While constructing oil and gas platforms in the North Sea, exploration and production (E&P) companies have to negotiate some of the planet’s highest winds and most punishing waves. But these demanding environmental conditions aren’t the only obstacles standing in the way of new North Sea platforms. Another serious challenge lies in the most unlikely of places: the E&P companies’ own engineering departments.

Even in calmer environments, engineering a platform is no small feat.

Just consider the content-management functions involved in the process. On a typical platform project, for example, a single engineer can author hundreds or even thousands of project-related documents. Managing these documents is part and parcel to a smooth construction process, which leads to a huge range of challenges, from ensuring process control to providing a reliable audit trail.

Perenco Oil, an independent E&P player based in London and Paris, is one company that has found success negotiating these obstacles. Currently, Perenco is engaged in a major project at the Trent platform in the Southern North Sea, installing unmanned compression facilities in a mature field. Once complete, the new processing unit will enable Perenco to pump more natural gas from the seabed.

Document control urgent need
During the Trent platform’s development Perenco created more than 3,000

Figure 1. Enterprise Engineer Application Suite has broad functionality. (Graphic courtesy of McLaren Software)
engineering-related documents. Eventually the company will migrate a staggering 90,000 drawings from a legacy engineering document management system into Enterprise Engineer, a document management system. This presents the company with some distinct management challenges, especially since its engineering teams and contractors are working to become more process-driven and efficient.

To make matters more complex, Perenco operates under strict regulatory guidelines that necessitate compliant document control processes and have a significant impact on project timescales, operational efficiency and safety.

Adding to these difficulties is the fact that there are numerous contractors and subcontractors participating in the design and construction of the facility. Granting controlled document access to these parties, not to mention Perenco’s own employees, at the appropriate time presents an ongoing challenge for the project’s engineering team.

In the past, the company would have responded to these challenges manually, using spreadsheets and word-processor documents. This methodology, however, requires hundreds of manhours to manage the flow of engineering content like “as-builts,” change orders and procurement specifications. In addition, it makes it hard for Perenco to stick to its strict project management constraints, which are designed to ensure that teams are properly working through revisions and that specifications are reviewed on a timely basis so that the entire project remains on schedule. From that perspective, it is essential that no project overruns stem from document control issues.

Engineering-centric solution
At the outset of the Trent project, Perenco knew it needed a content-management system that could:
• Help save time and manhours to achieve first production as quickly as possible;
• Enable productivity gains from the internal team and contractors;
• Manage the risk associated with the design and construction of the facility;
• Rapidly deploy as the project gains steam; and
• Centrally control all project documents and provide secure access to the appropriate parties at the right time.

To meet these requirements, Perenco turned to McLaren Software, a developer of content management applications for engineering operations.

McLaren’s Enterprise Engineer application suite, which runs on top of the EMC Documentum content management platform, can manage complex and rigorous document control demands. The software tool provides Perenco with a configurable application that manages engineering content and process control issues. Its functionality covers 95% of Perenco’s document control requirements.

Up and running in 6 weeks
Because the software is engineering-centric, Perenco was able to handle the bulk of the application deployment using in-house expertise. The software company provided just 4 days of deployment services to help Perenco configure and roll out the system.

From placing the order to loading documents onto the system, the deployment took just 6 weeks. This was accomplished on top of the existing team’s project management workload.
The software provides the project control and process automation that allows Perenco to create, classify, store and manage its documents and drawings. This includes things like default document types, dialogs, automatic numbering, filing and document lifecycles. The application’s transmittals functionality aids the timely review process and the distribution of content to third parties.

Perenco configured the product so that it helps the company automate its internal review process, providing a way to automatically associate a review sheet with a drawing or other document. As a result, a review sheet can now be distributed along with key documents to provide a greater degree of control and flexibility in terms of ongoing review management.
When implementing the software, Perenco’s executives also had the foresight to streamline their review process so that it became less repetitive, more easily traceable and less time consuming.

Prior to implementation, for example, Perenco regularly sent review packs out, but project leaders were unable to track how they were progressing through their specific review team, or even if they had been misplaced. The software’s built-in transmittals review process dramatically accelerates the review response timeline by allowing users to electronically add comments that follow a document throughout its lifecycle. This delivers greater auditing capabilities and enhanced reporting and tracking.

Additionally, it allows Perenco to set review time limits — illustrating just how much Perenco’s process control has increased. Project leaders now run reports to see when review documents are near a deadline, and then send bulletin reminders to specified distribution lists within the system. As a result, Perenco is better able to drive processes and ensure accountability and on-time delivery.

The ability to run reports rather than relying on the document control team has provided management with valuable insight into individual projects. In addition, security options enable engineering teams to give management staff better access to various project areas, allowing managers to actively monitor key activities, but without the information overload that comes from access to too much project data.

At the mid-point of the Trent project, there were already thousands of documents in the system. The automation of many of the previously manual processes, filing and reporting ensures that at the end of the project the transition to operational activity will be far easier since most of the documentation will already be centrally available.

The future
Even though the Trent project is not yet complete, Perenco is already recognizing significant returns as a result of the “buy-don’t-build” philosophy and the automation and process control that the new system provides. By using the software’s standard functionality and configuring the application to meet specific requirements, the document control system is now up and running, resulting in greater control of project documents and processes.
Even with the new system in place, Perenco must still contend with the brutal conditions in the North Sea. However, the company has managed its exposure to document control-related risks, meaning any project overruns will be linked to external issues rather than content management and process failures.