Following several acquisitions, a spinoff and a merger, oilfield service company Archer faced numerous IT challenges. Operations of its drilling and engineering division were characterized by long, complex projects and extensive technical data, and required a solution that provided a complete and detailed overview. Going from a fragmented IT environment to an integrated ERP solution resulted in common business processes and improved project visibility and control.

Archer's predecessor companies had a long and diverse history before becoming Archer. Archer's origins go back to the 1970s, and continued with the creation of Seadrill and the spinoff of Seawell in 2007. Following several minor acquisi- tions in Norway, Seawell was listed on the Oslo stock exchange in 2010.

In early 2011 Seawell merged with Allis-Chalmers, a US-based oilfield services company with a diverse portfolio of oilfield services operating in countries including the US, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil.

Following this merger the company was renamed Archer in May 2011. Later in 2011, Archer acquired Great White Energy, a company operating several distinct service lines in the US land market. Today Archer has more than 8,000 employees and provides quality services to the oil and gas industry ranging from drilling services to production optimization, well integrity and intervention services.

Following the spinoff from Seadrill and a series of minor acquisitions, Archer was in need of a new ERP strategy as the company faced numerous IT challenges. Customers of its drilling and engineering division became more demanding in their need to provide them with supporting information for longer term complex projects. At the same time the company expanded internationally, which entailed challenges to organize and present its data in a consistent manner while complying with local requirements and regulations.

NEW ERP STRATEGY

Before becoming Archer, Seawell had a previous history with IFS Applications, stretching back to the 1990. In 2009, the company decided to have a fresh look at its ERP strategy, with the objective to standardize its fragmented legacy applications in the drilling and engineering division.

There were several reasons for this decision: A more efficient handling of complex projects within the oil and gas industry required a project-driven business solution that also provided a complete overview in one application. Also there was a need to integrate its maintenance module with other ERP modules, such as supply chain and accounting, and a more seamless integration of its HR and payroll with project accounting and scheduling applications. In addition the growing international business was in need of an application which would achieve higher efficiency, improved consistency and compliance with contractual requirements, laws and regulations.

EXTENDED COMMITMENT

Prior to the decision to harmonize its ERP system, Archer was using IFS mainly for maintenance, and a variety of other applications for finance, HR and supply chain. The decision Archer was faced with was whether it should go for an inte- grated system or create interfaces between the various applications. If it opted to go with an integrated solution, the decision was whether to choose IFS or an alternative solution. With limited resources and time pressure due to a mandatory upgrade of one of its legacy applications, Archer decided to play it safe. In 2009, Archer signed a contract with IFS to purchase and implement modules for engineering, project management, financials and HR in order to achieve an inte- grated and standardized system from one vendor.

"This decision was in line with our strategy to streamline and grow our global project-based operations, and choosing IFS as our enterprise solution was the safest and most efficient solution given the situation we were in at that point in time," says Christoph Bausch, CFO Archer.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

Archer's overall aim was to utilize standard IFS Applications to harmonize its business processes in order to achieve increased visibility and improved business performance. Following some early work in 2010 the implementation project kicked off in the late spring of 2011.

Following a short and intensive implementation project, the full suite of IFS Applications went live first in Norway in January 2012, with operations in the United Kingdom next in line as a part of the international rollout plan. Today, IFS Applications is being used in Norway, the UK, Denmark, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Brazil and in New Zealand. Over half of Archer worldwide is now using IFS and benefit from improved data consistency and more efficient ways of working as a result of reduced manual input and the integration of various modules.

"We have gained better control over our processes since we implemented IFS and have established a foundation to harmonize and improve our processes even further," says Bausch.

Although there are a multitude of choices when it comes to integrated ERP solutions, Archer did not regret its decision during or after the implementation. Its choice of IFS Applications to support its businesses spanning from engineering to drilling services enabled Archer to focus on its operations with no need to worry about consistency of data.

BENEFITS

•    An integrated ERP solution with increased control over global operations

•    Improved productivity and better control over business processes and a foundation to harmonize and improve processes even further

•    A project-based solution that provides detailed project-based information

•    A maintenance solution that secures the complex asset life cycle manage- ment

•    Easier reporting in the HR department

•    Standardized reporting and improved compliance in the finance department