SAP Solution Brief

SAP BusinessObjects Analytic

Applications
SAP BusinessObjects Upstream
Operations Performance Analysis
Thriving in a dynamic market like upstream
operations in the oil and gas industry
means balancing a dizzying array of
trade-offs in the drive for competitive
advantage. When you work to boost
production rates, operational expense
pressure increases with added activities
like work-overs. If you squeeze the max-
imum performance from your facilities,
you risk excess equipment wear. If you
lower your operating expenses by re-
ducing employee training, you may face
an upward trend in accidents on the job.
How do you balance these seemingly
conflicting objectives for production
operations in order to meet or exceed
your financial and operational key per-
formance indicators (KPIs)? And how
do you establish those KPIs in the first
place? Have you identified your critical
metrics and set up procedures for mea-
suring them? How effectively can you
detect and correct unfavorable trends?
Can you quickly distinguish minor
problems from potential catastrophes?
Operating effectively means closely
monitoring resources and managing
performance toward planned goals so
that you can respond confidently to all
those questions.

Visibility Across Your Value Chain
The job of upstream operations is to
manage fluid flow from the reservoir,
through the lift system and surface pro-
cessing facilities, to the transfer point,
as illustrated in Figure 1. Across this up-
stream production network, operations
managers need to understand the types
and quantities of the flowing fluids, the
characteristics of the flow, the health of
equipment, and the overall performance
of the producing asset. The SAP for
Oil & Gas solution portfolio can help
you collect and evaluate this crucial
information.
Capturing and reconciling data from the
well and field-control mechanisms sup-
ports real-time monitoring, including
comparison of actual flow rates against
those predicted in engineering models
of the reservoir, lift, and surface systems.
Engineers have the tools to help correct
performance quickly and easily when
measured behavior does not match
modeled performance. And thorough
analytics clarify the production and cost
impacts when various wells, pumps,
processing facilities, and flow lines re-
quire regular inspection, maintenance,
and repairs.
Success in the upstream oil
and gas business depends
on well-orchestrated and
monitored production pro-
cesses. Integrated operation-
al performance management
with SAP BusinessObjects
analytic applications helps
you balance trade-offs in
proposed strategies to
boost your resource usage
and return on investment.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN
UPSTREAM OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS
POWERFUL, ACCESSIBLE ANALYTICS
AND DECISION SUPPORT FROM SAP
Figure 1: Typical Upstream Oil and Gas Production Network from Reservoir to Meter
you can forge stronger partner relation-
ships, formulate wiser strategies, and
enhance organizational flexibility. All
FORTUNE 500 oil companies run
SAP software, accounting for more
than 1.5 million users worldwide.
The SAP BusinessObjects Upstream
Operations Performance Analysis appli-
cation focuses directly on production
operations. It provides powerful ana-
lytics using dashboards, reports, and
metric frameworks built on your existing
infrastructure to help you:
Achieve a near-real-time snapshot
of overall operational effectiveness
Understand potential correlations
among separate activities and lines
of business
Greater visibility facilitates planning,
scheduling, executing, and verifying
these servicing operations. The soft-
ware stores surface maintenance plans
and histories to support integrated
planning of production and maintenance.
Unified reporting includes advanced
business intelligence analytics that in-
corporate financial, maintenance, and
production engineering data, plus the
ability to integrate geographical data
from your existing GIS functionality.
You can see a complete snapshot at any
time of the business value and physical
condition of each producing asset.
Integration with Other Time-Tested
SAP Software
So first of all, you must manage materi-
al resources to meet growing energy
demands while minimizing your operat-
ing costs and maximizing your return on
investment. But you must also ensure
that operations remain safe and sus-
tainable. This means managing human
resources and monitoring training and
certification levels so that maintenance
and repair procedures comply with
industry and government regulations.
And you may also face challenges
stemming from an aging workforce and
culture clashes during mergers and ac-
quisitions. Clearly, you must collaborate
sensitively across your entire portfolio
of producing assets to identify and
implement optimal people-related pro-
cesses that support your upstream
operations.
To help you meet these multiple re-
quirements, SAP for Oil & Gas solu-
tions include industry-leading SAP
Business Suite applications and other
functionality targeted to lower costs,
increase profitability, and improve com-
petitiveness. These solutions let your
organization become globally integrated
while remaining locally focused, so
Thriving in a dynamic
market like upstream
operations in the oil
and gas industry
means balancing a
dizzying array of trade-
offs in the drive for
competitive advantage.
Figure 2: Sample Metrics Display for Upstream Oil and Gas Operations
Analyze trends and comparisons
across assets to reveal potential
causes of production or opportunity
loss
Develop operational insights to weigh
the costs and benefits of proposed
operating strategies
SAP has channeled its expertise and
that of its partners and customers into
these analytics. Figure 2 shows a sample
of the metrics you can aggregate and
display. The interactive tools enable full
cross-functional visibility and analysis,
from detection of trends and anomalies,
through identification of root causes, to
assessment of potential impacts.
Expert Decision-Making and
Implementation Support
The solution leverages analysis across
your full range of business functions,
supporting decision making by asset
managers and operations executives
at both the macro and micro level. You
can explore a problem from multiple
dimensions to determine which factors
have the greatest impact. Decision
workflows support identification and
evaluation of anomalies or opportunities
highlighted by aggregated data. And
the incorporation of industry best prac-
tices in SAP software helps technical
staff rapidly implement the strategies
business leaders demand today while
building in flexibility for growth and di-
versification tomorrow.

Integrated Operations Management
In short, all processes for planning and
execution of oil field services, production
planning, compliance with ever-shifting
health and safety regulations, and envi-
ronmental responsibility are integrated
in one solution. The unified reporting
structure gives you a broad view across
all ongoing operations and a deep aware-
ness of the past and present financial
and physical condition of all producing
assets. SAP BusinessObjects analytic
applications facilitate the integration,
presentation, and analysis of data
assembled from various underlying
systems in a form convenient for use
by the field staff running your opera-
tions. People at various levels across
the organization have the detail they
need for rapid response to business
challenges and deeper contribution to
corporate strategy.
Benefits of Performance
Management with SAP Software
Understanding the interrelationships
among the diverse processes in upstream
oil and gas operations is essential to
sharpening your competitive edge.
Only when you know whats happening
and what those events mean can you
fine-tune operations to maximize asset
utilization and seize market opportunities.
The single complete view of the pro-
duction network also helps you improve
both short-term and long-term responses
to maintenance issues like reservoir
recovery and scheduled well service,
so you can design realistic production
plans.
Integrating the analytical functionality
embodied in dashboards and models
with your existing transactional pro-
cesses further supports cost control
by pointing toward the root causes of
financial drain. Financial data is now
cleanly integrated with your production
and maintenance data, and the big pic-
ture stays visible across your entire ex-
tended enterprise, giving each person
actionable, role-appropriate information.
Staff members everywhere are em-
powered to reach the sound decisions
that best solve operational issues and
support successful corporate strate-
gies for increasing efficiency and lower-
ing costs.
Find Out More
For more about managing upstream
oil and gas operations with SAP
BusinessObjects Upstream Operations
Performance Analysis, call your SAP
representative or visit us on the Web at
www.sap.com/upstreamanalytics.
Unified reporting
includes advanced
business intelligence
analytics that incorpo-
rate financial, mainte-
nance, and production
engineering data, plus
the ability to integrate
geographical data from
your existing GIS
functionality.
QUICK FACTS
www.sap.com/contactsap
50 102 462 (10/11)
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Summary
Profitability in upstream gas and oil operations depends on minimizing operating costs, opti-
mizing available resources, and seizing market opportunities. The SAP BusinessObjects
Upstream Operations Performance Analysis application provides a framework for aggregating
and analyzing production, maintenance, human resources, environmental, and financial data
to support holistic performance management across all your upstream assets.
Business Challenges
Control rising operating and material costs while boosting revenue
Move from reactive crisis management to proactive informed strategy
Minimize physical risk to staff, community, and environment
React nimbly to changes in government and industry regulations
Key Features
Near-real-time visibility Create and share a unified and up-to-the-minute view of all the
resources, organizations, and processes associated with production operations
Integration with basic enterprise resource planning functions Help control costs at
the source by understanding the relationship of each business activity to your bottom line
Expert analysis for upstream oil and gas Monitor and assess processes through
interactive dashboards and reports that harness industry-leading metric frameworks
Best practices for implementation Apply time-tested technologies and methods to
implement process improvement rapidly and efficiently
Business Benets
Better cost control through analytics that help you understand and balance trade-offs
Optimized asset utilization through clarity on interrelationships among processes and
the ability to fine-tune operations along multiple dimensions
Faster response to operational anomalies through tighter monitoring of trends in key
performance indicators across the ecosystem
Reduced downtime through big-picture input to intelligent scheduling of reservoir
recovery and equipment installation, maintenance, and repair
For More Information
Call your SAP representative, or visit us on the Web at www.sap.com/upstreamanalytics.