The Preliminary Specification Part CCCXI (PA Part XXXI)

The most productive use of our time would be to review what we have so far in the Partnership Accounting module of the Preliminary Specification. So let’s start off with what looks like a contradiction in terms of where the functionality for where certain accounting is handled. In “The Preliminary Specification Part CCLXVI (A&S Part XIII)” I stated “Both in the Analytics & Statistics and Performance Evaluation modules each Joint Operating Committee becomes a stand alone reporting entity. Each property should have financial accounting reports that are prepared monthly. These could be generated here in these modules. Having a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of changes prepared for the Joint Operating Committee and for the producers interest would provide real value for those trained in reading financial statements.” Which is valid however, the real source of those reports should be in the Partnership Accounting module where they are standard output for all producers and Joint Operating Committees. The Performance Evaluation and Analytics & Statistics reports would be considered more ad hoc.

It is with that point that we should note that the Partnership Accounting module is the source of all accounting information for both the producer and Joint Operating Committees. This includes General Ledger detail, Trial Balance and anything and everything in between. More is detailed in Part I of Partnership Accounting. It is also the source of the Material Balance Report that it and the Accounting Voucher are involved in preparing. Recall that the Material Balance Report is comprehensive in the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. In that it balances all production and facilities material each day and month for all products. It must balance from a material, partnership and system point of view each month within the Accounting Voucher. It relies on the same integrity that the accounting systems debits and credits relies upon. Make a change in one area and it has implications in many other areas that need to be considered before the systems will resume its overall balance.

Pooling of the earth science and engineering resources of the producers need to be chargeable directly to the Joint Operating Committee. This is a replacement for the overhead allowances that are provided for in today’s marketplace. With the shortage of these critical resources pooling of the technical resources in order to make up any shortfalls will be the means in which producers ensure each Joint Operating Committee is adequately resourced. Therefore any and all of the producers within a Joint Operating Committee need to have the capacity to charge their resources to the joint account and recover these costs. In addition, once the Joint Operating Committee is adequately resourced a means in which to govern those resources is necessary and that is provided through the People, Ideas & Objects Military Command & Control Metaphor.

The innovative oil and gas industry needs to increase its overall level of knowledge to become more innovative. We have learned that “knowledge begets capability, and capability begets action”. The ability for producers to participate in working groups with other producers on a ad hoc basis will be one way in which to increase the knowledge of the industry and the producers who participate in these working groups. The ability to form and participate in these groups is difficult due to the complexity of the way they are organized. The Work Order system of the Partnership Accounting module details a method in which these groups can be formed and contributions can be made on a variety of different basis. As long as a producer has budgeted resources in some form then they are able to commit to the working group and participate. The objective of the system is to remove the bureaucracy and nightmare accounting from these so that the Working Group can form and the innovation of the industry can proceed.

And we have talked about some purely accounting related matters here in the Partnership Accounting module. Things like how the accounting cutoffs are handled, currencies and some of the special requirements that some jurisdictions have with respect to accounting months and production months. We also talked about how the system will have only one electronic copy of any document or voucher. Then users will be viewing only the latest in terms of the status of that document.

Who would be conducting most of the accounting for the producer and Joint Operating Committee would be different in the People, Ideas & Objects system. Through the application of specialization and the division of labor the accounting needs will be completed mostly by service providers. Production accounting service providers who are resident within a gas plant area and service all the producers who use that gas plant. Revenue and royalty accounting service providers who specialize in specific royalty jurisdictions exclusively, etc. This would also extend to the production and exploration administration areas. All of these costs would be charged directly to the Joint Operating Committee as the designation of operator is a concept that is relegated to history in the People, Ideas & Objects system.

It is that direct charging of the administrative costs to the Joint Operating Committee that enables us to move from the “High Throughput Production” model to the “Decentralized Production” model. The “Decentralized Production” model provides us with the ability to match the production and overhead costs to the revenues of the property. Therefore, when the property is shut-in, there would be no overhead incurred and the property would not incur any operating losses. It is through the “Decentralized Production” model that the producers would be able to establish a market floor for the oil and gas prices they would receive.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCX (FM Part XXX)

Once the producer has made the decision to invest in a property it is at that time they agree to participate in a Joint Operating Committee. Depending on how that JOC is structured will determine how the investment is managed from that point forward. If the producer has significant influence in the voting rights then they will be able to assert their ways otherwise they will have to work within the framework of the structure that is set up. That operational decision making framework is one of seven framework in the Joint Operating Committees which also includes the legal, financial, cultural, communication, strategic and innovation frameworks. Alignment of these frameworks to the compliance and governance of the firm is achieved through the eleven module People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. This alignment provides a speed, innovativeness and accountability that is not otherwise achievable in the current bureaucracies.

In an ideal world, the initial investment of the producer can be leveraged with debt. As we have already discussed this debt can be undertaken with a general assignment of the property itself. Therefore further aligning the equity and debt holders within the frameworks that we mentioned. So what does that mean. Making the reasonable assumption that all of the participants within a Joint Operating Committee are there to earn a reasonable return. Everyone has the same objective. Financial reward drives consensus. Everyone at the table has made the same percentage share investment, and with debt encumbering the property and only the property the scope of the decisions are within the domain of the property. In this ideal situation the resulting speed and focus of the decision making is consistent with an innovative oil and gas industry.

Not all investments will be able to be undertaken with bank debt or revenue from the property. Some will have to be sent back through the decision making process of being evaluated by the producer in the “Capital Allocation Interface” of the Financial Marketplace module. However, due to their low risk profiles they usually have a higher probability of being invested in. There is also the fact that the performance of the property is enhanced by the leveraging of the property by the debt. The return and risk profile that was used to evaluate the property in terms of investment worthiness by the producer did not assume any debt would be taken on. The debt is assumed once the property is successful and is producing. The debt is leveraging the return that the producer used in making their decision to proceed with the investment in the property. Therefore with much higher returns the property most certainly will be evaluated for further investment. At which time this new investment will be turned over to the Joint Operating Committee to manage further.

Tomorrow we will start with our fifth pass through the Partnership Accounting module.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCIX (FM Part XXIX)

In previous posts we had discussed how the innovative producer would need to balance their speed and performance with control over some decision making processes to ensure they maintained the appropriate investment balance within their organization. This post will discuss in more detail how the Financial Marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification provides these sometimes contrasting objectives.

The speed and performance come about as a result of the demands from the capital markets. Investors want to deploy their capital at the critical moment when the results are about to be achieved. Such is the way of their business. Having their capital turnover quicker is a means to making it more effective. The innovative producers that are able to replicate this turnover within their organization will gain market recognition for their speed and performance. Let's call this the gas pedal. Speed is good but not at the expense of performance. Drilling a series of dry wells quickly doesn’t impress anyone. It is easy to understand what a reasonable approach involves when it comes to making this tradeoff.

There also needs to be a means to control what the firm is involved in in terms of investment criteria. This can be managed through the “Capital Allocation Interface” of the Financial Marketplace module. All investments are assessed based on their expected returns and providing for certain risk profiles. It is imperative that the firm evaluate every opportunity and critically review the results to ensure their investment selections are appropriate and within the framework of what the producer is able to carry out. Let's call this the brake.

And let’s be clear, most if not all the producers have these processes operating within their organizations. And not within the financial domain. What is proposed here in the Financial Marketplace module is controversial because of its administration of these processes within the financial jurisdiction of the organization. One in which this falls under the responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer and is administered in the Financial Marketplace module. It is my opinion, that the CFO will continue to move away from the financial to a more technical background. Having a geologist or engineer as the CFO will become the norm in the future. The CFO will have the technical accounting aspects provided to them by their accounting firm, the service providers and the staff that they employ. Their ability to discern which projects to proceed with will be as a result of the collaborations conducted within the speed, performance and control decision processes and their participation in the senior management or C class executive meetings. However, having these decision processes managed by a CFO who is an accountant would be the same as giving the keys to your Ferrari to a teenager, what positive outcome would you be expecting.

To manage these processes we turn to the Oracle Middleware layer and specifically the Oracle Business Process Management Suite. We need to take these from the spreadsheet and ad hoc nature that they are currently managed under and put them through a defined and rigorous process that meets the organization's needs. From the C class executives to the people who are grinding out the calculations. The decision process needs to be defined and managed by the software within the organization. It also needs to be highly collaborative with the decision making process well documented. It will be in this way that a firm can then learn from what its doing wrong, maybe most importantly. But also from what it is doing right. Right down to the detail of who came up with the idea and who pushed it through. And then you’ll begin to be able to answer who it is that is responsible for that last big success in your firm.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects.

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCVIII (FM Part XXVIII)

Let’s get to the real issue that has to be dealt within the Financial Marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification. The cash. With each Joint Operating Committee being funded and operated through its own bank the cash of the producers will be scattered through a variety of accounts that are held within the various Joint Operating Committees they have an interest in. Or will they. Through this post we will trace the cash that is generated through the properties and the various operations that occur in the day-to-day of an oil and gas operation. What we will find is that from a cash balance point of view, the balances that the producer holds will be fundamentally unchanged between the People, Ideas & Objects method of conducting business and the way in which it is done in the majority today.

What happens today is the net proceeds from the operation of the property are determined, each working interest share of those proceeds are calculated, and depending on if the property is generating or consuming cash a check or invoice is sent. The difference in the People, Ideas & Objects system is that in the case where the property is generating cash instead of issuing a check, the balance will be transferred. In the case of where the property was consuming cash it would still send an invoice, and there would have to be some operating advance provided for the Joint Operating Committee to deal with the short falls while these invoices were being processed by the producer firms. In times when there are capital expenditures cash calls will offset the demand for cash.

One of the other key differences in the People, Ideas & Objects application modules is that the Joint Operating Committee is open to contributions from all of the participants. Producers are pooling their resources in order to fulfill the requirements of the property and that demands that everyone participate in some form or fashion. Each month these contributions are equalized in the process of determining the net cash payable or receivable and will be accounted for in the joint venture billing in that manner. These equalized amounts will affect the cash balance in terms of the size of the payment and a producer could be compensated for the two components through the joint venture billing process. One would be the net proceeds of the property. And the second aspect would be the amount of their contribution in excess of their working interest.

We have specified the Oracle Fusion Application Financial Management Suite as part of the Preliminary Specification in previous modules. For purposes of these cash management activities we will of course again be using the Suite for these purposes. I would caution readers that the manner in which these accounts are cleared have not been worked out. That is the purpose of the Preliminary Specification. These are still early days and it is problems such as these that need to be resolved with the $100 million budget. Today, the optimal method of dealing with clearing the balances in the joint account is through clearing accounts in the general ledger. There is no reason that we can’t modify that concept to allow for the contributions of all of the producers within a Joint Operating Committee to contribute to the joint account, be equalized and then cleared.

From another perspective, the interfaces to the variety of banks and producers accounts for deposits and withdrawals will be an area that will need to be worked through. Although this is not offering a technical issue as all of this is being done today, the volume of transactions will be high in comparison to today’s traffic. Banks are well prepared for this. Producers not so much. Particularly in the area of Compliance & Governance. Having automation of this type and at this level will make many people wince. They can continue with the paper based systems if they choose, the practical solution is that we build these systems with the appropriate internal controls to ensure that the process is managed efficiently and effectively and without the risks associated with this type of activity.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry. 

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCVII (FM Part XXVII)

We invoke the “Marketplace Interface” with the technologies that are provided to us from Open Wonderland. The open source Java toolkit that creates the collaborative environment we call the “Marketplace Interface”. Sitting on the Oracle Fusion Middleware layer, this toolkit provides our users with simultaneous interaction for the Resource, Petroleum Lease and Financial Marketplace modules. The “Marketplace Interface” simulates a market where buyers and sellers engage, buy, sell and trade products and services. It is the ultimate collaborative environment. The user will have at any time the opportunity to option click to create a transaction, an AFE or some other form of business based on the interaction they are simulating in the marketplace. This post is to detail some of the activities that will be carried out within the Financial Marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification.

We fast forward a few years to where the demand for energy is very strong. Therefore the demand for capital in a capital intensive business is even more difficult. The need to promote the performance and speed of your company's capabilities is one of the necessary elements of the innovative oil and gas producers toolkit. What you want to do is engage the investment community in a discussion around the various elements of your performance. To do that you turn to your location within the “Marketplace Interface” that you have set up for selling / promoting oil and gas assets and the producer firm itself. It is here within the oil and gas property district that you have acquired some real estate to house the distribution and promotion of your properties and company. (Please review the video below.)

When you have engaged a qualified and interested buyer you are able to provide them with and execute a confidentiality agreement. Then you begin the presentation of the properties that you have in the package without leaving your desk or travelling anywhere. Next, an investor wants to know more about your team and what is the performance over the past three years and their current capabilities. All of this information can be easily compiled from within the “Marketplace Interface” as they are all part of the People, Ideas & Objects ERP system. Whether it be from the Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Fusion Application Financial Management Suite or the People, Ideas & Objects application modules themselves, all of these application features interact and operate as one.

Or maybe the shoe is on the other foot, sort of speak, and you're in the market to acquire some properties. The ability to shop around the oil and gas property district in the “Marketplace Interface” gives you the opportunity to find the right property with a lot less time and cost involved. Having producers from around the world located in the district enables you to search globally as well as locally on all the criteria that meet your needs. Reviewing hundreds of reserve reports and evaluating the porosity of every formation has its rewards, but sometimes in a marketplace, it's something that someone says that piques your interest in a property. Having this open on your desktop and available all day would open a new world of opportunity to the innovative oil and gas producer.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. 

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCVI (FM Part XXVI)

Turning now to the Financial Marketplace module. We find that it has been a while since we have posted anything to the module. A high level review would therefore be worthwhile to refresh everyone’s memory. The Financial Marketplace is the third marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification and relies heavily on the “Marketplace Interface” that we have developed for these three marketplace modules. It is also the module that we introduce some significant changes in how the banking and investment communities interact with the producer and Joint Operating Committee so lets begin.

The first point to make is that the Preliminary Specification enables the producers within a Joint Operating Committee to have a bank take a general assignment on the specific assets within a Joint Operating Committee. To deal with the partnership as its sole customer in the relationship and align its interests to the legal, financial, operational decision making, cultural, communication, strategic, innovation and compliance & governance frameworks within the Joint Operating Committee. By doing so the decisions regarding finance are to do with the financing of the property exclusively. You are dealing with one banker representing all of the producers and they are not constrained by the issues and opportunities that the producers have with other properties. The general assignment is to do with the Joint Operating Committee alone.

One of the implications of doing this is that the producer firm is going to have relationships with many banks. If not all of the banks within the marketplace. However, the logistical nightmare this would have caused in terms of handling the situation in the 20th century doesn’t exist in the 21st century. Having bank accounts for each Joint Operating Committee is possible when the automation of deposits and payments are at the level that they are today. These will be managed in the “Advanced Cash Management Interface” of the Financial Marketplace module. The key advantage is of course that the decision making process is fully aligned with the other frameworks. When a decision is needed, everyone is motivated by the financial gains of the specific property.

The objective of the Financial Marketplace module is to provide the producer with the speed and performance necessary to compete within the marketplace, however to maintain control over all of the firm. With the future demands for energy demanding more, and each barrel oil equivalent requiring more earth science and engineering effort, the speed and performance of the producer will become more prevalent in the marketplace. How the producer competes on the criteria of how quickly they can turn an investment into a return will attract the investment community. On the other hand employing the capital discipline of evaluating each and every prospect will be as important as ever. Turning over every stone to find the right investment for your team is how the control will be exercised in this prospective environment. These elements are handled in the collaborative “Capital Allocation Interface”.

It will also be a more personal connection that is made with the investment community. The capabilities of the producer firm are one of the key competitive advantages of the innovative oil and gas producer. How your firm performs is highly dependent on the quality of the team that you have put together. The need to promote that team within the constraints of the compliance and governance requirements will be a necessary part of the day-to-day of the producer firm. The “Technical Team Interface” is an investment community facing interface that provides a window to the investment community of your performance and capabilities in the earth science and engineering disciplines. This will be nothing more than what can be determined from other public sources however it will be focused on selling and promoting the team’s capabilities and innovativeness to the investment community. Included with that interface will be the firm's Revenue Per Employee variables and trajectories to offer direct comparisons to other producers.

Lastly there is the “Marketplace Interface” the ultimate, in my opinion, collaborative tool. The marketplace for financial service is very robust. No producer provides any of the services that are provided by a bank or investment house. All of the banks and investment houses provide their services based on a fee. What is needed is for the People, Ideas & Objects “Marketplace Interface” to be built to support this market and have the people interact and collaborate. Unlike the Petroleum Lease Marketplace where the service providers have to be created, they already exist in the Financial Marketplace module. Tomorrow we will begin on this point with the technology that supports the “Marketplace Interface”.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCV (PLM Part XLIV)

Reading some of the past posts I noted that the fifth pass was to be about the Oracle technologies and some of the more day to day aspects of an ERP system. We have been filling in some of the larger holes here lately, most recently with the royalties. And we will continue to work towards these two goals during this the fifth pass through the Preliminary Specification. Today we want to highlight one of the Oracle technologies that will be used to support the royalty infrastructure. As these will be from the Middleware layer, they will accommodate the unique attributes of the oil and gas industry.

So far we have used the Oracle Fusion Applications Financial Management suite in unique ways within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace. It provides for the accounting and billing services to the producers, Joint Operating Committees and service providers that are involved in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module. The Oracle Database is fully employed as well as there are many attributes, or data elements, that are stored within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module. From the unique strategy of the Joint Operating Committee, the Lease, the agreements with all of their variables, the royalty information and data about the service providers. What is needed now is an understanding of how the unique attributes of a royalty infrastructure for an oil and gas system will be put together.

In Oracle Fusion Middleware there is Oracle’s Business Process Management Suite (BPM) which is a collection of tools and previously defined processes that developers use to configure for specific processes. The royalty process is an ideal candidate for the use of these tools. Based on the Oracle Database, Java and XML Oracle BPM is a front end, or high level graphical user interface that users can relate to in terms of the process that is mapped. Using data models provided from PPDM and the Oracle Fusion Application Suites, augmented by the People, Ideas & Objects data model, data storage and integrity will be the highest that can be achieved.

Key to the Oracle Fusion BPM tools is the dependence on the user. People, Ideas & Objects being user based developments need to have tools that can interface directly with the user community. Having them learn Java, XML and SQL just won’t work. Reviewing a process from the business logic point of view, ensuring it is consistent with their needs and seeing a step by step basis of that logic assures them of the accuracy and the possibilities of what more they could have. All of this would sound like the end product would be bloated and slow. That’s not the case as the technologies used are the same as if the process was being hand crafted. The result is that BPM output is fully scalable and appropriate for a cloud computing distribution model, and the manner in which People, Ideas & Objects intends to use these processes.

Calculating royalties for multiple jurisdictions, each with their own nuance of how those royalties are calculated are well within the scope of what the People, Ideas & Objects application development objective are. This becomes a simple if-else-then statement to calculate the royalty on the basis of the specific jurisdiction. One of the important determinations in this is what jurisdictions are we developing for. This question is answered in our scope, and is one of the reasons producers should subscribe to this software development. To make sure we are covering all of your royalty jurisdictions. Maintaining the up-to-date requirements of each of the royalty regimes will be an ongoing part of our responsibilities. However, I would reiterate our value proposition is that we would be doing this on behalf of all of the producers in the industry. The one time cost allocated over our entire subscribing producers will make these changes incidental to the innovative oil and gas producer. Specialization and the division of labor works in terms of your software development team as well as your service providers.

Tomorrow we will begin our fifth pass through the Financial Marketplace module.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects.

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCIV (PLM Part XLIII)

In yesterday’s post we used a simple example of how the costs were netted back to determine the price used for royalties. Today we are going to show how the Preliminary Specification handles Gas Cost Allowance (GCA) and the costs of operations. This example will apply when a producer has a financial interest in the gathering or processing facilities that are used to carry the gas they produce. The GCA allows for the costs of capital and operations of those facilities to be charged based on its annual throughput.

Operation of those assets whether they are a gas plant or a gathering system will have their own Joint Operating Committee. However, the first thing to determine is what is an eligible capital item for GCA purposes. Not all the capital is necessarily allowable to be charged as a deduction for GCA purposes. There needs to be within the accounts of a producer a way in which you can tag an AFE with the designation that these costs would be eligible for GCA. Either that or through the chart of accounts, globally select the accounts that are eligible. From there the costs of capital, both a return on investment and depreciation, can be calculated for the year.

The operating costs associated with those assets will have been aggregated under that Joint Operating Committees accounts as well. These costs are eligible to be deducted and are included in the total costs of the facility. Each facility has to be accounted for on its own. A gathering system will be calculated so that there is a cost factor for the gathering system alone. If there are separate functional units within a gas plant then each of the functional units should be accounted for as separate calculations for GCA purposes. Calculations for throughput need to be based on the gas or liquid equivalent value. If the functional unit in a gas plant is a deep cut facility then the output will be in liquids and a gathering system will be based on the gas volume. The results of these calculations provide you with an amount of GCA to deduct from the royalty price for any product that is processed or gathered through that facility in a month.

Automation of these calculations is the purpose in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module. The calculations of royalties for the current year are based on estimates of GCA using last year's factors. However, that does not mean they are not a labor intensive activity. All of the factors that go into a calculation are already stored within the People, Ideas & Objects applications. The Material Balance Report being the key to providing the production volumes and throughput at each functional unit. What is needed is the “Gas Cost Allowance Worksheet Interface” that aggregates these variables for the Revenue and Royalty Accountant for them to prepare their calculations for actual GCA, equalizations and estimates.

The “Gas Cost Allowance Worksheet Interface” provides the accountant with the ability to look at each functional unit as a separate facility. The interface will pull in the the producers variables of the AFE’s and cost centres that are pertinent to that facility and the throughput information from the Material Balance Report. Then the accountant can organize the information in the manner that the calculation is automatically populated with the current information from the system. The accuracy and timeliness of this information, and the format of the data would be such that the production of GCA values for each month of the year would be possible. The outcome of the “Gas Cost Allowance Worksheet Interface” would be the value that is used to deduct for royalty purposes.

Now each producer's working interests in the various gathering and processing facilities are possibly different then their working interests in the producing property. Therefore these calculations are not done on a Joint Operating Committee basis but at the level of each producer. This will continue to be one of the areas where time is spent by the royalty accounting service providers. Having people who specialize in the administration of royalties will help to ensure that the producer pays the minimum correct royalties.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCIII (PLM Part XLII)

We continue on today with our discussion of royalties in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace of the Preliminary Specification. The prices that the royalties will be based on is what we will be discussing today. It is critical that the producer pays the royalty on the net price at the wellhead for all of the commodities that are produced. How these prices are calculated in the People, Ideas & Objects application is the point of discussion for today’s post.

The first point I should make is that some jurisdictions use their own pricing scenarios. Provinces in Canada calculate the average gas and NGL prices for each producer to pay royalties on. They also use standard costs for gas processing. These are excluded from this discussion as they are unique to the Canadian oil and gas producer and require substantial software development commitments from the Canadian producers that may preclude them from participating in the Preliminary Specification. Please review the July 28, 2011 blogpost “Budgets and Canadians”.

In most other jurisdictions it is the net realized price that is used for calculating the royalty. We’ll use a gas contract to describe the scenario that we are using here. For simplicity we will assume there are no liquids. Going back to the Material Balance Report we see that the gas that is sold under the contract is all of the gas that is produced by company A in the region that is serviced by gas plant B. This gas is aggregated from over 50 wells and is collected over, in some instances, a substantial distance. None of the gathering or facilities is owned by the producer and they pay custom processing and gathering fees for these services. The gas contract is to an industrial consumer who is situated across the state and the point of sale is the delivery into their facility.

The need therefore is for this producer to pay for the transportation and processing of this gas to the point of sale, the consumers front door. The royalty price will be what the consumer pays less the costs of the processing and transportation to get it to them, netted back to the wellhead. Turning to the Material Balance Report each production stream must have a sales contract and transportation contract from the point of origin to the point of sale. This is a requirement of the system. Each of these contracts support the production stream within the Material Balance Report, without a contract the Material Balance Report will not balance, just like in the real world. Therefore all of the information that is needed to determine the royalty price is going to be available from the various Material Balance Reports, where they should be available.

Taking the production from a well by well perspective the prices that will be received at each wellhead might be slightly different since the distance that some of the wells gathering might be materially different and therefore would pay more in gathering. The royalties are going to take the calculations from the point of view of the wellhead and begin the royalty calculations on that basis. These prices are derived from the Material Balance Report based on the contracts that are necessary to make that document operate and balance. Changes in prices and volumes do occur and that will lead to an amendment process within the Material Balance Report. Recall that the Material Balance Report is part of the Accounting Voucher module in the People, Ideas & Objects application. Any changes in the material balance must also correspond to the changes within the Accounting Voucher, and an Accounting Voucher can be for a producer or a Joint Operating Committee. So a volumetric change will recalculate the total custom processing and revenue receipts and a change in custom processing fees will affect total custom processing and net pricing to all the producers in that system. Making a change in one of the systems has an effect in the other. To change the price the producer received in the month can’t be done in the general ledger, it can only be done through the gas sales, custom processing or gathering contracts.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCII (PLM Part XLI)

The act of paying royalties is an individual producer's responsibility. I believe this holds true in the majority of jurisdictions. Therefore the royalties are calculated on the producer's share and not on the Joint Operating Committee’s production. Nonetheless the production is derived from the Joint Operating Committee and that involves the Material Balance Report. Today’s post will deal with the production end of the royalty calculation and the tie in to the Accounting Voucher and Partnership Accounting modules Material Balance Report.

First let's revisit the manner in which production accounting is handled in the Preliminary Specification. It is through our favorite tools of specialization and the division of labor that we have looked to service providers to provide these production accounting services to the Joint Operating Committees. Being specialized in a geographical region the production accounting service provider is possibly located within the region to have a hands on interaction with the operation. Working for the many Joint Operating Committees that may be located in the region the service provider may as a result work indirectly on behalf of many producers production accounting.

Therefore looking at this situation from a reasonably large producers point of view. They may have upwards of a few hundred geographically based production accounting service providers and twenty to thirty royalty accounting service providers depending on the number of jurisdictions they operate in. The complexity in dealing with these many providers is not the issue as much as the size of the producer. It should be restated here that the basis of the billing of these services should be on some positive action based transaction. In the case of the production accounting service provider it would be on the completion of the filing of a report for the month. Then if there was no report for that month, then no charges would be incurred, etc. The same situation should hold for the royalty accounting service provider, however, you do not want it to depend on the calculation or payment of a royalty.

Within the Accounting Voucher and Partnership Accounting modules resides the Material Balance Report. It is a report to provide for the material balancing of any facility for oil and gas purposes. We have discussed in those modules how the volumetric information is reported and managed within the Preliminary Specification. To review the discussion to date please review the Material Balance Report label. Royalties is one of the areas that will be using the outputs of the information from the Material Balance Report. Production for each producer is allocated through the report as one of the outputs of the process. Therefore this is the input into the royalty calculations for the various jurisdictions that apply to that production. Taking note of any swaps or inventory this volume should be the final production volume for royalty purposes. Ha!, the endless process of amendments begins and will no doubt carry on for at least 30 - 60 days before everything settles down. The royalty calculation being a nature of revenue less costs times royalty rate equals royalty, these production volume changes do not require any human interaction until such time as the point the royalties are due.

In terms of paying royalties on the appropriate volume of production, the Material Balance Report will be a key aspect of this control. Tomorrow we will discuss the Pricing, Gas Cost Allowance and other costs associated with royalty calculations.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCCI (PLM Part XL)

I thought that we would spend the next few days discussing the management of royalties in the Preliminary Specification. It is here in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace along with the Accounting Voucher and Partnership Accounting modules that the royalties are calculated, paid and processed. One of the key determinants of the Preliminary Specification will be the geographical scope of the application. That will determine which jurisdictions the People, Ideas & Objects application modules will calculate, pay and process royalties. If you participate in a remote area and you want all of your areas covered by the application then participation in the community is the manner in which you need to make this happen. If you have production or leases in Alaska then you should assert that Alaska be part of the scope. Don’t assume someone else will do this for you.

When we talk about royalties we have a myriad different ways in which they are calculated and processed. Although over time many have adopted what could be called generally accepted royalty principles, there are still differences that need to be accounted for. On top of these differences are the systems that are used to calculate the royalties themselves. And let’s be honest Excel does a pretty good job. But that is not the way in which many of these royalty frameworks were designed to be handled. Excel is very labor intensive. From a Gas Cost Allowance (GCA) point of view, no one has implemented an ERP process anywhere within any of the systems in the industry. These royalties are the producers largest cost items. With high commodity prices significant value can be attained by ensuring that the correct royalties are calculated and paid.

It is within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace that the Lease document is stored and therefore the royalty information is captured and stored. The jurisdiction, whether that is Crown, Federal, Freehold, Private or State will have its methods and procedures to calculate royalties on its lands. In most cases these are comprehensive and impose significant levels of Information Technologies be used. Some use the prices that were realized and some use their own pricing models. There are a variety of different ways a unit of production can attract a royalty. Nothing however that can not be handled by a software development capability like that proposed by People, Ideas & Objects. Lets also look at how that compliance is achieved.

Using the division of labor and specialization we will have within each royalty jurisdiction a royalty accounting service provider, or several providers, who specializes in the management of royalties for, in this example, the state of Texas. The only thing these people know is Texas production and Texas state royalties. They operate on behalf of the hundreds of producers that produce oil and gas in the state of Texas and pay royalties. Using specialized software developed specifically for the service provider by People, Ideas & Objects they are able to calculate the royalties and ensure that the producers pay their minimum correct royalty. The service provider is also able to keep up with the changes in the Texas royalty administration and ensure that these changes are reflected in the software at the appropriate time on behalf of their clients. Consider that there would be royalty specialist service providers located in each jurisdiction for each royalty that falls within the scope of the Preliminary and subsequent Specifications of the People, Ideas & Objects application modules.

We have certainly reduced the footprint size of the oil and gas producers square footage requirements for office space. Through the process of specialization and the division of labor we have handed off everything from an administrative basis to these service providers to increase the quality of the service, and reduce the overall costs. This is the only proven method of increasing the economic performance of the industry. The alternative is that we continue to build individual silo’s of fully capable oil and gas producers. A scenario in which only the managers will be happy, and more of a myth than reality.

Tomorrow we will continue on with the discussion of royalties and how the modules of the Preliminary Specification deals with the largest costs of the innovative oil and gas producer.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCC (PLM Part XXXIX)

This is our third post in our scenario regarding the farmin on 32,000 acres of shale formation with a 20 well drilling commitment. Today we want to discuss the AFE process and how the Petroleum Lease Marketplace of the Preliminary Specification handles the elements of that document. We will also discuss the Oracle Fusion Middleware frameworks that would be used to implement the processes, functionality and features that are discussed.

As we indicated at the beginning of this scenario, capital is king. And you have the resources available to complete the 20 well program within the next drilling season which is consistent with your partners capabilities. It's time to get to work and that involves reviewing the “Dynamic Capabilities Interface” in the Knowledge & Learning module. Which also involves the “Planning & Deployment Interface” which has as part of that interface the AFE. The variables that are used to populate the AFE are derived from the agreement and include the working interest distribution, the participants, the location and the contacts for execution. Other variables such as the budget, also prepared within the “Planning & Deployment Interface,” and are derived from the Partnership Accounting module. Preparation of an AFE therefore is the least problematic in terms of creating the document. The ability to select from pull down menus and options that automatically populate the form are necessary to make the user interface as intuitive as possible. Items such as selecting the well id should automatically populate the partners and the working interest distribution variables.

Now that the form of the AFE is complete the need to have the internal routing of the document for approval is necessary. The various departments need to sign off on all expenditures internally before the AFE is sent for external approval. The document is sent through the process of routing that is managed by the Oracle Middleware Business Process Management framework. There it is sent to the CEO, CFO, COO, Land and Legal department for digital approval. Once all approvals are complete the document will be rerouted back for external distribution. In this case it is only necessary to gain the approval of the partner that we have brought on for their capabilities as they are paying 20% of the costs. However, we are also routing the document to the farmor as the AFE will be used by them to document the 20 well commitment we have under the earning provision of the agreement. As we indicated these producers were miraculously using the same People, Ideas & Objects systems that you are using! And as such, this routing is similar to the internal routing and approval process. However, upon approval, verification of the signed AFE’s are circulated to the partners to inform them that the AFE is now a valid cost center and will begin the process of, in this case, drilling the well.

Due to the fact that you and the partner that is bringing in the shale capabilities are both actively involved in drilling these 20 wells. Both of you will be incurring costs on behalf of the joint account. This is consistent with the pooling concept that the People, Ideas & Objects software was built around. That no one producer would fulfill the operator role and that all producers would be drawn into participate in some form or fashion in order to make up for any potential resource shortfalls. Therefore each of you will be participating and incurring costs in unequal proportions to your working interests. What the People, Ideas & Objects system will do each month is conduct an equalization on the participants interests and participation rates to make each other whole during the Joint Venture Billing process. This requires that both producers in this case, however it could involve as many producers as a Joint Operating Committee has, post their costs to the AFE for the month in which they have incurred these costs. Then during the month end process the equalization will be run based on their participation and the total costs incurred by both partners that month, and either compensate them or bill them for the difference to their actual working interest share. This is of course on an AFE by AFE basis.

Lets not forget that part of the pooling concept involves the billing of a producers engineering and geological resources to the joint account. The concept of overhead allowances is eliminated with the operator. The ability of a producer to maintain a technical resource base, when that resource is in such high demand, requires that that base have its own source of revenue. And that is the ability to charge these resources to the joint account for services rendered. Under the terms of the agreement with these partners it is by agreement that the shale capabilities are billed by that partner in such a manner. That however, does not preclude you from doing so as well.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects.

The Preliminary Specification Part CCXCIX (PLM Part XXXVIII)

We pick up with the discussion that we started yesterday regarding the scenario where you were with a firm that was farming in on a 32,000 acre parcel of land and a 20 well commitment to drill. Today we want to discuss the elements of the agreement that has been formed and how the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specifications Petroleum Lease Marketplace module will use the Oracle Fusion Middleware layer to provide the services to the partners of this agreement.

What has been executed between the three parties to the agreement, the farmor, the farmee (you) and a partner with the capabilities in the shale formations is a traditional farmin agreement complete with accounting and operating procedures. All of the variables that are defined in the agreement and these procedures need to populate the various areas within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module. A point of interest is that operating decisions require 60% approval for passage which leaves you with de facto control of the operations prior to the point of earning. Once earning has been achieved however, this will be a difficult threshold to cross as it will require almost full consensus amongst the partners on all operations.

The manner in which these operational decisions are made is through the collaborative elements of the “Planning & Deployment Interface” in the Knowledge & Learning module. When a decision is required from the Joint Operating Committee participants, using the Collaboration Framework of Oracle Fusion Middleware as the foundation we will be able to create the necessary collaborative environment to initiate, document, discuss and record the voting of these decisions.

One area that will be new will be the area where the capabilities of the partner who was brought on to provide the experience in the shale area has to be documented. These are listed in the “Capabilities & Commitments Interface” of the Petroleum Lease Marketplace. Before the agreement was signed you had the opportunity to review with their team and look at their Research & Capabilities “Dynamic Capabilities Interface” for the shale capabilities they had and were satisfied, that when those capabilities were available to you in the Knowledge & Learning module through the Joint Operating Committee; they would be more than adequate for the farmin. It was documented in the agreement that these were being made available and that the capabilities would be part of the consideration that is paid to the producer. Some of that consideration is paid in the form of a higher working interest through earning, and established day rates for their engineering and geological staff members. It will be incumbent on the producer who is providing the capabilities to note in their “Capabilities & Commitments Interface” that they are providing these resources to the farmin and what consideration they are earning in exchange for this. These will help both producers in balancing the costs and revenues of developing their capabilities and ensure that they are not over committing their resource base in the years to come.

The agreement itself is not a static document. It might have been that the “Marketplace Interface” was used extensively during the development of the agreement. Changes to the agreement could be done using that forum again. Expanding the scope of the lands or including some equipment to deal with the production from the lands. These are all elements of how the agreement could evolve during the life of the assets. The variables that are stored within the system would change, of course, and provide raw data to most of the modules that operate in the Preliminary Specification. As the agreements are the place of origin of most of the critical data that is used within the oil and gas industry. From working interest distribution scenarios, to methods of accounting, to land and procedural requirements this is where its at.

Tomorrow we will look at the way in which AFE’s are raised and approved in the Preliminary Specification.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCXCVIII (PLM Part XXXVII)

It is within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace that we find some of the data elements and characteristics that form the unique culture of the oil and gas industry. Things like the AFE and the working interest distribution, and many others, are a result of the culture of the Joint Operating Committee and these are stored and originated within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module of the Preliminary Specification. The unique nature of these attributes requires that they are not dealt with by generic accounting classifications for application modules. They require specific modules like the Petroleum Lease Marketplace to be built and for that we need to drop down from the Oracle Fusion Applications to the Oracle Fusion Middleware layer.

What we should do therefore is start with the beginning of the process, a sort of asset life cycle, in the next few posts, starting with the acquisition of a petroleum lease, the development of partners and forming of an agreement, to the raising of an AFE to drill a well or some other operation to show how the People, Ideas & Objects application is different from other ERP systems.

Capital is king, the 2008 financial crisis is still felt throughout the markets. Many producers are readily available to make a deal to farmout large blocks of land in their shale positions. You negotiate a 32,000 acre 20 well deal to participate in a promising area where the farmor has shot extensive seismic. Participation is at 100% and the farmor has input as to the drilling locations. You will earn an undivided 50% working interest upon completion of the drilling of the 20 well program. You have limited shale capabilities to take on a 20 well program and have promoted another producer to join you who has extensive capabilities in the region. They will participate at 20% to earn a 12.5% interest and provide these capabilities by agreement.

Looking at this scenario from the point of view of the producers who just happen to all be using the People, Ideas & Objects application modules! The leases that are part of the deal that are with the farmor can now be, as a result of the agreement, listed in the companies that are party to the agreement, the farmees. By way of the agreement they would have registered an encumbrance against the leases and lets assume for these purposes that happens coincidental with the agreement. Under the agreement, the costs associated with the lease rentals falls to the farmees. Therefore these leases are copied from one system to the other in a data download. The service provider that we talked about yesterday who provides the lease administration services on behalf of the farmee then uploads the lease data to the farmees system and begins the process of managing those leases as part of their administration. As soon as those leases require payment of lease rentals they will be paid, and the billing for the annual services provided by the lease administration service provider will be billed. A similar process will happen for the other farmee in terms of their lease data download however, there will be no lease rental payments made and no lease administration service fees. Those will be both billed, at 20% of the total, through the joint venture billing, from the other farmee, the you in this scenario.

Within the Oracle Fusion Middleware suite of tools there are a variety of frameworks that will be used to make this happen. To name just the obvious ones in this the fifth pass through the Preliminary Specification might be the most efficient. And then if there is a sixth pass focused on more detailed Oracle technologies we can go deeper into these technologies then. The frameworks that we would use as a minimum for what is discussed above would include, Business Intelligence, Business Process Management, Collaboration, Content Management, Cloud Application Foundation, Data Integration, Oracle Fusion Middleware for Applications, Service Oriented Architecture, SOA Governance, and Transaction Processing.

So one can see even when we step out from the Oracle Fusion Applications we are still able to inherit substantial capabilities in terms of infrastructure from Oracle Fusion Middleware. And that is the promise of Java, building on previous efforts. Oracle has expended great effort in developing Oracle Fusion Middleware. If fact all of Oracle Fusion Applications are derivative from it.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects. 

The Preliminary Specification Part CCXCVII (PLM Part XXXVI)

If we look at the innovative oil and gas producer from the scenario of using the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. Within the Petroleum Lease Marketplace, yesterday we noted that the focus of the producer was on building their land and asset base and having accounting, land administration and other service providers taking care of the administrative and accounting aspects of their firm. This requires the access of the People, Ideas & Objects application to be specifically developed to meet the needs of these highly specialized service providers and for very limited access to the producers data. Today, we want to talk about the billing process and how the service provider is able to earn their service fees from the producers that are their customers.

Part of the specialization and division of labor process requires that the customer and service provider are able to come to terms on price for the service. Since the service provider is able to process larger volumes, lets use the example of lease rentals for today’s purposes, of lease rentals with a fixed number of resources they are able to pass these savings on to the customer. This in turn makes it economical for the producer to use the service provider as the cost is lower and the service is higher than they can achieve on their own.

One thing the service provider doesn’t want to be doing is to going through reams of data to prepare a thousand invoices each month. And the producer doesn’t want to reward the service provider if the lease rentals are not paid. So it is agreed that the billing for the service will be automated based on the successful payment of any and all lease rentals on behalf of the producer. When a lease rental payment is processed by the service provider the billing for that service will be sent through the People, Ideas & Objects systems, which both the producer and the service provider are using for these purposes, creating an account payable for the producer and an account receivable for the service provider.

In many oil and gas producers you might have needed a whole department to process the accounts payable service fees from the service provider for lease rental payments because of the volume of lease rentals. However, with highly automated systems, and the billing being dependent on just a successful lease rental payments being made, and verified that there are no duplicates, we can be assured that the costs to maintain such a system are minimal. The efficiencies are gained by the producers, the service provider and society itself as the people are involved in more productive use of their time, like building their land and asset base.

This is also a step further then what we discussed yesterday in terms of what the service provider was using the People, Ideas & Objects applications for. Yesterday we discussed that they were being used on behalf of the producer and today we are discussing that they are being used for their own purpose. Oracle Fusion Applications and particularly Oracle Financial Management suite are designed to be used in a cloud computing configuration. Whether the service provider would also have their own accounting system is not relevant to this discussion, what is pertinent is that the billing process for the producer remains as efficient as possible and that imputes that these processes have the Oracle Financial Management suite available to the service providers.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects.

The Preliminary Specification Part CCXCVI (PLM Part XXXV)

There are many things that require transaction support in the Petroleum Lease Marketplace of the Preliminary Specification. Transactions such as lease rentals, surface rentals and bonus payments all would fall within the modules domain. In this post I want to look at the Oracle Fusion Applications Financial Management module to determine what services are available to assist in the processing of these transactions.

We once again should look to the service providers in terms of the expanded division of labor and specialization that has been enabled through the Preliminary Specification. The focus of the innovative oil and gas producer and Joint Operating Committees are on their land and asset base, and their earth science and engineering capabilities. The Research & Capabilities and Knowledge & Learning modules focus on the development and deployment of capabilities and the Petroleum Lease Marketplace module is focused on the land and asset base of the producer. Therefore to focus on those assets would require that the administrative minutiae of land administration, production and exploration administration and the accounting associated with land and assets be outsourced to specialized service providers. Enabling the producer to focus exclusively on building and maintaining the competitive and strategic land and asset base of their firm. A task that is the key to building value for the producer, and a task that is unlimited in terms of the amount of energy they could expend in pursuit of that base.

Here we have a scenario where the producer has selected the People, Ideas & Objects application modules as their ERP system. Which includes the Oracle Financials and imputes that high levels of specialization and division of labor are incorporated. Meaning that these accounting applications are primarily used by individuals who reside outside the producer firm. There will be members of the producer firm who use them as well, however, the majority will reside within the service provider firms. Thankfully we are using a cloud computing model of delivery of the systems to enable the use of these systems to be used by these other organizations. Now let's assume for a moment that there are service providers for lease payments who guarantee your surface and lease rentals will be paid on time, lawyers for maintenance of agreements and one for Crown / Federal lands, to name just a few. Each of these service providers are representing many producers with a large market share of the industry. Each have highly organized and efficient processes that require specialized software systems to meet their specific needs. People, Ideas & Objects, on behalf of the producers represented in our subscription model would need to provide access to the producers data and the development of these highly automated systems.

What processes would be adequate for one producer would be fairly simple and straightforward. In terms of a highly organized process, the ability of one producer firm to have the volume of activity to justify the systems to build the highly automated systems wouldn’t exist. In a scenario where the industry is being represented by highly specialized service providers the need for highly automated systems however is necessary. And these systems have to be an integral part of the producers system in terms of their Security & Access Control. For instance the lease rental service provider would be able to access only the tables relating to the lease rental data. Without this level of access the ability of the service provider to do their job would not exist.

In terms of the Oracle Fusion Applications we will need to adopt the full suite of Financial Management modules. These include the General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Asset Management, Payments & Collections and Cash & Expense Management. We had already adopted these in the Resource Marketplace module and therefore only have to access the specific services within those modules that we need. Such is the advantages of modularity.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle (private circle, accessible by members only) and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

The Preliminary Specification is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for People, Ideas & Objects products remains at the sole discretion of People, Ideas & Objects.