Companies maintaining equipment and remote oil and gas plants in the energy industry must prioritize operational safety, environmental compliance, and adherence to industry regulations. For one such company, inspections of remote assets (for energy production and storage) used to be a difficult, manual, and time-consuming process involving piles of hand-written notes and hand-filled paper forms that inspectors would digitize after returning to the base. We helped this Fortune 500 company bring an incredible amount of efficiency to that process with our co-created solution.

What we did

For this oil and gas major, the solution helped digitize asset monitoring and inspection of remote equipment and production plants. It allows offline updates from remote assets that automatically sync to a cloud after the system regains internet connectivity.

How we did it

Zemoso aided this faster, successful launch of the solution with weekly sprints, scrum of scrums, and extensive wire-framing to keep the teams on track and completely aligned throughout the build process. We provided an agile team of user experience (UX) designers, front-end engineers, machine learning experts, senior developers, and more, quickly scaling up with the skills needed as the product build proceeded.

Product Engineering Solutions

The solution that we developed allows users to capture inspection details and measurements offline (like at subsea stations with no internet), store it, and then sync with the central system once they return to a place with connectivity. We also developed a rules engine to analyze the users' entries and check for tolerances, anomalies, and standouts to immediately inform stakeholders if corrective measures are needed.

Highlights of the inspection solution:

Forms used for recordings are automated and available on the platform, online and offline. Users can use a tablet or a mobile device to document information at the site of an inspection. They can take their notes as measurements, text, and/or images. These forms automatically sync with the central system once the user returns to their workstation. The recordings are then reviewed, calibrated, analyzed, and stored.

Spring Model-View-Controller (MVC) was used to build the web-based solution. It provides a sync Application Programming Interface (API) and services for managing the life cycle of inspections. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) API was used with Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) as an interface for data interchange to sync API calls. A PostgreSQL database was used to store the work-order data and form templates. Limelight Content Delivery Network (CDN) was used to store photos and videos.

Tech migrations:

The platform was migrated to a new environment— the transition window with downtime was published to manage any workflow disruption. A temporary cluster to store data from inspectors was opened to ensure zero data loss.

Ensuring usability:

We also conducted user acceptance testing (UAT) for a week before the solution went live, pivoting and implementing iterations based on feedback from early adopters. We were also a part of the global onboarding process for some of the user groups to ensure success.

Ongoing updates:

Equipment used in oil drilling and exploration is constantly being upgraded. Thus, the forms in the system also need to be updated regularly. We helped deploy an in-built form wizard to make the form easily updatable with customizable fields, making it easier for all user groups and developers in charge of making these updates.

Compliance measures:

The inspection solution now has digital forms equivalent to the templates in the Environmental Permit Information Management System (ePIMS) used for inspections globally. This helps our client monitor violations closely, and help their vendors and customers to adhere to environmental regulations such as Environmental Protection Agency requirements.  

Outcomes

Zemoso was a part of the internal team and helped launch the product within six months with zero slippages, with ongoing partnerships for other improvements executed over two years. We helped our client:

●   Predict potential failures in different assemblies based on indicators from the current inspection

●   Significantly reduce turn-around time for inspections

●   Introduce new efficiencies with reports and a centralized database

●   Streamline information and work-flow for all users

●   Reduce error rates  

●   Create a robust product backlog to assist with continuous improvement

●   Intuitive user interface (UI) design for all new features‍

P.S. Since we work on early-stage products, many of them in stealth mode, we have strict Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). The data, insights, and capabilities discussed in this blog have been anonymized to protect our client’s identity and don’t include any proprietary information.