Oilfield services provider cuts computing costs with FieldFX

Client background

Silvertip Completions is a Midland, Texas-based oilfield services provider, focusing exclusively on providing wireline and pump-down solutions to companies in the Permian Basin, and translating that attention into the safest, fastest, most error-free completion services possible.

The business challenge

Silvertip Completions needed to automate manual processes that are generally accepted as standard, full-time employee (FTE) driven activities by most oil and gas companies. At the same time, they are constantly under pressure from both internal customers (operations personnel, executives, owners, etc.) and external customers (actual customers and potential customers) to provide:

• More data (significantly more data points tracked than 10 years ago)
• More timely data (gone are the days of invoices or data provided in weeks)
• More efficient data (without additional costs)

Without a field operations management system like FieldFX, companies are forced to track data in separate flat file systems such as Microsoft Excel or Access. Meaningful reports must be created by hand, combining the MS Applications data with accounting system data making report creation time consuming, prone to error and difficult to repeat.

After reviewing a number of solutions, they found that no accounting system on the market has an oil and gas friendly front end or a field ticketing and billing system that accommodates the point-in-time detailed data collection needed by most companies, especially oil and gas services companies. Oilfield services companies are no longer providing simple invoices like they were a decade ago and are expected to provide data that details what happened at every step of the process and track efficiency metrics, process exceptions and resolutions, etc.

Strategy and solution

The implementation of FieldFX, LiquidFrameworks’ mobile field operations management solution, coupled with Baker Tilly's FieldFX integration has been the largest and most successful advancement for Silvertip in that vision.

FieldFX allows Silvertip Completions to capture almost every imaginable piece of data recorded at a wellsite while eliminating almost all paper from their field personnel.

The next key piece of the puzzle, Baker Tilly's integration between FieldFX and Sage Intacct allows for seamless, efficient flow of data from operations in the field to the accounting system. 

The implementation of the FieldFX Integration by Baker Tilly has eliminated the need for one FTE at a time when resources are significantly constrained due to low oil prices. Now they are reviewing and evaluating data instead of manually entering data. Even when they get back to 100% utilization, they will most likely not have to add any additional FTEs to accommodate field tickets, billing, etc.

Silvertip has also eliminated the need for their field engineers and supervisors to carry laptops, using Samsung tablets instead, cutting computing costs in about half. They now have near real-time data without an FTE manually updating Sage Intacct. They know what happened in the field, both good and bad, almost immediately. Now, average days-to-invoice has decreased by approximately two days.

The company is currently using the data to develop unit-level costing to better track profitability by unit and activity (as customers love to change products and processes on the fly).