Turnaround System Integration 101
The Perfect Turnaround Data Model Begins and Ends with a Single Data Element - The Event ID
Turnarounds can be either of two things:
1) Organized Chaos
2) Flawless Process
Most companies tend to be closer to 1) than 2).
And that means $$$$. A lot of $$$$, as well as increased risk to persons, property and the environment.
But its not easy to move from industry laggard to industry leader. If it was, the laggards would also be leaders.
Simply put, it requires just 3 ingredients:
1) Good People
2) Good Process
3) Good Technology
Simple in theory, but difficult in practice.
Why is that?
Good People
Good people in senior positions are hard to find. They tend to flock toward companies where they can be rewarded, this makes attracting and retaining quality employees more of a corporate culture issue.
Good people working in a company with a culture that doesn’t reward individual exceptionalism (typical amongst government and public sector operators) feel undervalued.
Good people working in a company that does reward individual exceptionalism are rewarded for their efforts, feel valued and find promotions come to them as the company seeks to capitalize on their human asset.
Good Process
Good processes are hard to find. They are more than just steps in a flowchart. They are part of the fabric of the corporate culture.
In this regard, good people and good process are closely correlated.
Given time and the right conditions, good people will develop and implement good processes, that in turn help build a good culture. This is best seen in failing sports teams that hire new management and become unbeatable leaders within a few seasons.
Good Technology
Good technology is different. It’s a double-edged sword. Too much technology is worse than not enough.
To understand this, just go back in time to the pre-computer age. The oil refineries, chemical plants, mines, power stations and other large assets were just as complex, if not more so, than they are today. Yet they routinely shutdown operations for major turnarounds using paper-only processes.
Think about that for a minute and try to imagine paper-only process in the 21st century. Too much technology is the opposite problem, but the same results. There is a technology sweet-spot, and that is what this blog focuses on.
A well-designed STO system should look something like this
Who should read this blog?
This blog is dedicated to those individuals who have risen to the challenge to create leading shutdown, turnaround and outage solutions for their employer. You focus on building the teams and processes; let me focus on giving you the systems that enable it all. Together we will deliver the human, environmental and cost benefits you seek. And it wont cost you a penny.
Turnarounds – Where to start?
We see turnarounds as having 4 specific phases:
1 – Definition Phase
2 – Planning Phase
3 – Execution Phase
4 – Close-out Phase
Execution Phase is the most important because this is where most of the work occurs, dollars are spent, and risk exposed. To execute flawlessly we must define the scope, plan meticulously, and close thoroughly.
In other words, turnarounds are an evergreen lifecycle supplied by a complex inter-connected data model that is in turn powered by modern computer systems operated by skilled professionals.
Definition Phase
The Definition Phase is the longest, stretching 5 to 10 years before execution, and ending with the scope freeze. With all this time available, you would think it should be easy to properly define the scope of a turnaround – but you’d be wrong.
The run-of-the-mill ‘Open Clean Inspect’ work is easy to define. You have a list of vessels that must be inspected and repaired and returned to service.
There are hundreds of safety valves that must be refurbished and reinstalled – ready for another 7 years of service.
Then there is piping and instrumentation that must be repaired, inspections performed, and other items identified from the last outage to be addressed.
Finally, there are capital projects and engineering modifications that can only be done when units are shutdown.
Every single item has to be detailed and scoped during the Definition Phase.
But the Definition Phase isn’t all about scoping the turnaround work.
Definition involves studious planning and budgeting of monies across the many different funding sources (Turnaround Expense, Major Maintenance Expense, Routine Maintenance Expense, Capital and Engineering Expense.)
Definition also involves managing the high-level (Plan of the Plan or POP) to ensure every ‘t’ gets crossed and ‘i’ dotted.
A significantly overlooked contribution to a successful Definition Phase is a well-managed Close Phase. We will look at this later.
Definition Phase Summary
The key elements of a successful Definition Phase are:
1) Detailed scope across all functions and expense categories
2) Fully integrated Budget, Estimate, Plan and Baseline cost lifecycle
3) Integration of data from the previous turnaround event
4) A high-level turnaround management plan that ensures all activities are in place
Planning Phase
The Planning Phase occurs between the scope Freeze Date and Pre-Turnaround field activities. The Planning Phase will vary according to the turnaround scope but can last up to 18 months and as short as 3 months.
For a large turnaround event of $100M or more, we are looking at an 18-month planning phase, with some exceptions for things like long-lead materials and fabrications that must be safely in the warehouse many weeks before field activities commence.
The turnaround planning must include all work scope items. That includes any non-turnaround maintenance and project activities that are scheduled to be completed during the shutdown. All scope items should be approved prior to scope freeze, but growth is inevitable and should be designated as such.
High functioning companies recognize the importance of integrating project work into the turnaround plan, but less effective companies create organizational silo’s where they need to have functional transparency.
Each activity that makes it onto the turnaround plan must be formally approved. Absolutely nothing should be grandfathered-in to the plan.
Turnaround planning requires meticulous thoroughness. Every material must get ordered, every inspection planned, every QAQC package developed and every schedule activity fully resourced and logically-linked. All relevant drawings and supporting documentation should be only a click away.
For a large turnaround this can be over 5000 planning activities, therefore a system is required to manage and track it all. Ideally, the system should be fully integrated with the scheduling and ERP applications.
Planning Phase Summary
The key elements of a successful Planning Phase are:
1) A Scope Freeze milestone with absolute adherence to that deadline
2) Inclusive of all turnaround work items, regardless of funding source
3) Adoption and use of turnaround planning software, including scheduling and ERP application integration
4) Reporting to allow turnaround supervision to track progress, manage exceptions and perform routine QA readiness assessments
Execution Phase
The Execution Phase is the most critical in that the labor is expended and the moneys spent. Good planning goes a long way towards successful execution, but it’s also very important to adhere to the operations shutdown plan to ensure everything gets off to a good start.
It’s also important to make a good start on the pre-Turnaround field activities. Progress entry solutions exist that sit on top of your turnaround schedule and deliver real-time schedule status for coordinators to enter progress, that is then submitted to the scheduler for approval before directly updating the turnaround schedule. Eliminating the paper tick-books is an important step in the digitization of the turnaround data model.
Repair allowances are an automatic factor added to major equipment schedules. However growth is common, especially in the first days of the turnaround as the field inspectors finally get inside and take a look around vessels that have been operating continuously for many years.
Its critical to have a growth identification and approval process that is integrated with your turnaround work list planning software. The software should prioritize growth activities according to the critical path to minimize schedule risk. Any materials or fabrications should be ordered promptly and tracked daily with delivery date monitoring and expediting.
Digital progress entry ensures schedules are updated in near real-time. Time and attendance systems should capture direct / indirect time booked to work order charge numbers. It’s impossible to expect your contract foremen to accurately charge time to equipment-level work orders, so define a manageable level such as Unit / Equipment Type.
A major turnaround can incur 5 years worth of routine maintenance budget so its critical to get accurate cost management at the individual equipment tag. Allocation software is needed to split the charged time across all the equipment items, and to differentiate across the categories of expense (i.e. Turnaround, Major and Routine Maintenance, Project Capital and Expense).
Daily or even shift reporting is crucial to successfully managing turnaround execution. The planned and actual progress should be electronically pushed to the progress reporting solution and merged with the actual time charged from the time recording system to produce daily progress and productivity reports. Daily cost feeds of actual and incurred costs should be pushed from the ERP system to provide accurate cost reporting on a per-day basis.
When done properly, there is no duplication of data entry and there are no spreadsheets. Intelligent, turnaround process-aware middleware solutions exist that rapidly move thousands of records quickly across the turnaround application environment to provide accurate daily progress reports.
Execution Phase Summary
The key elements of a successful Execution Phase are:
1) Timely start to Unit Shutdown and pre-Turnaround activities
2) Integrated Scope Change Management system
3) Automated time entry and progress collection with schedule integration
4) Powerful cost control and daily reporting solutions
Close-out Phase
By the time the turnaround is complete everyone is physically and mentally exhausted, and in need of a well-deserved vacation.
So typically what happens is that all the documentation captured during the turnaround is put inside boxes and moved somewhere out of sight. Upon return from vacation the turnaround team is now focused on the next event and forget all about the previous event.
The reasons for this are a combination of human nature and the lack of system integration. Addressing the system issues takes care of the human ones.
An integrated turnaround management system captures all the history needed at the equipment tag level, and ensures this data is available for the next event.
For example, a scan of the warehouse will reveal unused materials. Why?
Probably because the Turnaround Equipment BOM has the wrong materials. How often does the gasket spec differ from what’s in the system, and how much of a cost and schedule issue did that cost the outage? That is a small but easily rectified example.
Another yet is the inspection information from all the vessels. Each finding must be entered into the maintenance system, and notifications created where future outage work must be identified and planned against the next turnaround.
The reality is that so much of the success of the next turnaround is dependent on the previous one, yet all that wonderful history is buried by exhausted professionals. Good turnaround systems integration makes easy work of collecting all that powerful data and preparing it for the next outage, no matter how many years away it is.
Close-out Phase Summary
The key elements of a successful Close-out Phase are:
1) Integrated systems that record the important history and include it in the plan for the next turnaround
2) Systems that read unused warehouse materials and flag with equipment items have incorrect equipment BOM’s
3) A process that allows the key players in the turnaround to take a well-deserved break whilst providing tools to fully capture important history
Conclusion
Turnarounds are important, expensive and risky. A week-long delay to a major turnaround at a large refinery can cost an operator over $50 Million in lost revenue and increased cost.
A poor system turnover and pre start-up safety review process can cost an operator more than just money. It can cost lives.
In this post-coronavirus climate, operators need to save money and risk and the best way to do this is to hire the best people, develop the best processes then work with Xytalis to implement the best turnaround management systems.
About Xytalis
Xytalis is a specialist services company focused on companies running SAP and needing complex project and portfolio management systems including Shutdown Turnaround (STO) and Capital Project (Capex) processes. We have over 100 years and 200,000 hours dedicated to the design, development and deployment of turnaround and capital project management systems at some of the worlds largest and best-known Oil & Gas, Chemical and Nuclear companies.
Every company is different and brings different ERP, Scheduling, Time Entry and Cost Control system configurations. Only Xytalis knows how to make your systems work for you. Contact us to speak to an expert and get your STO systems working for you.
