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Oilfield Services & Equipment
Production Operations
Capital-intensive extraction and processing programs where safety, regulation, and supply chain complexity define execution.
SLB
Halliburton
Weatherford
Baker Hughes
Inside this journey
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Pre-Discovery
Align decision roles, constraints, and baseline operational state before deeper discovery.
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Stakeholder Alignment
Confirm decision roles (production, operations, asset manager, finance), timeline, and what constitutes pilot success and budget approval.
Alignment Questions
Start Here: Who You Are & What You Run
- What is your role and the size of the well inventory you currently manage?
- Which basins or regions contain the majority of those wells?
- How is your current field staffing structured (who covers daily operations vs escalations)?
- How often do you run vendor pilots or trials for new operations services?
- Who typically participates in the decision and budget approval for a pilot (list the primary stakeholders)?
Are We Actually Solving the Right Problem?
- What percentage of your cumulative production downtime do you treat as 'business as usual' rather than a fixable problem?
- Which recurring operational issues do you believe get ignored because they're 'too expensive' or 'too hard' to fix?
- Can you share a specific recent example where an avoidable problem turned into a workover or lost production? What happened and what was the cost (even a rough estimate)?
- How long have you been treating these issues as ‘normal’—weeks, months, or years?
- If a partner could guarantee faster detection and fewer workovers, what internal resistance would you expect to encounter?
What Keeps Your Mornings Restless?
- Which failure modes most frequently cause stress in your team—are there a few that dominate your incident list?
- For the top one or two failure modes you selected, how long does it typically take from first sign to corrective action?
- Describe the emotional impact on your team when those failures recur—frustration, firefighting, reputational risk, budget anxiety, or something else?
- Who currently triages those alarms or failure alerts and what is their typical daily workload?
- How often do small failures cascade into larger problems because they weren’t caught or responded to quickly enough?
If Monitoring Could Remove Your Biggest Headache...
- In an ideal world, what would be the single most valuable signal you could get from remote monitoring that you don’t have today?
- Which alert types do you want prioritized (choose up to three)?
- How would you prefer those alerts to be delivered and acted on—automated dispatch, SMS/Email, daily digest, or integrated into your existing ticketing/SCADA workflows?
- What reporting cadence actually helps your team make decisions—real-time, daily, weekly, or monthly—and who needs each cadence?
- If we removed false positives and reduced noise by 50%, what would that change for your team’s day-to-day?
Who Holds the Keys — Decision Roles and Alignment
- When pilot economics are presented, who has veto power and who can greenlight spending quickly?
- How do these stakeholders prefer to see success demonstrated—financial ROI, % uptime improvement, chemical spend reduction, or operational risk reduction?
- What is a realistic internal timeline from pilot completion to a scaling decision in your organization?
- Describe any past pilots that ran well but failed to scale—what broke down in the approval process?
- How much per-well monthly spend does finance consider justifiable for outsourced operations monitoring and field support?
What Counts as a Win? (Be Specific)
- Which pilot KPIs will make your team call the trial a success (pick top three)?
- For each KPI you selected, what’s the minimum threshold that would convince you the service delivers value?
- How do you want baseline performance established—recent 30/60/90-day averages, 12-month historical, or a custom baseline for selected wells?
- Who will validate the KPI measurements and own the acceptance sign-off at the pilot close?
- Are there any hard exclusions for what you won’t accept as evidence (e.g., modeled savings without measurement)?
Where Coverage Actually Breaks Down in the Field
- Which subset of wells gives you the most trouble—marginal wells, remote pads, high gas-oil ratio, or aging infrastructure?
- What percent of wells currently have reliable telemetry (real-time flow/pressure/SCADA)?
- How would you describe the competence and workload of the field staff assigned to pilot wells—are they stretched thin, experienced, or in transition?
- What are typical travel and response times to your problem wells (hours, same day, multi-day)?
- Where do your reporting and monitoring gaps show up most—data latency, incorrect alarms, missing daily reports, or inconsistent field notes?
Data Reality — Can We Measure What Matters?
- Which systems do you currently rely on for production data and alarms (SCADA vendor, production accounting, spreadsheets)?
- Are real-time feeds available for the wells you’d include in a pilot (yes/no/partial)?
- Who owns access to the SCADA/production data and how quickly can they grant credentials or an API feed?
- Do you have security or vendor onboarding requirements (VPN, audit logs, certificates) that typically delay integrations?
- Would you be willing to provide a short sample dataset (24–72 hours) to validate analytics before pilot start?
Pilot Design: The 60–90 Day Experiment
- How many wells would you prefer for the pilot to be statistically and operationally meaningful?
- Which selection method makes most sense—top-problem wells, representative sample across lift types, or volunteer wells from a single asset?
- What staffing model would you expect during the pilot—dedicated foreman/pumper, shared support, or full takeover by the provider?
- What cadence of governance and review do you want during the pilot—daily ops review, weekly KPI review, and a formal 30/60/90-day check-in?
- What are non-negotiables for pilot readiness (data feeds online, site access, safety clearances, spare parts stock)?
What Success Looks Like in 60–90 Days
- If the pilot hits its KPI thresholds, what is the minimum commercial outcome you expect (trial extension, scoped scale, full contract)?
- How will you translate pilot results into the finance conversation—net present value, simple payback, or monthly per-well savings?
- Who should attend the final pilot review to make a fast, informed decision?
- What documentation or artifacts do you need at pilot close (raw data export, reconciled production accounting, daily report samples, lessons learned)?
- If results are mixed, what decision options are acceptable to you (targeted scale, re-run pilot with tweaks, or stop)?
Risks, Reservations, and Reluctant 'Yeses'
- What single risk worries you most about handing over day-to-day operations to a provider during the pilot?
- What contractual or commercial protections would make you comfortable moving forward (trial termination terms, SLA guarantees, performance-based fees)?
- How should we surface cultural or change-management issues early—regular field check-ins, shadowing, or joint training sessions?
- If you could remove one internal obstacle to saying 'yes' after the pilot, what would it be?
- Finally, what would be a good next step if we could demonstrate 48–72 hours of improved detection and a sample of reconciled production gains?
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Current Operations Mapping
Document current field coverage, lift types, failure modes, reporting cadence, and existing monitoring gaps across the well inventory.
Current State
Quick Snapshot — Start Here
- How many producing wells are in the portfolio we're discussing today?
- Please enter the exact well count, basin(s), and any clustering notes (e.g., pads, fields, country)
- Are these wells primarily onshore, offshore, or a mix?
- Which ownership or operating structures apply across these wells?
- What time window would you prefer for an initial field assessment (weeks from now)?
Who's Actually Covering Those Wells?
- If you had to bet, would your field team reach a high-risk well within 24 hours reliably?
- Tell us about your current field staffing model—how many production foremen, pumpers, and technicians are assigned (by region or field)?
- How do you divide responsibility: per-well assignment, per-pad, or roving crews?
- What is the typical response time target for an on-site field visit after an alert?
- What common field constraints reduce coverage (e.g., travel time, safety, weather, spare parts)? Please list and briefly quantify impact where possible.
When Things Break — Are They Predictable or a Surprise?
- Do failures usually give you warning signs, or do they more often blindside operations?
- Which lift types are present across the pilot inventory?
- Which failure modes occur most often (select all that apply)?
- How frequently do you see each of these failure types on average (per well per year)? Please provide estimates or ranges.
- When a failure happens, what is your usual detection path (SCADA alarm, daily pumper rounds, customer report, production decline analytics)? Please prioritize top two.
Where Your Visibility Ends — and What That Costs
- What's the single visibility gap that causes the most operational friction or cost today?
- What telemetry and data sources do you currently have integrated or available (select all that apply)?
- How often do you receive operational reports and what is the standard format?
- How would you describe your current alert noise vs. signal—too many false alarms, not enough alerts, or generally appropriate?
- Give an example of a visibility gap that led to a missed issue or delayed response in the last 6–12 months. What happened?
The Real Impact — Money, Reputation, and Pressure
- When a well is down, what consequence worries you most in practice?
- Do you track deferred production and assign it to specific events? If so, how reliably?
- Estimate the average revenue or production loss per downtime event for a typical well (range if unsure).
- How often do operational issues escalate into a finance or executive-level discussion?
- Share a brief story of one incident where a monitoring or response change would have materially changed the outcome (what changed and what would have helped).
What Would Better Look and Feel Like?
- If visibility and coverage were 'solved' for your target pilot set, what would that free you to do differently this quarter?
- Which pilot KPIs would convince you the solution is working (pick up to three)?
- How many wells would you view as a meaningful pilot to show value (minimum and ideal)?
- What would an emotional win feel like after a successful pilot (less firefighting, calmer daily ops, clearer executive conversations)?
- What risks would make you hesitate to try a pilot (safety concerns, data sharing, disruption to vendors, budget risk)? Please rank your top two.
Technical Readiness — The Checklist That Speeds Things Up
- Which of these data feeds are available for the pilot wells today (select all that apply)?
- Are there known telemetry blind spots (e.g., wells without power, remote sites with no cellular coverage)? If yes, list them and how often they occur.
- What format are your production and operations data currently delivered in?
- Who owns the data and integrations (IT, operations, third-party SCADA vendor)?
- Are there compliance or security requirements we should know about before connecting any telemetry or sharing reports?
Decisions, People, and Governance — Who Signs Off?
- Who ultimately approves a 60–90 day pilot from a finance and procurement perspective?
- Who will be the day-to-day sponsor and who will be the escalation owner for the pilot?
- What reporting cadence would you want during the pilot to feel confident (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)?
- What acceptance criteria would move the needle for a scale decision (quantitative thresholds and any qualitative signals)?
- What approvals or internal checkpoints typically delay pilots—legal, procurement, safety, or finance—and how long do they take?
Practical Barriers — What Could Kill This Before It Starts?
- What is the single reason pilots in the past have failed to scale (budget, poor results, lack of governance, data issues)?
- Are there third-party vendors or service providers on these wells we need to coordinate with (chemicals, artificial lift vendors, SCADA contractors)? Please list.
- What procurement or contracting constraints should we be aware of (POs, master services agreements, insurance limits)?
- Do you have safety or site-access requirements that would affect field verification or equipment installs?
- What timeline would feel urgent but realistic for starting a pilot if approvals are secured?
Ready to Map the First 20? Practical Next Steps
- If we prepared a 20-well pilot plan tomorrow, what would make you say yes immediately?
- Who should be on our kickoff call and what titles/roles should we include?
- What is the best primary contact for technical coordination (name, role, email/phone)?
- Are there any dates or blackout windows in the next 90 days when a pilot cannot run (planned maintenance, regulatory audits, field campaigns)?
- Any final concerns, red lines, or must-haves we should include before we build the pilot scope?
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Customer Discovery
Clarify desired outcomes, constraints, pilot KPIs (uptime, response time, chemical usage), and success signals for the 60–90 day trial.
Discovery Questions
Start by Telling Us About Today
- How many producing wells are you responsible for today, and how are they grouped by basin/field?
- Describe your current operations model: do you run a centralized team, local foremen, third‑party providers, or a mix?
- Roughly how many field staff (foremen/pumpers/techs) support your wells, and how many wells per field staff is typical?
- What monitoring or surveillance tools are you using today (if any)? List platforms, custom tools, or manual processes.
- Who on your team will be most impacted day‑to‑day if a third‑party operations provider ran a 60–90 day pilot on a subset of wells?
What’s At Stake If Nothing Changes?
- If you keep doing things the same way for the next 12 months, what’s the single biggest downside you see for production or costs?
- How often do unplanned downtime or equipment failures meaningfully affect monthly production across your portfolio?
- Quantify the financial impact you commonly attribute to deferred production or delayed responses (estimate $/month or barrels/day lost).
- When a high‑severity event occurs, how quickly do you typically get a technician onsite and what does that feel like for your team?
- Tell us about a recent failure that stuck with you—what happened, how it was handled, and how it affected your team’s confidence.
What Are You Quietly Tolerating About Coverage?
- How confident are you that you catch early warning signs (pump decline, flow anomalies, rod issues) before they become workovers?
- Where do you see the biggest visibility gaps today—lift type coverage, remote sensors, daily reports, or response tracking?
- How would you rate the technical depth of your field staff on a 1–10 scale when unusual failures occur? What does that number mean in practice?
- What processes or tools have you tried to improve coverage that didn’t stick—and why do you think they failed?
- How often does data quality (missing SCADA points, sensor drift, manual entries) undermine your ability to make timely decisions?
- Which of these would you most like us to help prove we can deliver during a pilot?
If We Had 60–90 Days, What Would Prove It’s Working?
- What three KPIs would you insist are measured during the pilot to decide whether to scale?
- For each KPI you selected, what is a realistic target improvement you'd accept to call the pilot successful (give % or absolute improvement)?
- How do you want baseline performance captured and validated—by your SCADA, our platform, joint audits, or manual reconciliation?
- Which success signals would make you feel comfortable to greenlight scale earlier than the full 90 days (e.g., early uptime stabilization, predictable chemical savings)?
- Are there any KPIs that are non‑negotiable for finance or the asset manager before approving ongoing spend? If so, name them and the threshold.
Who Really Decides—And What Moves Them?
- Who are the decision makers that must approve a pilot and who signs the PO for per‑well service?
- What are the primary concerns each stakeholder will raise (cost, safety, integration, SLA, technical fit)?
- What budget cadence does finance use for pilots—CapEx request, OpEx budget, or reallocation—and what approvals are required?
- What level of financial rigor will they expect in pilot reporting (ROI model, avoided workover costs, incremental NPV)?
- How risk‑averse is your team to external providers running operations during a live production window, and what would lower that resistance?
Imagine a Better Day—Now Tell Us About It
- If a pilot delivered consistently improved uptime and cleaner reporting, what would change about the way your operations or engineering teams spend their time?
- How would improved response times and fewer surprises affect relationships with partners, landowners, or your board?
- What operational behaviors would you expect from field staff and engineers after a successful pilot (e.g., proactive flagging, fewer emergency jobs)?
- What would a meaningful win look like at 90 days that goes beyond raw numbers—what story would you tell internally?
- If you had to pick one cultural or organizational change you’d want the pilot to demonstrate, what would it be?
What Could Stop a Good Pilot From Scaling?
- Where have past pilots or vendor trials fallen short for you—technical failure, lack of governance, cost disputes, or unrealistic promises?
- What integration points are mandatory for a pilot to be credible (SCADA, production accounting, chemical procurement, ERP)?
- How long does procurement, HSE clearance, and field onboarding usually take before a third party can do hands‑on work in a field?
- What contractual or commercial terms would derail a pilot regardless of operational performance (e.g., indemnity, data ownership, termination rights)?
- Describe a red flag you'd watch for during a pilot that would make you pause or stop the engagement immediately.
What Small First Step Makes This Easy to Try?
- For a 60–90 day pilot, what well count would you consider representative and manageable (we typically run 20–50 wells)?
- Which wells would you prioritize for a pilot—worst performers, highest value, mixed lift types, or operationally convenient clusters?
- Who should be the day‑to‑day owner on your side for pilot operations and who will receive the daily reports?
- What reporting cadence and format would make you comfortable—daily dashboards, emailed highlights, weekly review calls, or joint dashboards?
- What is a realistic timeline from contract agreement to first day of pilot operations, given your internal approvals and field prep?
- What would be the single easiest concession or pilot parameter we could offer that would make you comfortable saying yes to a trial?
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Solution Experience
Walk through a pilot-led plan using the customer’s well inventory and failure modes to show how uptime, response time, and chemical optimization will be achieved and measured.
Experience Meetings
- Current State Alignment & Pre-Work Confirmation
- Failure Modes & Impact Workshop
- Pilot Plan Solution Experience — Live Walkthrough
- KPI Measurement, Baseline Validation & Governance
- Pilot Validation, Risks & Sign-off
Issues & Enhancements
- Confirmed plan for data access, integration owners and remediation steps for poor data quality.
- Seller: Consolidate inputs into draft one-sentence current state and a preliminary consequence summary.
- Both: Confirm attendees and schedule Failure Modes Workshop.
- One-Sentence Future State & Acceptance Criteria
- Customer accepts the one-sentence future state and the pilot acceptance criteria.
- Alignment on exact staffing, monitoring configuration and playbooks for pilot execution.
- Validation that the proposed interventions directly eliminate the customer's stated problems.
- Agreement on dashboards, KPI definitions and reporting cadence for the pilot.
- Seller: Deliver pilot staffing roster, monitoring configuration, alert routing, and playbook documents for each pilot well.
- Seller: Produce dashboard mockups and a measurement workbook with KPI formulas for review.
- Customer: Review and approve playbooks, SLA for response times, and pilot acceptance criteria.
- Both: Set pilot start date and baseline collection window.
- Review Baseline Data & Normalization Rules
- Signed agreement on KPI formulas, baseline period and acceptance thresholds.
- Recap One-Sentence Current State and Consequence
- Governance cadence and review templates finalized for daily/weekly/monthly pilot reviews.
- Customer: Provide credentials and access for SCADA/production feeds and confirm data owner contacts.
- Seller: Publish KPI specification document with formulas, examples and dashboard exportable templates.
- Both: Confirm baseline period start/end and the pilot reporting schedule.
- Recap Pilot Scope, Playbooks & KPIs
- Mutual sign-off on pilot scope, staffing, KPIs and acceptance criteria.
- Agreement on governance cadence, reporting artifacts and decision matrix.
- Risks identified with owners and mitigations assigned.
- Both: Execute pilot agreement or statement of work and confirm start date.
- Seller: Publish initial baseline report and enable dashboards for customer viewing before day 1.
- Customer: Complete finance approval steps and confirm PO or payment terms required to begin.
- Seller: Schedule the governance cadence meetings and distribute meeting invites and templates.
- Agreed failure-mode matrix listing root causes, symptoms, frequency and per-event impact.
- Prioritized list of failure modes to address in the pilot and selection criteria for pilot wells.
- Shared understanding of which failures are most material to uptime, response time and chemical spend.
- Seller: Produce a failure-mode matrix with estimated frequency, downtime, deferred production and unit financial impact.
- Customer: Confirm/adjust the proposed pilot well candidate list and provide any missing context.
- Both: Agree on pilot well final roster and document rationale for selection.
- Introductions & Meeting Objectives
- Produce a single-sentence current state that everyone accepts.
- Surface a preliminary consequence estimate (operational and financial).
- Agree and schedule the complete pre-work dataset required for the Solution Experience.
- Confirm stakeholders and SMEs to attend subsequent workshops.
- Customer: Deliver well inventory, failure logs, SCADA point list, recent daily reports and chemical invoices (deadline specified).
- Failure Mode Cataloging by Lift Type
- Define KPI Formulas & Acceptance Thresholds
- One-Sentence Current State
- Present Predicted Impact & ROI Using Customer Data
- Pilot Scope & Staffing Model Mapped to Wells
- Monitoring & Alerting Design Tied to Failure Modes
- Data Feeds, Integrations & Ownership
- Frequency & Impact Quantification
- Risk Register & Mitigation Plans
- Inventory & Monitoring Topology Review
- Recent Failure Log & Operational Consequences
- Reporting Cadence & Governance Template
- Governance, Review Cadence & Decision Matrix
- Map Failures to Customer Pain Points
- Operational Playbooks & Response SLAs
- Financial Consequence Snapshot
- Chemical Optimization Plan & Controls
- Final Q&A, Validation Prompts & Sign-off
- Statistical Significance & Handling Exceptions
- Prioritization Exercise & Pilot Candidate Selection
- Validation Exercise with a Sample Well
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Solution Scope
Define staffing model, monitoring configuration, pilot well count, integration points, responsibilities, and measurable acceptance criteria.
Scope Configuration
- Daily Wellsite Supervision Visits
- 24/7 Remote Monitoring and Alarm Triage
- Pumper Rounds and Production Meter Reads
- Chemical Injection Execution and Replenishment
- Rod Pump Dynamometer Testing and Tuning
- ESP Pull, Repair, and Re-Install Services
- Gas-Lift Valve and Surface Choke Adjustments
- Plunger Lift Operation and Cycle Management
- Flowback and Well Start-Up Operations
- Minor Well Interventions (tubing/rod repairs, cleanouts)
- Surface Equipment Preventive Maintenance and Repairs
- SCADA Data Integration and Real-Time Streaming
- Automated Daily Production Data Delivery to Accounting
Scope Questions
Daily Wellsite Supervision Visits
- What visit frequency do you want for supervised wells?
- How many wells should each foreman/pumper cover on their route?
- Which activities must be performed on each visit (select all that apply)?
- Do visits need to follow specific OEM or operator SOP checklists?
- List any site access, HSE or training requirements for onsite visits (e.g., PPE, site orientation, permits).
24/7 Remote Monitoring and Alarm Triage
- Do you require true 24/7 monitoring or coverage during business hours with on-call after hours?
- Which alarm types should be triaged immediately (select all that apply)?
- What is your required SLA for initial alarm acknowledgement and triage?
- What escalation path should the monitoring team follow after triage?
- Do we need to integrate alarm triage with your ticketing or communications tools (e.g., SMS, Slack, Ops system)?
Pumper Rounds and Production Meter Reads
- What frequency do you require for pumper rounds and manual meter reads?
- What types of metering hardware are in use at the wells?
- Do meter reads need to feed directly to your production accounting system?
- What accuracy/tolerance do you require for production reads and reporting?
- Are there existing meter log formats, calibration records, or read templates to use?
Chemical Injection Execution and Replenishment
- Which chemical programs should we execute and manage for these wells (select all that apply)?
- What type of injection equipment is installed at sites?
- What inventory and replenishment cadence do you expect (days on hand to maintain)?
- Do you require regular reporting on chemical usage, cost per well, and optimization recommendations?
- Are there regulatory, disposal, or compatibility constraints for chemicals we should know about?
Rod Pump Dynamometer Testing and Tuning
- How many rod-pumped wells are in scope for dynamometer testing during the pilot?
- What frequency of dynamometer testing do you prefer for baseline and tuning?
- Do you require full load-curve analysis, rod string modeling, and recommended unit/rod changes?
- Does the field team have the tooling and trained personnel to execute recommended downhole adjustments, or should we provide tools/crew?
- Please provide rod/tubing specifications, current cards, and recent dynamometer files if available.
ESP Pull, Repair, and Re-Install Services
- How many ESP-equipped wells are in the pilot scope?
- Do you want on-call ESP pull/repair capability or scheduled maintenance windows?
- Are there depth, rigging, or service-rig restrictions at these sites (e.g., pad size, road limitations)?
- Which repair scopes should be supported (select all that apply)?
- Do you have preferred third-party ESP vendors or contract terms we must follow?
Gas-Lift Valve and Surface Choke Adjustments
- How many gas-lift wells are in the pilot population?
- How frequently should valve and choke settings be reviewed/adjusted?
- Are surface chokes and valves automated (SCADA-controlled) or manual only?
- Should adjustments be coordinated with reservoir/production engineers for setpoint approval?
- Are there required pressure testing, safety, or LOTO procedures to follow before adjustments?
Plunger Lift Operation and Cycle Management
- How many plunger lift wells are included in scope?
- What monitoring cadence is required for plunger cycles?
- Do you want active plunger cycle tuning (timers, seating intervals) as part of service?
- Are spare plungers, catchers, and retrieval tools available onsite or should we supply them?
- Please list any emission control or surface equipment constraints during plunger operations.
Flowback and Well Start-Up Operations
- How many well starts or flowback operations are expected during the pilot window?
- Which flowback/start-up services are required (select all that apply)?
- Do you require dedicated crew or ramp-up support for initial start-up operations?
- What data capture is required during flowback/start (e.g., flow rate, choke position, pressure, solids load)?
- Are there regulatory permits or disposal constraints governing flowback we must follow?
Minor Well Interventions (tubing/rod repairs, cleanouts)
- What intervention response SLA do you expect for minor work needed during the pilot?
- Which types of minor interventions should be in scope (select all that apply)?
- Is local heavy equipment or a service rig available nearby for interventions?
- Will interventions require operator approvals or third-party permits before execution?
- Describe the budget authorization process and approval thresholds for on-site minor interventions.
Surface Equipment Preventive Maintenance and Repairs
- Which surface equipment types should be included in preventive maintenance?
- What PM cadence do you prefer for surface equipment?
- Do you want the provider to stock spare parts and consumables, or follow a parts-on-request model?
- Are there vendor maintenance procedures or OEM warranties that must be followed?
- Do PM activities require coordination for safety permits (LOTO, confined space) or third-party inspectors?
SCADA Data Integration and Real-Time Streaming
- Which SCADA systems, protocols or RTU vendors are currently in use across the wells?
- Do you require real-time streaming of telemetry into our monitoring platform or batch uploads only?
- What is the acceptable telemetry latency for alerts and dashboards?
- Will network credentials, VPN access, or edge device access be provided for integration?
- Do you require data normalization, mapping to field names, and historical backfill as part of integration?
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Mutual Commit
Agree commercial terms, pilot acceptance criteria, finance approvals, and the governance cadence for pilot review and scale decision.
Agreement Modules
- Master Services Agreement (MSA) / Mutual Commit
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Commercial Terms & Pricing
- Pilot Acceptance Criteria
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Pilot
- Finance Approval / Budget Authorization
- Purchase Order / Procurement Submission
- Billing & Payment Setup
- Data Access & Integration Authorization
- Insurance & Liability Certificates
- Governance & Pilot Review Cadence
- Change Order / Variations Agreement
- Termination & Exit Plan
- Final Sign-Off / Authorized Signatures
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Deployment
Operationalize rollout with readiness checks, enablement, and outcome validation.
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Pre-Deployment Readiness
Confirm data feeds (SCADA/production accounting), site access, field staffing assignments, safety clearances, and procurement logistics before pilot start.
Readiness Questions
Quick Snapshot — Where You Stand Today
- How many producing wells are in the inventory you'd consider for a pilot?
- Which lift types make up the majority of that inventory?
- What does your current field staffing model look like today?
- What monitoring or surveillance tools are you using now (pick all that apply)?
- How often do you receive production or operations reports today?
- Tell us about a recent day in operations that felt typical — what went right, and what didn’t?
Are You Tolerating Lost Production as Normal?
- What level of unplanned downtime do you silently accept as 'business as usual'?
- What is your current average time-to-detect for an abnormal event or failure?
- What is your average time-to-respond (dispatch or corrective action) once a problem is detected?
- Which failure modes drive the largest share of your deferred production?
- Tell us about one incident in the past year where response time cost you the most — what happened and what was the impact?
- Do you estimate preventable lost barrels per month today, and which range is closest?
Who's Actually Owning the Decision — and Who's Watching?
- If the pilot produced a clear uptime improvement, who would be expected to sign off — and what will that person ask to see?
- Which stakeholders should be included in pilot reviews and final approval?
- For each stakeholder above, what single outcome or metric matters most to them (e.g., uptime, cost, auditability)?
- What is your internal approval timeline from pilot start to commercial sign-off?
- Is there a per-well price or total pilot budget threshold that requires finance/CFO approval? If yes, which range applies?
- Have you run operational pilots before? Briefly: what went well and what derailed those efforts?
What Would 90 Days of 'Better' Look Like?
- If you read a single sentence summary on day 90 that made you confident to scale, what would it say?
- Which three KPI improvements would convince you this pilot worked? (pick up to three)
- What minimum uptime percentage would you require to be comfortable scaling?
- What maximum average response time during the pilot would you find acceptable?
- How would you prefer we present baseline vs pilot performance to your team (choose all that apply)?
- Which outcomes would justify stopping the pilot early for a positive decision — and which would force a pause or rework?
What’s Standing Between Us and a Clean Pilot?
- What single operational or cultural barrier could derail a pilot in the first 30 days?
- Are SCADA and production accounting feeds ready to be shared for the pilot?
- What security, vendor onboarding, or site-access requirements must our field teams meet before mobilizing?
- Describe any logistical constraints we should know about (equipment staging, chemical procurement windows, truck access, staging areas).
- Are there wells, pads, or contract situations you will exclude from the pilot? If so, which?
- Who will be our day-to-day contact on your side for field coordination and rapid approvals?
How Will We Measure Trust?
- What reporting mistake has made you distrust a vendor in the past?
- Which reporting cadence gives your team confidence during a pilot?
- Which delivery formats do you require for acceptance and audit (pick all that apply)?
- What specific data validation checks must pass before you'll accept the baseline (examples: sensor consistency, volume reconciliation)?
- Who needs view-only access vs. decision-making access to the monitoring platform?
- How should we escalate discrepancies in daily reports (e.g., suspected wrong counts, sensor drift)?
Ready to Commit — Small Bets, Clear Rules
- What conditions would let you confidently convert a 20–50 well pilot into a full-service agreement?
- Which pilot size would you be comfortable starting with?
- How should pilot wells be selected — you pick, we pick, or a collaborative approach?
- Define the top three acceptance criteria for the pilot that would trigger a scale recommendation (e.g., uptime %, response time, cost savings).
- How often should governance reviews occur during the pilot, and who should attend?
- If pilot results are borderline, what decision path do you prefer?
- When would you be ready to start the pilot if readiness checks pass?
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Deployment Enablement
Schedule and execute field staffing, remote monitoring onboarding, and logistics for the 60–90 day pilot with clear owners and milestones.
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Validation Checklist
Verify baseline collection, alerting, daily reporting quality, and track pilot KPIs (uptime, deferred production, chemical spend) against acceptance criteria.
Validation Questions
Getting Started — Tell Us About Your Field
- Give a one-sentence snapshot of your current producing footprint (well count, basins, rough vintage, geo focus).
- Which artificial lift types make up your portfolio today?
- Roughly how many wells would you consider including in an initial trial?
- How is daily production currently monitored and who prepares the daily operations reporting?
- Describe the make-up of your field ops team (roles, span of control, and any persistent coverage gaps).
- How confident are you in the visibility you have into day-to-day well health across the portfolio?
Are You Comfortable Losing Production Today?
- If the current rate of unplanned downtime continued for the next 12 months, what would that cost your operation in dollars, barrels, or strategic impact?
- Which failure modes are driving the majority of that downtime on your wells right now?
- How often do those failures lead to deferred production that requires a workover or extended intervention?
- Tell us about the last three incidents where surveillance or earlier intervention could have prevented loss—what happened and why?
- How long has this level of downtime been tolerated, and what typically prevents you from addressing it earlier?
Who's Responsible When Things Go Wrong?
- When a well goes down and production drops, who in your organization is ultimately accountable for the outcome?
- Which roles must sign off on a pilot and which group controls budget approvals for new vendor services?
- What timelines do stakeholders expect for pilot decisioning and a scale/no-scale decision?
- Do you have internal champions who will actively drive a pilot forward, or will any approval be more committee-driven?
- How does finance prefer to see ROI validated (payback months, per-well cost comparison, NPV/IRR, or something else)?
- What stakeholder concerns or objections tend to slow down third-party production service decisions?
How Do You Know a Well Is Healthy?
- Looking at your operational dashboard, which single metric would you trust most to signal a healthy well?
- What baseline data do you capture today before any optimization effort (production, pressures, motor current, chemical volumes, alarms)?
- How long is the historical baseline window you consider authoritative when measuring change (days/weeks/months)?
- Describe your current daily reporting cadence—who receives it, how detailed is it, and what format is most useful?
- Which kinds of alert noise or false positives frustrate your team most and why (frequency, accuracy, poor context)?
Where Does Time and Money Slip Away?
- If you had to point at one process that’s leaking the most value right now, what would it be?
- How much do you estimate reactive interventions cost per well per month on average?
- How are chemical programs decided and managed today—centralized program, vendor-led, site discretion, or a hybrid?
- What percentage of deferred production do you typically recover through field troubleshooting versus requiring a workover?
- Share a recent example where better monitoring, chemicals, or staffing reduced cost or loss—what changed and how did you measure it?
What's Your Pilot ‘Must-Prove’?
- If the pilot only achieved one clear outcome, what single result would make you scale immediately?
- What numeric acceptance thresholds would you set for that outcome (example: uptime +X%, chemical spend -Y%, response time <Z hours)?
- Which KPIs must be tracked daily, which weekly, and which only at pilot close?
- How will the baseline be validated—who signs off and what sources are authoritative (SCADA, production accounting, run tickets)?
- What governance cadence would you prefer during the pilot (daily ops check-in, weekly review, biweekly steering, etc.)?
- If pilot thresholds aren’t met, what is the preferred next step—iterate with changes, extend the trial, or cancel?
What Would Make Your Team Trust an Outsourced Partner?
- What’s the single thing a vendor could do that would instantly build operational trust with your field team?
- Which proofs matter most to you when evaluating a vendor: site visits, references, trial data, integration capability, or safety record?
- How important is vendor field staff being embedded on-site versus managed remotely with periodic visits?
- Tell us about a vendor relationship you trusted—what behaviors, reporting, or turnaround made it work?
- What are your non-negotiables on contractor safety, insurance, and compliance before someone can work on your wells?
What Needs to Be in Place to Start?
- Before a pilot can begin, what single practical barrier will stop it cold if not resolved (data, procurement, site access, approvals)?
- Which of these data feeds are available for integration today?
- What site access and clearances will field staff need (badges, safety orientation, keyholder permissions, escort rules)?
- Are there procurement or contracting lead times we should plan around?
- Who will be our day-to-day operational contact during pilot execution (name/role ideally)?
- How would you prefer pilot milestones and issues be communicated (pick all that apply)?
Deciding to Try Something New
- If you could press go on a pilot today, what are the smallest set of assurances you’d need to feel comfortable (deliverables, metrics, contracts)?
- How soon would you want a pilot to start if those assurances are provided?
- What internal approvals remain and who owns closing them (list roles and expected approval dates)?
- Which budget structure would you prefer for the pilot: per-well monthly fee, fixed pilot budget, performance-based, or a combination?
- Who else should we involve in the kickoff conversation to ensure a smooth pilot start?
- What would make you hesitate to run a pilot with us despite strong initial results (cultural fit, contract terms, integration risk)?
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Success
Review pilot results versus baseline, decide on scale, document learnings, and maintain a shared channel for ongoing issues and enhancements.
Success Reviews
- Pilot Results Review — Cross-Functional Alignment
- Technical Validation & Data Integrity Session
- Commercial & Governance Decision Meeting
- Lessons Learned & Operational Handover Workshop
Issues & Enhancements
- Opening & Objectives
- Owner to produce an integration work plan (SCADA/ProdAcct/Alerts) with effort estimates and dates.
- Security/IT to provide required access credentials and confirm any firewall/VPN steps within 5 business days.
- Implement agreed remediation items and re-validate affected metrics before the commercial decision meeting.
- Recap Pilot Acceptance Outcomes
- Secure agreement on the commercial model and pricing to support a scale decision.
- Define an executable governance cadence and KPIs that will be used to track scale success.
- Obtain clear sign-off owners and timelines for completing contracting and finance approvals.
- Legal/Contracts to prepare the scaling amendment or new master services agreement reflecting agreed pricing and SLAs.
- Finance to issue written approval of per-well budget or submit exceptions if additional approvals are required.
- Agree a post-signature kickoff date and publish the governance calendar with owner assignments.
- Define the initial scale tranche (wells to onboard Week 1–4) and owner for onboarding execution.
- Review What Worked / What Didn't
- Produce a prioritized list of operational changes and assign owners with deadlines to update runbooks and SOPs.
- Confirm staffing and training plan required to sustain the service at scale.
- Establish a named shared communications channel with governance to handle ongoing issues and enhancements.
- Create a continuous improvement backlog and reporting cadence to track KPI trends post-scale.
- Create and share the pilot Lessons Learned document with assigned owners for each identified gap or improvement.
- Update operational runbooks and circulate revised SOPs for customer review prior to scale kickoff.
- Provision and configure the agreed shared communication channel and publish channel rules and on-call rosters.
- Schedule the first post-scale monthly review and ensure dashboard access for all governance attendees.
- Confirm whether pilot met the pre-agreed acceptance criteria and gain cross-functional agreement on the factual outcomes.
- Translate operational gains into commercial consequence so finance can make an informed approval decision.
- Agree on a clear, named decision (scale now / phased scale / extend pilot / no-go) and owners for next steps.
- Surface any data or execution uncertainties that require remediation before scale.
- Compile the validated pilot vs baseline data pack (per-well CSVs, methodology notes, and executive summary) and share within 48 hours.
- Customer operations lead to confirm acceptance decision and required finance approvals within 7 business days.
- Flag wells or metrics that failed acceptance criteria and assign owners to remediation plans.
- Schedule the Commercial & Governance Decision meeting (required if recommendation is to scale) within 5 business days.
- Recap Scope & Measurements
- Validate that the pilot measurements are accurate and reproducible for scale decisions.
- Define and assign all technical integration tasks required for scaling the platform.
- Agree on a short remediation plan and timeline for any data or integration gaps discovered.
- Deliver a signed data quality checklist and reconciliation report between pilot platform and customer production accounting.
- One-sentence Current State (Diagnosis)
- Data Quality Audit
- Operational Runbooks & SOP Updates
- Financial Impact & Pricing Models
- Staffing, Roles & Training Plan
- Contract & Commercial Terms
- Baseline Summary
- Alerting and Baseline Logic Review
- Governance Cadence & KPIs
- Pilot Performance — Proof
- Shared Communication Channel & Governance
- Integration & Scale Requirements
- Consequence & Financial Impact
- Approvals & Sign-off Plan
- Security, Access & Compliance
- Continuous Improvement & KPI Tracking
- Deviations and Root Causes
- Go/No-go Technical Criteria
- Customer Validation — Is this what you meant?
- Decision Options & Immediate Next Steps