Time management is one of the biggest problems which we face in our industry today. At every turn we are faced with the need to become more effective and efficient in the things which we do.

The largest single factor precluding good time management for Engineers and Geoscientists today is data management. The truth is we simply spend too much time, and money searching for, collecting and pre-processing data before we can even begin the analysis phase of our work. Recent studies indicate as much as 80% of our Engineers and Geoscientists' time can be spent in these efforts.

Correct data management practices can be a tremendous help by doing the following things:

  • Making a complete catalog or index of all data available to all users.

  • Providing data management support staff to perform appropriate functions at much lower salary rates than those of technical professionals.

  • Minimizing cost and access time through standard procedures.

  • Minimizing cost through project planning.

Keywords:
retrospective, data item, catalog, upstream oil & gas, user community, information management, society of petroleum engineers, data management, record center, data type
Subjects:
Information Management and Systems
Copyright 1992, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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