Oceaneering, an offshore oil and gas services company, chose Astoundry to upgrade its ERP systems through a multi-phase project to facilitate global expansion. Astoundry replaced Oceaneering's outdated time and work reporting system, integrated the new system with payroll applications, and developed a new crew scheduling system. The upgrades automated processes, decreased costs, and improved productivity compared to Oceaneering's legacy systems. Oceaneering was satisfied with Astoundry's delivery of high quality, on-time, and on-budget solutions, and has continued working with Astoundry on additional projects.

1. Oceaneering Chooses Astoundry for Comprehensive ERP System Upgrades
Deployments Drive Down Costs While Increasing Productivity
Oceaneering International, Inc.
Founded in 1964, Oceaneering has grown its business from a regional mixed-gas diving business in the
Gulf of Mexico to a multi-national, highly-diversified advanced applied technology company through
dedicated research and development and several key acquisitions.
Now a publicly-traded company, Oceaneering provides its products mostly to the offshore oil and gas
industry (with some service to aerospace and defense), particularly deep water applications. The
company's business offerings include: remotely-operated vehicles, mobile-offshore production systems,
built-to-order specialty subsea hardware, engineering and project management, subsea intervention and
installation services, non-destructive testing and inspections, and manned diving.
In 2006, after a tough, worldwide RFP review process, Oceaneering chose Astoundry to work with
them on a multi-phased ERP upgrade project (daily reports, integration, crew scheduling) to better
facilitate their expansion into global exploration. They initially spoke with companies in India and
approached several of the bellwether accounting firms to gauge their interest. But, after receiving a
well-times call from Astoundry, a US-based company with operations in Armenia, Oceaneering sent
off an RFP, Astoundry responded and the deal was made.
“We came across them serendipitously, fortuitously,” said Steve Budny, Director of Global Sourcing
for Oceaneering, Inc. “They were the right people at the right time...and we've been with them ever
since.”
Global Exploration = More Sophisticated Tools
Oceaneering's ambitious expansion into global exploration required more sophisticated internal
processes and the first of these was the complete replacement of Oceaneering's dated time and work
system. This vital software, used to produce daily reports with labor information from the offshore
fleet, was cross-referenced with the onshore daily report and provided the framework for all client
billing. The legacy system was difficult to maintain (internal code changes were not possible),
extremely complex and not well documented.
Astoundry was chosen for this important, significant project for several reasons including:
− US-based operations that made it easier to deal with project management issues
− Competitive pricing
− Tangible experience
− Strong presentation
“Astoundry met our expectations in the field of functionality,” said Budny. “They exceeded our

2. expectations in the delivery of a professional put-together replacement of the time and work system
project. It was a quality project, professionally presented, fully tested and delivered on time. Moreover,
their combination of experienced U.S. project management and outsourced software development
resulted in delivery on budget. The system was very good from an I.T. perspective and provided a great
user experience.”
Astoundry is a full-service IT consulting company with the technology skills to deliver the customized
solutions a company needs – on time, on target and on budget – with little disruption to their clients'
routines.
The second project phase for Oceaneering was the development of an integration system between the
new offshore time and labor system and the existing onshore application. This was another vital system
upgrade to a system no longer supported. More importantly, this system generated the company
paychecks for all staff. Though Astoundry had no previous experience in this area, the integration went
smoothly and the configuration successful.
“We had a lot of faith in their ability to do and do it well.” They streamlined the process and eliminated
much of the manual interaction previously required.”
Phase III in the systems overhaul was the development of a crew scheduling system to replace the
widely used and inefficient “white board” system of assigning crews. Astoundry approached this
project as they did the others, by developing the project specs themselves. This fully scalable system
can be maintained internally and grow with the organization without Astoundry's intervention.
Astoundry is now working to localize the crew scheduling system to address the specific labor issues of
the Norway crew but that may arise in other countries over time. Localization presents additional
challenges to the Astoundry development teams as they work to create a system that moves seamlessly
between languages, units of currency and governmental labor regulations.
“Here we have asked Astoundry to develop a system which can best utilize labor resources where the
regulation component is rigorous,” Budny explained. “Salaries need to equate with hours worked. We
need to get the labor utilization rate up into the high 90th
percentile and we think Astoundry can
produce the system which will enable companies to do this.”
Getting it Right
“While we may not be saving a lot of money by hiring Astoundry over the cost of doing this in house,”
said Budny. “The biggest benefit and the tremendous value for Oceaneering lies in the quality of the
product we receive. It is so much better than we could have developed in house.”
Since the implementations, Oceaneering has seen marked improvement in several areas resulting in
considerable cost savings including:

3. − a significant drop in system maintenance resulting in decreased costs
− automated systems that were manual
− decrease in support needed
− more streamlined, stable systems
“Not only have we been really happy with Astoundry’s performance; the working relationship has been
really good,” said Budny. “There have been no personality conflicts, no conflicts of interest. We have
had a good meeting of the minds, which makes the work go faster and more smoothly.” We have used
other outsourcers but they are not up to the level of what we do with Astoundry. We have had to lower
our expectations to get usable products from other people. Astoundry is able to grasp complex issues,
develop solutions, get them to us on time and on budget.”
Sidebar:
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Industry: Oil and Gas
C H A L L E N G E
Oceaneering planned to move into global exploration but had significant internal ERP challenges to
contend with in the areas of time tracking, payroll management and crew scheduling. These dated,
obsolete systems needed full upgrades before any expansion could occur.
S O LU T I O N
By partnering with Astoundry, Oceaneering updated its legacy systems, phasing out those that were
obsolete while simultaneously adopting the new systems developed by Astoundry. The multi-phased
project included complete system upgrades for Oceaneering's daily reports, integration and crew
scheduling.
ASTOUNDRY AT WO R K
KEN – NOT SURE ABOUT THIS DATA. IT'S NOT CLEAR IN THE NOTES.
Crew Scheduling: - Encompass 2, PeopleSafe
R E S U LT S
Since the implementations of their new systems, Oceaneering has seen marked improvement in several
areas resulting in considerable cost savings including:
- a significant drop in system maintenance resulting in decreased costs
- automated systems that were manual
- decrease in support needed

4. - more streamlined, stable systems