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Digital Operation

Successful Pilot for Virtual Operation Rooms

June 1, 2023 By epsis

Epsis Digital Operation

Reporting on a successful pilot for Virtual Operating Room

In November 2022, Epsis was awarded a pilot within drilling and wells in Equinor, where we were to investigate the opportunities of developing a Virtual Operation Room (VOR) within drilling.

The title was “From physical to virtual operating rooms” (Equinor awarded Epsis a pilot project – Epsis). The project aimed to create a scalable solution. Virtually enabling situational awareness and interaction as if you were together in a physical space. We have worked from concept development to product development and testing. Everything was done in collaboration with Sekal, Odfjell, SLB, and Equinor at Deepsea Aberdeen’s drilling rig.

What have we done?

In the first part of the pilot, a feasibility and requirements analysis was carried out with crucial operational personnel. We then narrowed it down to specific focus areas for the pilot. In addition, the project-initiated work with IT across all the companies to open up Microsoft Teams functionality that makes collaborating easier. Enabling this functionality was essential. It created a solution with different functionality to help in day-to-day operations. We tested the functionality and corrected errors. On 29 March, the solution went live. It happened at the same time as essential drilling operations were underway at Deepsea Aberdeen.

In sum:

  • We have designed a virtual room—a “room” where the team could quickly access all tools and information systems.
  • We have established a secure area for sharing information across companies and roles.
  • Additionally, “the room” provides functionality for effective dialogue about various operational tasks and questions.

The solution combines new functionality in MS Teams – Shared channels and Epsis’ product Enify. We have collaborated closely with the customer, and the users’ needs have played a decisive role, involving users from both onshore and offshore teams.

We have collaborated with a forward-leaning team from various companies who want to simplify the operations. In the pilot, we have supported meetings / synchronous interaction. But a virtual space must facilitate asynchronous interaction where everyone can inform and contribute at the right time. Such an environment can reduce the time spent searching for the right resources and make information available for a specific task when needed. It allows sharing information across companies in a secure area accessible to everyone, rather than sending large amounts of attachments by e-mail.
We are incredibly proud of what the team across such large companies has achieved so quickly, says Jan-Erik Nordtvedt, Epsis’ project manager in the VOR Pilot.

What has the team achieved?

  • Carried out a pilot that has illustrated some of the possibilities, utilizing existing technologies
  • Together, we have established an easily scalable pilot
  • We have tested the solution operationally, with positive feedback

Work is now underway to look at scaling the project. The tested solution could be the first step in creating a standard for Virtual Operating Rooms. A standard that is quickly scaled and makes it possible to onboard and train personnel across different operations rapidly.

Epsis is proud to have taken part in this pilot – it is motivating to help create solutions for the “sharp end” in operations.

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Filed Under: Digital Operation, News, Virtual operations centers

Embracing the Virtual-First Approach for Your Organization’s Operations Center

March 22, 2023 By epsis

Epsis Digital Operation

Embracing the Virtual-First Approach for Your Organization’s Operations Center

Organizations are finding new and innovative ways to streamline their operations as the world becomes increasingly digital. One approach gaining popularity is the concept of the “Virtual-First Approach.” In that approach, the focus is on how the collaboration flows and how we execute our daily operations. It focuses on “building” a virtual Operation Center environment first rather than a physical one.

Later, teams may want to develop one or more highly targeted physical aspects of the operations center. These centers are built based on actual feedback on the operational needs and the organization’s priorities. These are very different from the initial thinking. The organization realizes the benefits a “virtual-first” approach provides.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of this approach and provide instructions on how to implement it in your organization.

 The Virtual-First Approach for Operation Centers

Traditionally, organizations have built operation centers in the “real” world. They built them in dedicated office spaces first. Being part of numerous Operation Center projects, it is our experience that their overarching idea was to:

  • Get people together in the same physical area,
  • Break down the “silos” between disciplines, and
  • Improve team collaboration, and foster continuous improvement.

Organizations invest in real estate, design the layout, and build the infrastructure to support the operations when making centers.

This approach is often expensive and unnecessarily time-consuming in the more modern world. Massively improved collaboration tools have increased in recent years. The new collaboration tools have features to support better remote working and blended workforces of the modern work environment, including;  remote working and shift changes that have always been a core focus of operations center capabilies.

As these digital capabilities increase daily, it makes sense to take advantage of them. This digital capability provides a high probability for new opportunities to improve collaboration and operations. Virtually changing ways of working hold the promise of impactful changes to the operations,  minimizing disruption to operations. In contrast, changing the physical space will always disturb and may well disrupt operations.

Creating a Virtual Environment

With the virtual-first approach, organizations create a virtual environment focusing on the digital side of operations, concentrating on the performance of daily activities and how people collaborate. You can often create a virtual environment from your existing technology stack to support effective communications, information provisioning, and sharing, minimizing user training and support overheads.

Once the virtual environment is up and running, it can be tested in operations and optimized. The team can then assess weaknesses that physically co-located people can only overcome – this then becomes the scope for a “real-world” operations center, more focused on a known core need rather than a “best guess.”

In many cases, a virtual center will suffice. However, having people in the same physical space over time is sometimes a clear benefit. Even in cases where you establish a physical center, the virtual one will live on, as you are very likely to have team members that are not present in the physical center yet are essential to include in daily operations.

Benefits of the Virtual-First Approach

The virtual-first approach offers several benefits over the traditional method. Firstly, it is cost-effective. Creating a virtual environment is significantly cheaper than building a physical space. Organizations can save money on construction, infrastructure, A/V equipment, and labor cost.

Secondly, the virtual-first approach is time-efficient. Virtual environments can be created in weeks, while physical spaces take several months (if not longer) to build. It allows organizations to get their improved operations up and running much more quickly and start harvesting the value in such a way as to conduct the operations months earlier than with the traditional approach.

Thirdly, the virtual-first approach allows for greater flexibility and adaptability. Once a physical space is built, making changes is difficult and expensive.

In contrast, virtual environments can be effortlessly modified and updated to meet changing business needs and include new technology available at an ever-increasing pace within a controlled space that maintains focus on daily operations. It allows organizations to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and stay competitive.

Implementing the Virtual-First Approach

Implementing the virtual-first approach is about something other than operations centers. It is all about improving operations and establishing a culture of continuous improvement in your organization. Typically, we seek to develop these through an operations center initiative in the first place.

So, Virtual-First = Operations-First.

Implementing these projects within a live operations environment can feel like changing a plane’s engine in mid-air. It is challenging to do and fraught with new challenges. In operational businesses, we need to ensure that the operation can continue undisturbed while being improved. Here are a few key steps:

  • Select a platform for collaboration, communication, information storage, and sharing that will be available for all parties involved in operations.
  • Select a representative part of the operations and pilot the new working method operationally. Observe, implement, reflect, learn, change, and continuously improve until you feel good about the result.
  • Scale by incorporating additional focus areas of the operations following an agile implementation strategy until done.
  • Assess the needs for any physical space, and if necessary, create one that meets the organization’s needs.

Conclusion

The virtual-first approach to building operation centers is a cost-effective, time-efficient, and flexible approach that can help organizations streamline their operations. By creating a virtual environment first, organizations can test and optimize their operations before any physical construction occurs. It allows them to save money, time, and resources and quickly adapt to changing market conditions. The virtual-first approach is worth exploring if you’re considering building a new operation center; it may be all you need.

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Filed Under: Digital Operation, News, Operations Center, Virtual operations centers

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