The developing manager

As discussed in Sections 13.0 and 14.0, the management of operating expenditure (opex) is a major issue, since initial estimates of opex are often far exceeded in reality, and may threaten the profitability of a project. Within the FDP, it is therefore useful to specify the system which will be used to measure the opex. Without measuring opex, there is no chance of managing it. This will involve the joint effort of production operations, finance and accounting, and the development managers. 

Some experienced chemists could lead a project from the beginning to its implementation in a production plant. Frequently, chemical engineers took over at some stage in the development. Management generally had a strong input into such decisions. 

If explicit tests for similarity cannot be carried out, rather vague qualitative techniques should be applied (top-right cell in Table 4.8). The Turing test is carried out by experts or managers. It evaluates whether the output of a model can be distinguished from real historical records.If not, this is an indicator that the model represents the reality sufficiently accurately.Similarly, face validity is a discussion process where simulation outputs and/or model components are jointly discussed by the developers, managers, and/or experts. ... 

The tools to be used should be identified in the development plan. The tools should be selected so as to facihtate the proper application of the methods, standards and procedures selected. Planning in advance for the entire project will help in the selection of an integrated set of tools. The tools should be properly qualified for their function in the development, management or verification of the system. The correctness of their output should be ensured by a tool certification process, by means of cross-verification or by reverse engineering. 

The UK government enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in 1988 has had a significant impact on working practices and equipment and has helped to improve offshore safety around the world. One result has been the development of a Safety Management System (SMS) which is a method of integrating work practices, and is a form of quality management system. Major oil companies have each developed their own specific SMS, to suit local environments and modes of operation, but the SMS typically addresses the following areas (recommended by the Cullen Enquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster) ... 

Introduction and Commercial Application The reservoir and well behaviour under dynamic conditions are key parameters in determining what fraction of the hydrocarbons initially in place will be produced to surface over the lifetime of the field, at what rates they will be produced, and which unwanted fluids such as water are also produced. This behaviour will therefore dictate the revenue stream which the development will generate through sales of the hydrocarbons. The reservoir and well performance are linked to the surface development plan, and cannot be considered in isolation different subsurface development plans will demand different surface facilities. The prediction of reservoir and well behaviour are therefore crucial components of field development planning, as well as playing a major role in reservoir management during production. 

At an early stage of the development of the Inspection Management approach it was recognised that the currently employed commercial arrangements would not be appropriate for the long term commitments envisaged (ref 3). At that time contracts were largely time and materials or reimbursable, which experience had proven in many circumstances to be adversarial by there very nature At its crudest, the objective of the... 

Correlations between structure and mass spectra were established on the basis of multivariate analysis of the spectra, database searching, or the development of knowledge-based systems, some including explicit management of chemical reactions. 

Biological catalysts — enzymes — are usually proteins. The development of new protein syntheses is nowadays dominated by genetic protein engineering (see section 4.1.2.6). Bio-organic approaches towards novel catalytically active structures and replicating systems try to manage without biopolymers. 

The role of the Technology Manager is far broader (than that of the R D manager who develops technologies primarily from internal sources) he or she must see to it that the corporation has available and uses the technologies it needs from whatever source they may be procured... The difference is both subtle and far... 

---