- one department’s system to the new
tory is protection of the original data knowledge management system (and
and information archives. In contrast, thereby render the old data manage-
data being analyzed in the application ment system obsolete). This is a good
system is volatile – it undergoes many strategy if the users were unhappy with
In an article for Dow Jones Newswires, Angel Gonzalez wrote that oil and gas
companies planning to boost output are nearing a wall: ‘Nearly half of the ageing
workforce engaged in exploration and production activities will retire in less than
a decade.’ Thus their ambitious projects could come in late and over budget ‘unless
they can hire, and retain, enough people to staff them.’ In this fast ageing industry,
it is critical to record and store business processes and rules that can be transferred
to the newly recruited workforce. It is a good way of retaining the intellectual prop-
erty and managing the ‘collective intelligence’ of the organization.
www.firstbreak.org © 2008 EAGE
first break volume 26, July 2008
the performance or functions of the
existing system. However, if users of
a department are dependent on the
existing system for day to day busi-
ness, then they would need to change
their entire business process. Again
this may make sense, or this may not.
A good knowledge management sys-
tem should have enough flexibility
built in to it to integrate, interface,
and/or replace existing data manage-
ment systems. A good example of this
would be a corporate document man-
agement solution that stores all well
reports, maps, seismic sections, and
geological cross-sections, but interfac-
es with the financial management sys-
© 2008 EAGE www.firstbreak.org
tem and extracts and provides access
to lease documents on demand.
Performance and access
While all knowledge management sys-
tems that are designed around an
RDBMS have good performance,
when users need to access data from
across continents, there are numerous
variables that can limit or hinder data
access. A good knowledge manage-
ment system should have provisions
for distributed architecture with sat-
ellite databases that support online,
scheduled synchronization, and replica-
tion thereby providing quick access for
remote offices to reasonably new data.
1/2 AD
Stopper
technology feature
For areas with extremely poor network
performance, offline synchronization
should be considered.
Compatibility with today and tomorrow
A good knowledge management system
should be extensible for the future –
both in terms of the types of data it
supports and the application systems it
works with. An open data model and
open data exchange standards provide
good insurance against obsolescence.
References
(Ackoff, R. L. [1989] From Data to Wisdom.
Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, Vol
16, p 3-9.)
97