Peak Oilfield Services, a firm providing oilfield support services and construction in Alaska, needed to integrate its field-based job costing and back-office accounting systems to respond quickly and efficiently to frequent and varied customer requests. Peak replaced its outdated proprietary job costing and billing system with an application based on Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database software that could easily be installed at each job site and synchronized with headquarters in Anchorage.

Peak then transitioned from an Oracle-based accounting system to Microsoft Dynamics™ GP, which provides the flexibility the company needs. As a result, information that formerly took hours or days to access is now available in minutes, enabling better decisions and more profitable operation.

Situation
For 20 years, Peak Oilfield has been evolving to meet the unique and varied requirements of its customers—from the world’s largest oil companies to the state of Alaska. Peak Oilfield’s heritage is in oilfield support services and ice road construction on the North Slope of Alaska. It has since evolved into a group of connected sister companies that provides mining services, public works construction, and clean oil tankers, and builds and maintains uninterrupted power systems in remote villages. Together, the five companies bring in about $250 million in annual revenue with 2,000 employees.

Early on, company leaders recognized the need to operate efficiently and respond quickly to customer requests. After 15 years of growth, they recognized the need to upgrade systems to take advantage of advances in technology and to further streamline operations.

Solution
In 2001, after an extensive search for a software and service provider, the company replaced its outdated proprietary job costing and billing system and build and maintain a reliable network infrastructure. Its new Capture job costing system, designed to track all costs associated with projects, was built with a Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 database.

The largest volume of Capture billing transactions—up to 3,000 per month—is processed at Peak Oilfield’s Prudhoe Bay location on Alaska’s North Slope. Because Internet connections between Prudhoe Bay and Anchorage aren’t always reliable, Arctic IT built an application that synchronizes Capture data between locations. There are now 30 people using 12 Capture installations at Peak Oilfield locations and at its large affiliated job sites.

With its field-based job costing and billing system running smoothly, Peak Oilfield next looked to gain flexibility in its accounting system. The company’s financials were handled by UNIX-based Oracle financial software, which was maintained in Houston, Texas. The accounting system couldn’t easily integrate with the Capture system, forcing managers at Peak to request data and reports from the IT department in Texas, an inefficient and time-consuming process that made it difficult to obtain information in real time for decisions that could have major financial impact.

In 2005, when one of Peak’s sister companies was reorganized, Renate Hill, Vice President of Finance at Peak Oilfield Services, proposed that a shared services accounting department be created to manage all of Peak’s sister companies. To ensure they had the flexibility and control they needed to quickly access information and better meet customer requests, Hill also proposed they move off the Oracle-based accounting system.

“We had about three months in which to create an accounting system that would support our five companies,” says Hill. “Oracle wasn’t the way for us to go. Our feeling was that Oracle would require far more time to customize and that it would be too expensive to deploy and maintain.”

Hill and her colleagues turned to Microsoft Dynamics™ GP business software. I was  very impressed with the interface and ease of use," said Hill. Hill now oversees a staff of 14 who use the Microsoft Dynamics GP General Ledger, Bank Reconciliation, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Human Resource, and Fixed Assets modules. 

Peak Oilfield created links between Microsoft Dynamics GP and the company’s field-based Capture system. For example, invoice data generated in Capture now updates the Accounts Receivable and General Ledger in Microsoft Dynamics GP, where the data is reflected in financial statements more quickly and accurately than was possible before. Employee payroll information—such as hours, rates, union, and cost codes—is transferred out of Capture into Microsoft Dynamics GP to produce 700 payroll checks weekly.

While many of these integrations are managed as daily batch processes, others are handled through Web services, enabling real-time transfer of information. For example, purchasing information in the Capture application uses Web services to integrate with the process of validating expenses in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

The overall solution, running on Dell PowerEdge servers with the Windows Server® 2003 operating system, comprises two load-balanced terminal servers hosting the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Meanwhile, a Microsoft SQL Server drives both Microsoft Dynamics GP and Capture on the back end with 14 databases. The hardware and software are hosted at Peak’s Anchorage headquarters but are accessed by users at more than 12 other offices and remote job sites throughout Alaska and Eastern Europe.

Benefits
By adopting the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution, Peak Oilfield has faster and more flexible data access, the ability to customize processes and reports, and an efficient system that helps it manage its growth more profitably.

Faster Access to Invoice Data
Peak Oilfield’s accounts payable clerks process more than 6,000 invoices each month. According to Hill, the ability to drill down into invoice detail is vital. Peak’s chief executive officer frequently asks Hill to provide him with detailed information about vendors or particular invoices. To respond quickly, Hill uses the SmartList feature in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

“I just click on SmartList, put in the parameters for the information I want, and get my answer,” says Hill. “I export it to Microsoft Office Excel and send it to my boss. What took days to do before I can now do in two minutes. When I get requests for information, it’s usually something that’s wanted immediately. Thanks to Microsoft Dynamics GP, I can accommodate those requests quickly.”

Efficient, Customizable Processes
Peak’s oil-company customers frequently require the company to customize processes and reports to accommodate their needs. For example, they need nonstandard data fields included on purchase orders. In addition, they want in-depth company and employee safety records included on proposals and ongoing progress reports.

Using the easily customizable Microsoft Dynamics GP software, Peak worked with Arctic IT to modify processes and reports to meet customers’ needs. The Purchase Order module, with customized forms and processes, is now being deployed across Peak Oilfield’s companies, automating more than 3,000 purchase orders a month and eliminating time-consuming double entry. With purchase order data available to remote users through the Business Portal feature in Microsoft Dynamics GP, field-based employees can easily submit and view the status of open orders without having to request information from headquarters in Anchorage.

Arctic IT also customized the human resources processes within Microsoft Dynamics GP so Peak could easily provide safety records to its customers. Having this information at its fingertips enables Peak Oilfield to respond more quickly to requests for bids.

Flexible Reporting for Customer Needs
Several of Peak Oilfield’s customers require daily reports containing customized data, which Hill is able to deliver easily with Microsoft Dynamics GP. Recently, ConocoPhillips asked Peak to be a startup vendor for its new electronic billing system, something Peak wouldn’t have been able to do with its previous system.

“There was a discovery reporting tool in Oracle, but I found it cumbersome and never used it,” says Hill. “Reporting in Microsoft Dynamics GP is fast, easy, intuitive. It takes the frustration out of trying to access information.”

Better Decisions for More Profitable Operation
The faster and fuller access to data at Peak Oilfield enables the company to make better decisions and to operate more profitably, according to Hill. For example, she cites a recent $25 million project for which Peak Oilfield managers needed weekly updates on expenses incurred, vendors paid, and other factors. Having immediate access to that information made it easier for the managers to keep the project on time and on budget. Previously, they would have learned about excess expenses only when it was too late to avoid them.

Faster access to vendor information and tight integration between the Capture application and the Microsoft software enable Peak Oilfield to invoice for third-party expenses more quickly, which in turn means that the company is reimbursed more quickly for those expenses by its customers.

“There’s no doubt that we’ve improved our cash flow because of this solution,” says Hill. “And that means we’re operating more profitably.”

Lower Cost of Ownership
All Peak Oilfield companies are managed in one installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP with its multi-company feature. “Having only one main installation of the accounting system really saves on our cost to maintain and upgrade the system,” says Hill.

In less than two years after adopting Microsoft Dynamics GP, Peak Oilfield Services Shared Services Accounting department increased its services from a company of $75 million in annual revenues to five companies with an annual volume of $250 million, without increasing its accounting staff of 15.

“Microsoft Dynamics GP has definitely been helpful to us in achieving and handling this increase in business,” says Hill. “It’s enabled us to automate processes so that if we’re dealing with 500 employees or 1,000 employees, it doesn’t put any additional burden on us. The software is easy to learn, so new employees can come in and be productive with it immediately.”