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20|20 Deliver Joint Presentation with Centrica & Technip on implementing APM Competency Tool |
OPERATORS and service providers across the oil and gas sector are working to boost project management skills as a key driver of efficiency improvement and cost-reduction measures – focussed on maximising the sector’s potential.
Rising productivity levels following the downturn, influenced by the lengthening of the operational lives of first-generation installations worldwide, mean a greater emphasis is being brought on reducing time and capital waste.
Streamlining project management processes while putting staff through personal development programmes in the field has already been embraced by key players in the UKCS, with Centrica Energy and Technip among early-adopters of improved techniques developed by the Association of Project Managers (APM).
Global training provider 2020 Business Insight is leading a roll-out of the specialist framework developed by the APM across the exploration and production sector, designed to progress individuals’ capability with organisational changes occurring in-tandem.
“Project management techniques are as vital and integral to improving efficiencies across all forms of oil and gas operations, as introducing the latest physical and technical equipment on the drillfloor or operations room,” says Tony Marks, Managing Director of 2020 Business Insight.
“An absolutely critical issue is that each working process is properly managed. Looking at each component part of a piece of work, if it can be project managed to the highest capabilities of the staff involved, it should be completed on time, to budget and, critically, to the highest standard with minimal wastage.
“Central to the discipline of project management is minimising risk. Generally speaking risk is thought of as involving the risk of damage either to an asset, or injury to a member of the team.
“Risk needs to be viewed as inherent in every level of a business operation – from a change of supplier or delivery partner, to the potential of direct loss through people or products.
“The APM framework marries knowledge to processes, building up the skills of each member in the chain of an operation – advancing each individual’s knowledge and, consequently, improving the capability of the team as a whole.”
Developed to provide a clear and simple guide to the range of individual competences in project management, the APM Competence Framework is based on wide consultation among leading practitioners.
It assesses current knowledge and experience, identifies training and development needs, and evaluates if an individual is ready to be examined for internationally recognised professional qualifications in their specialist area.
It provides a specific measure for assessing an individual’s level of knowledge and experience, marked against an organisational benchmark, other project management and international standards.
“The framework develops each employee across three absolute fundamentals – technical, behavioural and contextual competence, with more than 45 elements spread between those domains,” adds Marks.
“There are five levels within the framework and in an ideal scenario, a business would aim to have a fair split across those levels, from staff who have completed introductory learning on project management, to those at the upper stage, at usually at Director level within the business.”
Another industry organisation, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has a similar competence framework which develops individuals across five criteria – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing projects.
“Mentoring projects, which have been piloted in Aberdeen principally in oil and gas operations, are now being run across the industrial spectrum, with accredited professionals offering their skills to help with continuous personal development for colleagues or those in a completely different business stream,” says Marks.
“There are several considerable challenges to ensuring the security of oil and gas supply across the UK and Western Europe over the next 15 years.
“Improvements to project management will support and protect changes to the way operations are run, with the need to minimise risk while maximising project success the focus of all APM or PMI practitioners’ work.”
CASE STUDIES
Technip
Andy Rodden, Offshore Operation Services Quality and Performance Manager:
“There’s a perception that trying to manage a massive workforce and its overall competency is like herding cats – difficult and, at the most basic level, a complete waste of time.
“For us it was a team issue. We wanted to improve our efficiency level and, at the same time, see our people move into a position to advance their careers. The APM Framework does that, and it does it in a way that doesn’t detract from the main focus of your operation.
“The competence programme links training to need, is self administered, unambiguous, allows for and measures personal growth and development and, on top of that, complements existing and available training systems.
“Our competence scoring evaluation system is also linked to the APM’s accreditation levels and can be linked to specific job roles. This essentially gives us our own framework to ensure that the right people are in the right place, and are delivering.
“The system works because it is customisable – you can factor in the main issues, such as project complexity, and that will then recommend different levels of information for different scenarios.”
Centrica (Venture):
Chris Bird, Technical Director, at Centrica Energy Upstream:
“Businesses have to be realistic about their effectiveness – in just about every operation in the world you can assume a 30% wastage figure when you consider efficiency.
“Creating value is central to the decision making process. You can produce as many barrels per day as you like, if the cost of producing those barrels goes unchecked then your investment base is being exposed to risks it will not welcome.
“Our focus in integrating a new type of business technology, the APM framework, into the work of our teams has brought us huge benefits in a fairly short space of time. Its influence has been significant.
“We have now put all our field development teams through the APM competency assessment framework – though at first, our employees looked at the APM evaluation as a check on their abilities, rather than a means to making major strides in their development and in improving our return.
“The time-to-complete the APM framework was slightly longer than we had anticipated, but the result has far surpassed any concerns we might have had in terms of the return on the investment.
“Once the development program was in place, it not only led to the operational efficiency improvements we had been targeting, it also improved staff morale and motivation.”
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