denotes premium content | May 17 2008 Feature
posted 1 Apr 2000 in Volume 3 Issue 7
Faros, going live
In the third part of this series,
Ove Rustung Hjelmervik focuses on the final stages in the development of
Statoil’s knowledge management system, Faros. After the technological issues
were resolved, it was time for Faros to finally be implemented in a live
environment.
The Faros Feedback Function
In June 1999, after a successful
testing period, the project introduced the Faros Feedback Function. This is a
system for ensuring that an operator’s experience of working the process reaches
the responsible process owner. It has a monitoring function to make sure that
the operator has reached the right address, which saves him from wondering if
his comments have arrived safely. Furthermore, before the operator can send his
comment, he will have to pass through the list of existing comments on the same
subject. Here, he will see if a similar experience to his has already has been
reported. This new comment, together with other experiences, form the basis for
developing new good practices, and leading to increased competitive
advantage.
As
part of introducing Faros Feedback to the Business Units, we are accentuating
the need for each process owner to take responsibility for his or her value
creation process. The process owner is responsible for updating the relevant
process, as required by the members of the community using it.
From this arena
it should be possible to transfer all relevant experience obtained from a work
process to the process owner(s) responsible for maintaining it. Once such
experience is transmitted, the owner(s) will consider developing a new good
practice document. The content of Faros is made instantly available to all
employees and contract personnel at any time in all areas of the world, inside
or outside the company, provided they have access to Statoil’s
intranet/extranet.
Use of information technology
Having created concepts such as the
‘Knowledge Room’, ‘Work Process Navigator’, ‘Faros Feedback’, and ‘JIT-JE’
(‘Just-in-Time, Just-Enough’), the team had to find a technology capable of
co-ordinating these tools. In the autumn of 1996, Statoil was fully committed to
Lotus Notes technology. The project team realised, however, that building a KMS
on the LN platform would neither give us the flexibility we were seeking on
behalf of the user, nor sufficiently support our continuous, life-long learning
concept.
Instead,
we decided on web technology in order to secure JIT-JE relevant information for
each user. Our aim was to link into any database or data-warehouse internally in
the organisation, or externally to suppliers, authorities, customers and so on,
from a work process description. By having the process owners identify what
information a certain process required, we were able to secure, through these
links, valuable information for the users of the process.
The Web
In the autumn of 1996, the decision
was made to use intranet and web technology as the medium for communication. As
you will probably recall, the World Wide Web was a very vague concept, just in
its embryonic stage, as late as 1996, and we were warned against using this
technology, particularly as it was not standard within the company. Before we
could apply the web technology, we had to make sure that it could handle the
enormous amount of links, documents, drawings and multi-media systems required.
In order to meet
the functional requirements of the user, we had to secure an easy and effective
method of finding, handling and dissipating relevant information. We decided
that the navigational flexibility the web offered was more important for the
long-term effectiveness of the system than the short-term obstacle of not being
able to reach some files stored in databases not yet communicating with the web.
Furthermore, should we be able to realise the vision of life-long learning, we
had to also reach external sources of competencies, such as universities,
suppliers, experts and other sources, which Statoil’s employees could tap into.
This, we believed, would be possible through the web. Fortunately, Statoil
eventually implemented web technology during the autumn of 1997.
Visualisation
One of the key ambitions of Faros was
to create and connect multi-media systems to the work process. The intention was
to ensure easy navigation, as well as life-long learning, in order that
employees would be able to do a job right first time. And by doing so, we hoped
the learning aspect would reduce operating failures and unwanted incidents, and
also enhance the safety of operations through strengthening Health, Environment
and Safety standards as the company’s primary goal.
Learning for the purpose of solving a
problem is of great significance to any organisation. If you can utilise virtual
reality (VR) technology in such a process, which is the closest you can get to
the real problem without actually experiencing it, I maintain that you get both
a more intelligently run operation and more astute employees. Learning by
connecting multi-media systems with work will enhance an employee’s ability to
develop their skills, regardless of the discipline, in a more effective,
satisfactory and pleasant manner (as opposed to spending days on end in a
classroom listening to an instructor). This is the virtual answer to ‘seeing is
believing’.
We
tested out the ability of both VR and Quicktime VR (QVR) to illustrate the
operation of a piece of equipment, such as a sub-surface production unit. Once
we had a test version ready, we then tried it on the net. However, this was
easier said than done. We then decided to use CD ROMs, and had a few CDs made up
for distribution among users. Again we ran into operational bugs, making us
confront reality. The barriers in terms of VR and its relation to IT technology,
Statoil’s intranet and the licence fees were, in the end, insurmountable. While
VR gave us more control, and options for activities such as stripping and
re-building a piece of equipment sitting on the seabed, other challenges were
impossible for us to overcome at the time. QVR turned out to be a safer and more
straightforward technology to use – so far.
Other technical supports
We had to secure a
method of linking documents to each other. Both object oriented systems, and
simpler systems with drawing applications were evaluated. One important
criterion was the user’s own ability to operate, change and install new
information into the drawings of the work processes. Although the process owners
were to be so-called ‘super-users’, trained to a certain level of proficiency,
we still had to keep it simple. Therefore, we opted for a less complex software
tool rather than a more robust object oriented documentation software, which
only IT experts could apply.
Operating and servicing a KMS requires
two types of activities: The IT side and the author/web role. The IT component
includes service maintenance of the system, linkage support, server support and
so on, and is performed by the company’s central IT unit. The author/web role is
conducted by the process owners (super-users), or by the owners of information.
It entails adjustments, changes, and additions to the products stored in the
system, as well as linkage to both internal and external information. For the
knowledge management system to function as intended, each Business Unit must be
self-supporting in terms of the author/web work. The IT element is only a small
part of a KMS. Therefore, the system must not be made so complex that each unit
needs to hire experts to operate it. Anyone attempting to build a system
designed to be maintained by IT experts at user level is shooting themselves in
the foot. Knowledge is a live commodity, not to be caged in by the dogma. The
issue of KM is too important to be left in the hands of the IT experts!
Faros has been developed
in-house, using a Lotus Notes and Domino platform. However, the Faros concept
can be applied to any web-facilitated technology.
Faros goes live
“Start! Only that way
can the impossible be possible.” Thomas Carlyle
Implementing Faros
While
building Faros, we created the following applications/products:
The first Business Unit to implement Faros was Troll, with its Troll A
gas production platform and a land-based operating unit. With its gas-in-place
of 1.2 trillion cubic metres, Troll is the world’s largest offshore gas field in
operation. On 1st January 1998, Troll’s employees were informed through a Lotus
Notes mail that they were to use Faros as the navigator for the retrieval of
operating policies and best practice documents. This message was finally issued
after a 14-month development period. Troll was the acid test of whether or not
the concept was actually user-friendly. After a few introductory snags, the
system turned out to be a favoured spot for finding information; it was well
received and required a low user threshold.
In the summer of 1997, we started to
develop the Åsgard Faros, two years before it came on stream in June 1999. The
Åsgard field would be operated through a structure of self-managing teams for
the operation and maintenance activities. The field development consists of one
oil production ship and one gas production platform, in addition to its land
based operating unit. The two offshore units operate 16 sub-sea production
templates in the Norwegian Sea, making it the world’s largest sub-surface
production field. During the operating group’s start-up training for running the
production ship in mid-1998, the group was also trained for Faros application.
After a two-day training period the group of operators became fully at ease
using the Faros system.
In the early spring of 1999, we implemented Faros on Statfjord’s three
operating platforms. The Statfjord field, with its oil-in-place of over 3
billion barrels, is one of the world’s largest offshore oil fields in operation.
In addition it contains large gas reserves. The Faros work started in the autumn
of 1998, initially organising four processes. Using the results from the
previous work at Åsgard, augmented by the additional requirements at Statfjord,
we launched the Statfjord Faros about six months after completing the project
proposal. As with the other Business Units, the Faros team was the facilitator
for the process owners and super-users. The introduction of Faros to the
operating and maintenance people was done by the process owners, again through a
Lotus Notes mail, on top of presentation and training on the platforms. Once the
system was up and running we found it to be in regular use.
These were the first three offshore
operating units using Faros, but we also developed a pilot for the onshore
Mongstad refinery, developing the template with two extra work processes related
to the refining of fuel. Again, the system proved flexible for yet another type
of operation, and the users turned out to be very appreciative of Faros.
In parallel with the
operating units, we developed Faros for a number of functional units such as
Drilling and Well Maintenance Technology, Process Development Technology,
Operating, Maintenance and Modification Technology, and Operating Services. Here
we developed pilots for several of the units. Due to the many facets of
operating the technology units, we left it up to the individual units to expand
on the work done by the Faros team. As the users gained experience with Faros,
we saw how they benefited from it. Of course, some used it more than others, but
that will always be the case. But we also know of employees in other Business
Units who use other Faros systems.
In addition to each unit installing
the concept, and informing its employees accordingly, the Faros team issued a
general statement to all users where to find Faros in the maze of Statoil’s many
data buckets, and how to operate the system. How to use Faros has also been
spreading by word of mouth among various groups.
Evaluating Faros: Customer
satisfaction
In May 1999, a user analysis was completed, where users at the three
operating units and some of the professional units were interviewed. The
following conclusions were reached:
1. User experience
Approximately
70% of the employees in the units that had implemented Faros were using the
system to a large or smaller degree.
Faros was evaluated as being both
functional and user friendly. Methods of informing the user of its application
procedures can, however, be improved upon. The employees should also be better
informed of why Faros was built, what information had been installed in the
system and where user support could be found.
2. User satisfaction
The IT
solution was evaluated as good in terms of response time and on-line time.
Printout and interface could be improved upon, however.
Facilitating the work
processes was good, and the Faros team was given high marks for its service
level. But the project could need a better structure.
3. Price, quality and service
The
price was acceptable. Faros was seen as a high quality product. The service
level was good.
4. Overall recommendation
Faros is a system well qualified for
mapping and visualising local work processes, and is recommended as the
preferred system in Statoil.
The Faros system tools
While building Faros, we
also developed process support tools capable of “rolling out” a Faros system for
new Business Units, thus reducing the cost of implementing the concept in a new
unit. These were successfully tested when building the Statfjord Faros. In fact,
we were able to reduce the system’s development and building time by a factor of
four. As we were going into new units, the ‘roll out’ time was reduced, and so
also the cost. We were able to standardise the system, while staying flexible
with regards to the type of unit and type of information.
Due to Faros’ funding structure (it is
primarily financed by the individual Business Units), we also had to build a
supportive accounting system, making sure that we had the costing picture well
under control.
Coming in the next issue...
In a follow up to the original Faros
series, Ove Rustung Hjelmervik describes the key lessons Statoil has learned
from its experience with Faros, and offers invaluable practical advice on
designing and implementing a complete knowledge management system.
Ove Rustung
Hjelmervik is project manager of the Faros knowledge management system. He can
be contacted at:hjel@statoil.com
