Tips for Picking the Right Oil & Gas Enterprise Asset Management Solution

Selecting the right maintenance management solution is a challenge to begin with, let alone for oil and gas companies with far-flung operations that can feel like they’re at the ends of the earth. Oil rigs act like mobile factories, and have unique needs that only a tailored Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) or Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can provide.

Even more so than traditional manufacturing, the far-flung nature of oil and gas operations makes minimizing unexpected downtime and non-productive time crucial. Having a robust EAM/CMMS designed for the industry can help make sure maintenance best practices are followed and increase efficiency. Here are some boxes to tick when you’re shopping for your next maintenance management solution.

How easy is it to use?

An EAM/CMMS is meant to make workers’ jobs easier, not drag down their productivity with additional tasks or difficult-to-navigate interfaces. Information needs to be easy to access quickly. It should feel familiar and comfortable to users, with simple screens that aren’t confusing. It should support multiple currencies and languages for organizations that are global in scope.

How quickly can my employees get up to speed?

It’s well documented that change can be difficult, especially for employees whose workflow is ingrained. Your new software vendor should offer a framework for the implementation, as well as experience with EAM/CMMS and your industry. You want a trainer who is familiar with the day-to-day duties of your employees and what this new software will mean to them.

Can it operate remotely and on the fly?

Rigs are often in places with limited connectivity and exposed to the elements where maintaining paper records can be frustrating. A mobile application, and one that can capture data offline and upload it later, is essential. This allows you to easily track work as it occurs and streamlines the recording process, making sure your employees spend their time being productive and not swamped in paperwork.

Is it designed for the oil and gas Industry?

You need a solution and a provider that are specific to the industry. Oil and gas organizations have unique maintenance needs, and having functionality to meet those needs is critical. There are regulatory as well as health and environmental concerns specific to oil and gas operations that your EAM/CMMS must be prepared to handle.

How is it deployed?

As more enterprise software moves toward the cloud, that may be an option you want to consider in lieu of an on-premise deployment. Just as you want a vendor experienced in your industry, you want to ensure whoever you pick has demonstrated success in cloud deployments. You’re going to want to see a staff that can provide a secure, reliable environment to host your data.

How does it present KPIs and data?

One of the reasons for deploying an EAM/CMMS is to use the data the software can collect to spot trends and move to a more predictive maintenance model. You’ll want a system that can provide visual, easy-to-read analysis of the thousands of data points collected over time. A user-friendly analytics platform is essential to getting data you can use in the evolution of your maintenance program.

Want to dive deeper into the steps you should be taking to select an oil and gas EAM/CMMS? Check out the full whitepaper from Brad Charters and Aptean, Buying an Oil & Gas Enterprise Asset Management Solution.