BG Group PLC is a world leader in natural gas, with a strategy focused on connecting competitively-priced resources to specific, high-value markets. Active in more than 20 countries on five continents, BG Group has a broad portfolio of business interests focused on exploration and production and liquefied natural gas. It combines a deep understanding of gas markets with a proven track record in finding and commercializing reserves.
Challenge
The BG Group has a significant portfolio of programs with project management being critical to the delivery of its business. The successful delivery of these plans is critical to the future growth of the company. Improved project and portfolio management was identified as an area that would be significantly enhanced by the effective use of Oracle Primavera P6.
Deploying Primavera P6 in one location can be challenging enough, but BG was rolling it out across five continents. BG selected Ten Six to help with the global deployment of project management best practices and Oracle Primavera P6. Ten Six’s knowledge and experience in multinational deployments and Primavera P6 expertise made us a natural fit for BG.
Ten Six Approach
Ten Six’s long term contract supported a multi-year, global implementation of the Integrated Activity Planning & Scheduling (IAPS) program. This included the deployment of Primavera P6 together with the necessary project management processes, standards, training and work aids. Specifically, our Primavera P6 application and technical expertise enabled BG to configure and rollout Primavera P6 more rapidly while avoiding common pitfalls normally associated with these types of large deployments.
The overall objective was a transformation in the way that hydrocarbon forecast information is managed and used within BG Group. As part of a phased development, the program covered both pre-sanction hydrocarbon forecasts and production forecasts. This supported key business processes such as:
- Opportunity screening
- Business planning (project / field level forecasts)
- Resources and reserves booking to CRG
More specifically, below is a high-level list of some of the detailed activities and roles that the Ten Six team supported:
Business
- Supporting the forward development roadmap for Activity Planning and Scheduling within BG Group.
- Developing Primavera P6 standards, procedures, guidelines and user training material, in support of the business needs.
- Ensuring all Primavera P6 usage conformed to Group Standards.
Technical
- Leading the Technical (Design) Authority (TA) for best practice application of Primavera P6 in support of integrating BG Group business streams e.g. Integrated Planning & Scheduling, Capital Projects, Field Development Planning, Well Engineering and other Functional Planning.
- Managing any modifications to the existing Integrated Activity Planning & Scheduling (IAPS) Primavera P6 Design Configuration through a formal change control process – the Enhancement Forum – involving key functions including Project Management, Development Planning, Well Engineering, Operations & Integrated Planning.
- Supporting the interfacing design team to ensure the most effective use and interface of Primavera P6 with other business systems.
- Testing and evaluating new Primavera P6 and planning-related product developments and versions.
Support
- Providing functional and technical support to all planning users of Primavera P6.
- Managing the interface with the IAPS Primavera P6 Subject matter Expert within the IT Project group.
- Managing the relationship and interface with E&P Global IT Service Support.
- Ensuring all users of Primavera P6 have adequate training for their respective roles, and facilitate any necessary training as required.
Vendor Management
- Managing the relationship as the prime point of contact with Oracle.
- Monitoring license usage and Primavera P6 applications across BG Group, including version control.
- Representing BG at associated user group and Oracle forums.
- Promoting Primavera P6 and best practices with BG’s joint venture partners.
Results
The global deployment to date has been a huge success. The program was structured as a business transformation focusing effort across the 3 dimensions of change; people, process and technology to ensure that new ways of working are fully embedded and business benefits realized. This program:
- Enabled asset teams to manage their hydrocarbon forecast data more effectively, releasing skilled resources to concentrate on higher value analysis.
- Provided corporate teams with up-to-date forecasts and the ability to visualize and analyze the hydrocarbon portfolio at any point in the year.
- Supported enhanced hydrocarbon planning and portfolio management.
Ten Six helped BG ensure consistency in both project management best practices and in the day-to-day use of the Oracle Primavera P6 enterprise tool suite. Due to the nature of this large deployment, different regions reported benefits at different rates depending on the pace and depth of their specific rollout. Below are just a few of the benefits realized by BG.
In one region, safety critical backlogs were reduced from 600 hours to 10 hours.
One region reported that they were able to include more people in their program. The increased visibility gained from using Primavera P6 gave greater confidence in project delivery and the work of others.
Another region described the delivery of a highly efficient offshore modification campaign that delivered 94% of work planned versus a much lower delivery before IAPS.
One region has now built integrated and functional plans, which underpin their 8 year and 2 year plans, showing greater confidence in the growth potential.
One Vice President new to the business was able to see the agenda immediately. Through a series of management meetings he was able to see how this connected to a vision and then using that to communicate to his team, showing them how their work fits in to the overall goals. This was another dimension to the deployment demonstrating not just the operational and site impacts, but a much broader leadership picture.
He is now able to ask questions as to his team readiness for upcoming work. Do I have the right blend of commercial negotiators? How am I placing my people to best develop them, particularly in one region where staffing connects directly to BG’s localization plans.
Ten Six still supports BG as their implementation of Oracle Primavera P6 and project management maturity globally continues to grow.