If finding petroleum were simply a matter
of collecting data and applying a formula, anyone with a spreadsheet
could be telling oil companies where to drill.
Knowledge -- not just information -- is the key to
successful exploration, and geologists compile knowledge and expertise
only through years of education and experience.
That's why some companies are taking steps to ensure
that crucial knowledge isn't lost. In these chaotic days of company
mergers, constrictions and reorganizations, that's no small chore.
Helping that transition is the development of software
tools that can help capture what exploration teams learn on given
projects.
More importantly, companies are learning -- or need
to learn -- to develop a corporate attitude that promotes and rewards
the sharing of knowledge, according to Dutch Holland of Holland
and Davis in Houston.
Overall, the process is called knowledge management.
For example, simple data -- such as porosity -- mean
little until related to other data and conditions in an area and
is interpreted. Knowledge, Holland said, is what the explorationist
learns from doing the interpretation that can be applied to future
projects.
Project software that requires periodic reports concerning
this knowledge is one tool that can help, he said.
Indeed, many powerful tools are available for data
management, but only now are systems being developed for true knowledge
management, said AAPG member Brian Toelle, a geologist with GeoQuest-Schlumberger.
Holland said companies deal with two types of knowledge:
- "Know -- what" includes what one has learned. For example,it
can refer to information learned during a basin analysis, and
might include stratigraphic framework, depositional history and
such.
- "Know -- how" focuses on how one did the interpretation
and answers questions like: "What was the work flow?" and "What
tools, tasks, products or methods were most effective or helpful
to the process?"
"If members of a particular assets team are working
well in exploration and production," Holland said, "you want to
go out and capture some of their know-how and share it throughout
the company."
Capturing the "Know-How"
Knowledge management provides the tools to capture
some of this "know-how" and make it available to others through
Web-enabled access to the knowledge base, Toelle said.
Holland cautioned that the process involves a corporate
program, not just computers and software.
As the team progresses through a project, members
go to the knowledge management system as key sequences are completed
and share, or report, their comments and observations to accompany
the data and interpretation.
By the end of the project the knowledge base is complete.
"Later, another team may encounter similar problems
dealing with, say, deep-water turbidites," Toelle said. "They can
go to the system for a number of tools."
The tools might include:
- A directory of experts, both inside and outside the company.
- Documents and reports dealing with the subject.
- Literature searches of publications like the BULLETIN.
- The knowledge captured by the previous team's work and stored
in the project summation and progress reports.
"Lousy summaries are legendary -- they're non-existent,
or written too long after the fact to be fresh and complete, plus
they're just a pain to do," Toelle said.
Knowledge management is designed to make the summaries
easier to do by making them an integral part of the exploration
process, he said.
Step By Step
The first step in putting knowledge management to
work is deciding what type of knowledge is critical to your mission,
Holland said.
The next step is determining where that knowledge
is -- "generally it's either people or records," he said. "Developing
this 'knowledge map' is a critical step.
"You then have to determine what tools can bring
the knowledge to the people who need it for decision-making," he
continued. "Knowledge management is more than document management
or work flow. It must be a collection of tools. And the next step
is Web-enabling to allow anyone to access and retrieve or add to
the knowledge base."
Getting these tools into play on a day-to-day basis
requires support throughout the organization.
"When a geologist on the team makes his top picks
and passes them on to a geophysicist," Toelle said, "he must go
into the system at this point and enter what was learned during
that step.
"And management must expect and encourage the team
leaders to check the knowledge base periodically and prod members
to contribute."
In the Field
Toelle believes that, once in place, a knowledge
management system can be useful from the beginning to the end of
a project. For example:
- A developmental geologist may set out to learn about the geologic
environment and history of an area. A current knowledge base makes
the literature search or in-house search for information easier.
- Work flows documented in the past as a superior process can
be used in planning a project.
- As the project progresses, team members with differing opinions
can go to the knowledge base to locate experts or literature to
help determine the most likely route to success.
- Information once found in file cabinets and phone books are
available over the Web on your desktop or laptop.
"You may be in Houston while your expert is in Perth
or London," he said.
Some cautions in implementing knowledge management
systems, according to Holland, include:
- A successful system must be more than hardware and software.
It is a "people system" of collaborating and sharing.
- As with any system, paper or PC, content is key.
- The focus must be on the tangible elements of doing business
-- for example, improving project summaries. "Without this, your
knowledge management system stinks," Holland said.
- Once your system is defined, it must be integrated into day-to-day
operations.
- The technical system should be the slave to the geoscientist,
not vice versa.