by | Feb 4, 2021

    Looking at Maximo ‘Out-Of-The-Box’ vs BPD’s Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets

    Since joining the BPD Zenith team, I have worked with a number of Oil and Gas clients, almost all of whom are using elements of BPD Zenith’s Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets

    IBM Maximo in Oil & Gas – BPD’s Industry Accelerator

    As a Maximo Consultant with BPD Zenith UK, I continue my 28-year career in Oil & Gas, but from a slightly different perspective. Having worked with Maximo for O&G for companies such as Repsol and Premier, I thought that the BPD Accelerator was ‘the norm’. This is not surprising given that over 30 of our clients globally are using it.

    BPD Zenith’s Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets – delivers best-practice industry processes

    Until recently, I was unaware of how much more is included over the ‘out of the box’ Maximo industry solution! Whether a client chooses to use the BPD Accelerator as is, configure it to match their business processes, or only implement specific applications from the accelerator suite, BPD has harnessed over 25 years of industry expertise to develop something that every operator can benefit from.

    To configure and use a new Maximo application is a significant piece of work. For an operator to tailor Maximo to their unique business processes, starting from a vanilla version of Maximo, is a major investment and project…

    Industry-OilandGas

    In a world where the Project Management Institute says that only around 50% of IT projects complete on time and on budget, and the Standish Group say that only 29% of IT projects are classed as successful – any steps that can be taken to reduce the size of IT projects and de-risk them must be seriously considered!

    With the BPD Accelerator, we have taken the Maximo industry solution and tailored it to Oil and Gas based on common processes and our experience of best-in-class solutions to problems that our Oil and Gas clients have faced.

     

    These enhancements include (but are not limited to):

    Adding fields to applications where most Oil and Gas clients require to record information.

    IBM Maximo BPD Accelerator for Oil & Gas WO create screenshot

    This limits the time and effort that a company has to spend configuring Maximo since the bulk of the required configuration has already been carried out. It also improves the quality of data captured.

    These changes include, on Work Order creation:

    • Department
    • Discipline
    • Condition for Work

    Setting fields to mandatory where users ought to complete the fields.

    This sort of small change ensures that users do not have to spend time considering every field when creating a record. This speeds up the creation and avoids the situation where a user has to return to a new record to enter the required information that they missed.

    These changes include, on Work Order Creation:

    • Location
    • Department
    • Discipline
    • Failure Class
    • Work Type

    Setting sensible defaults for fields where Oil and Gas users will frequently choose a particular value.

    This speeds up record creation since users can concentrate on the fields that they really need to think about. These changes include the Work Type field on Work Order creation.

    Populating drop-down lists with Oil and Gas specific defaults.

    This speeds up record creation because users will only see a set of values that make sense to them. As a result, they will spend less time choosing a value and are less likely to choose the wrong value and have to go back into the record to amend it.

    These change include, on Work Order Creation:

    • Work Type
    • Failure Code
    • Department
    • Discipline
    • Condition for Work

    And, on Item Master Creation:

    • Order Unit
    • Issue Unit

    IBM Maximo BPD Accelerator for Oil & Gas Deferrals screenshot

    Streamlining applications to make it faster for the user to enter data as a result of being able to complete all required fields on a single screen.

    These changes include:

    • Work Order Creation
    • Work Order Progress
    • Work Order Closure

    Creating new Maximo Applications to implement functionality that most of our Oil and Gas clients have asked for in the past.

    These new Maximo applications include:

    • DeferralsIBM Maximo BPD Accelerator for Oil & Gas Rentals screenshot
    • Rentals
    • Repairs
    • Spot Tasks

    Creating Standards using the Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets.

    Creating a set of standard start centres and security roles that represent the standard roles in use in the Oil and Gas industry together with portlets displaying the information that each role typically wants to see.

    Utilising Workflows to save you time.

    Workflows have been created to control the process flow of a work order lifecycle with additional validations and approvals for Assurance or Explosive works. This removes a lot of the time and effort required to create something out of the box.

    Role Based Security & Start Centres for Common Roles.

    Start Centers are an effective way for users to manage and execute work. The Accelerator configures them for each maintenance role or function including graphs, lists and colour-coding flag items at the top of your to-do list, KPI trends, and areas that present risk.

    IndSol-OilGas-NextSteps-v2

    BPD’s Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets – Bridging the functionality gap and minimising risk

    My experience of Oil and Gas companies is that while they all have subtly different processes, the majority of their processes are the same. As a result, the BPD Accelerator will take you 80% of the way with the standard process implementation. The configuration project to bridge the 20% functionality gap between the Accelerator and your process specifics is therefore a much smaller, less risky and expensive project.

    There is also the situation where some clients are not sure how they want all of Maximo or a specific Maximo application to work, in which case taking the Accelerator gives them something that they can rely on being tried and tested. As they become more familiar with the functionality, they can revisit it and make changes. As the Accelerator has been designed to be easily configurable, these post-implementation changes are low risk and low effort.

    BPD Zenith and Premier Oil recently received global recognition for a large upgrade implementation project as the winners of the MaximoWorld award for Best Upgrade Project – click here for more

    If you would like to find out more about BPD Zenith’s Maximo Accelerator for Oil and Gas Assets, and other industry accelerators, we’d love to hear from you and would be happy to arrange a free demonstration – contact us here

    Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter below for all the latest news and updates in Oil & Gas!

     

    Sign up to our free newsletter to explore emerging technologies, industry events and Maximo best practice.