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Volume 5, June 2007 |
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 In this months issue... |
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Dear Reader,
I can’t believe the last year has gone by so fast and that we are already in our third year as SRO. A big thank you goes out to all our customers who have entrusted us with their business, making our company so quickly become what it is today!
Since our last newsletter, we've been working hard both ‘at sea’ and ‘ashore’ and been busy keeping to our original promises by providing best-of-breed products and value added services to the maritime industry. But, at the same time, we have also diversified into the shore based heavy industry sector and because of the interest in our data replication solution SDR; we have also won new customers in the offshore oil & gas sector.
The SRO Data Replicator (SDR) was released in 2006 and we now have some very happy customers experiencing dramatic improvements in the way they manage their remote data. With the rapid uptake of onboard VSAT, the continued growth of Inmarsat Fleet and Fleet Broadband “just around the corner”, this unique product is not only revolutionizing the use of existing onboard database applications but also facilitating the move to superior web based applications such as MAXIMO. As you will read below, BG Energy and AOS have fully implemented the SDR and we have also been encouraged by the results and feedback received from the Chevron Shipping trials ongoing since last year.
I hope you find these features interesting and useful and look forward to sharing a lot more products and value added services with you in the coming months.
Best Regards,
Steve Driver
Director
SRO Solutions Ltd
"Adding Value to Your Software Investments"
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Chevron Shipping trials SDR |
 The Chevron Shipping Company (Shipping) transports crude oil, refined products, liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to customers worldwide.
In 2006, Shipping managed approximately 4,000 voyages using a combination of single-voyage charters, short- and medium-term time-charters and a company-owned or bareboat-chartered fleet.
Last year we were asked by Richard Louie of Chevron Shipping to provide the SDR as part of a replication ‘proof of concept’ and pilot being run by his department. The trials were carried out at Shipping’s San Ramon office and onboard a selected vessel. The results of the trial were successful, enabling Chevron Shipping to more clearly understand the potential benefits of using the SDR, as well as alternative methods of how best to utilize onboard database applications over Inmarsat Fleet.
We are very grateful to Richard and his team at Chevron Shipping for inviting us to take part in such a project and look forward to progressing this work in the near future.
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SRO helps BG Energy with Database Replication Issues |
 BG is a leading player in the global energy market with operations in some 23 countries over five continents. BG Group has been operating in Trinidad and Tobago since 1989. SRO was invited out to Trinidad to help the BG team implement a replication solution for their existing MAXIMO asset management system.
The Trinidad team had been experiencing difficulties due to high VSAT latency and poor response times and as a result was not able to use Maximo to its full potential. SRO was recommended to Bill Paton, BG Group CMMS Project Manager, by IBM Professional Services and SRO were awarded the contract to deliver the SDR in February 2007, so we didn’t have much time to complete all the necessary pre-configuration before Paul Taylor & Gary McDonald joined the BG project team onsite in Trinidad to carry out the installation and training.
It was most gratifying to receive such positive feedback from Bill, who said: "Paul and Gary came to Trinidad with the intent of implementing the SRO application to ensure that BG could successfully replicate Maximo data within our onshore and offshore environment”. He continued: “The work was completed extremely professionally, within the allocated eight day time period SRO played an integral part in our team and worked extremely long hours including weekends”. He continued: “I feel that Paul and Gary’s efforts and the team blending by these guys contributed greatly to the success of the project. They were intuitive, dedicated and committed to the successful completion of the project and I would certainly wish for them both to be on my team again at anytime”
The outcome of the work undertaken has led to further enquiries from other BG business units also suffering from poor connectivity and looking to improve their use of Maximo and other applications. |
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 Dubai based Atlantic Oilfield Services Ltd (AOS), with regional offices in Amsterdam, Esbjerg and Oslo is an integrated oil service company owning and operating onshore and offshore drilling units as well as offshore accommodation rigs. The Company provides rig management and support services for the oil and gas industry.
Through another IBM partner, Gemba of The Netherlands, SRO was awarded the contract to provide AOS with an SDR replication network to enable more efficient Maximo data replication between the AOS offshore rigs and offices.
Initially the contract was for three rigs and the Amsterdam office. Paul Taylor carried out the pre-configuration work before installing the software onsite whilst at the same time providing training to our colleagues at Gemba so that they were able to carry out future installs themselves, something that proved most valuable as within only a few weeks of the first go-live, AOS ordered another four SDR rig licences and an additional office licence for Dubai! |
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 Toyota is a truly global business, building vehicles in factories on six continents around the world and directly employing more than a quarter of a million people. Its products are sold in 160 markets worldwide. The Toyota Production system is a pioneering approach to efficient manufacturing and has provided a template for the industry.
In October 2006, SRO Solutions were appointed by Toyota in Derby to run a Maximo upgrade pilot scheme. Toyota had been using Maximo v5.2 previously in some areas but wanted to evaluate the additional functionality available in the latest version of Maximo and look at the feasibility of rolling it out across the Derby site so as to improve overall maintenance and inventory management.
The pilot was completed by the end of 2006 and as a result, SRO’s tender for the roll-out and software upgrade project was successful and awarded at the end of January. The very tight timeframe of the end of March meant a lot of time onsite in Derby for Tony Lackey & Joe King but also other SRO team members as well as other consultants from our now established network of ‘like-mined’ partners, who we are always so pleased to work with when the work load and skill set requirements demand it. In addition, in order to ensure all the data entry was completed on-time and accurately, three technical data-entry technicians were sub-contracted for the duration of the project.
Delivery included; software installation, data population, business process definition/mapping, implementation, and all necessary intensive training - to date fourteen training courses to over seventy individual users were completed during the project.
The project was completed on time and to budget and now Toyota are starting to reap the benefits of having a common, web based IBM MAXIMO asset management system across its plant thus contributing to the continuous improvement at the site. The SRO team are still very heavily involved with Toyota, providing the necessary administration and user training, first line support, customised reports and advice with other business process improvements when required. |
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Euroship use SRO for Newbuild Database Projects |
 In February 2007, we were delighted to receive an order from Euroship Services for us to supply project management resources for the computerised maintenance & purchase databases for two Ro-Ro newbuildings. The reasons for selecting SRO were mainly due to our ‘down to earth approach, practical methodology and based on our previous track record in providing this customer with various value added services.
As promised, our methodology & resources ensured each vessel’s CMMS system was fully installed, implemented and approved by DnV Classification before delivery from the yard, with no delays usually experienced caused by having to wait for the technical manuals being handed over by the shipyard.
Stephen Knapp, Euroship Services Technical Manager, commented: “the AMOS database project managed by SRO proved a great success and good news for Euroship. Having the vessels Planned Maintenance systems approved by DnV before delivery provides advantages not only in time but also money - an excellent result”.
PAYGO Support...
Since delivery of the 2nd vessel, Euroship has also signed up for SRO’s PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) for office and vessel IT as well as Business Systems support. George Wilson, Euroship Superintendent comments: “such a simple yet very cost-effective way of getting expert support as and when we need it, without compromising any existing OEM support agreement, means that PAYGO complements our business needs and, at the end of each month we get one invoice with a summary report of all the completed cases, charged by the half hour”. |
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BP Shipping nominates SRO's Gary McDonald |
Gary McDonald, SRO’s Senior ICT Consultant has received an award recognising his work undertaken recently at BP.
The award, known as a ‘COG’, is BP Shipping’s ‘reCOGnition’ award and is usually only awarded internally in recognition of work undertaken. However, based on the work done by Gary, an exception was made and he was nominated by Wasim Kayani, BP’s Ship Delivery Manager – DCT, along with a BP Shipping team member Pat McGrath.
Mr. Kayani’s nomination comments include: “Both Pat and Gary have exceeded all expectations in their support and management of daily VSAT issues within the BP fleet. The number of outstanding issues over the past few months has reduced significantly; this has been done with excellent work in scripting, documentation and RCAs. Both continue to provide innovative ideas to improve the service capability to the fleet - this has been demonstrated by
1. The improvements seen in deployment and
2. The scripting of laptop installs onboard.
With Shipping running a 24-hour operation, both regularly provide assistance to the fleet/superintendents at times outside of their core hours. Both are a credit to the project and BP Shipping.”
Well done Gary! |
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Neil Stanford joins the SRO Team |
 Neil joins SRO Solutions from Vodafone where he spent the last 6 years as a SQL Server DBA involved in the 24/7 management and support of over 500 product databases including; billing systems, customer support systems and Blackberry systems and many other business areas.
Prior to Vodafone Neil worked for SpecTec as a Technical Support Engineer where he spent a number of years supporting the AMOS range of marine software systems, from onboard installation, training of the products through to end user queries and support issues.
Neil joined SRO in March and has already been heavily involved in the Toyota project as well as providing an additional resource for our PAYGO support team.
When not working Neil is a keen hockey player and is a member of Timperely Hockey Club. He currently plays for the Men 1st and 2nd teams who play in the Northern premier league and North West Division 1 respectively.
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Maintec 2007 |
 For the first year SRO Solutions exhibited at MAINTEC 2007 demonstrating some of the ‘best-of-breed’ products which included; IBM Maximo, Agility from Softsols and Bi-Cycle, SRO’s latest addition to its best-of-breed solutions portfolio.
Maintec has always been well attended and those working in a maintenance role know they will find the right solutions to their maintenance needs, whilst gaining the opportunity to chat with industry experts.
We were delighted to catch up with people who already know us and meet new contacts, who we hope to do business with in future.
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In October we will be exhibiting at Ship Repair & Conversion 2007.
One for the diary, please come and visit us on STAND D20 to see for yourself some of the fantastic features available in Maximo and discuss; not just the software but most importantly, the way we can make it work for you and your particular business requirements!
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And don't forget :- |
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PAYGO - Pay-As-You-Go remote support for various 3rd party applications – no annual fees, just pay for what you need, when you need it, at a fair price.
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Travel & waiting time - we only charge at 50% of the agreed daily rate when our consultants have to travel.
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UK BT land lines & mobiles - By switching your BT land line & UK mobiles to services provided by our partners at Ecocall Ltd, you can save up to 30% and receive only one single bill for all services in a format to suit you and manage your telecoms costs daily through your own secure access to an online billing system.
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Watch this space for more news in the near future, including; the latest in Database construction techniques, ship-to-shore replication, knowledge management and more...
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We are proud to be partners with these companies
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