Information integration

The refining and petrochemicals industries are faced with increasing demands to integrate operations for economies of scale and unit cost reduction. Integration is also important to realize profitable synergies in operations that only large, combined refining and petrochemical complexes can achieve.

All current industry developments require improved quality and timeliness of information flow to facilitate integration of information across the entire organization.

This article examines how “true” integration, rather than data and information gathering and re-distribution, has been successfully achieved in refineries. The focus is on emerging web-portal technologies and IT developments that will build on the success achieved with integration platforms. These developments will provide the future Enterprise Portals needed to meet the challenges of Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Optimization across the entire refining / petrochemicals supply chain network.

Driving forces for integration
Competition between business units, groups of refineries, joint-venture arrangements between competitors, and the resilience of independents and national oil companies, together with new market entrants in retail and distribution creates a complex global commercial environment.

The complexity and magnitude of the task to achieve integration becomes apparent when we consider that a single refinery today will have between 50 to 150 applications involving information flow within its “battery limits”. (Ref. Solomon Associates Inc). Achieving executive decision-support “on-demand” continues to challenge the industry.

The need to improve information flow and improve data quality, turn it into information faster, and present it clearly and easily to key decision-makers within the organization, is the key driving force for integration in refining and petrochemicals. Given the complexity and competition facing the industry it has become essential to facilitate faster analysis, to provide the capability and support for more profitable decision-making. In addition, the need to monitor and evaluate performance has never been so important, and this must be as near to real-time as possible, with valid KPIs and accurate, timely reports supporting management.

An additional important reason for achieving integration in today’s commercial environment to gain significant competitive advantage is to facilitate the drive towards ATP (available to promise) capabilities, to capture market opportunities and fully meet customer expectations and requirements.

Requirements for integration success
The most important requirement for integration success is to base the integration project and systems employed on open, future-safe component architecture. Above all, solutions must be strictly based on internationally recognized industry standards.

Another important requirement for achieving successful integration is to employ open systems which have object-oriented design and philosophy. The object technology must be embedded in the “whole” system, from the base up rather than employed just as a layer above the integration platform.

Above all, the object technology must provide the following key features for a successful implementation:

• Flexible and scalable architecture
• Easy configuration and maintenance facilities
• Interfaces that create and maintain model structure and content

The overriding factors for success are reliability, security, speed and efficiency of the integrated system.

"True” integration versus data distribution
An integration platform approach is very different from messaging middleware software that simply acts as an information broker, bringing data together and re-distributing it to applications and users. Transferring and distributing data forms only 5-10% of the integration problem.

The real challenge of integration is to combine and aggregate data from different systems that exist in different forms – and combine and aggregate different types of data, so that calculations can be performed, enhancing and adding to existing applications.

To achieve “true” integration the integration platform must have the ability to handle data in complex relationships and sequences, at different times, as and when data is available. Above all, for “true” integration the integration platform must provide appropriate visualization and on-screen interactivity of applications via an easy-to-use common user interface.

About m:pro
m:pro incorporates the above features needed for “true” integration and goes far beyond simply connecting a refinery’s existing information systems. It is in this way that m:pro’s integration platform provides the foundation for realizing enterprise-wide solutions, including Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Optimization initiatives.

m:pro is a project services and software products company that enables petroleum refining, petrochemical and other industries to achieve total integration of information sources and applications, from business systems, ERP and supply chain management through to plant information, production planning, scheduling and operations decision support.

The m:pro range of products and services helps companies to maximize their exploitation of existing information potential and provide the platform to implement business process automation across the whole enterprise.

m:pro consults for multinational corporations and medium-sized companies worldwide in the planning and execution of innovative projects, and offers professional support for the introduction of modern standard applications and their integration with legacy systems.