Knowledge and Data Management - ONGC A Perspective.

C Ravi Kumar* & M M Ahmed** (Frontier Basins, IDT Campus, ONGC, Dehradun - 248001.) *Author-Presently CM (Prog.), in RCC, SR Cauvery, 6th Floor (E), CMDA Towers ONGC, Chennai – 8.

** Presently DGM (Geophysics) – Support Manager, FB, IDT Campus, ONGC, Dehradun - 248001.

7/25/2011

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Knowledge and Data Management - ONGC A Perspective.

C Ravi Kumar* & M M Ahmed (Frontier Basins, IDT Campus, ONGC, Dehradun - 248001.) *e-mail: ravikumar_c@ongc.co.in & ahmed.mm786@gmail.com

Abstract

The paper explores what knowledge management is and what relevance it has to the organization and the

people who work in or with them. While looking at the broad definition of knowledge, it raises a number of

questions concerning knowledge management as a source of competitive advantage and questions our

conceptualization of knowledge essential for development of an E&P company like ONGC. From this emerges

an agenda for the development of action-orientated goals for managers, to connect, communicate & collaborate

with networks of organization. These include the formulation and implementation of strategies for developing,

acquiring and applying knowledge, and the monitoring and evaluation of knowledge assets, management assets

and processes for the effective management. A thorough change management programme is needed to

implement KM in an organisation like ONGC for enticing people to participate in this initiative of KM.

The likely future of knowledge management is explored along four perspectives: The management practices

perspective, the information technology perspective, the organizational efforts perspective and the development,

supply and adoption rate perspective. The conclusion is that knowledge management methods and technologies

will, until the turn of the century, be provided in a ‘technology push’ manner. After that time a more ‘demand pull’

way is foreseen.

In Global scenario, ONGC pioneered the knowledge management as a means to gain or sustain competitive

advantage. Researchers have concluded that the only thing that is sustainable, for successful businesses, in the

New Millennium – is what it knows, how it uses, and how fast it can know something new. In the past, the

dilemma was finding enough information, but now the problem has shifted to identifying and managing the

nuggets of mission-critical knowledge amongst the mountains of meaningless noise. Past experience and

internal learning create processes, insights, methodologies, know-how and understanding that represent what

the business is and how it adds value. Since knowledge base in ONGC is the most vital of all competencies,

recognitions, creation, application, and management should be a critical success factor for attainment of a

competitive advantage. Since information builds on data and knowledge builds on both data and information,

knowledge management includes all three elements. Knowledge Management concerns with managing its

knowledge assets: creating, storing, protecting, disseminating and using mission-critical knowledge. When

people need knowledge, is it the right knowledge and is it timely and easy to locate and access? Shared

knowledge not only makes for a more effective, efficient and agile organization, but creates a common

perspective and culture that produces a natural consistency of successful decisions and actions. The competitive

edge in future would depend upon a more focused approach, judicious application and implementation of

technology based innovation.

The paper discusses the Knowledge & Data Management tools employed in Oil & Gas exploration and

production business opportunities of ONGC an E&P Company of Maharatna Status.

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INTRODUCTION

Knowledge Management is the systematic process of identifying, capturing, disseminating and using institutional best practices and know-how. It is a cconscious strategy of getting the right information to the right people at the right time and helping people share and put information into action. India is the first country in the world to have set up a “Knowledge Commission”

The old concept of machine, technology & capital (in terms of money) as basic tools of production has lost its relevance in the present context.. The new concept is human brain and knowledge sharing networks are the primary enablers of innovation and growth in an organization. The new tool of production is more important than capital and technology. Humans are above machines and capital. Hierarchical pyramids are yielding way to networks. The pyramids which supported the functioning of industrial organizations are not conducive to knowledge work. Knowledge is created only in networks. In 21st century the Pyramids are in crisis everywhere - Governments, Military, Churches, NGO etc.

which is a very powerful political tool.

ONGC, a leading innovative, continually learning and improving corporate in the world has been always been acquiring and assimilating contemporary technologies to operate at global efficiency and has in the process developed a rich knowledge base across the organization. In its continued pursuit of excellence, ONGC took an early cognizance of the fact that information and knowledge are vital to modern E&P businesses. The extensive use of Information Technology in areas like scientific computing, data acquisition, telecommunication, process control, business computing has helped in streamlining systems, policies and business processes to become an effective, fast moving global Exploration & Production (E&P) player.

Knowledge vis-a-vis Society:

Human being is distinguished among animals by intelligent behaviour. Decades of research has established that Intelligence requires knowledge. Artificial Intelligence – one of the oldest dreams of human beings was considered a panacea in late eighties / early nineties for all challenges in efficiency and effectiveness. The knowledge pyramid with data at the base evolves into wisdom at the apex, where intelligent action emerges, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure: 1 Knowledge Pyramid

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• Collaboration

Essential Knowledge Management Components:

A knowledge management system is a soft system of systems with open boundaries. It is made up of components from the mnemonic PISHI (1), which stands for people, infrastructure, software, hardware, and information. This classification represents real things in the real world, and each of these things is linked together by processes so that an output is realised to meet an objective – in this case knowledge. In the modern business world, all the following Knowledge Management components are essential

• Content Management

• Search

• Taxonomy management

• Business Process Management

• Business Intelligence

• Portal

In the context of the Knowledge Management process, the three most component perspectives viz. People, Technology and processes. people are the most important. Successful KM critically hinges on the people, and the effort directed at moulding their attitudes, sharing culture, innovation, Team work etc. as shown in Figure 2.

Figure: 2 KM Components

Knowledge is at the root of all assets which when deployed as capital creates value giving rise to wealth. KM begins with the identification of knowledge assets, KM tool to be integrated with the business environment and systems for achieving strategic goals. The Organizational Knowledge is both Tacit and explicit. The Non-Tangible-Tacit Knowledge embedded in framed experiences, values, contextual information, expert insights and collective

Knowledge Management Process

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organizational experiences and the Tangible-Explicit knowledge captured in document repositories, patents, organizational routines, processes, practices and norms are carefully researched and identified.

Formation of Knowledge Groups - CKO & CIO

KM in ONGC

ONGC business is critically dependent on Knowledge as the resources it explores and produces viz. oil and gas are hidden way below the earth layers and are very expensive to find and extract. Its success is inextricably linked to the effectiveness of the geoscientists in remotely sensing, locating and establishing the commercial viability of the resources as well as the acumen of the engineers in estimating the reserves, optimizing the technological inputs and managing the processes throughout the long life of the reservoir.

Traditionally ONGC has always placed a great emphasis on generation, preservation and dissemination of knowledge in all the E&P disciplines. Several systems were evolved over the past 5 decades.

Some of the recent major initiative of ONGC in the people domain has been

Introduction of companywide ‘e-learning’ system in all topics of E&P

Knowledge and qualification upgradation programs including Unnati Prayas, Super Unnati Prayas, Sangsaptak

Development of Competency Models

Identification of Role, Roster and Responsibility for each position in the organization under the Arcube (R3) Project.

Formalization of ONGC - Academia Interface.

Several initiatives were also taken on the technology front including

Drilling Management Information System (DRILLMIS), in-house developed software, designed on Oracle 8.0 platform using Developer 2000 as front end, monitors daily drilling operations, analyses various complications to provide online solutions to MIS.

Enterprise wide project on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system designed on Falcon software on Oracle as back-end & monitors real-time drilling data direct from rigs, pooled at Tier-3 Sever at IDT for consolidation, analysis & identification of offshore & onshore drilling related problems.

EPINET – Exploration Production Information Net Work - E&P data repository – Databases of SeisDB,

LogDB, DrillDB, Reservoir, Chemistry & Production.

ICE - entire Business Processes on SAP

SAMPARC-Employee Self Service.

Web magazine - ONGCReports.net

Organization wide e-learning on all topics of E&P through Virtual learning and Action Learning

ONGC PORTAL on Intranet – Internal Portal for ONGC People.

LIBNET

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The most important drivers for Knowledge Management in ONGC are domestic production not being able to catch up with very fast growth in demand, liberalization and globalization of economy, Shift to free market competition, volatile global scenario, steeper slopes and less oxygen as we approach the summit, easy to find hydrocarbons already discovered, old K reaching point of diminishing returns, need for Sharing K in deficit areas, increasing E&P costs particularly in deep waters, high requirement of modeling & simulation and very high Synergy required.

KM Metrics:

A CEO’s perspective of KM looks at potential of out-pacing change, out-performing, and out-maneuvering the competition while as the CFO would like to watch the cost of KM and possible savings. In the business owner’s perspective it is earnings per share, return on equity, growth rank in the industry, total shareholder return, ROI, Market share, competitiveness, market value, return on assets, value-added per employee, revenue per employee, new product sales, revenue growth that are of great concern . A knowledge worker’s perspective aims at self-Esteem, peer-appreciation, greater delegation of intellectual tasks, and improvement in speed of collaboration.

Strengths of ONGC in KM

A high technology network linking all worksites of ONGC is in place (Figure 3)

Figure: 3

Several initiatives like e-learning (Virtual Learning, Gyandhara) have been successfully implemented companywide.

There is strong awareness and keen interest in participating in KM exercise at the grass root level. There is demonstrated commitment from the top management for this initiative.

KM Initiative in ONGC: Gyanodyan

The objective of the project is to retain and augment the organizational knowledge to maintain competitive advantage in the market place, Increase productivity and reduce cost of operation, to create a thriving knowledge enterprise, ensure people are doing the right things the right way by means of sharing knowledge, to Improve

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quality at work by sharing best practices, to reduce risks by sharing knowledge on “near-miss situations” and critical issues, to reduce time and effort required for knowledge transfer during employee transfer across assets and avoid reinventing the wheel.

On a historical note, during the year 2007, IIM Ahmedabad was consulted and a blue-print for ONGC Knowledge Park (Gyanodyan) was designed through brainstorming, and workshops. Discussions were held with M/S Infosys, renowned IT leaders in India and winner of MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise) award for implementation of Gyanodyan in ONGC as a collaborative effort. A presentation made by M/S Infosys to ONGC Executive Committee (EC). ONGC recommended the proposal for implementation of KM Pilot project at 5 locations of ONGC through Infosys in one year time.

The implementation model of KM in ONGC is inspired by a ‘Public Park’ paradigm. The KM implementation is visualized as organic and not mechanistic. It supports variety - as many different types of plants as possible. Each plant needs and hence is provided its own attention. The environment is symbiotic where mutually supporting plants are together. Constant trimming and removal of dead wood ensures currency and relevance of Knowledge. Particular attention is paid to new growth and tender leaves and soil preparation. Constant Upkeep and maintenance is made the responsibility of the gardener and users together.

Some of the KM pilots envisaged include:

Skill / Knowledge Map Communities of Practice (CoP)

- Drilling The Limit

A community of drilling activity - originally developed at Shell - which achieved substantial reductions in drilling cycle times.

Squeeze the last byte of info from seismic (SLABS)

A community of seismic processors for maximizing information value of seismic data.

Best Practices / Lessons Learnt - Offshore Structures. - Well Stimulation Services.

Peer Assist - Exploration Decision Making (REXB) - Work over operations.

AI based Expert Systems - Source Rock Potential. - Multilateral Drilling.

Conclusions:

There is a strong need, excellent environment and competency available in ONGC for leveraging the vast resources of knowledge generated by it in all fields of E&P technology and management over the past six decades.

The experiences and lessons learnt from successful implementation of several knowledge based systems organization wide can be leveraged to roll out KM across the organization.

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Doubling of Reserves from 6 to 12 BT by 2020, enhancing recovery factor of existing fields from 28% to 40% & reserves accretion @ 20 MMT/ per annum from overseas.

Recommendations:

The KM efforts may be dovetailed with the strategic objectives of ONGC including

Be a 50 b US$ company, make India energy sufficient by 2030 – mandate given by former president of India – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

The implementation may be carried out in phased manner as envisaged

Two Pilots may be chosen for implementation in 6 months each

Resurvey at the end of first Pilot - assess improvements based on agreed metrics

Year-end Review (at the end of two pilot runs) and Plan roll_out

Those companies that embrace change and technology in today’s information-centric world will be the winners of tomorrow by “Getting right the first time, every time”.

REFERENCES

1.

Web Sites

http://www.knowledgebusiness.com. 2. www.business-standard.com 3. www.hindu.com/2007/10/12/stories - Knowledge management is the key: ONGC director ... of the

organisation would be the ideal knowledge management (KM) in any sector 4. Knowledge Management Portal ONGC 5. SCADA Newsletter – Always on SCADA, June 2008, Published by Corporate Communication, ONGC.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful to management of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for permission to present this paper. The authors especially convey sincere thanks to Dr. J.S. Joysulu, GGM, Basin Manager, SR Cauvery Basin, ONGC, Chennai, for permitting the authors to present this paper & constant encouragement & advices rendered from time to time in this regard without which this endeavour would not have been possible. Team colleagues Sh. Debashis Das, CG of KM group, KDMIPE, IDT, FB & other personalities, directly or indirectly encouraged the thought of presenting this paper are highly acknowledged. Authors would like to place on record their deep appreciation to Shri M Rajagopala Rao, Executive Director – Chief Knowledge Officer (Retd.), ONGC, for pioneering the KM effort in ONGC and the help extended in preparing this paper.