botminds.aiRequest a demo
WorkflowNew Ventures, Exploration & Reserves

Work Program and Budget Review

Work program and budget review software that reads the operator's book against the last two, so the comment letter asks about what was promised and never done.

See the demoBook a demo
Follow one morning on the flowline question ↓
The problem

The budget book arrives once a year, and the last two books stay shut

The operating company sends one large book, and a small team has a few weeks to test it before the date in the operating agreement. There is time to compare the big totals with last year's spreadsheet. There is no time to open the two books before it, so a project that changed its name reads as new money.

Delivery sits somewhere else again, in year-end and quarterly reports. Spend gets read as progress, and an answer that only promises a report gets filed as closed. For a minority shareholder the written comment is the lever, and a thin letter gives it away.

Built forShareholder reviewersShareholder leadsNon-operated venture teamsInternal auditors

The Problem Today

Each year a budget book arrives, and nobody can say quickly what the last two books promised and delivered.

<25%
of 58 major projects on time: one offshore regulator, Mar 2017 our estimate

Read by hand today

  • Budget book
  • Reports
  • Minutes
  • Letters
  • New name, no historyA renamed project looks new; its old promise is lost
  • Answers nobody checksA promise to answer later passes for an answer

The Solution

  1. Read all three booksEach line of the new book tied to its page and matched to the last two
  2. Promised against deliveredScope and money for each project, from year-end and quarterly reports
  3. Last year's questionsEach one checked against this book: answered, partly or still open
  4. A reviewer owns the questionThe agent drafts with pages; the reviewer edits; the lead signs

Built-in controls

  • Agents never sign, send or take a position
  • The lead opens every cited page before signing
  • Nobody signs a question they wrote or edited

What You Get

Your reviewers reach the committee with a signed list the operator has to answer, each question on its page.

  • The lead's call on each lineVote lines set by hand, none set by default
  • Renamed projects foundEach name change between books put to a person
  • A clock for a small teamTwo reviewers, one lead, each due date on one screen
One morning, by the clock

A work program and budget review, from the ledger to the comment letter

The operating company sent its book: 640 pages, 620 lines, $225.0M gross. Comments are due in 14 days. This is one morning of the shareholder's review, screen by screen.

demoThe venture, its partners, its people and its numbers are all sample data.

  1. 0107:40

    Four items asked a third time, and $98.9M asked for them before

    Shareholder reviewer, projects

    The ledger puts each item in the book on one line and reads it across: what the book two years back asked and what was spent, what last year's book asked and what was spent, and what this book asks. Four items sit at the top, asked a third time and not delivered. Over the last two books they asked $98.9M and spent $10.2M. This book asks $59.7M more.

  2. 02The flowline

    Three names, one 10-inch flowline, and no pipe laid in two years

    Shareholder reviewer, projects

    The same line ran under three project names. The matcher was 84% sure on names alone, so the reviewer confirmed it and the finance reviewer checked it. Side by side: 12 miles for $33.3M, then 12 miles for $38.6M, now 9 miles for $46.0M. Spent: $2.1M on survey and design, then $3.4M on pipe ordered and a vessel slot lost.

  3. 03Page 212

    The page itself, with the $46.0M split in two

    Shareholder reviewer, projects

    Each figure on the screen opens the page it came from. Page 212 holds the scope: replace 9 miles from the platform, keep the 3 miles nearest the other platform, join them with a subsea tie-in at mile 9. Lay vessel and pipe come to 28.8, tie-ins, risers and mobilization to 17.2. The reviewer can quote the page across the table.

  4. 04Last year

    Last year's answer was a promise, and the tracker says not answered

    Shareholder reviewer, projects

    Last year the shareholder asked for the inspection summary that justified replacing all 12 miles. The operating company replied that the summary would be presented to the technical committee. It never arrived, and the committee notes do not list it. The tracker treats a promise to answer as no answer, so the old question is carried into this year's draft.

  5. 0509:08

    The reviewer sharpens the draft and asks where the spare pipe goes

    Shareholder reviewer, projects

    The agent's draft asks for the cost split and why 3 miles now stay. The reviewer rewrites it in his own words and adds what the draft missed: pipe was ordered for 12 miles, and only 9 are needed. An edit needs a reason, so he picks adds a missing ask. The agent's wording stays below his, for the record.

  6. 0609:12

    Signing stays off until the lead opens 4 more pages

    Shareholder lead

    This question is material, so it is signed one by one. On the lead's screen: the reviewer's text, the agent's draft folded under it, and the four pages it cites, green once opened. A counter on the sign button shows how many are still shut. Nobody signs a question they worded, so had the lead edited it, the technical committee member would sign instead.

  7. 0709:25

    The trail names the pages: 188, 212, 214 and 6

    Shareholder lead

    He opens page 188 of the oldest book, pages 212 and 214 of this one, and page 6 of last year's answers, then signs. The audit trail lists each open by the minute, then the signature. Lower down, yesterday's round shows routine questions signed as a lot after a sample, and says on how many the pages were not opened.

  8. 08After signing

    25 of last year's 46 questions are still open

    Shareholder reviewer, finance

    Last year's list reads 19 answered in this book, 11 partly, 14 not, and 2 overtaken. The 25 still open are each tied to the question that carries them now. The inspection summary shows as not answered, carried as the flowline question, now signed. Nothing here depends on someone remembering what was asked twelve months ago.

  9. 09Before the comment date

    Seven checks open, and the lead's position not set on any line

    Shareholder lead

    The comment letter cannot be signed while a check is open: questions left to review, signatures waiting, held pages, unchecked name changes, undecided answers. The position starts empty, 0 of 13 set. Beside it, the vote: each line needs 60% and two parties, so at 31.125% the shareholder cannot stop one alone, and the screen says which partner it would take.

The flowline costs 84% more a mile, put back together like for like

The two books split the cost differently. Put back together from pages 189 and 212, like for like, the rise is real and the riser drops out.

LineBook two years backThis bookChange
Miles replaced129−25.0%
Total$33.3M$46.0M+38.1%
Total a mile$2.78M$5.11M+83.8%
Vessel and pipe with the first mobilization, a mile$1.95M$3.63M+86.2%
Tie-ins and risers, original scope$9.9M$5.55M−43.9%
Second mobilization, diving and the mile 9 tie-innone$7.75Mnew work

demoSample data, from the working solution. Fewer miles at a higher price is the question the reviewer sends, with the inspection summary behind the 3 miles left in service.

Around the review

The joint venture budget review, screen by screen

The rest of the same book as both reviewers, the lead and the operating company see it.

Name changes between booksOf 620 lines, 26 changed name, split or merged. Below 98% sure, one reviewer confirms and the other checks. A study matched to an overhaul at 62% was rejected.
This year's questions54 drafts: 25 carry last year's open questions, 29 are new. The lead signs 5 material ones one by one, and 7 routine ones as a lot after a sample.
Round 1 answers9 of 16 questions answered. The agent proposes close or keep open and says why, such as a broker's figure promised for after the vote. The owner decides.
Six vote lines and the spendThe book as the committee votes it, $225.0M on six lines, then asked against spent by book. The gap is items not delivered; advances settle at year close.
What the operating company seesOnly the questions sent to it, and its own answers. No drafts, no ledger, no position. Its contact answers here, and the answer lands on the shareholder's answers screen.
Review rulesNot delivered means under 50% of promised scope. Questions at $2.5M share sign one by one. A reviewer proposes a change, and only the lead's signature moves it.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

What a deadline read of the book lets through

From the same book, four things a quick read against last year's totals would pass.

A project under its third name

Project numbers carried across three books tie the flowline together, so it reads as asked a third time, not as new.

The operator marking its own work

The book says 97% of planned activities were delivered or in progress, while spend so far is $131.9M of last year's $224.0M and the largest project has laid no pipe.

A promise filed as an answer

The inspection summary was promised to a committee and never came. The tracker keeps it open and carries it.

A lump sum with no breakdown

General and administrative rises from $20.76M to $24.5M, 18.0%, with a $9.0M lump sum behind it and no split.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Who owns a question, who signs it, and who countersigns the letter

Agents draft and propose. Every word that leaves the building has a named owner and a signature.

Shareholder reviewer, projects
Sees
Facilities, wells and integrity items, three books side by side
Signs
Keeps, edits or cuts each draft on his lines, with a reason
Shareholder reviewer, finance
Sees
Running costs, head office and the spend behind each promise
Signs
Owns her lines' questions and checks the other reviewer's name changes
Shareholder lead
Sees
Every page a question cites, green once he has opened it
Signs
Each question, the rules, the position on each vote line and the letter
Technical committee member
Sees
The letter, the vote page, each item asked again and a random sample of others
Signs
Countersigns the letter, and signs any question the lead worded
Internal auditor
Sees
The trail and the exports
Signs
No signature; the trail and the exports are the auditor's
The agents

Agents that read three budget books and stop short of a position

One job each, and a limit written into it.

Book reader

Reads the book into lines, each tied to its page.

  • Never guesses an unreadable page: it holds it
Project matcher

Matches lines across books by project number, tag and scope.

  • Never joins two projects on name alone
  • When less than sure, a person decides
Delivery checker

Ties each promise to the year-end and quarterly reports and to billing.

  • Never treats spend as delivery
Question tracker

Checks last year's questions against this book.

  • Never counts a promise to answer as an answer
Challenge drafter

Drafts one short question with its pages.

  • Never sends, signs or takes a position
Answer reader

Reads each answer, checks its sums and proposes close or keep open.

  • Never closes a question
Letter writer

Assembles the signed questions and the position the lead set.

  • Never proposes or sets the position
  • Never sends

Where a non-operated partner finds the promise and the delivery

Each one is read, never written to.

The budget booksThis year's book and the two before it, page by page
Year-end and quarterly reportsWhat was delivered, by scope
Billing in the finance systemWhat was spent, from the operator's bills
Last year's letter and answersWhat was asked, and what came back
Agreement and minutesThe comment date, the pass mark and the committee's resolutions

What non-operated partners ask about work program and budget review

What is work program and budget review?

Work program and budget review is how a non-operated partner tests the operating company's annual book, the WP&B, before the operating committee votes. Here agents read the book against the last two, tie each promise to what was delivered and spent, and draft questions with their pages. Reviewers own each question and the shareholder lead signs.

How does it follow a project that changed its name?

By project number, equipment tag and scope, not by name alone. When the matcher is less than sure, one reviewer confirms the match and the other checks it. A question on an item whose match is not checked cannot be kept or signed.

Is money spent the same as work delivered?

No. An item counts as not delivered when less than half of the scope it promised was done, per the operator's reports. Spend is shown beside it as a second signal. Budget not spent is not money lost, since advances settle at year close.

Who decides our position at the operating committee?

The shareholder lead decides, line by line. Nothing is set until he sets it, and agents do not suggest a vote. Before the letter goes, every check must pass, then the lead signs, then the technical committee member countersigns after a sampled read.

What happens to last year's open questions in a non-operated joint venture?

Each one is checked against the new book. Answered ones close; partly answered and unanswered ones are carried into this year's drafts, tied to the old question, so the history travels with the item.

What does the operating company see?

Only the questions sent to it, and its own answers. Drafts, the ledger, the counts and the position stay with the shareholder.

Can a reviewer cut a question nobody wants to send?

A routine one, with a reason, and it can be restored. A carried or material question cannot be cut by one person. Every cut, edit and send-back is on the audit trail with its reason.

New Ventures, Exploration & Reserves

Other new ventures and joint venture solutions

All 9 solutions →
Production Sharing Contract Review

Find the sentence that moves the deal, before the session.

1-min demoWell Report Search

A field’s well files in one picture, every pin on its page.

1-min demoProved Undeveloped Reserves Review

Know what falls off the day a rig slips, not at year-end.

1-min demo

Bring last year's
book and this one.

We will read your operator's book against the last two and show you the questions it raises, page by page.

Book a demoBrowse solutions