Microsoft Upstream IT Reference Architecture Use Case
PetrisWINDS OneTouch™ Portal for
Upstream Operations
Vasuki Upadhya, Wipro Technologies
John Wearing, Petris Technology, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ... 3
Overview ... 4
Business Benefits ... 8
Application Scenarios ... 10
Solution Architecture ... 13
Conclusion ... 17
About the Authors ... 18
Introduction
Designed to support significant performance improvement in upstream
operations
Turning data into information that can be used to make the right decisions at the right time is central to oil and gas upstream operations. While that statement is simple, anyone working in exploration and production knows that turning the tsunami of data generated on a regular basis into information is a complex and multifaceted undertaking. Further, it is an undertaking that has challenged oil and gas companies for some time.
Advances in information technology systems have both helped and hindered the solution. In‐house and third party developers have created a variety of tools and systems that successfully address one or more aspects of the “data to information” puzzle. And while this is good news, the availability of multiple choices for different pieces of the puzzle have created data siloes that do not integrate or that cannot be accessed at the same time.
More good news: Data integration and access solutions have become available, and their implementation is a next step toward achievement of the data‐to‐information goal. At the same time, the goal has grown another branch. To continue improvement of performance, upstream operations need to turn data into information and make it available to all the users who need access to it.
Production engineers, production technologists, reservoir engineers, process engineers, geologists, geophysicists, petrophysicists, production operators, supervisors, planners, asset maintainers, and third party providers, many in different locations, must collaborate in some combination depending on the current need and situation, and they all must be able to tap into and share the same information in the same time frame. Oil and gas companies typically have multiple, discrete, and often best‐of‐breed systems to support this objective. However, there is an urgent need to automate and integrate these systems to provide context‐ relevant information in one place. Wipro Technologies and Petris Technology, Inc. have jointly developed PetrisWINDS OneTouch, a framework that takes advantage of the Microsoft (MS) Upstream IT Reference Architecture1, to provide the right information to the right people at the right time. From underlying data sources to end user, PetrisWINDS OneTouch provides seamlessly integrated information through an online portal and also enables real‐time collaboration between members of multidisciplinary teams.
PetrisWINDS OneTouch is designed to support significant performance improvement in upstream operations and enable realization of digital oilfield objectives.
Overview
A one‐stop shop to quickly access upstream information
Digital Oil Field (DOF) is a generic term that refers to the aggregation of people, processes and technology to help overcoming the challenges faced by the upstream oil and gas sector today. Petroleum companies are embracing DOF at different paces and with different names and priorities.
Generally, DOF initiatives help in overcoming these key challenges:
1. The aging workforce, which has created the need to capture the knowledge of workers near retirement and make it available so that younger workers can get up to speed and leverage this knowledge quickly. This need has spawned a number of social computing solutions that facilitate virtual collaboration in multiple forms (e.g., audio conferencing, video conferencing, instant messaging). These solutions leverage social media elements such as wikis, blogs, and forums and are built to function on a variety of platforms (e.g., desktop/laptop computer, PDA, smart phone). Social computing solutions address the “older to younger” knowledge transfer need and offer opportunities for productivity improvement. For example, operations can “cross skill” resources (e.g., field engineers take technical decisions that include financial implications), and smarter IT systems draw from a large pool of intelligence on user demand (e.g., field engineers can easily access well information, well log information, well histories, maintenance records, budgets, and cost details in a single work session). 2. Dynamic market situations and operational conditions that need better IT systems to help make right
decisions at the right time. IT systems must provide usable intelligence from huge data stores generated from real time systems, modeling & simulation tools, business intelligence systems, document repositories, data/voice/video communications spanning the entire upstream enterprise (exploration, drilling, reservoir management, operations, finance, etc.). A solution should support scalability, high performance, and better data management and usage.
3. Improved operational efficiency by streamlining and integrating existing IT systems as well as by creating a collaborative work environment with effective data visualization, search functionality, analytics, business intelligence, and data management according to industry standards.
PetrisWINDS OneTouch is built around the concept of a one‐stop shop to quickly access upstream information. This is initially accomplished via a web portal, and will expand to make data available on any device, anywhere in the world, 24/7. The objectives of PetrisWINDS OneTouch are: • To enable effective upstream data management. • To enable business process collaboration. • To facilitate knowledge capture and management. • To leverage investment in existing solutions.
The solution is robust, secure, and cost effective. It allows rich visualization of operational and analytical information from across structured and unstructured data.
PetrisWINDS OneTouch takes advantage of current technologies through the MS Upstream IT Reference Architecture, which reflects a service‐oriented computing environment that encompasses domain applications, business productivity tools, and back office applications in an integrated manner. This sample portal page illustrates how a user can geographically navigate to an asset. Operational team information and taxonomy hierarchy could also be viewed here.
OneTouch allows users to find and manage data elements including log, seismic, and production data regardless of data source‐ structured data (e.g., Landmark OpenWorks®, SeisWorks®; Paradigm GeoLog®; Schlumberger Charisma®, Finder, GeoFrame; IHS Petra®) and unstructured data from email, PDFs, Excel files, etc. Key productivity features include:
• Production dashboards that allow users to monitor real time performance of oil production, gas production, water cut, GOR, fluid injection, and Hallplots against planned performance. Information can be viewed at well level, well group level, or any level of asset hierarchy. Any data deviations beyond preset limits are highlighted and data can be viewed in multiple forms and detail to the cause of a problem. Any unacceptable deviation will trigger an alarm to the responsible person. • Rich visualization that gives the user the option to follow a hierarchical navigation as well as cross navigation through maps and search utilities. The user can also view data on a GIS map along with the detailed view of data in tabular format. Graphical views such as Pie charts, trend graphs, and bubble graphs are also available. • Collaboration that allows a user to see online availability of other users, which is useful for reaching out to the right expert in case of a particular need. Online chat via instant messaging can be initiated, as well as audio/video conferencing. Desktop sharing allows remote users to support troubleshooting activities. Wikis support knowledge capture and sharing across user interest groups and are integrated into an enterprise search tool to facilitate information searches.
Samples of PetrisWINDS OneTouch portal windows. The web parts presented in Figure 2 offer examples of data delivery through the portal. The windows shown are typical visualizations used for monthly production reviews and production optimization.
Business Benefits
Enhancing user productivity and providing big advantages for the IT
function
For biggest business benefit, an upstream operation must have a data access and management solution that enhances user productivity and at the same time is reliable, flexible, and scalable from an IT perspective. PetrisWINDS OneTouch offers this combination: • A proven and reliable platform. PetrisWINDS OneTouch incorporates MS platforms including SharePoint®, Office Communication Server and .Net. While this facilitates a “straight fit” for companies that have adopted MS technologies across the enterprise, the solution concepts and framework also hold good in other scenarios. • Cross‐enterprise standardization. The solution framework allows capabilities such as: Integration of structured and unstructured data Setup and integration of MS FAST with MS SharePoint and ArcGIS web service for integrated enterprise search across structured, unstructured and spatial information Combining custom built and third party integration solutions (e.g., use of PetrisWINDS Enterprise [PWE] Framework and Architecture including a Dynamic Catalog). Using MS connectors to connect to multiple data sources for building index search repositories SOA‐based integration with high reusability Integration of data quality tools User friendly and customizable screens Integration with GIS web services with SharePoint for spatial data view Leverage of Silverlight for rich, responsive and interactive user interface Integration of custom and third party web parts (e.g., OSI web parts, regional weather web parts) into the portal Migration of PetrisWINDS OneTouch from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 • Accelerated adoption. The PetrisWINDS OneTouch framework utilizes reusable web parts and adapters and allows the users to configure and deploy them as needed. Its flexibility also allows customization as required by the specific requirements. These features facilitate fast adoption because of a shallow learning curve and reuse of already in play components.
• Unlocking vendor lock‐ins. Many data solutions on the market today are vendor specific, which limits system flexibility. PetrisWINDS OneTouch offers the beginnings of an open technology platform that can scale up and meet the needs of the geographical spread common to an upstream operation. • Cost effectiveness. The move toward an open technology platform allows improved IT support and cost effectiveness. The scalability of the framework can avoid region‐specific deployments and associated CAPEX (licenses) and OPEX (support) while the one‐stop‐shop nature of PetrisWINDS OneTouch helps avoid data duplication and consistency. Collaboration tools within the platform help reduce travel and communication cost as well as improving information traceability and knowledge sharing. • Productivity improvement acceleration. Adoption of the solution will help to improve the productivity through collaboration, standardization, and rich visualization in context.
Application Scenarios
Three examples of PetrisWINDS OneTouch in common E&P activities
There are many business scenarios of usage for PetrisWINDS OneTouch in upstream operations. The three representative scenarios below illustrate how the solution can create business value for upstream operations.
Meter health monitoring and issue management. PetrisWINDS OneTouch allows early monitoring and timely
correction of data problems at the source and helps improve data reliability, accurate accounting and reporting, and issue traceability. The metering process involves making field measurements, processing data in accordance with agreed procedures, and reporting final production data. Meter readings are used for monitoring, exception management, allocation, and forecasting and optimization processes. Errors in meter readings and their detection at a later stage is common; this creates emergency situations and rework. Containing the errors at the instrument level and closer to the point of origin will help reduce retrospective corrective measures, which in turn will reduce cost and improve productivity.
Metering health data is important to engineering, operations, maintenance, metering specialist’s staff for monitoring, error detection, and correction. The PetrisWINDS OneTouch solution allows the user to view meter information and meter reading data on a continuous basis along with alerting mechanisms. The portal can pull from the data historian through the web service after performing a set of validation rules (defined in the rules engine). The data can be displayed in R (Red), A (Amber), and G (Green) color coding conventions to note the validity of the data.
For questionable data, there is a facility to assign a role responsible for managing the issue that is creating the problem (for example, incorrect readings arising from a malfunctioning meter corrector device should be assigned to the meter provider for correction). A data issue goes through an issue lifecycle with associated workflows until the issue is resolved and closed. The issue history that is created in the portal can be part of the knowledge repository that can be accessed and referenced for similar issues in the future.
Remote operations monitoring. Until recently, there was a disconnect between the process control domain
and the office domain in many upstream operations. This led to the use of onsite resources to monitor and manage process control domain applications. Not surprisingly, each site used a different process flow for application monitoring and management; because of this, operations did not standardize and streamline this activity across multiple sites.
PetrisWinds OneTouch allows centralized monitoring and management of process control domain applications through a common enterprise portal. This centralization offers the opportunity to gain significant productivity improvements through standardization and streamlining. Examples of functionality that the portal supports are: • Remote monitoring of process control applications • Virtually management of third party application access control with controlled and audited access • Monitoring for any security threats on any of the process control domain using standard tools available • Reverse shadowing of end user operations for safety critical applications The transformation from diverse local site support models to a standard central support model will improve cost effectiveness and service quality improvement.
Production surveillance and optimization. Availability of real time production data on a daily, weekly,
monthly and yearly basis allows operations to efficiently and effectively meet objectives and improve performance. This data allows collaboration across different disciplines such as the production team, reservoir engineer team, geoscientist team, well engineering team, operational asset integrity team and executive team, and facilitates the monitoring, surveillance, calibration, forecasting, optimization, formulating strategies. PetrisWINDS OneTouch provides real time information including: • oil/gas/water production at multiple levels in the hierarchy, • exceptions via alarms, • calibrated well views, • facilities, • reservoir models, • short term trends, • medium and long term forecasts, • tracking of opportunities to improve the production process efficiency, and • operational/analytical /regulatory reports.
The portal accesses and presents data residing in multiple data sources such as: • well information in corporate/project data stores, • asset information in ERP modules like SAP PM and Maximo, • real time data in the plant historian like OSI PI , • processed data in data warehouse, • operational data store for management information, and • analytical reporting (pressure transient analysis, decline curve analysis, injection efficiency etc.).
The collaboration component of PetrisWINDS OneTouch can be used immediately for person‐to‐person interactions among different disciplines, which also helps in knowledge capture, management, and search. The solution can also be used to capture and manage the meeting minutes and actions in daily/weekly/monthly/yearly production reviews. It is possible to view the real time data through the web browser in the meetings for any cross validations.
Solution Architecture
A service‐oriented architecture to accomplish the “data to information to
all” objective
PetrisWINDS OneTouch is built on a service‐oriented architecture with underlying component‐based architecture, with layers that accomplish the “data to information to all” objective.
Moving from bottom to top in Figure 3, the solution enables to integrate the existing custom application within the enterprise through interoperable web services using open technology platforms like .Net or Java.. Web services are exposed from the existing application through adapters.
The integration layer leverages Petris’ off‐the‐shelf integration framework, PetrisWINDS Enterprise (PWE); web services available from various source applications are classified as technical web services as well as business web services, which occupy the next layer. The top layer in the integration group includes computation, notifications, and rules engine. This helps to perform additional processing on the web services across the source systems and to prepare the business context for display of information. Business process workflows are also realized in this layer.
At the visualization layer, business components, built and made available as reusable assets in the web part gallery, will each have a well‐defined responsibility with predefined data feed and visualization. Another component of the visualization layer is a common collaboration suite that allows instant messaging, real time presence management, audio/video conferencing, and desktop sharing.
Representative components of a web part gallery.
Most of the visualization requirements of production performance dashboards, alarm management dashboards, trending, and charting, tabular data display, reporting, and data import/export are made available using MOSS 2007, Silverlight, AJAX and ArcGIS tool capabilities. The architecture concept of heavy reusability is achieved at business component level as well technical service/component level. Each layer cross leverages and reuses the services available from the layer below.
While the solution is built keeping in mind the browser environment, it can be extended to other handheld devices as well.
PetrisWINDS OneTouch is built on top of common underlying services such as role based security control at component level, logging as required for auditing purpose, exception management modules, etc. Personalization allows the user to customize, save, and reuse the user interface. This helps the user improve
Enterprise search solution architecture
One key feature needed for productivity improvement is an enterprise search capability. The search architecture takes advantage of Microsoft connectors for connecting to various data sources. For example, MS Fast connectors are used to connect various data sources/interfaces for building a search index repository which can be kept up to date on a regular basis. The index repository will be organized on a set of configurable rules as required and is mapped to a predefined taxonomy which allows a context‐based quick search.
PetrisWINDS OneTouch is capable of scaling up to search millions of pages and documents and can be integrated with other search tools that may already exist in the enterprise. A user can perform free text, parametric, taxonomic, or spatial data searches across both structured and unstructured data sources. Search result can be displayed in GIS spatial representation as well as a view similar to that of general internet searches (including relevancy, semantics, highlighting keywords, etc.).
The seamless integration of a robust search tool that has a universally recognized user interface with the portal, facilitates higher user penetration and easier adoption.
Example of search results
Conclusion
PetrisWINDS OneTouch helps petroleum companies quickly implement operational excellence & productivity improvement initiatives including DOF initiatives using a reliable, robust, and cost effective technology platform. The integrated rich visualization on the web portal helps users improve their productivity by enabling “anytime, anywhere” access to reliable and consistent information, knowledge management, and collaboration. Integrated information with predictive analytics helps potential loss prevention/deferment by smarter decision making at the right time. Finally, the proven, reliable, and reusable solution framework that
About the authors
Vasuki Upadhya Vasuki Upadhya, senior solution architect at Wipro Technologies, has 14 years of experience in the global IT sector, providing consulting, architecture design, architecture assurance, and architecture assessment of IT solutions in the energy and utilities domain. He works with key customers to create and provide effective IT solutions for complex business challenges. He also works with Wipro strategic partners to create joint IT‐based solutions that focus on common industry needs. John WearingJohn Wearing, vice president at Petris Technology, Inc., has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. His primary emphasis is on the business application of technology in exploration and production operations.
A
bout Wipro Technologies
Wipro Technologies (http://wipro.com) is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMMi Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services (including systems integration, IS outsourcing, package implementation, software application development and maintenance) and Research and Development services (hardware and software design, development and implementation) to corporations globally. Wipro's unique value proposition is further delivered through our pioneering Offshore Outsourcing Model and stringent Quality Processes of SEI and Six Sigma.About Petris Technology, Inc.
Petris Technology, Inc. (http://petris.com) is a leading supplier of practical data management solutions and geosciences applications to the global energy industry. Founded in 1994 and with over 500 clients throughout the world, Petris leverages its insight and knowledge to design technology that integrates information from diverse data stores including financial, seismic, borehole, production, drilling, and pipeline to enable continually better decision making and application transparency.
