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Simultaneous Operations Planning

Simultaneous operations software that draws every job on the deck from its own plans, finds what the combined list hides, and leaves each move to the installation manager.

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Follow one reel lift from the list to the signature ↓
The problem

Simultaneous operations look clean on the list and clash in the lift plan

Wells, construction, maintenance, the deck crew and production each plan their own fortnight. The operations planner merges them by hand into one combined list, a row per job, and the daily meeting looks for two rows in the same area at the same hour.

A row carries the place a team wrote down, while the work may reach somewhere else. Crane routes live on page two of each lift plan. Radiography barriers sit in method statements, and helicopters in a flight schedule the list never sees. Nobody has the hours to read them all before the look-ahead goes out.

Built forInstallation managersOperations plannersWells supervisorsConstruction supervisors

The Problem Today

Wells, lifting, construction and maintenance share one deck, and the combined list hides where each job reaches.

22%
of incidents were lifting, an offshore regulator, Nov 2020 published
80%
of those were in work called routine, same review, Nov 2020 published

Read by hand today

  • Lift plans
  • Permits
  • Work orders
  • Flights
  • Routes are not in the listA lift's path over the wellbay is on page two
  • Each team plans aloneEach crew's plan merged into one list by hand

The Solution

  1. Each plan on one deckEach team's jobs drawn where and when they happen, across the fortnight
  2. The plans behind each lineLift routes, barriers, flow paths and overhead work, each cited
  3. Tested against your matrixEach overlapping pair, by the list and by the plans
  4. A move, with its knock-onsThe planner proposes; the installation manager reads each source, then signs

Built-in controls

  • Installation manager signs every move
  • Agents never move a job or issue a permit
  • A safety question is sent to its named owner

What You Get

The look-ahead goes out with every overlap tested, and each move signed by the person who answers for it.

51 h
of reading per look-ahead, at 6 minutes a document our estimate
  • Conflicts drawn on the deckScrub through the fortnight and see each clash where it happens
  • Moves with their knock-onsVessel time, crews, crane charts and the matrix rechecked
  • Evidence for the auditorCoverage of wireline, coiled tubing and workover jobs
One lift, on the deck

A reel lift the combined list passed, found in the plans and moved

The platform's look-ahead holds 338 jobs from 9 contractor crews and 3 company teams. Here is one pair of jobs on Day 6 at 14:00, as the operations planner and the offshore installation manager work it.

demoThe platform, its wells, the crews and every number on these screens are sample data.

  1. 01Day 6, 14:00

    By the list, a reel at laydown west and wireline in the wellbay

    Operations planner

    The deck is the platform in plan view, north up, with a fourteen-day scrubber under it. Switched to what the list shows, Day 6 at 14:00 is quiet: six jobs running and no conflict at this hour. The coiled tubing reel offload sits at laydown west. The slickline job on well 14-127 sits in the wellbay. Different areas, so the meeting would pass it.

  2. 02Day 6, 14:00

    By the plans, the crane swings the reel over slot C-27 at 11.0 m

    Operations planner

    One click to what the plans show, and the lift draws its route: pick at 15.0 m from the vessel, slew clockwise, luff in over the wellbay at slot C-27, set down on the stand at 17.0 m. That slot holds well 14-127, open for wireline. A ring marks a conflict the list never showed, and it needs a proposal.

  3. 03Before 10:24

    Two jobs, three sources and four moves on one conflict

    Operations planner

    The conflict page crops the deck to the two jobs and shows both rows as the list holds them. Beside them sit the moves the agents tested against the whole look-ahead. One is recommended: re-route the reel west of the wellbay under a second revision of the lift plan and keep 14:00. The reasons come with numbered sources that open.

  4. 04Before 10:24

    Hook load 22.35 t, and the route written on the lift plan itself

    Operations planner

    Source one is the lift plan, with the passages the agent took marked. Reel, frame and rigging come to 22.35 t on the north crane. At pick, 86% of the off-board chart is used, which makes it a complex lift for the installation manager. Its route line says it in plain words: over the wellbay at slot C-27.

  5. 05Before 10:24

    The swab valve is open from 08:00 to 18:30 with tools in the hole

    Operations planner

    Source two is the wireline method statement for 14-127. The lubricator is on the tree from 06:00 to 19:30, and the well is open, tools in hole, from 08:00 to 18:30. Shut-in tubing head pressure is 2,840 psi on equipment rated 5,000 psi. Source three is the platform's matrix cell: a crane lift over a well open for intervention is not allowed.

  6. 06Before 10:24

    Waiting until 20:00 still flies the load over the closed-in well

    Operations planner

    The planner has opened all three sources. Below the recommended move, the agents say why the others fail. At 20:00 on the old route, the 22.35 t load still passes over 14-127, closed in, and the other producing trees. Pausing the wireline adds about 3.3 hours and the load still passes the lubricator. Going round the living quarters needs about 35 m of radius.

  7. 0710:24

    Accept and sign stays off at 0 of 3 sources opened

    Offshore installation manager

    The planner proposes the re-route with a reason code, changed the route or plan, kept the time. On the installation manager's screen the proposal names who made it and when. She has opened none of the sources, and the planner's openings do not count for her, so signing is locked. Sending the proposal back is open to her, with a reason picked from a short list.

  8. 0810:26

    Signed at 10:26, and the lift still waits for the new lift plan

    Offshore installation manager

    She opens the lift plan, the method statement and the matrix cell herself, then signs. The record shows the move, who proposed it, who signed and the reason. Her signature orders the second revision of the lift plan; it does not create it. The lift stays held until the deck foreman issues it and she signs it as a complex lift.

  9. 09Day 6, 14:30

    At 14:30 the reel goes west of the wellbay, marked not yet issued

    Operations planner

    Back on the deck, the reel's new route picks at 10.3 m with the vessel set up further west and passes clear of every well, the living quarters and the helideck. It is drawn as Rev 2, not yet issued. No conflict shows at this hour, and the wireline job on 14-127 keeps its times.

Around the look-ahead

The SIMOPS plan beyond one lift: register, matrix, coverage and wind

Six more screens the planner, the installation manager and the auditor use on the same look-ahead.

Moves and sign-off19 real conflicts: 10 in the combined list, 9 only in the plans, plus 2 list flags the plans dispute. Each row names who acts next and its settle-by clock.
The operations matrixThirteen activities, each cell read for the same area and elsewhere, with the number of pairs that meet in it. Your own matrix replaces the sample one, with its revision.
Well work outside drillingEvery wireline, coiled tubing, workover and well test job: documents read, pairs tested, conflicts, missing conditions and the permit. Built for the auditor.
Questions to the teamsWhere a plan is silent, the agents ask its owner, and nothing moves on a guess. Typed answers are flagged for a second person to read.
On the dayWind at the boom tips by the hour. 3 of today's 13 lifts fall over their 15 m/s limit, and the moves to tomorrow morning wait for a proposal.
Audit trailEach proposal, signature, answer and agent run with its time and a hash. Nothing is edited after it is written; the evidence pack exports in one click.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Four ways to move one reel, and why three of them fail

The agents tested each move against the whole look-ahead and the north crane's chart before anyone proposed.

MoveWhat the agents foundVerdict
Re-route west of the wellbay, keep 14:00Pick at 10.3 m, 72% of the chart; set-down at 17.0 m, 80%; the load never passes over a wellRecommended
Same route, 6 hours later at 20:00The 22.35 t load still passes over 14-127, closed in, and the other producing treesNot recommended
Pause the wireline and close the treeAdds about 3.3 hours, and the load still passes over the lubricatorNot recommended
Route around the living quartersNeeds about 35 m of radius; the chart ends at 28 m, at 19.0 tNot possible

demoSample data, from the working solution. The recommended move stays a complex lift, so the installation manager signs the new lift plan as well as the move.

Where the clash actually sits: six kinds of plan behind one row

Each is read, never written to. A place the plan leaves blank stays blank, and its owner is asked.

Lift plansRoute, radius, chart use and approval
Method statementsOpen-well windows, barriers and flow paths
Permit requestsFrom the permit system, read only
Work ordersMaintenance jobs from the maintenance system
Flight and vessel schedulesHelicopter movements and vessel calls
Your operations matrixLoaded with its revision; a cell changes only in a new one

What stays with the installation manager and the teams

Reading, drawing, testing and proposing is agent work. Moving a job, approving a lift or stopping a crew is not.

No job is moved by an agentThe move planner tests and recommends. The operations planner proposes, and the installation manager signs.
No lift is approved by an agentThe route tracer reads each lift against its crane's chart. A complex lift is signed by the installation manager.
No permit is issuedThe permit system is read only, apart from stop and suspension requests.
No matrix cell is relaxedThe matrix checker reads the cell as written and never calls a pair safe.
Nobody is told to start or stop workThe day watcher proposes moves for weather and vessel changes. A stop is called by a person.
A question about safety goes to its ownerAsked whether something is safe, the assistant sends the question word for word to the named person.
The agents

Each agent on this deck draws or tests, and none of them moves a job

One job each, and a line each one stays behind.

Plan collector

Brings each team's plan into one picture, with the place each team gives.

  • Never edits a team plan
  • Holds a plan it cannot open
Plan reader

Takes where the work reaches, when and what it does, each tied to its passage.

  • Never guesses a place
Route tracer

Draws lift routes, barriers, flow routes and overhead work on the deck.

  • Never approves a lift
Matrix checker

Tests each pair that meets in time, by the list and by the plans.

  • Never relaxes a cell
  • Never calls a pair safe
Move planner

Tests two or three moves per conflict and shows the knock-ons.

  • Never moves a job
Day watcher

Follows weather, vessel and permit states through the day.

  • Never tells a crew to start or stop
Evidence keeper

Keeps the audit trail, coverage and evidence exports.

  • Never edits or removes an entry

What installation managers ask about simultaneous operations software

What is simultaneous operations planning?

Simultaneous operations planning, or SIMOPS planning, decides which jobs on one installation may run at the same time. This product reads the plans behind each job, draws them on the deck, tests each pair that meets in time against your matrix, and proposes moves for people to sign.

Does it replace our SIMOPS procedure or manual of permitted operations?

No. It runs your own matrix, loaded with its revision, and reads each cell as written. A cell changes only when the technical authority issues a new revision.

Does a simultaneous operations risk assessment not already cover this?

No. A risk assessment sets the rules for kinds of work. This tests the actual look-ahead against them, pair by pair, using where each job really reaches from its lift plan, method statement or permit request.

Who signs a move?

The offshore installation manager, after opening every source herself. The operations planner proposes with a reason. Nobody signs their own proposal, and returning one to the planner takes a stated reason.

What if a plan does not say where the work reaches?

The place stays blank, and the agents ask the plan's owner. A pair whose condition is not written in the plan goes to its owner, never into a batch.

Does it issue permits or stop work?

No. It reads the permit system and can raise a stop or suspension request. People issue permits, call stops and decide restarts.

Can an auditor see what was checked on well work?

Yes. Coverage lists every wireline, coiled tubing, workover and well test job with the documents read, pairs tested and conflicts found, and the evidence pack exports the register and the trail.

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Bring next fortnight's plans
and your own matrix.

We will draw your look-ahead on your own deck and show you the pairs your combined list does not.

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