In the energy industry, projects are defined by complex challenges and lengthy lifespans, in some cases spanning over half a century in planning and execution.
Due to this longevity, the process of preparing and maturing project concepts has become a crucial phase of an operation’s lifecycle. It provides significant opportunities to analyze potential risks, control scope, and identify future constraints long before a blueprint becomes reality.
However, increasing demands for innovative project delivery methods have added additional layers of complexity to project planning.
Contemporary organizations now use a multitude of separate applications and software to fulfil their growing visibility and risk reporting needs. Yet, this method of constant data transfer from one system to another causes disparate data sources and inaccurate operational planning.
What’s more, a complex energy project can have a myriad of contractors and users working on it at the same time, across both time-zones and cultures, creating large networks of people who likely have different levels of project control competence, language, and skills.
By using a disjointed system across multiple international user endpoints, organizations experience inflexible data transfer and inaccurate risk reporting that can harm the effectiveness of project controls.
The team at Equinor, a multinational energy company that develops oil, gas, wind and solar energy in more than 30 countries, understands these problems all too well.
In our new video case study, we explore why Equinor chose Safran Project to consolidate project scheduling, planning, and risk analysis processes into one system.
Jasmina Sivertsen, Leading Advisor of Project Management at Equinor, discusses the complex challenges of gaining greater project control, and why standardization of data is one of the energy industry's main priorities to date. Watch the case study video below.
Managing Interface Interdependence Between Contractors
Equinor is a global business with cross-continent projects that collectively require in-depth and accurate project planning.
The organization has multiple contractors working together at the same time, and managing interdependence between users and software became a significant barrier towards successful project execution. Jasmina Sivertsen addresses this issue, stating:
"We have contractors across the world, in different countries and working cultures - all using different planning systems... Our challenge as an operator is analyzing trend outcomes from one contractor while measuring how it will affect a different contractor during execution of projects."
Here, consolidation of data from multiple sources becomes a necessity and Safran Project unifies key project scheduling, resource planning, and reporting processes.
Equinor still needs to use different applications and conduct project risk analysis themselves, however Safran Project enables the large organization to standardize the scheduling and monitoring of project progress – simplifying project risk management for their multiple, global user-base.
Digitalization is A Priority for the Energy Industry
One of the key priorities highlighted by Equinor is that the energy industry lags behind in the digitalization of processes. In fact, studies show that although digitalization of data strategy will have a positive impact on the industry, the process may be disruptive.
Due to this, streamlining operations and data strategy using digital tools is a challenge for energy organizations, however, Equinor is using Safran Project as a vital stepping-stone towards introducing more efficient and accurate processes.
To learn more about how Safran Project has helped global organizations stay on track of complex projects, read our case studies, here. If you'd like an in-depth insight into the transformative benefits of a unified project management system, you can request a 30 day free trial.
