A Management Planning Tool for Optimizing Use of Manpower and Equipment Resources

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for the 43rd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 1968. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. An application of the computer as a management tool to aid in optimizing manpower and equipment resources is presented. The computer is used in the coordination of a large number of periodically recurring job functions to assemble, process and compile the various functions on the basis of priority, timing, accounting function, manpower and skill type requirements. In the application described the computer is used to store, and retrieve pertinent information relative to the testing needs of several thousand gas wells. A properly designed computer system provides managers with ready accessability to tailored test schedules for each well. This allows periodic review of the demands on personnel and equipment with minimum effort. The ability to retrieve current information in several ways permits flexibility in analyzing changing situations. The application of the computer to this and similar problems also aids managers to satisfy work requirements in a timely manner. Introduction One of a managers primary functions is to efficiently coordinate manpower and equipment resources under his supervision. The problems associated with this management responsibility are compounded when the resources are spread over large geographical areas and engaged in a multitude of different activities. This paper presents an application of the electronic computer as a management tool. The application discussed involves the coordination of well testing activities on sever thousand gas wells annually. The large number of wells, at various sages of depletion, and the resulting variations in testing needs create a multitude of activities which must be coordinated. To efficiently coordinate such a large number of activities manually is impossible. The computer, however, affords a tool with which a manager can rapidly assemble and compile the required job functions to aid him in discharging his responsibilities in a more prudent manner.