Production Technology Workbench: Developing and Scaling a Corporate Digital Product Using Agile Methods

Abstract

The production technology working environment of an oil brownfield is usually an inconsistent collection of tools and spreadsheets. In this paper, we will explore Wintershall Dea's digitalisation journey from a patchwork of tools and spreadsheets to a unified corporate Production Technology Workbench (PTW) solution starting from the replacement of an existing and ageing tool on an asset on the Norwegian continental shelf and ending by incorporating the requirements of other assets from Wintershall Dea's diverse and geographically dispersed portfolio. The project started by selecting the low-code application platform suitable to be used as the basis for the journey. After a proof-of-concept stage, an Agile project was launched owned by the asset and with a geographically dispersed Development Team conformed by Wintershall Dea's Product Owners, IT/OT experts, UX consultants and Eigen's scrum master and Development Team. After the delivery of the MVP, a second Product Owner was incorporated from a second asset. The Agile project continued to deliver on enhanced functionality and requirements that would most benefit both assets. The original production system calculations and workflows are vital for the asset. However, such patchworks are not easy to work with and complex to maintain or change. This had a negative effect on the efficiency as work is time-consuming and cumbersome. Well anomalies were often detected by actively looking for them daily in various plots, reports and platforms, and therefore the detection and response time to production events was delayed. A Production Technology dashboard with built-in / automated data processing for standard tasks provides engineers with the required transparency of data to identify issues and pain-points in a timely manner. This helps engineers to proactively intervene to mitigate unplanned losses and downtime, reducing the amount of deferred production. Investment in a corporate-wide unified (standard UX) platform, will help engineers when starting new assignments to spot issues easier and quicker independently of the asset they are assigned to. But beyond a standardization, each engineer needs to be able to create individual workflows (for effects such as scaling, slugging, sand etc.) for their needs by means of the self-service capabilities of the technology. Also, the quick access to frequently used and relevant data could be accessed through one platform, making everyday life of the production engineer more efficient and smoother. Over the timeframe of 15+ Sprints the Product Owners refined and re-defined the exact functionality they would like to see delivered. The PTW concept seeks to minimise the time that engineers require to learn the tool and use it to inspect, analyse, and make decisions to optimise the production of the field. This is one of Wintershall Dea's first projects executed following Agile, using a geographically dispersed team, during the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. The multi-Product-Owner project approach is a novel way to govern the evolution of the tool to suit multiple stakeholders. In comparison to a E&P typical waterfall project management approach, the application of Scrum really showed added value in reducing risk early on, increasing visibility and transparency and adapting to the customer's needs (production engineers) throughout the process.