Great Plains Gas Compression Saves $250K with Field Squared

Great Plains Gas Compression leverages Field Squared to enhance operational efficiency and scalability. By transitioning to a unified field service management system, Great Plains Gas streamlined its processes, enabling significant growth and improved service delivery. The Field Squared platform has become integral to its ability to manage a large field force and maintain high customer service standards.

"Based on our initial rollout, we have already saved an annual amount of $250,000 in overhead costs."
- William Morgan, Implementation Specialist, Great Plains Gas Compression

Challenge

Great Plains Gas sought to increase efficiency to maintain profitability as a services provider in the O&G downturn. After a thorough review, it was determined that the primary goals of Great Plains Gas were:

• Increase visibility into field operations
• Streamline reporting
• Utilize real-time data to optimize assets in the field
• Expedite invoicing and billing of all clients

After researching energy-specific solutions, William found a large gap in the market for mobile workforce app solutions specific to Oil and gas. Off-the-shelf apps didn’t comprehensively address their needs.

Most options provided solutions to one or two of their goals, but none offered the complete specifications required for Great Plains Gas to continue operating without disrupting its existing processes.

Field Squared was differentiated by providing the full breadth of functionality and ease of use at a competitive price.

“We wanted to eliminate some forms and make the process more efficient.” With configurable forms, online/offline use, fully configurable reporting, and real-time asset analysis, Field Squared could offer exactly that.

Solution

End-to-End Field Visibility: As a company with many clients, each with multiple assets, and distributed field workers managing those assets, there was a dire need to increase visibility into field operations.

The existing process of paper-based forms containing potentially inaccurate or incomplete information and delayed access to that information was not a sustainable solution for their operations.

Great Plains Gas has approximately 50 field-based mechanics, with the potential for 12 paper forms generated per day per mechanic. With Field Squared, that has been consolidated into 6 digital forms that don’t need additional processing or validation. All information is legible, no one has to translate or convert the forms, and the mountains of backlogged data never have to be re-entered.

With fully configurable forms, custom fields, and real-time data sync, they have found several completed work orders that, Morgan notes, “[before Field Squared] would not have been billed otherwise.” A larger percentage of forms are being filled out correctly using tablets over paper-based forms.

In three months, they went from 30% not being filled out to just 10%. Because it takes less time to input data and certain form fields auto-populate with real-time information, the field mechanics are more inclined to complete the forms.

Morgan also noted that many of the mechanics at Great Plains Gas have never used a tablet before. Some didn’t even use email. “All my field techs -- even the ones that aren’t tech savvy are in the field using this app and are very comfortable with it.” With an intuitive user interface on the mobile app and an easy-to-use backend with drag-and-drop forms, the mobile app has been easy to integrate into the field and at headquarters.

Streamline Reporting: As a services company, reporting is essential to process payroll, invoice customers, and meet regulatory standards. As a 100% paper-based company, getting financial statements on time was challenging. Antiquated reporting procedures, such as mailing or faxing forms to headquarters and manually entering systems, added another two weeks to the billing cycle. “We were at a point where we couldn’t close the books until 15 days after the end of the month”.

With automatic time tracking, payroll can be processed in less than half the time. “Our payroll process took about 3 days to complete. Now, one person can do it remotely in about 30 minutes.”

Improved Customer Service: Customer experience has increased dramatically, too. “From our customers’ point of view, we have received several compliments on how nice it is to have all the documentation required on-site.” From real-time work order tracking to safety documentation, mechanics have any information clients could inquire about right at their fingertips.

Before using Field Squared, Morgan found 200 billable forms left incomplete over a few months. Customers can be billed right at the end of the month because of the increase in the quantity and quality of data. Morgan said, “[Field Squared] enhanced our ability to bill customers, mitigate liability, and record and validate what work was being done by our mechanics.”

Real-Time Asset Optimization: Better reporting, real-time access to information, and the ability to pull data and trends over time allow Great Plains Gas to manage assets in the field better and increase operational efficiency.

Each job site requires oil regularly. The oil sits in the tank next to the unit. If the oil level gets too low and runs out, it causes problems and starts hemorrhaging money. With real-time asset monitoring, Great Plains Gas has optimized reporting on those units, getting oil refilled on time and eliminating unnecessary downtime.

Additionally, eliminating data re-entry and reducing form processing has reduced excessive administrative work. With the app, office resources are being used more strategically. It now only takes two people to do the back-office work, freeing up resources to focus on the growth of company operations.

After reviewing operational processes and eliminating unnecessary forms, Great Plains Gas has streamlined its administrative work so efficiently that it requires only four admins. This has allowed their support workers to focus on other necessary tasks, allowing Great Plains Gas to save in overhead costs.

Conclusion

Although the mobile app has only been deployed for a few months, Great Plains Gas is already seeing significant changes. They are excited about the positive feedback from clients and the ease of integration into the workflows of their distributed teams.

William summarized his experience: “I’m very pleased with the results so far and look forward to the additional features coming out. I’d definitely recommend Field Squared to another company.”

Summary

Field Squared has played a pivotal role in Great Plains Gas's operational success, enabling it to streamline processes, scale efficiently, and maintain robust documentation. As Great Plains Gas grows, Field Squared remains a cornerstone of its operational strategy, supporting its commitment to delivering exceptional service.

"Our payroll process took about 3 days to complete. Now, one person can do it remotely in about 30 minutes"
- William Morgan, Implementation Specialist, Great Plains Gas Compression"