Case Studies

Our client is a prominent oil exploration and production company that offers specialized custom pumps for oil extraction to its own clients and partners. Companies that want to order the equipment submit a special form filled with information and details on the machinery they need: its expected power, all measurements, and multiple other parameters. Our client, in turn, constructs an offer that is based on tens of thousands catalogues that contain exhaustive information of all the parts they have available.

Previously this task was solved by an Excel file with several dozen dictionaries that helped navigate through the enormous pool of information on equipment parts. The process had a number of downsides:

1. The sheer volume of information that had to be looked through and the limited navigation possibilities of an Excel file made it challenging to compile a relatively quick offer;
2. The number of complicated formulas and inter-dependent calculations left plenty of room for human error;
3. The employee workload rose significantly when there was an offer to construct, possibly blocking them from other tasks for a considerable period time.

We did not have a formal specification for this project, only an understanding of what had to be done. We dived deep into the complex formulas and elaborate calculations our client employed in their Excel table, and wrote a detailed specification after an extensive research.

The system we developed for the automated and optimized offer construction requires some entry parameters to be specified by companies that wish to obtain a piece of equipment. After this information is received, it is parsed into an easy-to-read table. Then the system goes through all catalogues, using calculation formulas, and builds the piece of equipment using the cheaper option available. When this is done, the system compiles a comprehensive equipment specification in an Excel format. If some parts were not found, they are marked so that employees can fill them in later manually.

Here’s what changed in the process:

1. It is fully automated and takes much less time; It leaves no place for human error with all calculations done by the computer;
2. It removes excessive workload from the employees, leaving them open to other tasks;
3. The system compiles a full equipment specification that is easy to operate.

It was a challenging and complex project where we had to immerse ourselves into the process we were asked to automate. We gained a lot of experience and can’t wait to see more enterprises optimizing their routine for more productive and effective business process.