Infosys Thought Leaders overviews how an Exploration Production Portal & e&p Solution approach enables information sharing among globally spread stakeholders.

1. Originally appreared in: INFORMATION
November 2007 issue, pgs 91-95. TECHNOLOGY
Posted with permission.
Engineering portals add significant value
to E&P project delivery capabilities
A portal approach enables information sharing among globally spread E&P
project stakeholders.
Kailash Samdani, Infosys Technologies Limited and Andy Till, BP Exploration Limited
INTRODUCTION Organizations are adopting portal hydrocarbon potential and making a
An E&P project is a complex engi- technology to publish project engineer- business case for field development.
neering effort involving hundreds of ing information. Being able to share and Once the business case is in place, a
engineers from different organizations, review project engineering information basic design development and selection
working together to design, construct leads to significant benefits. Since pub- of Original Equipment Manufacturers
and commission an asset before handing lished information is available instant- (OEM), vendors and contractors is car-
it over to the owner/operator. Efficient ly—independent of stakeholder author- ried out in basic design. Subsequently,
project management requires that engi- ing system constraints or geographical detailed plans and drawings are devel-
neering information is available to all key location—information cycle times are oped in the detailed design phase. Fab-
stakeholders in a way that enables them reduced. A portal system uses a single rication, construction and commis-
to work as one integrated organization. integrated window to access all types of sioning activities for various systems
There are numerous challenges in shar- engineering content, such as 3D models, and equipments are carried out in the
ing and viewing engineering information intelligent drawings, data sheets and en- construct phase, which ends in handing
from various sources, spread globally. An gineering databases. Also, operators are over the project to operations.
engineering information portal provides better prepared to run the asset due to As shown in Fig. 1, engineering infor-
a single window to view the informa- early exposure to engineering informa- mation volume increases as the project
tion in a secure manner. It enables easy tion that allows them space and time to progresses from one phase to another.
collaboration between stakeholders and develop and validate supporting proce- During the detailed design and construct
supports productivity gains. dures and processes. phases, the volume of engineering in-
formation shared and viewed reaches
BACKGROUND TYPICAL PROJECT LIFECYCLE peak. Engineering information, such as
Building a new E&P facility can cost Figure 1 provides an overview of a hundreds of 3D models, hundreds of
$1–5 billion, taking three to five years to typical project lifecycle. The project’s thousands of documents and millions
complete. As facility complexity increases, assess phase is about determining the of engineering data attributes, are shared
the tradition of nominating a single lead
EPCM (Engineering Procurement and
Construction Management) contractor is
Project
being replaced by a consortium of EPC lifecycle Assess
Basic Detailed
Construct Operations
design design
contractors. As a result, the owner/op- stages
erator is taking on more responsibility for Project management Engineering project contractor Operations
the management of interfaces between contractors • Detailed models, design • Asset maintenance
stakeholders. Oil and gas companies are Project • Basic design schematics and production
activities development • Piping and instruments activities
developing and implementing new in- • Large packages diagrams • De-bottlenecking
formation management strategies to sup- • Contractor • Fabrications drawings studies
port their evolving role and improve their selection • Construction and testing • Process
• Testing and commissioning re-engineering
project execution capabilities.
Recent advances in technology are al-
Volume of
lowing organizations to take new man- engineering
agement approaches of project informa- content Handover
tion. First, the link between authoring
applications and publishing applications
has been broken and, as a result, docu- • Fewer • Increased number of • O&M users
ments and 3D models can be viewed Information stakeholders stakeholders • Linking to business
characteristics • Less information • Large volume of information systems
independent of the tool used to create
volume • Focus on details
them. Second, the advancements in por-
tal technology enable all stakeholders to Fig. 1. Project lifecycle and information explosion.
view project information on the internet.
November 2007 World Oil

2. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
and viewed in this virtual explosion of these organizations to validate and share contradictions and potential delays affect-
engineering information. the information. Traditionally, a project ing the project schedule.
Hundreds of engineers and designers owner has little visibility of the informa- The logical conclusion of E&P proj-
belonging to various project stakeholders tion being exchanged among the external ects, as shown in Fig. 1, is the handover
such as owner, EPCM contractor, fabrica- project stakeholders on their behalf. From of the facility to the operations team. It is
tors, vendors, etc, generate, share, review a project perspective, this leads to multiple crucial for operations to have a complete
and publish engineering information. Dif- sets of truths across organizations which, set of cleansed and validated engineering
ferent systems and processes exist across if not managed appropriately, can result in information so that they can efficiently
run and maintain the asset. Tradition-
ally, the operations teams received in-
Original equipment formation in bulk toward the end of the
manufacturer Data cleansing
service provider construct phase at the time of handover.
EDW EDM 3D Project
It is humanly impossible to review and
models management validate all shared information during
contractor the handover process.
Construction and Several problems exist due to lack of a
commissioning proper environment for sharing informa-
EDW EDM 3D model teams
snapshots tion. Little visibility leads to lack of con-
trol on engineering activities and prog-
ress. Project reviews can be delayed due to
EPC 1 Engineering inconsistent information across multiple
EPC 4
portal stakeholders. Productivity losses can oc-
cur as a result of the overheads in search-
EDW EDM 3D ing and retrieving required project docu-
models
mentation. Operators are ill-prepared to
run and maintain the asset because of the
EPC 2 EPC 3 bulk of information that is shared at the
time of hand-over. Technology advances
enable project owners to adopt a portal
EDW EDM 3D EDW EDM 3D approach, which addresses a number of
models models such issues.
Fig. 2. Project engineering information portal.
Engineering Data Warehouse (EDW), Engineering Document Management (EDM) and
A PORTAL APPROACH
Engineering Procurement Contractor (EPC). A portal approach provides a single
window to all project engineering content
Table 1. Issues with portal solution and possible resolutions
Information
characteristic Issue description Possible resolution
Information types User expects to view 3D models as well as engi- Portal should incorporate the ability to move seamlessly from 3D
neering data sheets or smart P&IDs altogether. models with associated detailed functionalities along with the abil-
ity to view intelligent drawings and engineering data tables.
The portal should be able to present information to a user either
through a native file format or rendition.
Information quality User expects to view accurate and consistent Portal should be able to perform quality assurance checks for
information. Typically, different organizations incoming data accuracy and consistency.
follow different standards/conventions for data Portal should be able to establish and update associations among
management (e.g., different organizations may 3D models, engineering data and engineering documents, where
represent the same pump by P_101 or P/101 or necessary providing an aliasing capability.
P101, etc. owing to their internal standards and
procedures).
Information volume The nature of project engineering information Portal should be based on a robust technology platform that can
is such that it keeps changing. The problem of handle transactions involving high volumes over internet.
managing such continuously changing informa- Portal should be able to update the associations every time new
tion gets compounded by the sheer volume of information arrives and should posses change management func-
information. tionality.
Information vulnerability Hundreds of users from different organizations The system should have a security model which is company, disci-
need to access portal and interact according to pline and role based.
their role on the project, their job position and Security of information should extend to the revision of individual
organization they represent. Also companies may documents and the design status.
perceive risk in hosting such a portal on intranet. The application and hosting environment should be certified by
an accredited Digital Security organization for use on Intranet /
Internet.
November 2007 World Oil

3. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
such as 3D models, intelligent documents cessed over the web in a secure manner, as lessly between otherwise unrelated data
and datasheets. It displays two types of well as in remote offshore areas and high sets. The ability to share and view infor-
information sets: published information latency-low bandwidth areas. It should be mation with multiple stakeholders across
(e.g., a document with a specific revi- able to interface with source systems on geographies improves team collabora-
sion number which will never change but the internet as well as intranet. tion, which results in more informed and
could be superseded) and snapshot infor- quicker decisions due to increased visibil-
mation (e.g., a copy of a 3D model at a ISSUES AND POSSIBLE ity. Developing and updating hook-up
specific time). Through a cleansing and RESOLUTIONS and commissioning workpacks is easier
validation process, these information sets Good information specifications and saves time. Portals enable simplified
can be aggregated together into an engi- are needed for all projects. A portal ap- and progressive handover of informa-
neering portal as shown in Fig. 2. proach quickly highlights inconsistencies tion to operations, which enables them
When the portal is accessed, users are in the project information. The true cost to contribute to reviews of operation and
provided with requisite information of all of implementing a portal approach is maintenance apart from developing work
types from all stakeholders. Stakeholder marginal when compared to the real cost procedures and training manuals in ad-
organizations need to have systems (e.g., of getting the relevant project informa- vance. Portals enable a population of data
engineering data warehouse, engineering tion. If a project aspires to use a portal into enterprise systems, such as mainte-
document management systems, model- approach, it must have a clearly defined nance management, document manage-
ing systems) and processes (such as data and published approach to information ment and engineering data warehouses.
cleansing and validation processes) to management. The requirement of shar- Also, since the bulk of engineering or
publish a variety of engineering informa- ing accurate, consistent and complete in- vendor data is common across projects,
tion to a portal environment. formation must be contractually binding a portal system substantially reduces the
Project organizations desire to improve on all information suppliers. It is prefer- cost of information for future projects.
the availability and visibility of engineer- able to have information validated and
ing information throughout the project cleansed before it is published. CONCLUSION
lifecycle to optimize concurrent engineer- Projects adopting a portal approach As the size of E&P projects continue
ing, minimize information cycle time and to access project information can face a to grow, the way in which stakeholders
eliminate rework due to poor informa- number of issues because of the nature of interact needs to evolve. Larger and more
tion. Requirements from a portal solution information being handled. The project complex projects need to develop more
can be categorized into three broad areas. information can be characterized as: appropriate ways of project execution.
• Information types: Multiple native Technology advances are being increas-
Functional requirements. A portal file formats exist according to the au- ingly used to make projects more effi-
solution should provide a single window thoring system (3D models, intelligent cient. The web-based portal approach
to different project engineering content, drawings, engineering data, etc). enables organizations to control and
such as models, engineering databases • Information quality: Complete- share project information among global
and intelligent, as well as dumb, drawings ness and consistency of information stakeholders and reduce information
and documents. It should enable easy coming from different organizations or cycle time, thus improving the speed of
navigation through various information systems varies. execution, leading to a successful deliv-
sets, so that users can move seamlessly • Information volume: Hundreds of ery of the project into operation. WO
across different content types. It should 3D models, hundreds of thousands of
be independent of source systems and be documents, and millions of engineering
able to interface with proprietary file for- data attributes are available to view. The authors
mats from multiple suppliers. It should • Information vulnerability: Infor- Kailash Samdani works
support quality assurance checks before mation accessed by large numbers of us- with Domain Competency
the information is published on the por- ers from different organizations gives rise Group of Infosys Technolo-
to security concerns. gies Ltd. Kailash has 15
tal. It should also manage updated con- years of experience in pre-
tent from stakeholders. It should enable Each information characteristic gives sales, consulting and busi-
role based workflow capabilities coupled rise to a set of unique issues. These is- ness development of IT en-
with an information security model and sues and resolution approaches are cov- abled advanced solutions
ered in Table 1. to hydrocarbon, chemicals
also support collaboration among all us- and metal industries. He
ers spread geographically. has a BS degree in chemical engineering from
BENEFITS OF PORTAL Birla Institute of Technology Science, Pilani,
User requirements. A portal solution APPROACH India. He can be reached at Kailash_Samdani@
infosys.com.
should provide viewing capabilities to A portal approach provides benefits
analyze information contained within in many areas. Easy access to current and Andy Till worked for BP
3D models and intelligent drawings consistent information is one of the key Exploration Ltd for 18 years
e.g., zoom in/out, collision detection, parameters to successful execution of in a number of roles and is
currently an IT consultant
mark-up, etc. It should provide easy, yet large projects. A portal approach provides for Major Projects. Andy
advanced, search mechanisms to get to a single window to the published infor- spent his first eight years
desired information within a minimum mation, thus improving availability of as an engineer designing,
number of mouse-clicks. requisite drawings and documents lead- constructing, installing and
commissioning both on-
ing to better preparedness for project re- shore and offshore facili-
Technical requirements. A portal so- views in less time. It enables quick access ties before moving to IT, where he continues to
lution should allow information to be ac- to current information, moving seam- support both engineering and projects.
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