The Integrated Turnaround
Turnaround Process and Application Overview and an Introduction to Whitespace
The vast majority of Chemical, Oil & Gas (COG) and large capital-intense companies use SAP to power their core business processes.
SAP data plays a major, albeit behind-the-scenes role in turnaround management, and it’s important to know when to integrate with SAP and when not to.
In 2024 it’s possible to integrate just about every software application with SAP.
The question is: should you?
Before we dig deeper into this discussion, lets take a step back and define a high-level integrated Turnaround business process that covers SAP and non-SAP process steps.
SAP Turnaround Process Steps
SAP offers significant strength in the following areas:
Master Data: Equipment and associated master data are critical to TAR success
Transactional Data: Notifications, work orders, projects, purchasing documents
Historical Data: Equipment technical and cost history
Logistics Integration: Supply Chain Management
Financial Integration: TAR Budget, Estimate, Planned, Actual and Forecast Cost
But SAP is not a one-stop-shop for all Turnaround management processes.
The key objective is to maximize SAP where it makes sense to do so, but not follow an SAP-first approach anywhere else. A good example is scheduling. While you can schedule your TAR event in SAP, we certainly don’t recommend it unless your events are small and highly repeatable with little project or break-in work.
SAP Turnaround Applications
SAP offers a full suite of applications covering all aspects of Turnaround and Capital Project Management. They’re a mix of core apps (ECC), web apps and bolt-on’s. We have implemented all of them over the last 25 years. But what looks good on a conference room screen does not always translate to what’s best for the shop floor! At best, these tools can work with low-complexity/highly-repeatable outages.
SAP solutions for turnaround management include:
Portfolio Management (PPM): Long-term planning, budgeting and scope management
Project System (PS): Project WBS structure, Project Stock, Network Activities
Plant Maintenance (PM): Equipment, Functional Location, Notification, Work Orders, Task Lists, Maintenance Plans
Master Data Governance (MDG): Master Data creation and maintenance
Multi Resource Scheduling (MRS): Resource management
Enterprise Project Connect (EPC): Scheduling middleware integration (P6, MSP)
Mobility: Mobile applications
The challenge every company faces is to determine what applications add value versus those that detract value from their turnaround management processes.
Introducing Turnaround Whitespace
We know that SAP has the core capabilities needed for managing the turnaround equipment lifecycle.
We also know that SAP has capabilities that do meet the need but are not the best options (e.g., scheduling).
But what is the correct balance of SAP vs non-SAP software that meets the needs of turnaround management at your company?
In order to figure this out, first let's identify the processes that work well and the processes that don’t.
Those processes that don’t make the cut still need to be provided by other methods. We will call these process gaps ‘white spaces’, so called because they appear as blank spaces in the process map.
We are going to break down the turnaround process into six distinct phases:
Definition
Scoping
Planning
Execution
Close
Post-Turnaround
Next we are going to identify the major steps occurring inside each of these phases.
Each Phase is further broken down and designated as SAP or non-SAP (i.e. whitespace):
Now lets take a look at each of these phases in more detail:
Conclusion
SAP is the most critical turnaround management application from an equipment master data and history perspective but is not the right system to handle the complexities and volume of planning and execution (incl scheduling).
Whitespaces are the areas in a process lifecycle that are not addressed by off-the-shelf software. However, this is beginning to change, and solutions are becoming available from companies such as Cleopatra, IAMTech, Toadfly, Prometheus and Mobideo, to name a few.
We will look at these applications in future blogs, but for now, focus on optimizing the most critical turnaround application of them all: SAP.
About Xytalis
Xytalis is a niche specialist consultancy focused on Shutdown, Turnaround and Outage (STO), Capital Project Lifecycle Management (Capex) and SAP Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management (ePPM) system integration, design and deployment.
We have combined our process knowledge of turnaround planning and execution with our technical knowledge of SAP, Prometheus, Primavera and the other supporting applications.
Our unique value engineering formulas help you calculate the business benefits applicable to your company and can be used to support capital budget requests.
We have developed a custom methodology to rapidly move through the entire implementation project lifecycle.
We are independent and are not partnered with any software company. This allows us to focus exclusively on your needs.
Contact Us to schedule a free, no-pressure discussion.
