At the 2015 SKILLED awards held in March at the Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne, a Project Team from SKILLED Offshore (Perth, WA & Darwin, NT) a client of OPMS, were nominated as a finalist and won the SKILLED Client Team of the Year Award 2015.
Photo used with Permission from Skilled Offshore: http://www.skilled.com.au/investors/company-news/2015-skilled-awards-celebrates-our-most-outstanding-employees/
Jason O’Garr from OPMS asked Kristal Plaisted (Project Manager and Team Leader) a few questions about the project, the project team, what it meant to win this award and how OPMS contributed to this success.
AWARD
Jason: What was the criteria for the Client Team of the Year Award?
Kristal: We had to submit a nomination which showed we operate at the highest level against the SKILLED values being – Safety Leadership, One Team, Client Focus, Our People, High Performance and Integrity.
We also provided supporting information, including a video to capture all of our achievements so that we could give the judging panel an insight into a day in the life of the Project from where we started to where we are now.
This Project would not have been the success it is today without the exceptional team we have. We are all very proud to be part of this Project, and we’re particularly proud to have been recognised through this award.
Jason: What did winning this award mean to the project team?
Kristal: A reward for a massive effort in executing Australia’s longest offshore pipelay, while at the same time remaining positive, solutions oriented and outcome focussed.
Jason: Would you say that using OPMS provided you with a competitive advantage?
Kristal: Yes, a lot of other companies in our field run projects off spreadsheets. OPMS ties our requirements into one system, which allows us to centralise processes, execute various functions and compliance requirements and manages data extraction with ease.
PROJECT TEAM
Jason: How did the OPMS software and staff help the project succeed?
Kristal: The system itself helped the project succeed, as it was functional, available when working remotely and user friendly. The team behind OPMS were flexible, available and responsive.
Jason: What positions made up the Project Team?
Kristal: Project Administrators, Recruiters, HR, IR, Contracts Advisor, Payroll, Commercial, Invoicing, HSE, Project.
Jason: How many of your team members used OPMS on a daily basis to work on the project?
Kristal: Up to 10 at any one time – however as a whole 95% of our team utilise OPMS in their role.
Jason: How easy did the team find OPMS to use?
Kristal: Learning a new system is always a challenge for staff as there are so many different systems on the market. The staff took to OPMS quickly as it suits our market.
PROJECT
Jason: What was the maximum number of employees working on the offshore facilities at any one time?
Kristal: Phase 2 of the Project was our largest, we had 370 personnel offshore on two different facilities at any one time, a total of 740 supplied.
Phase 2 of the Project requires 7 day crew changes, 2 helicopters per day (approx. 32 personnel). The crew movements and accurate management of this is paramount.
Jason: Were all of these employees rostered in OPMS with their travel managed in OPMS as well?
Kristal: Yes they were. We utilise OPMS as our key rostering and travel management tool to track our crew movements. OPMS interfaces with our payroll system and also tracks all our crew competencies and training expiry dates to ensure no one is mobilised to site without valid certification.
Jason: Were there any OPMS functions that were particularly useful to the project team, such as booking travel?
Kristal: Various functions assisted us, with the main ones being travel booking, the POB (Person on Board) count to show the numbers of crew on/ off per day, training and compliance and the reports of personnel data (which you can “cut” or filter to use as you wish).
Jason: How did OPMS provide insights into personnel management on this project?
Kristal: OPMS advised us when system enhancements were made and also provided phone support when we needed a particular report or a “way” to achieve something.
“OPMS was able to integrate this form… This was a huge time saver for us”
Jason: Did you use any reports created from OPMS to support business or operational decisions on this project?
Kristal: The flexibility of OPMS to create reports to suit our business needs was excellent. Often clients require “on boarding” forms for operator facilities which can include data such as NOK (Next of Kin), HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training), MSIC (Maritime Security Identification Card), Medical dates/ expiries.
OPMS was able to integrate this form, so that at the click of a button it populated all data from the system that we needed. In comparison, we saw other subcontractors having to manually complete these details. This was a huge time saver for us, as you could imagine when you have large numbers of personnel or when crew revalidate their tickets.
Jason: Did you use OPMS in crisis management? If so, please elaborate.
Kristal: As yet we have not had to use the system for a crisis management situation, however with NOK reporting, we are able to conduct weekly audits with ease to ensure all details for personnel is up to date and in the system correctly. We also recently suggested a functional enhancement with OPMS to have the ability to text all NOK’s in the event of a major emergency. OPMS has now implemented this as a non-urgent system enhancement for us and their other clients.
Jason: Do you believe OPMS will continue to be a useful tool in managing similar projects?
Kristal: Yes I do. This is the largest project that I am aware of that SKILLED Offshore and OPMS have managed and it’s been a success.