ABB utilizes sophisticated project management processes and tools for cross-continental management of Russian oil and gas platform project
From the picturesque town of Bergen on the west coast of Norway, ABB managed a project that involves project members from 10 different time zones. With project management software from Safran, handling a large, complex and geographically-spread project such as this one has proved much easier for ABB.
A leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering the environmental impact, ABB (abb.com) first deployed Safran to manage the Sakhalin II Development Project on the island of Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.
The Sakhalin II project is spearheaded by Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd., a joint venture between Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, and will result in the construction of Russia’s first Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) plant – one of the largest in the world. Phase 1 of the Sakhalin II project included placement of a large oil drilling platform off the northwest coast of Sakhalin.
ABB’s involvement in this process began with Phase II, which includes the construction of two new oil and gas platforms in the north of the Sakhalin Island, the construction of 800 km of oil and gas pipelines running through the whole island, and the establishment of an LNG production plant and an oil and LNG terminal in the south end of the Island.
According to Knut Stigen, project manager for ABB, one of the main reasons the contract was awarded was due to ABB’s ability to display an extensive experience in project management, HSE activities (Health, Safety and Environment) and quality assurance. The contract, worth approximately US $50 million, leaves ABB in charge of the design, procurement and installation of telecom equipment to support the daily operations of the platforms, plants and pipeline.
Upgrading to a more sophisticated solution
“At the beginning of this project we were using Artemis project management software for all our projects, but we soon realized that this tool simply was not powerful or sophisticated enough to handle the major challenges associated with the Sakhalin contract,” says Stigen.
ABB knew they required project management software that could coordinate and automate the various project management component processes more efficiently. They chose Safran as the new system of record because it provided a flexible fit-for-purpose tool that could be customized, scaled and tailored to their growing needs, and had a built-in capacity to handle any project size, complexity and level of detail.
“Safran’s great advantage is that it has more flexibility and it can be customized to fit a changing project environment and growing needs,” continues Stigen.
Avoiding team bottlenecks
The main challenges facing ABB is avoiding bottlenecks when handling a project that involves more than 60 project members working from 10 different time zones–in England, the Netherlands, Russia, Korea, Norway and Japan.
To streamline collaborative activity and avoid bottlenecks, ABB customized their instance of Safran to interface with the collaboration web tool QuickPlace and the document control system ProArc. With the help of Safran’s professional services team, the integration enables project members to access documents and record their hours for any operation or milestone in Safran via the Internet, from any location across the globe.
Time criticality
“Projects of this kind are generally characterized by a high degree of time criticality,” says Stigen, “and keeping track of man-hours is one of the most critical tasks of project management.”
It is absolutely necessary to have up-to-date information about the use of time in order to monitor progress and productivity, and minimize the risk of budget overruns and costly delays. Safran’s Gantt-style bar chart editor provides Stigen with an excellent tool to plan, coordinate and track the specific tasks in the project, and to ensure on-time delivery for each project milestone.
Real-time reporting and forecasting at your fingertips
Stigen can also reap the benefits of having information about the project status very early, which removes guesswork, and provides a good basis for trustworthy forecasts. A differentiator in the market, Safran’s unparalleled reporting features allow Stigen to generate reports to display project information from anyone’s perspective: the project manager, the functional manager, the business manager and more.
“This project is governed by Russian laws, regulations and practice, and that means the reporting requirements for this project are particularly demanding,” Stigen explains. In addition to reports directly related to productivity and progress, Safran includes a Historical Performance Data Repository which stores information about completed activities and resources spent – which help to assess project performance and profitability.
Painless move from Artemis to Safran
Stigen attributes the smooth systems transition to the simplicity and flexibility of Safran, and the outstanding support from the people at Safran. “The process of converting all our data from the old system to Safran was actually completed a month ahead of schedule,” says Stigen. The conversion process was completed by ABB personnel in close cooperation with Safran’s own project consultants, within a week.
Stigen attributes the smooth systems transition to the simplicity and flexibility of Safran, and the outstanding support from the people at Safran. “The process of converting all our data from the old system to Safran was actually completed a month ahead of schedule,” says Stigen. The conversion process was completed by ABB personnel in close cooperation with Safran’s own project consultants, within a week.
