Challenge

Ocean Energy is one of the 10 largest independent oil and gas exploration companies in the U.S. with a focus on deepwater exploration.

They needed to develop a uniform way to collect and manage offshore platform data including Oil and gas production, weather, people, accidents and a large number of other parameters.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Overview

Ocean Energy needed a way to collect and share information on a large number of parameters from their offshore oil platforms. In addition they wanted a collaborative environment through which internal personnel, contractors and vendors could manage various projects.

Solution

Utilizing a 3-tier architecture in a Windows NT environment the BrightStar team built an object model very similar to Windows Internet Explorer for data retrieval and display. Web reporting is based on Active Reports and Crystal Reports. Security and controls were implemented to limit access to Ocean Energy personnel permitted to enter data and view information.

A collaborative Web based Executive Action Item Tracking System was also implemented at Ocean Energy for the tracking of project action items. This system provides notification of New Items, Past Due Items, and tracks completed items and deadlines. Users are assigned access codes and passwords to access the system. Information to users is controlled via these access codes and passwords.

Results

The Knowledge management portal at Ocean Energy has enabled them to make important business information available in a secure manner to all necessary personnel without the need to install or maintain client-side software thereby cutting down on implementation and maintenance costs.

Benefits

- Ocean Energy is now able to track the status of all project action items in a timely manner from a single web-based portal, accessible anywhere.

- Reporting is web-based, so no client-side software is needed to be installed or maintained for end-users to access their business reports.

- Information is provided in a secure manner to all necessary personnel.

Lessons Learned

A complete understanding of the business issues driving the need for these systems and understanding the current technologies deployed by Ocean Energy allowed us to suggest the most cost effective and expedient solution.