Halliburton Fracking Software
Product
On a fracking site, engineer and production workers need to monitor drilling and production progress for each well. For each wellbore drilled, workers need to measure angle, depth and width. They also need to monitor the amount of proppant and chemicals delivered to the site, the amount released into the wellbore, and any unused amounts. Halliburton customers also need to view a summary of these observations from any location. To view these intricate observations, desktop software, as well as a, robust web app is needed to keep track of every facet of the drilling and production phase.
Problem
The current software was convoluted and some controls that were unnecessary or used by users. Users included engineers, production, quality control, and newly added Halliburton customers. In addition, information from fracking sites took longer than expected to reach cloud sources for effective quality control measures.
Discovery
In the first step, I addressed the complex system by documenting the fracking site experience. I sat down with 5 fracking engineers from 3 different states to document their process. I then interviewed users which included engineers and site managers. Together we examine the current software in detail. They identified what works along with their pain points. The next step was to hold a 3-day SME focus group in Fort Lupton, CO. Flights were booked and we were excited. Then the Covid-19 outbreak occurred halting all flights. That didn’t stop us. I organized the 3-day focus group session virtually. The session included engineers and managers from 10 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. There were 34 attendees. The exercise allowed my team to grasp a broader view of what works for users, as well as, their pain points across various work conditions.
The following areas of concern were documented:
1. On average, 3-7 engineer and production workers input information into the software during any given day.
2. For the customer facing side, the current software had an antiquated interface that would not appeal to customers, nor complete with competitor software options.
3. There were 3 different software products used on fracking sites. There was overlap across all software that could be consolidated to one application. All 3 software products had different interfaces and workflows.
4. Engineers used a combination of the 3 different software products along with excel sheets and email to execute their monitoring and reporting duties.
5. The login screen required an additional unnecessary step and the roles were not clear.
6. Distinguishing between well setup and information from wellbore setup and information proved to be difficult causing a delay in entering in correct information.
7. Screens in the software products did not follow the normal workflow of the fracking sites.
8. Of the many fields users needed to fill out, fields did not autosave input information.
9. Users needed to exit one software, enter into another software, and go back to the previous software to execute a task for one wellbore.
10. User profile was not captured, therefore, there was no way to identify a user to the numerous well and wellbore information they input into the software.
11. There was no clear indication of what step a user is in when entering information.
12. Unnecessary clicks forced users to exert additional effort.
Solution
The first and fastest solution to help users on fracking sites was to consolidate the 3 different software products, use of multiple Excel sheets, and use of email into one, easily-accessible software system. Based on the additional research and discoveries, the following solutions were recommended and implemented:
1. Create one software system to monitor wellbore drilling activity, management inventory of proppant and chemical usage, and communicate reports to quality assurance and the Halliburton customer base.
2. Modernized the interface of the software mainly to appeal to the new customer base.
3. Make the software workflow follow the workflow of users on the fracking sites.
4. Incorporate more instances of autosave to help users minimize mistakes and redo’s.
5. Create panels within the software so users can easily distinguish between their well information vs wellbore information.
6. Provide clear indicators of what step users are in when entering in vast amounts of information into the software.
7. Greatly reduce the number of clicks required from the user to make their jobs easier, more streamline, and less complicated.
More Details
COMPANY
Halliburton, May 2020
EFFORT
Document old process, interview users, organize SME focus group, create user task flow, create updated user interface using Figma, build prototype