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Case Study: ProSource Application at Statoil, Stavanger, Norway
Challenge
In the mid-1990s, Statoil recognized shortcomings in its data management processes and tools. The company knew the situation was leading to wasted time and effort by employees who were forced to search for and validate data as they needed it.
Statoil focused its efforts on finding effective data management tools and in 2001 brought in Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS). SIS developed the ProSource* multisource data management application to provide Statoil users with a single point of administration for data integration, without losing the databases already in place.
The SIS spectrum approach to data integration and the ProSource application allowed a broader range of Statoil’s internal disciplines to contribute to the corporate datastore, which enhanced the data available and promised significant time saved on searching for information.
In the mid-1990s, the Norwegian oil company, Statoil, was already a sophisticated user of information management technology and therefore recognized shortcomings in its own processes and tools. Statoil’s data was housed in several repositories. Individual users could move or change data, using different taskspecific applications, and there was no means of tracking these activities. The company knew the situation was leading to wasted time and effort by employees who were forced to search for and validate data as they needed it.
In 1998, Statoil launched the “Score” project with the purpose of overhauling its information management and work processes. Statoil thoroughly analyzed its E&P workflows to assess what data was being used, where information came from, and how it was managed, as well as what data was being generated in the interpretation process and how this data should be managed. The concept of a master corporate datastore was used that would be fed by individual project interpretation datastores, each with a dedicated data manager. It was a decentralized structure whereby data was entered at the user level and flowed up to the corporate repository.
During this process there was a shift in Statoil’s concept of what a corporate datastore is. The company realized that the point was not only to centralize data, but also to document data so the context and quality of the information being worked with would always be known. To that end, Statoil began focusing its efforts on finding effective data management tools, and in 2001 brought SIS into the picture.
The development of new data integration technologies and processes was a primary goal. Statoil had been working with PGS on the project, but transferred Intellectual Property Rights to Schlumberger following a change in status of PGS Data Management in early 2001.
The data integration project made optimal use of the expertise and unique perspectives of Statoil and SIS. They hoped to develop commercial solutions. The companies focused on developing a solution that would allow Statoil to integrate its data without losing its investment in the databases it had in place. Another main design criterion was vendor independence. Statoil wanted the ability to plug and play “best in class” solutions. The new system also had to be able to tag data with quality and context information. This would enable Statoil to effectively reuse data throughout the life cycle of an asset, and would reduce the need for reinterpreting data.
Schlumberger developed a new integration engine known as Integration Framework, which allows applications to build connections to, and manage data in, any number of database types.
Various integration methods were used at Statoil, from visual aggregation of data to abstraction, to the transfer of data, to the consolidation of certain databases. This multitiered approach has become known in Schlumberger’s parlance as the “data integration spectrum.”
A desktop application was developed to provide the professional user with a single point of administration for all of these data integration approaches; this application has since been commercialized as the ProSource multisource data management application.
The first phase of the information management project is currently being deployed. Based on early indications, Statoil is highly optimistic. The SIS spectrum approach to data integration and the ProSource application are allowing a broader range of Statoil’s internal disciplines to contribute to the corporate datastore, which enhances the data available. Statoil users have a single point of access to data, which promises significant savings on the time spent searching for information.
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