Capital Projects Require Strategic Information Sharing and Protection

Oil and Gas | United States, Southern Africa

ENABLING THE SECURED EXCHANGE OF TRUSTED INFORMATION

Mega-projects, especially those located in remote parts of the world lacking in supporting infrastructure, often entail more investment and risk than an individual company is willing to undertake alone. This was the reality that our client found while engaged in a large capital project in southern Africa. Due to the massive scale of the endeavor, a network of global investment partners was engaged.

Recognizing the dynamics of creating a project team, that grew from 12 to over 300 personnel in 24 months, coupled with the hazards of miscommunicating financial and technical information with its joint venture partners, this client turned to Access Sciences to mitigate the risk and drive efficient, effective communications.

Our client was contractually obligated to share confidential project information with each of the joint venture’s non-operating partners, while simultaneously protecting that information from the other partners. The terms of the agreement also required that the operating partner withhold information from a financial partner if that partner was in financial arrears to the JV. Additionally, as the concessionaire, our client was similarly obligated to share information with several ministries of the host country. Learn how Access Sciences addresses these challenges.

ISSUE

Decentralized information exchange on a large capital project, risking potential project stoppage, litigation, and billions of dollars of lost revenue.

SOLUTION

Control the flow of information
Ensure dissemination of the correct content in an accurate and timely manner
Properly restrict sensitive information

BENEFIT

Reduced risk, improved contractual compliance, and empowered partners to make informed business decisions.

SERVICES DELIVERED

Communication Strategy
Information Architecture
Policy & Process Development
Security Administration
Training Strategy & Curriculum

Recognizing and Mitigating Risk

The primary goal of the solution was to enable information consistency and sharing at the same time with the right people. A risk assessment of the organization revealed many of their pain points could be ameliorated by implementing policies and supporting guidelines. It was also important in designing the solution to maintain the client’s corporate agility and minimize any impact on existing work practices.

We developed a communication policy to provide guidance on how information should be disseminated, both internally and externally. It also defined content ownership regarding information sharing, clarifying when information requests should be fulfilled and when they should be funneled up.

To provide a support system, we designed a new function and role to coordinate the exchange of project information and manage the information access rights of the partners. A functional mailbox facilitated communication between the new role and project staff and served as a central collection point for relevant email communications. Documents were managed in a central repository to control versions and reduce duplicates.

The breadth and many moving pieces of the project required all involved to be comfortable and confident in the process and comply with their responsibilities regarding the exchange of information. To facilitate their desire and ability to comply, we communicated the importance and value of the new process and we provided training materials.

THE BUSINESS VALUE

The combination of people, processes, and tools in the newly created information infrastructure benefited our client, its JV partners, and the host country by:

Empowering users to make informed decisions, thereby protecting information assets and reducing the likelihood of lost business and profits.
Enriching the client’s information governance program, facilitating contractual compliance, and safeguarding confidential information from being inadvertently exposed.
Tracking the frequency and nature of information requests and responses, analyzing data to identify trends and variations, and using this information to identify and make improvements.

THE RESULT

Our client now communicates more effectively with its partners using:

A communication policy to guide how information should be disseminated.
Well-defined processes and procedures to appropriately share and shield information while maintaining the client’s corporate agility and minimizing the impact on existing work practices.
The client’s existing document and workflow management system that adapted to automate the new processes.
A communication coordinator directs the exchange of project information and manages the information access rights of the partners.

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