Overland Pipeline needed a way to digitize their paper-based process, which created numerous opportunities for human error. They relied heavily on field teams and multiple outside data sources to capture critical information.
GoFormz provided the best customized experience that fit their operational data management needs. Utilizing GoFormz Data Sources, List View, and an array of other powerful features, Overland Pipeline field crews can now create forms on their mobile devices and use them as an accurate, single point of data entry.
Daily Progress Report
Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
Timesheet
Based out of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Overland Pipeline operates nationwide in the oil and gas services industry constructing pipelines primarily in the midstream sector. While Overland Pipeline is just getting started, the team’s collective experience makes them no stranger to the industry.
“Traditionally in oil and gas we are 15 to 20 years behind vertical and horizontal construction industries when it comes to leveraging the data you get in the field,” expressed John Bates, Division Manager for Overland Pipeline. As a whole, the construction industry is still generally behind the times, making this a powerful testament to how the industry operates. Bates continued on to say, “it’s all about generating product and getting energy out to the market.”
Operating in a fashion of inefficiencies, Overland Pipeline was documenting all their data, from employee timesheets to daily progress reports, on paper. “[In our industry], there’s never really been a drive for analytics and data capture.” In a trillion-dollar industry, dealing with documents on paper opens up a multitude of opportunities for human error, administrative burdens, and unique ways of doing business. “Oil and gas is an industry full of innovators but it’s also so full of innovators where everyone does things in their own way that there’s no governing structure to how things should be done,” explained Bates, “that’s how you maintain your competitive edge in this industry.” Knowing a competitive edge sets you apart from others in the industry, Bates saw an opportunity to move away from traditional habits and decided to bring tech into the equation.
“GoFormz is very well known in the oil and gas industry,” Bates exclaimed. Although GoFormz has the ability to solve a multitude of operational inefficiencies, GoFormz was only known as a software that allows users the ability to use their exact paper forms on mobile devices for oil and gas companies. Bates was interested in diving deeper into what other problems GoFormz could solve by evaluating Data Sources, List View, and automations.
“GoFormz is very well known in the oil and gas industry.”
– John Bates, Division Manager, Overland Pipeline
Introducing a new way of doing things is often the hardest part of implementing new software. When Overland Pipeline started to implement GoFormz, buy-in from their field employees was little to none. “They get paid to do a job that is really hard but their focus is not on getting data entered correctly or doing paperwork,” expressed Bates. Knowing that GoFormz could add immediate value, Overland Pipeline needed to ensure data entry was simplified and easily digestible in order to see the participation they needed.
After three weeks of consistent conversations about GoFormz, 50% of the field crew employees were using GoFormz. The pivotal implementation moment was when GoFormz wasn’t yet utilized by other Overland Pipeline locations. “We really got the buy-in when three different foremen and their crews went to Michigan and they didn’t have GoFormz because we hadn’t pushed it out there yet,” Bates continued on to say, “they called me and said ‘When are we getting GoFormz up here?’” This is how Overland Pipeline was able to achieve full buy-in from their employees and soon enough, they were up and running.
Although Overland Pipeline also leverages GoFormz for JSAs and timesheets, their most prevalent use case is daily progress reports – a critical document to the Overland Pipeline operation. Daily progress reports are completed from multiple locations by multiple people and used to capture critical data, including project details (only applicable to the selected project), weather updates, crew details, and activities that account for billable items. But how is this all captured in a simple, yet streamlined manner?
Data Sources, a feature that acts as a simple database table, account for the customized user experience of their form completion process. By leveraging this functionality through Option Filtering, field employees are tasked with fewer data capture demands and only asked to answer what applies to their specific project. “It keeps them from going through a list of 120 possible items and truncates that list to what’s applicable to their scope of work based on what task they are on,” exclaimed Bates. This unique, customized experience allows Overland Pipeline the ability to capture critical information in the field while only using one digital form template.
While Data Sources remain the largest driving factor to the success of their implementation, simple automations and List View further simplify data capture demands. Prior to GoFormz, the field crew used to be tasked with conducting manual calculations which often led to human error. Thanks to Automatic Calculations, unit conversions are automatically run in the background while an employee is completing their daily progress report, eliminating opportunities for human error and ultimately streamlining their form completion process.
Lastly, GoFormz is notably recognized for having multiple digitization patents which allow users the ability to upload their existing paper forms directly into the platform – streamlining user adoption. Overland Pipeline’s initial pain points weren’t necessarily taking their paper-based process to the digital space, but it was finding a way to get their employees to fill out critical documentation accurately, in a streamlined, yet simple and efficient fashion. This is where List View comes into play. List View provides users with a streamlined, organized, intuitive index of the fields included within your Form View — making GoFormz even easier to use on smaller devices! With most of the field employees only using this functionality, List View has played a considerable role in the Overland Pipeline user adoption process.
“[GoFormz] probably saves a combined 3-4 hours a day of work...”
– John Bates, Division Manager, Overland Pipeline
Since implementing GoFormz, Overland Pipeline has experienced significant time savings every day between their field and office crews. “[GoFormz] probably saves a combined 3-4 hours a day of work between project managers, superintendents, and project coordinators,” Bates noted, “it acts as a single source of data.” Now acting as their single source of truth, Overland Pipeline is able to generate weekly invoices for their clients from the captured data.