"AFE Navigator had an immediate impact on our business - it saved us time and money, and in general, made our AFE processes far more efficient".
Senior Financial Analyst
Berry Petroleum
Challenge
In 2008, Berry Petroleum was manually generating, routing, and approving over 1000 AFEs per year using a complicated matrix of Excel spreadsheets. This process was laden with inefficiencies including corrupt files, endless paper trails, redundant data entry and internal communication bottlenecks.
Without a standardized AFE workflow in place, Berry experienced major inconsistencies in its AFE process between departments and between its California and Colorado offices. AFEs passed around the office for review were held up on individuals' desks or lost completely. The inability to monitor the status of an AFE in a timely manner meant projects were often started without approval. This lack of accountability led to major budget overruns as AFEs were not receiving a thorough review.
Inefficiencies eliminated any hope for a historical audit trail of AFEs. Time and budget overruns on projects could not be evaluated or improved without dependable records. Berry was also too dependent upon a few key people that managed the failing AFE process. Significant time and resources were required to replace key players when sick, on leave, or on their way to retirement.
Recognizing they had a broken system Berry needed to identify a new way to provide easy and structured workflows, create a secure AFE audit trail and ensure robust AFE creation, routing, and approval for all departments.
Solution
Berry created an internal team comprised of IT, operations, finance, drilling, and engineering representatives to evaluate a new AFE solution. After an extensive evaluation of five possible solutions Berry selected AFE Navigator as the solution that best met the team's requirements. Rudy Hill noted "our finance team wanted to make sure that the solution we selected provided a secure audit trail, our IT department wanted an application that was easy to implement and could be easily integrated into other systems, our drilling and facilities guys wanted to know that whatever we went with sped up the approval process, and our end users wanted a program that didn't require a degree in rocket science to use".
AFE Navigator offered a streamlined, uniform workflow that enabled users to monitor AFE status at any time with the click of a button. Configurable to Berry's internal business rules, AFE Navigator offered an indelible audit trail to track and evaluate AFEs. AFE Navigator's centralized system reduced dependency upon people's availability, discipline, and schedules and ensured consistency across the organization.
Results
Since implementing AFE Navigator Berry Petroleum has reduced its AFE approval process time by 74%, significantly reduced budget overruns and eliminated redundant AFEs and associated files. Lost or missing AFEs are a thing of the past as AFE Navigator has streamlined the AFE process from creation through approval, improved the AFE routing and tracking process and provided a uniform workflow for all departments. A Berry Engineering Technician responsible for initiating Berry's AFEs credits AFE Navigator for improving both interdepartmental communications and corporate workflow. "AFE Navigator gives us a more efficient, easier and seamless process across the company. "
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