Allocate OffshoreSuite:Delivering safe, intelligent workforce planning

Is your maritime workforce planning falling into the information gap?

For offshore oil and gas organizations and offshore operations around the globe, the task of finding, deploying and managing appropriately skilled workforces in the marine environment is increasingly complex and difficult.

In many cases, the problems are caused by the disconnect between well established strategic HR management systems and the project management systems that are designed to deliver operational efficiency.

As a result, workforce managers are often faced by more questions than answers.

When bidding for contracts, are you certain that you can mobilize the right personnel with the right balance of skills without having an impact on existing projects?

How quickly can you identify your key skills shortfalls and potential future training needs based on your current mix of personnel and projects?

You know the right people for a project, but do you know who is available, where they are located and the status of their travel documents?

Workforce managers are often faced by more questions than answers.

You have a project that demands a specific mix of people and skills but can you quickly identify and deploy the right human resources in the time available?

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Bridging the information gap. Introducing Allocate OffshoreSuite

Allocate OffshoreSuite has been developed specifically for organizations and companies operating in the maritime environment. More than just another workforce management system, the solution is designed to deliver safe, intelligent workforce planning in an area subject to increasingly stringent health and safety and compliance regulations.

ProjectPortfolioManagemente.g OraclePrimavera &Microsoft Project

Enterprise HR systemse.g Oracle,PeopleSoft,SAP etc

Real-time POB and ReportingImmediate availability of offshore POB lists, safe manning compliance and skills shortfalls

Operational Efficiency in Workforce Planning Dynamically identifies availability of resources and matches to project demands based on availability, grade, location, skill pool and skillset

Reducing Risk, Managing CompliancePro-actively highlight skill shortfalls by location and provide training suggestions or alternative resource availability

Uniquely, the solution leverages your existing enterprise systems to ensure intelligent, accurate and compliant workforce allocation in order to streamline processes, increase agility and improve control.

A proven enterprise workforce optimization solution, Allocate OffshoreSuite delivers integrated personnel scheduling, providing organization-wide visibility of your available workforce and asset resources in real time.

The solution also accelerates the decision-making process across organizations, providing up-to-the-minute information for multiple stakeholder groups including HR, Training, Operations, Health & Safety, Finance and Payroll.

Allocate OffshoreSuite is designed to solve the problems caused by the disconnect between well established strategic HR management systems and the project management systems that are designed to deliver operational efficiency.

Bridging the information gap

Delivering efficiency, reducing risk and managing compliance

Allocate OffshoreSuite delivers a range of benefits designed to build operational efficiencies, reduce risk, manage compliance and provide key workforce availability and skillset information in real time.

In a competitive environment in which speed of response and accuracy of information is crucial to business success, the solution provides a structured management process which is repeatable, consistent and dependable, leading to significant time and cost savings across the enterprise.

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At the core of the Allocate Software solution for offshore oil, gas and marine organizations is OffshoreSuite. Designed as an enterprise-wide solution for medium to large organizations, OffshoreSuite helps improve the effectiveness of workforce and asset planning by providing a drilldown view of the organization, its resources and readiness.

OffshoreSuite provides a completely integrated workforce planning solution, combining asset planning (e.g. vessels, rigs, platforms, equipment) and human resources management (e.g. by region, roles, work history and qualifications). The core modules provide effective tools for personnel documentation, communication, scheduling, training and vessel itinerary management. The following features are provided as standard in OffshoreSuite:

• Personnel recordsIncludes personal details, training and certification, passports, seaman’s books, visas and vaccinations, medical details, crew effects, performance, appraisals, vessel preferences, work contracts and employment history. The ability to link any document to a scanned image is also provided.

• Workforce schedulingManages personnel rotations, transfers, work breaks and promotions. Bulk adjustments can be made to schedules (e.g. poor weather conditions). Schedules can be displayed as interactive ‘calendar’ views or as lists organized around a particular location (e.g. a vessel, rig or office).

• Organizational planningUsing a conceptual view of the organization it is possible to manage changes at any level, including the ability to clone, copy and paste vessels and projects, manage resource requirements and troubleshoot planning issues such as skills shortfalls and vacancies.

• Skills managementIncludes all types of skills such as competences, qualifications, licenses and endorsements. Builds up skill requirements for each role and quickly produces a training matrix showing compliance and shortfalls.

• Training managementFrom event planning, listing courses and providers and managing course applications, to recommending training based on scheduling skills shortfalls.

• Payroll feedsIncludes contract details, temporary contracts, pay elements, entitlements, travel days, work and leave history.

• Itinerary management Featuring airports, port agents, voyage templates, tax sectors and itineraries for movable assets such as vessels and rigs.

• Personnel trackingRecords the movement of personnel between locations such as offices, platforms, vessels and moveable locations. Also allows

Features

Allocate OffshoreSuite

accurate crew lists and people on board (POB) reports to be generated as required by the business. The impacts of any itinerary or planning changes are immediately visible to schedulers and travel coordinators.

• CommunicationsProviding an automated way of generating, saving, printing and emailing letters/documents based on Microsoft Word or email templates with MAPI-compliant integration. Templates can be locked down, edited and associated to the personnel record for auditing purposes.

• ReportingFeatures rich reporting functions, including integration with Microsoft Excel and Crystal Reports. Most information views can be copied to clipboard or exported to Microsoft Excel. Graphical ‘calendar’ views can also be printed.

Documentation

OffshoreSuite comes with a complete package of administration and user training documentation. The package includes user guides, training courses and cheat sheets detailing the best practice approach to using the suite of software. Technical documentation includes installation and system management guides and a full data model.

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Provides a time based view of the conceptual organization. With no limits to the hierarchy structure, the viewer allows users with appropriate permissions to manage the organization structure over time. Assets such as departments, projects, vessels etc. can be added, edited, cloned and merged. Operational changes to the start/end dates and key attributes can be carried out in bulk.

Functions

Allocate OffshoreSuite

Six key tools underline the capabilities of OffshoreSuite as a comprehensive solution for all aspects of workforce planning, from very high-level planning activities down to the day-to-day management of personnel, positions and schedules:

1 Head HunterProvides workforce planners with rules-based searches to identify the most appropriate individuals for a position based on availability, skills, grade, employment history and utilization. Users can determine the specific rules and criteria so that Head Hunter will find and rank suitable candidates. Once the rules and the vacancies are identified, users can also initiate the auto-schedule process to quickly produce a recommended set of personnel for scheduling.

2 Job HunterEnables planners to run rules-based searches to identify positions with specific requirements in order to plan individuals’ careers more effectively. Users can determine the specific criteria and weighting so that Job Hunter will find the most appropriate positions for the available workforce.

4 Trouble Shooter This wizard allows users to quickly find and fix any workforce planning issues. Typical problems are safe manning compliance, itinerary issues, vacancies, scheduling clashes, missing or expiring travel documents, and skills. The wizard works out which areas of the organization have issues and allows the user to jump straight to the problem areas. Context-sensitive options allow problems to be fixed directly within Trouble Shooter.

5 Data AnalystEnables users to run and save ad-hoc queries and statistical analysis against the OffshoreSuite database, providing targeted information across the entire organization. With a graphical interface that drills down into increasing levels of detail, Data Analyst is a powerful tool for answering specific questions and highlighting trends.

6 Establishment viewerThis tool allows users to view the operational requirements, current and future workforce planning assignments for any part of the organization structure, including the sub structure (e.g. departments on a vessel). Any activity relating to workforce planning, including viewing personnel, changing schedules, adding/changing requirements and exporting information can be carried out.

Workforce planning toolsOffshoreSuite is a highly configurable and modular software platform. In addition to the personnel management, workforce scheduling and skills and training core modules, OffshoreSuite provides:

• People on Board (POB)Records personnel movement (e.g. from shore to platform, platform to platform and ship to platform). All personnel can be tracked, including visitors, movements can be forecast based on AM/PM shifts and each movement can be linked to a lifeboat and accommodation assignment for health and safety compliance.

• Rosters & TimesheetsCreates duty rosters for units, projects and teams that can be manually or automatically generated based on pre-defined rules. Recording ad-hoc and overtime duties and integrating with crew scheduling and timesheet management, automatic warnings are produced when a crew member approaches their working restriction.

• Crew BerthingMinimizes the potential loss of passenger revenues by making the most efficient use of the cabins available for crew. The module is suitable for assigning large crews, allows searching for vacant cabins and berths, gives cabin details and matches crew to suitable cabins.

Additional modules • Travel AdministrationAutomatically generates travel requests based on personnel/vessel schedules and generates optimal recommendations for joining/leaving vessels based on your business rules and economic efficiency. The module is designed to integrate with leading travel booking systems, and can even record and display fulfillment information.

• Payroll Administration Allows scheduling, personnel and contract information to be extracted into a payroll system. The module can produce payroll journals based on payment frequency, work dates and how much is due.

• OnboardDesigned to be easy to use by the master of a vessel or superintendent of a platform/rig. Suitable for locations where full functionality and replication is unnecessary, the basic functionality includes ship and crew details, sign-on/sign-off for crew lists, ship and crew certificates, crew appraisals, timesheets, ship and crew cash accounts and IMO reports. Onboard is easily implemented, using cost-effective technologies including Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition, as a standalone solution or integrated with OffshoreSuite using a simple exchange interface.

• Key Performance Dashboard Provides a toolset for the custom development of KPIs, using a separate database to hold aggregated data from the master database. Information can be displayed graphically using a web browser, enabling users to drilldown on areas and access individual data items from the master database. The toolset is ideal for organizations required to track and report workforce KPIs.

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Key benefits

Allocate OffshoreSuite uses a relational database built around the latest versions of Microsoft SQL Server technology. The client applications are designed to work with Microsoft Windows XP or later. OffshoreSuite is also compatible with Internet Explorer 7 and higher, and Microsoft Office versions 2003 or later.

• Replication OffshoreSuite uses proven and resilient proprietary technology to replicate data between a master and remote database. This method of replication has been in use for decades in both marine and defense settings to ensure real-time transfer of data in difficult environments.

• InterfacingAt Allocate Software we recognize that any good enterprise solution cannot operate in isolation. Consequently, OffshoreSuite has been designed with interfacing in mind. While no two interfaces are the same, our considerable experience in interfacing with enterprise solutions ensures that any interface development is based on existing approaches, with the aim of keeping any interface development work to a minimum.

Current customers include

Professional services

Allocate OffshoreSuite provides users with a number of key features and operational benefits. These include:

• A scalable, robust industry-strength solution, currently in use in a number of maritime and offshore organizations around the world.

• The real-time replication of workforce planning data between multiple locations, including remote locations such as vessels, platforms and regional offices.

• An intuitive graphical interface, using familiar Windows screen layouts and iconography.

• Unique and highly tailored workforce planning tools designed with offshore workforce scenarios in mind.

The Allocate Software Services Team implements OffshoreSuite to the highest standards:

• Professional individuals with years of domain experience and industry backgrounds.

• Project Management, Technical, Development, Training and Consultancy specialists.

• Tried and tested, yet flexible, implementation methodology based on recognized industry standards.

To find out more about how Allocate OffshoreSuite could transform your organization please contact us at:

Tel +44 (0)20 7355 5555Web www.allocatesoftware.com/offshoresuiteEmail enquiries@allocatesoftware.com

Technologies

Technologies and benefits

• The pre-built ‘Data Analysis’ OLAP-style toolset helps analyze the huge wealth of quality data held in the OffshoreSuite database.

• The integration with industry-standard products and open data model for easier integration with existing enterprise wide solutions such as HR or Project Management systems.

• A comprehensive personnel record: including certification, visas, endorsements, appraisals, medicals, warnings and associated documentation.

• A modular, expandable software suite supported with continuous improvement and regular software updates by Allocate Software.

• Strong working relationships with customers to help organizations leverage the most from the implementations.

• Global support with offices worldwide: United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Sweden and Malaysia.

• ISO9001/TickIT certified and Microsoft Gold Partner.

• CustomizationThe best enterprise systems must respond to the changing requirements of the organizations they serve without significantly increasing the cost of ownership or complicating future upgrades. OffshoreSuite includes Visual Basic for Applications for the rapid development of custom screens and business rules within a customer configuration layer that is separate from the default configuration.

• SecurityEnforcing controlled access to valuable planning data is integral to OffshoreSuite. The proprietary security and authority tools can be used to segregate data based on the structure of the organization or role of the individuals accessing the system. For example, common approaches include data partitioning rules based on regions or disciplines to ensure each region can see the entire available workforce but only schedule to their respective projects or assets.

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Allocate Software PLC 180 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9ER, UK+44 (0)20 7355 5555www.allocatesoftware.com