Capturing and retaining intellectual value

Production plans that run for decades are now the norm, especially for unconventional resources such as heavy oil and tight gas, which by nature have longer life cycles than conventional plays. 
When the life of a resource spans generations of employees, the ability to preserve and provide access to collections of data is vital. Often the only real link between the group that develops a resource and the group that produces it is the historic data. Even in cases where companies develop and later sell their oil and gas assets, the ability to provide the new owners complete and easily accessible data makes the asset more valuable.  

Long lived data that spans generations is seldom compatible with the newer software. Even data managed by different versions of the same application may not be compatible. Adapters within the PetrisWINDS Enterprise framework allow users access to any kind of data, even from different versions of the same application. Data can be searched for, mapped and transferred without modifying the existing data source or losing different types of data in the transition.

Preserving and transferring knowledge for the “big crew change”

The current shortage of young and mid-career professionals is a major concern for energy companies. Many of the industry’s most knowledgeable people are retiring soon. The danger of the “big crew change,” is that their knowledge of assets, applications and processes will be lost.

The next-generation technologists will have raw skills, but not the same level of experience and insight of the people they replace. Analysts making interpretations may collect and store their results, but their notes, calculations, backup and supporting documents are seldom retained in the corporate record.

But what if they were? 

With the right management tools, these interpretations can be recalled each time analysts visit the data. Used this way, the very process of reviewing an interpretation becomes a learning experience for newer employees.

Business schools often use case studies to illustrate points of view or ways of thinking. Energy companies can do the same by preserving and sharing documents that reflect prior work and knowledge.

By automating the retrieval of data and presenting it uniformly, Petris solutions help preserve the work of current experts for the next generation. The record often includes previous work in similar terrains. Reviewing prior studies of the same or similar assets allows newer employees to take over more efficiently, quickly becoming more productive and accurate.