Schlumberger is the world's leading oilfield services provider for oil and gas companies. Their business is organized into over thirty GeoMarkets in four geographic areas — North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Africa and Middle East & Asia — offering customers a single point of contact at the local level for field. To provide global services they must maintain state of the art supply chain functions, to move supplies around the globe and deliver them on time to their field staff.
The project
K+A worked with the Schlumberger Technical Services to deliver change management services to support major changes to the supply chain software process. Our work helped suppliers and administrators understand their new roles. We also helped the team communicate exciting changes to the search functions that gave field users better ways to visualize and select products for their work.
Our approach
Our approach was to develop change management materials on three levels:
- A series of diagrams for suppliers and administrative staff. The purpose of these diagrams was to show each of the stakeholders the entire process and still focus primarily on the details of their role.
Overview of five roles and new software features
- Newsletters for end users illustrated by high-level diagrams and selected screens. The purpose of these newsletters was to make end users aware of the new features and options.
- Online training modules for each administrative role, to orient and inform the administrative staff.
The solution
We developed a visual language to represent the various roles and the major features of the software process. This language was then applied to illustrate for example, how a user in the role of a supplier prepares changes to their catalog and uploads these changes to the system. We could then illustrate how the automated workflow manages the validation process, returns messages to the user, and passes the catalog information on to the worklist of next user in the approval process.
We developed a visual language to represent the various roles and the major features of the software process. This language was then applied to illustrate for example, how a user in the role of a supplier prepares changes to their catalog and uploads these changes to the system. We could then illustrate how the automated workflow manages the validation process, returns messages to the user, and passes the catalog information on to the worklist of next user in the approval process.
Screen from an online training module
The same visual language was re-used for the end-user newsletter and online training modules. We worked with the team to design and write the newsletter, then script and record the training modules. The training was first tested in Train-the-Trainer sessions and then revised for global online self-paced training. Originally developed in English, the newsletter was then translated into Russian, Spanish and Portoguese to better suit the needs of the global audience.
The result
The introduction of new search features for end-users, self-service modules for external suppliers and stream-lined administrative features were successfully added to the Schlumberger Global Supply Chain system. Stakeholders at all levels received the level of explanation and training they needed.