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In an earlier post I made some observations about the distinction between planning and scheduling. In terms of complex production organizations, planning is generally done in a “slow loop”, and establishes targets for the operational side of the organization to follow. Scheduling is then done in a “fast loop” at an operational level to allocate assets and resources so that these targets are met.

In my earlier post on making decisions, I noted that the use of models is a useful way of applying automation, consistency, and reusability to the decision-making process. When somebody makes decisions based on intuition, they’re really using an informal mental model that can’t be easily explained or shared with others (and that is, quite possibly, incomplete and therefore unreliable). Expressing the situation in a more formal model can be very difficult, but raises the quality of decisions a great deal.

A couple of years ago I wrote a White Paper in which I discussed the use of technology for achieving operational excellence. I believe this is an important topic, so I want to revisit it here.

“Having data doesn’t give you productivity.
Having better decisions gives you productivity.”
   Michael Trick, Professor, Tepper School of Business
   Carnegie-Mellon University

I thought about this quote during the first session that I attended at the SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, California, earlier this week.

Recent financial news in the enterprise software sector is bubbling with stories about behemoths like IBM, Oracle, and SAP gobbling up Business Intelligence (BI) vendors like Cognos, Hyperion, and Business Objects, respectively.

We talk a lot, at Actenum, about the application of our optimization technology to planning and scheduling situations in asset-intensive industries. I often use both terms in conversations with others without making any formal distinction between them. Yet there are important differences, and so some explanation is in order.

We’re hearing a lot about the aging workforce in the Oil and Gas business press. According to Jill Feblowitz at IDC Energy Insights, for example, as older workers retire and the industry experiences a reduction of highly experienced workers, investments in technology to make the remaining workers more effective are a must if the industry is going to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy.

Stop and think for a moment: how do you make a decision?

Drilling managers are facing increasing pressure to meet performance goals, which means that decisions about how to build the best drilling plans and schedules must focus on continued optimization of these goals. This is not possible to do without the right tools.

The Digital Oilfield and the Intelligent Grid: two initiatives in different areas—Energy and Utilities—that focus on improved monitoring and management of the entire production value chain. In other industries too, there’s a buzz about putting more intelligence into operations. By making devices smarter, using sophisticated communication technologies, and employing software tools to gather, integrate, and present information to decision-makers in an appropriate way, the thinking goes, you’ll empower them to manage their operations more effectively.