Energy sector projects, not just oil and gas projects, but their closely related, more environmentally friendly (and more fashionable) renewable energy projects are highly complex. This is not news to anyone. They comprise a huge variety of types of work packages, all of which are time-consuming, high risk and often very high cost. 

So it is no surprise that the goal any energy sector project team has to achieve is completion on time, and on budget, with risk closely managed. This is the only way to stay competitive in the race to the bottom. Essentially, be successful for less money. This mirrors the broader industry challenge: to generate more (low emission) energy at a lower cost.

Unfortunately, the fact is, the companies running oil and gas projects, the consultancies providing project management expertise and EPCs all are challenged by project difficulties. Scheduled work packages fall behind agreed timelines, costs regularly balloon and budgets are overspent with risk introduced, further increasing cost issues.

So what are the problems we frequently see Proteus clients face?

• Lack of transparent project data, no clarity of the team’s progress versus spend.
• Dependency on siloed contracts, varying cost rates and charge out rates and separate systems.
• Use of complicated, disconnected, enormous spreadsheets that are so huge they regularly crash (believe us, we’ve seen them).
• Reliance on error-filled monthly reporting with out-of-date data.
• Scope-creep resulting in overspend, delayed schedules and inaccurate forecasting.

Therefore, managing schedules, costs and risk are the critical pillars to any successful energy project. The reason this is so frequently a challenge is the fact these projects involve multiple stakeholders, with teams in multiple locations, with multiple work streams and deliverables. Vast volumes of resources and assets are required with complicated interdependencies hard-wired into the project plan. This is where a short delay in one part of the world can end up costing millions of dollars in another. 

Projects frequently change and scope-creep is real. Ever-expanding work schedules are hard to control. Having industry-standard approval steps built in is essential, and maintaining razor-sharp focus on progress and spend is the only way to guarantee control.

How does Proteus solve these issues?

Proteus is born out of a need to solve these issues. The end-to-end project management solution is built specifically to provide full visibility over all the moving parts in a project, from overall, macro project schedules down to the minutiae of each sub-work package. By dividing each component of the project down to a micro-granular level, Proteus provides full control over each specific project objective, allowing oil and gas project managers to manage tight timelines, interdependencies and budgets.

We say it all the time: using decentralised spreadsheets and manual processes is a sure way to introduce risk and extensive time to any project in the world, be it selling ice cream or drilling an oil field. But the reason spreadsheets are used for so much still (particularly in the energy sector, across oil and gas projects) is because project teams want to create tools that fit their exact needs for the exact complexity of that exact, unique project, with their forecasting and progress reporting all under their manual control. This is a mistake. Proteus has been designed to be configured to the very diverse range of parameters an oil and gas or renewables project might take. Instead of manually updating information, cutting and pasting and pivot-tabling, Proteus provides real-time accurate project data. This means project teams can focus on what they need to do to get the job done and less on data entry. Project managers can base decisions on well analysed data rather than searching for the right numbers.

What outcomes does Proteus provide?

Some of the key tangible outcomes Proteus can provide are:

• A single, consolidated place for all project controls data for is always accurate and dependable.
• Elimination of errors and inaccuracies from project planning to execution and reporting.
• Improvement in data forecasting analysis and reporting and less time spent managing data input.
• Real-time measurement of utilization with progress and cost closely controllable.
• Project performance measurement in line with industry project management standards.
• Easy audit trail for all approvals, variation orders and project stages.

Digital opportunities in the oil and gas project and the renewables industry is no secret. In fact ‘digitizing’ the industry has been a buzz word for a while. For many this is a complex goal, involving automated processes and a lot of money spent on technology. Actually, it is a simple case of integrating data management tools like Proteus to improve the value chain: Proteus allows companies running energy projects to leverage digitalisation to achieve better outcomes.

About us

Xergy Group’s Proteus work management solution is designed to work with your existing systems, and to scale and evolve as your business evolves. It was created by energy sector professionals, for the diversified energy sector, and delivers an end-to-end project management software platform compliant with ISO audit requirements and common project management frameworks.

How to get Proteus

Proteus’ work management software is a cloud-based system designed for businesses of all sizes to handle projects of unlimited complexity. Each Proteus feature is aimed at making bottom line improvements by improving utilisation, streamlining workflows, providing quick and efficient access to resources and reducing overheads. One of the unique advantages of Proteus is that we offer a free onboarding consultation service to ensure your company account is set up according to your company’s needs.

We recommend getting setup on a free trial. Proteus operates under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. We offer Enterprise packages and flexible pricing solutions: contact our team to learn more.

We designed Proteus to be simple, and that means you can get up and running on Proteus without an IT team or support from a programmer. You will want to spend a bit of time configuring the admin console so that you have everything set up to suit your company structure, but it’s very intuitive and you don’t need a PhD in IT. However, we want you to get the best out of what is a brilliantly powerful tool, so don’t hesitate to ask for our support. We have a team of product experts who are ready to help you with the configuration process, so get in touch today.