Showing posts with label Revenue-Model. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revenue-Model. Show all posts

Thursday, November 09, 2023

OCI Revenue Model

 Our Value Proposition

People, Ideas & Objects our user community and their service providers value proposition is that we provide North American oil & gas producers with the most profitable means of oil & gas operations, everywhere and always. We do this by developing, providing, implementing, supporting and defining within the Preliminary Specification a business model and vision that enables the producer to be more profitable than in any other business model. Our value proposition is quantified over the next 25 years in the range of $25.7 to $45.7 trillion. This incremental value is compared to oil & gas producers' current "corporate" business model. The difference between average oil & gas prices currently realized vs. actual exploration and production costs determined by accurate and timely accounting constitutes the value of this ratio. To earn "real" profitability, producers need higher commodity prices. From Professor Richard N. Langlois' recently released book, The Corporation and the Twentieth Century: The History of American Business Enterprise.

To economists, a “bubble” occurs when the prices of assets diverge from the “fundamentals”: when people do not trade strictly in light of a careful and sober assessment of the prospects of the firms issuing the stock, including the prospects for dividends, but rather trade purely in expectation that asset prices will continue to go up and provide them with capital gains. Essentially all popular accounts take it for granted that the crash of 1929 was the result of a stock market bubble. So too do Keynesian (and post-Keynesian) economists, who believe that financial markets are inherently unmoored from the fundamentals and are inevitably at the mercy of “irrational exuberance.” Experimental evidence suggests that even when trading is clearly grounded in fundamentals, adjustment is never instantaneous and bubbles are possible during the process.

The Preliminary Specification assumes that producers' property, plant and equipment accounts, as they stand today, will need to be exhausted in the next 30 months. Producer firms need to cease using investor capital to subsidize consumers' capital costs. All industry value and cash resources are held in producers' property, plant and equipment accounts. They’ve literally “put the cash in the ground.” This reflects the cumulative subsidies producers have forced investors to subsidize consumers by. If industry were to recognize those costs based on our Preliminary Specifications decentralized production models price maker strategy they would resume normal healthy operations without the need for outside capital. Key to this strategy and the realization of this value is the implementation of our price maker strategy. This would enable oil & natural gas prices to capture all exploration and production costs in a timely and accurate manner. This would ensure profitable operations. And therefore the industry could compete on the North American capital markets. Oil & gas is a capital intensive industry, so it is reasonable to assume that consumer costs will be predominantly capital in nature. This hasn’t been the case for four decades. Please review the Preamble to the Preliminary Specification for more information on our decentralized production model's price maker strategy.

Everyone intuitively understands that if each producer scaled back their production by 5% their revenues would triple. Oil & gas are commodities that reflect economic characteristics of price makers, not price takers as assumed today. With an elasticity of supply / demand characteristics severely affected by the incremental barrel. The issue is producer organizations built today were developed during resource scarcity. When resources are scarce, full production is assumed at all times. Therefore, using the high-throughput production model to offset high costs of an operation, especially overhead, would be a logical organizational approach. In the shale age, however, the market consistently experiences that incremental barrel, which leads to commodity price collapse. Therefore, an organizational methodology is needed to organize North American producers. One in which only profitable production is produced everywhere and always. And profitable from the point of view of all exploration and production costs being recognized on a timely and accurate basis. Turning over the capital trapped in property, plant and equipment so that capital resources, or cash, are not sitting idle waiting for decades to be returned and redeployed. In addition, investors are asked to fund basic operations. Investors are unwilling to invest their money and watch it sit in property, plant and equipment for ten to twenty five years. This is when other industries turn capital over in six months. Oil & gas producers are not competing for capital, only consuming it as evidenced by their claims of “building balance sheets” and “putting cash in the ground.”

People, Ideas & Objects are turning the entire industry's focus to where its value can best be increased. Profitable energy independence in North America. The producer's value proposition to the oil & gas consumer is quantified in the area of 10 to 25 thousand man hours of mechanical leverage. This is for each barrel of oil equivalent. The greatest contribution to society of any industry. One that civilization loses without. This needs to be the heightened focus and drive of producer firms. This is where their value is realized and the outsized role they play in the critical nature of providing abundant and affordable oil & gas products to the most powerful economy man’s ever known.

Who Are We Building Systems For?

We now apply and extend Professor Jurgen Habermas’ 1960s theory of different knowledge interests from his book The Theory of Communicative Action. We delve into the difficult question regarding what we need the Preliminary Specification for. Are we developing systems that manage oil & gas producer commercial operations? Yes we are, but that does not address the societal and individual needs of these systems. If we continue to look at just producers' needs, we leave many needs unaddressed. Society and individuals are critical elements of a profitable oil & gas industry. For example society benefits by having producers and the service industries efficiently interact, develop profitable operations, pay royalties and taxes. Individuals create innovative solutions to producers' demands for their services. Profits from primary industries such as oil & gas are necessary to ensure prosperity throughout the secondary and tertiary industries that exclusively support North American producers. Trickle-down economics is valid in its application. This has not occurred in oil & gas and now there are significant issues ahead and large consequences as a result of the past management of the industry. Today no one in oil & gas would question the need for real profitability in North America, everywhere and always.

Organizations, individuals and society benefit from an increased and expanded division of labor and specialization. As defined by Professor Anthony Giddens' The Constitution of Society and Professor Wanda Orlikowski's structuration model. In today’s globalized, high technology workplace an expanded division of labor and specialization can be more efficiently created through permanent industry-wide software development capability. People, Ideas & Objects describes this in its Preliminary Specification. When we consider the oil & gas industry's economic output, increasing it requires increased levels of specialization and division of labor. Responsibility for increasing output does not fall on society, individuals or organizations in isolation but on all three. Therefore it is reasonable to state that what we need is the Preliminary Specification to address societies, individuals and organizations' needs. I do not foresee further development of the division of labor or specialization within the oil & gas industry without systems development involvement. In a somewhat deliberate manner where all groups are represented such as People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification.

The Flow of Funds

As well as their part-time work with People, Ideas & Objects our user community relies on this as one of two sources of funding. I now seek to clarify how our revenue model provides funds flow within these associated communities. To start we need to clearly identify the two different groups that are supported by People, Ideas & Objects revenues and who is not. These groups include (1) People, Ideas & Objects, (2) our user community members. Service providers are a separate and distinct group of independent businesses funded by producers. These funds replace their current accounting and administrative resources. They will deliver People, Ideas & Objects software with process management services directly to producers. Therefore, our user community members will receive another revenue stream since they are the service provider's principal owner and operator. The size of the service provider's revenue stream would be consistent with what is incurred today in the oil & gas industry for accounting and administration. The need for financial support for these communities is as follows.

Funds will then be distributed from People, Ideas & Objects to our user groups for their participation in our software development. Our user community members are independent business people. They define and design the systems needed by the oil & gas industry based on the Preliminary Specification vision. This is a revenue-generating activity for their organizations. It is in this way that People, Ideas & Objects acquires Intellectual Property rights to our user community members' contributions. Please see our User Community Vision for further information.

People, Ideas & Objects Capitalization

Another element of our Revenue Model is the means by which People, Ideas & Objects are capitalized. Traditionally software developers are stand-alone organizations with their own banking, regulatory and venture capital influences. People, Ideas & Objects takes a project management perspective in providing this software solution to the marketplace. Our capital structure differences are significant, with our Revenue Model being a critical element in defining and supporting these differences. Other key deliverables of this organizational structure are People, Ideas & Objects earnings, Intellectual Property royalties and Flexible Profitable Production Rights.

Our ability to maintain our focus on our user community's needs. I believe the situation in oil & gas today is the most significant issue in its history. The monetary value of our solution to the oil & gas industry is substantial. On the other hand the oil & gas industry, from an ERP perspective, is very small and raises a number of difficulties in terms of realizing any value from our efforts. Our budget is immaterial to the value created when producers implement the Preliminary Specification. Far more money is lost each month due to oil & gas overproduction and oversupply.

Our application scope and scale are very large. We need to eliminate and deal with any constraints that would otherwise occur with a compromised capital structure of People, Ideas & Objects. Therefore People, Ideas & Objects is funded by its Revenue Model and focused on its users, making it more of a project management venture. To be clear the scope and scale of People, Ideas & Objects is well beyond what venture capital groups would fund. Complicating our capital structure only complicates and compromises our software and services deliverability. To suggest that People, Ideas & Objects can be structured without investment capital might be naive for me to consider. However I do know that it would be naive to suggest that the systems as described in the Preliminary Specification could be built with the traditional influences of a capital structure. It would be contrary to the best interests of breaking from the existing failed industry culture. Theoretically our investment capital demands may require us to compromise with producers on a few key issues. To then suggest that we were focused on quality and achieved that through our user community would be a farce. Therefore, with that in mind and to ensure that the Preliminary Specification captures the full scope and scale of the technical and geographical concerns of the profitable North American oil & gas industry we can ensure that our user community basis for our software development remains our priority.

We must break from the dysfunctional culture of the current industry's administration. We will only recreate the same failed state if we need to compromise on their failing methods in order to receive our funding next month. Another issue with our funding is that we are subject to producer firms' whims. When push comes to shove, market dynamics may have changed as they did in 2022 with higher commodity prices. It would then be a good time to cancel this project by cutting its funding. Please note that 2022 may be the producers' 6th good year out of 36! Only when they have some “skin in the game” will they remain committed to the manner that will make this project successful and carry it to completion. Expecting producers to directly, or indirectly through our Profitable Production Rights, pay for large development costs. And it is to ensure that they face the difficulties and accountability necessary to firstly admit they've failed and secondly be committed to one solution.

We have discussed the risks of becoming “blind sleepwalking agents of whomever feeds us.” It's an issue of concern when discussing systems development. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model shows these risks are real and require an entirely different approach to funding our software development. It serves no one's interests, People, Ideas & Objects, our user community, service providers, producers or the service industry to proceed without dealing with this issue. It is advisable to identify these conflicts and compromise situations now, while the influences are manageable. Financial participation is how our communities are supported and can avoid becoming “blind sleepwalking agents of whoever feeds us.” People, Ideas & Objects are user focused developments. Software development projects can prioritize many choices. Users are one, technical efficiency is another and there are many other possibilities. To support the oil & gas industries' profitability needs everywhere and always. It is critical to focus on a producer's competitive advantages, their land & asset base, and their earth science & engineering capabilities. Users need to have the software tools, capabilities and means of production (the financial resources to build these products and services) under their control. If funding were to be cut or suspended mid-way through this project only the producer's officers and directors would win. There would never, or could ever, be a resurrection of the project or anything similar for the foreseeable future. Producer officers and directors need to be removed from the future success or failure of this development. Cutting their control of this project's funding is only the first step.

Change-Based Software Development Capability

People, Ideas & Objects focus on our user community. They are one of our three competitive advantages. They are our customers. Providing them with the software development capabilities they need to support oil & gas business opportunities and issues in the 21st century. This is not a static instance. As the oil & gas business changes, the software derived from the Preliminary Specification will accommodate those changes. This will be done through the establishment of our permanent software development capability and our user community. We therefore provide change-based software development capability for the North American oil & gas industry. We are not introducing “new” technology for technology's sake. Technology will have a substantial impact on our revenue model. However it is the oil & gas business, and the changes in that business that drive our user community and People, Ideas & Objects.

Traditional ERP vendors in the oil & gas marketspace "sold" a solution to oil & gas producers and supported that application through an annual service contract. Our competitors sell a product that does not keep up with changes in the business environment. Contrast that to the People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model that is dynamic in that we focus on business environment changes. Preparing Cloud Administration & Accounting for Oil & Gas software and services. These changes generate our revenue stream. Without changes to the software, there would be no developments and no fees assessed in that year by People, Ideas & Objects. These fees are the annual fees incurred by producers once the Preliminary Specification is released.

It is a fundamentally different point of view. Traditional ERP vendors are constrained by their code and their customers. Any changes to the code need to be populated for the variety of customers who use their software. As a result, the vendor is resistant to change. The more code the software vendor generates the more complex the changes will be. And the more customers vendors have, the more costs and conflicts arise. Innovations and enhanced features are not covered by the software vendor's service contract. People, Ideas & Objects will use Oracle's Cloud ERP where changes will be populated for our user base on the same quarterly basis as Oracle’s product. We are oriented to the changes in the oil & gas producers business environment through the demands of our user community. These changes drive our revenue. The contrast between the traditional ERP vendor and our change-based software development capability could not be greater.

Our applications provide software development capability for the oil & gas industry, service providers and service industries. It allows the industry to adapt when opportunities and issues arise. We believe that proceeding through the 21st century without a team of committed and capable ERP software developers will unnecessarily constrain the oil & gas industry within the Preliminary Specifications definition. Evolution of that model is necessary to eliminate systemic and chronic issues. As an example, the current problem of overproduction and oversupply has been around since the mid-1970s.

Monday, August 11, 2014

No More Muddling Along

The traditional operational strategy of the oil and gas industry is to muddle along. This is a throwback to the days when there was no opportunity to do anything but to accept the situation as fact and deal with it. Get through the day and survive to tell about it. However is this still appropriate for a $4 trillion industry? An industry with the issues and opportunities that the oil and gas producers have in front of them? An industry where the financial engineering of “cash flows” is the science that dictates operations. Where profits are of no concern, and for those that are focused on profits, they are accused of not truly understanding the nature of the business. It is a fool who tries to argue that profits are not a concern in oil and gas.

The beginning of the end of the muddling along strategy is People, Ideas & Objects. And that starts specifically with our Revenue Model. You can't expect that People, Ideas & Objects will be done on behalf of someone else’s dime, or on someone else’s time. The investment community have tired of the “opportunities” in oil and gas ERP systems. And they certainly have no appetite for our budget. Particularly if it were to be done on a speculative basis. Clearly there are no free lunches when it comes to having the budget for this software development paid for by others on behalf of the producers. If producers want it producers will have to pay for it themselves.

Assuming the producers are putting their hard earned money into something that is potentially valuable to their firm, I would also assume I have the producers attention. That is I think they will be an active and willing participant in our user community. It’s their money, it's their system and it will be their profits when the systems are built. This is the reason that our Revenue Model is not structured to motivate someone else to build it for them. There is really nothing in it for anyone else. All the value is skewed towards the producer. Hence the need to dispatch the muddling along strategy to the scrapheap of history and begin your active involvement in the operational strategy of your business.

It is the user community that holds the power and authority regarding the ways and means of the administration and accounting of the oil and gas industry under the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. Producers may resent this fact and chose to fight against it. Or they can accept it and realize that participation in the user community is the appropriate and constructive role that a producer should consider. Either way it will be pleasant to see them get up from their muddling along strategy.

Sitting back and doing nothing about the problems that the industry faces will be the way that things were handled in the past. When natural gas prices decline into unprofitability, producers will have the decentralized production model to reduce production immediately to remediate the price declines. When the engineering and earth science resources of the industry are challenged they will have the ability to use specialization and the division of labor to reorganize them in ways to make them more productive. In essence they will have the tools at their disposal, active participation in the user community and a software development capability in People, Ideas & Objects to deal with the issues and opportunities that face the industry as they occur. No more muddling through no matter the consequences to profitability. But this requires the first act of independence and renouncing of the muddling through strategy. And that is funding this initiative and participation in the user community. No one is motivated by the profits that they'll earn if they make these changes, and no one else is going to do it for them.

The Preliminary Specification and user community provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Vision of the #User #Community

Fast forward to the time in which you are participating as a service provider in the oil and gas industry. You will be one of the key elements in providing the oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The transition to the decentralized production model has occurred and you provide the Oracle and People, Ideas & Objects software applications, and the services of your team to the industry as a whole in the specialized area you have selected. The revenues in your firm provide you with the ability to build a highly specialized team and offering that is focused on these quality services to the producers. Bringing the work that you do to new levels of capabilities that provide your clients with unheard of value propositions. Such is the road that we are traveling down.

It is the participant, the leader, the member of the user community that is so critical to the effectiveness of providing the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. Without the leadership in the user community none of this will happen and that is why I am spending the time and effort in developing this community. It is critical. If we had all the money for the developments today it would be useless until we had the leadership of the user community in place. That is why we are looking for anyone who our vision in the Preliminary Specification appeals to, to join us and begin organizing ourselves for this new manner of oil and gas operations.

To provide the oil and gas industry with an alternative means of organization is the objective that we need to achieve. The investors need a replacement to the bureaucracy and are as displeased with it as we are. However they have no alternatives to turn to. We can organize that alternative and give them the solution. I have shown how the user community is formed through the Twitter network, then move onto the user community participating in the developments and finally onto the service providers. This won't happen overnight, but we have the time, and we have the time to do it right. We have the developments scheduled for 2019 which gives us an adequate amount of time to organize ourselves for this task of providing an alternative means of organization for the oil and gas industry.

Crazy, I know, but fun, heck yeah! We will have achieved something that needs to be done. And that is to move the industry out of its muddling through strategy to one of a dynamic, innovative, proactive and profitable industry. Something that desperately needs to be done. And we offer more than that. As it stands today we have the vision of the Preliminary Specification. Complete with the decentralized production model. And Oracle Fusion Applications. We are not anyones weak second cousin. We are building on the premier vision and technology bases.

When we add the user community, and particularly the leadership of that user community, to what we already have we will have the solution that is necessary for the 21st century. This is why it is so important to build this community. Having the user community and its leadership will make everything complete. It is the secret sauce. No other ERP system even has user input. And People, Ideas & Objects will be user community based developments, and, user community based developments for the remainder of the century. This isn’t a one off building for the initial development purposes, this is a permanent development. Look at People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model and you will see that we exist based on changes derived by user community requests. It is the dynamic nature of the user community that we are establishing here and now that will drive the developments, and the industry.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Allocation of our Margins

One thing about being in the software business is the healthy nature of the margins that are realized. For example Microsoft Office earns 73% profit margins for Microsoft. That also assumes you are able to attain the point in your business that you actually earn any revenues. The real downside of the software business is that all of your costs, the actual cost of development, is conducted without the benefit of any revenues. So you have to incur the costs of development before you get to the point of earning any revenues. Such is the way of the software business. And with People, Ideas & Objects large scope and scale, and the small market for ERP systems that the oil and gas producers make up, we have implemented a Revenue Model that is fundamentally different than most software companies. That is, we are developing the software with revenues from the producers. As the scope and scale is beyond the capabilities of the investment community.

Nonetheless the lead times to get to the point where the revenues are realized are significant. We are planning to commence developments in 2019 and complete them in 2021. I started working on developing oil and gas systems in May of 1991 and signed my companies first comprehensive development agreement with Oracle in February of 1992. It is coming up to 23 years that I have had this vision of the Preliminary Specification rattling around in my brain. It represents a life’s work and a life’s investment. I don’t count the amount of money that I have invested in this software nightmare, but it is substantial. The point is I am either crazy or I'm right. And I am very satisfied with being crazy.

So it is to the margins of our budget. I have allocated a 25% Intellectual Property Royalty, or $500 million to 1 billion to myself, the owner of the copyright of all of this material. I know this will cause some backlash in the industry, you understand that I am satisfied with my position in life. Alternatively you can start with your own vision as I did in 1991 and enjoy the smooth and glorious ride that offers. Bureaucrats will hold this royalty out as a reason not to proceed. Denying the investors the almost $100 billion in annual opportunity costs that are lost by using their current business model.

There are additional profit margins of 25% totalling $500 million to 1 billion as well. These are the profits of the firm and are distributed as dividends to the shareholders. It is true that I control 100% of the firm and as a result these dividends will end up in my pocket. I provide oil and gas producers with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. This is a tangible difference in our business model. The question becomes how do I realize this value that I generate for the industry? The shares are worthless. Once the development is done the revenues will fall significantly and define a much smaller capitalization. Do I have to sell the company to realize the value that I earn? The methodology defined above is the means that I choose to monetize my efforts, and is commensurate with the value that I provide to the industry.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy. And don't forget to join our network on Twitter @piobiz anyone can contact me at 403-200-2302 or email here

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Our Value Proposition


It is People, Ideas & Objects claim that we provide the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. And we do. This is through a variety of means and we’ll detail them here in the next few blog posts. The first aspect of our claim is that our Revenue Model provides the lowest cost of obtaining an ERP system in the industry. And that is by charging for the costs of software development, plus an element of profit as our fee structure. Therefore the industry is only paying for the one time costs of software development. A fundamentally more efficient value proposition than any of our competitors.

We can do this because we are not focused on the traditional software company concerns of code and customers, but are oriented to the changing business dynamics of an innovative oil & gas, and service industries. This difference determines the motivation of the software developer over the long term. In People, Ideas & Objects instance we generate revenues on the basis of the changes that industry desires. Our motivation becomes the constant improvement of the software. In the traditional software vendor’s case they are motivated by their code and customer bases. The larger their code base the more difficult it becomes to change, which coincidentally does not generate revenue. And the larger the customer base the more costly the changes that need to made to each customer. Which coincidentally these changes to the customer software do not generate any revenues. What you have is a contrast in the dynamic nature of the software itself. In terms of its cost to the industry and the motivation behind the developer.

Within our Revenue Model we have an annual fee and penalty structure for those who have not participated on a timely basis. Isn’t the penalty, when paid, a benefit to the software developer above their regular fees? No, it is not. The penalty structure is designed so that each producer pays an equal share of the total costs of all of the development. There are no free riders in this program. If a producer were to wait until the fifth year to start to participate in the user community and use the software that was built by others; then they would have to pay the fees for those past five years plus the associated penalties as well. These fees and penalties would then be used to offset the following years costs before the calculation of the next years fee assessment. So the next years fees would be proportionally less the amount of any fees and penalties that were paid by producers who decided to join the community and use the software. We call this the participation bonus.

When we aggregate the fees across the industry. The revenues for People, Ideas & Objects fall within the scope of what is necessary to undertake the kind of work that is described in the Preliminary Specification. These fees remain incidental to each producer on a comparative basis to the total costs of the software purchased from other ERP vendors. Producers / investors will be receiving an application that was developed with the full budget of the project. These costs, which will include the cloud computing infrastructure, will be a small percentage of those Information Technology costs that it replace. And as we will detail in the next few blog posts, these costs paid to People, Ideas & Objects will provide one of the elements of our claim that we provide the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

Each year we specify the amount that each producer's share of costs will be. These will be on the basis of estimates of our understanding of what is required to maintain and develop the software to meet its competitive advantage of providing the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. So there is an inherent level of trust in the work that is done through the community, and the financial support that is provided. The research and software development necessary to make this happen can be significant and needs to be undertaken in a timely fashion. With today’s tools it can be done in a commercial fashion with remarkable speed. The real inhibition will be the communities ability to think fast enough. The producers are a critical part of the community. What can not happen is to have the funding for this development terminated as a result of a lack or fading interest by the producers. It is therefore inherent upon me to provide a compelling reason for that not to happen and that is through the fact that we provide the most profitable means of oil and gas operations.

The Preliminary Specification provides the oil and gas investor with the business model for profitable exploration and production. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model specifies the means in which investors can participate in these user defined software developments. Users are welcome to join me here. Together we can begin to meet the future demands for energy.

Monday, January 02, 2012

2012 Fees Are Now Due


People, Ideas & Objects 2012 software development fees are now due. These fees were set in a November 1, 2011 blog post at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent per day production. (Producers with production of 50,000 barrels per day would pay $50,000.00 U.S. for software development fees for the 2012 calendar year.) Penalties of 300% of the 2012 fees will be assessed on any outstanding fees after March 31, 2012. All fees for 2010 onward must be paid in full by the producer before their participation can begin in the user community. 2010 and 2011 fees and penalties were set at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent per day production and 300%. All fees for 2010, 2011 and 2012 total $9.00 per barrel of oil equivalent.

Fees are used to support the developments of the Preliminary Specification. Please review our revenue model for more information on our fee structure and policies.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Announcing Our 2012 Fees


Its that time of the year where we announce what our fees for the upcoming year will be. Recall in 2010 and 2011 we set our fees at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent. For 2012 we are setting our fees at the same $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent effective January 1, 2012.

All producers are responsible to pay their fees from 2010 onwards. Those producers that have not paid their fees by March 31 of the assessment year are subject to a 300% late penalty in addition to the regular fees. Therefore a producer who wants to participate in the communities on January 2, 2012 would be responsible for a total of $9.00 in fees on their daily production throughput. ($1.00 for each of the three years 2010, 2011 and 2012 and late penalties of $3.00 for 2010 and $3.00 for 2011.) If that producer was producing 50,000 barrels per day then they would be responsible for a total of $450,000.00 in fees for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 years.

Review of our revenue model will help to explain our funding requirements and fee structure. Any further questions can be directed to me here.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Budgets and Canadians


I’ve titled this post “Budget and Canadians” because it is the best example of this unique budget situation that I can highlight. The situation may occur in other jurisdictions, I an not aware of any other specific cases, and those cases will be a determination of the community through the development of the Preliminary Specification. This specific Canadian situation is something that I am intimately aware of and generally am able to predict the outcome of what will happen. Therefore I am writing about what I know and am reasonably sure what the community will decide in developing the Preliminary Specification.

There are two unique development requirements that are required for the Canadian marketplace. The first is a unique royalty regime and the second is the oil-sands developments. If we assume these two unique software developments cost in the area of ~ $100 million. And the Canadian marketplace produces approximately ~ 3.5 million barrels of oil per day. As a result of these facts, when the time comes for the community to decide the geographic scope of the People, Ideas & Objects application (a deliverable of the Preliminary Specification) Canada’s unique development needs will be an issue that needs to be resolved.

Looking at the issue critically from the communities point of view. $100 million in development costs divided by 3.5 million barrels per day is $28.57 / boe of a subsidy that Canadian producers would receive from the general development “pool” in order to meet these unique Canadian software development needs.

What I think needs to happen is the Canadian producers need to pay the basic fees that all producers are assessed in order to participate in the community. Then in order to ensure that the decision is made to include Canada as part of the geographical scope of the People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. Pay the additional $100 million in additional software development costs allocated over the base of subscribing Canadian producers. That is the Canadian producers, assuming you could achieve 100% subscription rates, would provide an additional $28.57 per barrel of oil equivalent in additional fees to offset these unique Canadian development costs.

Another alternative would be for Canadian producers to discuss with the Alberta and other governments to fund the costs of their unique royalty requirements. I have had discussions with the Alberta government on this point and I wish the industry luck in this endeavour.

It may be considered unreasonable for the community to undertake the unique development costs of any jurisdiction during the Preliminary Specification. As we can see these costs skew the total development costs materially, and as such will need to be addressed separately. I believe jurisdictions like Canada need to address this point prior to subscribing to the Preliminary Specification and have the commitments in hand to fund the unique development costs before they begin their participation. Otherwise they may be surprised at the decisions regarding the geographic scope of the application by the community.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Budgets, Fees and Penalties


Part of our fee structure may not be obvious to most producers on first glance. People, Ideas & Objects Draft Specification was completed in 2008 and the majority of the discussion around its use was conducted in 2009 and the first half of 2010. It was at that point in 2010 that we determined the developments off the Draft Specification were ready to commence. And therefore, started the “clock ticking” at that time, January 1, 2010.

One of the fundamental aspects of our revenue model is that we don’t become “blind sleep walking agents of whom ever will feed us”. Systems development can be easily controlled by closing off the budget during critical points in the development. With an application such as People, Ideas & Objects we need a Revenue Model that deals with this reality and provides us with a means to control the development by controlling the means of production, or budget. Review of the discussion of the Revenue Model will help to provide a better understanding of our point of view.

By starting the clock ticking on January 1, 2010 we have begun “controlling the means of production” by raising the budget for developments. Although the point in time when we have generated revenues has not yet happened. We have pending revenues from the industry when the time comes that the overall proposed solution becomes compelling enough for industry to act. Another aspect of this “controlling the means of production” is the 300% late penalties that we assess for any late payments past March 31, of the assessment year. Producers that take issue with the penalty scheme have two alternatives, to not participate in the community, or pay their fees in a timely manner.

Non-payment of the fees carries the additional penalties of non-use of the software and non-participation in the communities. If in 2015 a producer decides to begin using the software they will face the same fees and penalty structure from 2010 onward. However, the probable steeper penalty will be the inability to have had their organization represented in the community during development. This participation is not a one way participation where the producer tells the developers what their needs are. It is a creative and collaborative process that will involve many decisions and developments that will create solutions that might look foreign to an outsider looking in. I think these points eliminate the motivation for a producer to become a “Free Rider” on the People, Ideas & Objects software developments.

But there’s more. Those producers that are willing to participate early are able to earn what we call the “Participation Bonus”. This bonus is earned when other producers who may have been free riders subsequently decide to join, and pay the fees and penalties back to 2010, offsetting the current years budget, relieving the earlier subscribing producers some of their costs of development.

We have tried to motivate and establish a fair and reasonable Revenue Model that deals with the issues we face in this software development. For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Software Development Budget


Last week we had the opportunity to briefly discuss some of the budget issues around People, Ideas & Objects. The budget for the Preliminary Specification has been set at $100 million which represents 5 - 10% of the total initial commercial releases costs. Suggesting that the costs of People, Ideas & Objects software development costs, in its first commercial release would be in the area of $1 to 2 billion. The next few weeks we will have the opportunity to more fully engage in these budget discussions and learn why these costs are necessary.

First of all I don't want to get into a detailed line by line discussion of the budget, but discuss the overall scope and the type of application that is needed in the marketplace and how that type of application could not be developed in any other manner other then through a budget of this substantial size. These budget discussions also assume that I have not underestimated the scope of the undertaking, a very real possibility.

Having an oil and gas application that meets the needs of the users and producers, that is based on the Draft Specification will provide efficiencies if it is built properly. That assumes that it is built with the appropriate budget in place. A $1 - 2 billion software development budget for an application that is on top of the costs for Oracle Fusion applications is larger then anything the industry has attempted before. Add in the producers unique costs of integration, our hybrid cloud computing investment requirements; the producers costs of funding this project, all in, are substantial. This is the reason that we have turned to industry for our funding. Expectations that investment capital would fulfill these capital requirements are misguided.

The integrated nature of using the Joint Operating Committee, and the level of change that is introduced requires that we approach this project with this scope of application and budget in mind. What makes this possible today is the People, Ideas & Objects Value Proposition. Where we allocate the costs of these developments over a large subscription base of producers. Costs of developments are disbursed through to the producer base mitigating these costs as incidentals to each producer. On the other hand, with our potential ability to aggregate a large budget, our capacity to highly engineer software development solutions will provide real value in terms of software development costs per barrel of oil equivalent.

For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Please note what Google+ provides us is the opportunity to prove that People, Ideas & Objects are committed to developing this community. That this is user developed software, not change that is driven from the top down. Join me on the People, Ideas & Objects Google+ Circle and begin building the community for the development of the Preliminary Specification. Email me here if you need an invite.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

2011 Funding Update


The results of our 2011 first quarter funding campaign can now be reported. As was expected, none of the producer firms chose to participate in the funding or support of People, Ideas & Objects. From our perspective, we see this as evidence that management are too conflicted to participate in this project. The only way forward through this deadlock will be from the explicit direction of the ownership class of the producers. It is therefore anticipated that this project will proceed on a somewhat brick-by-brick and stick-by-stick basis. Stay tuned.

It is now time for producers to act. Review of our Revenue Model will inform producers how they can participate in the development of People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. Producers can contact me here for further information, or to begin the process of their participation.

Monday, January 03, 2011

The Mackenzie Gas Project is a go, sort of.

The Oil and Gas Journal reports that the Canadian government has approved the Mackenzie Gas Project.  A $16 billion 1,196 km, 1.2 BCF / day pipeline, three onshore natural gas fields and 457 km NGL pipeline. The Mackenzie Gas project extends from the Beaufort Sea to Northern Alberta, is operated by Imperial Oil and includes as partners the Mackenzie Aboriginal Pipeline LP, ConocoPhillips Canada, Shell Canada Ltd., and Exxon Mobil Canada Properties.

At the end of the article it is noted that.

Imperial filed a letter with the NEB in March stating it would not decide whether to proceed with the project until late 2013, citing administrative delays in the approval process and subsequent difficulties keeping the project adequately staffed. 

It is refreshing to see the candid nature of Imperial’s et al’s admission that they are having difficulty organizing, or staffing, this project. It has been a long held assumption of People, Ideas & Objects that the oil and gas industry is facing a fundamental change in the underlying makeup of the business. That change being the demands of the earth science and engineering effort required for each unit of energy produced is increasing, and will continue to increase, on a trajectory that requires the producer to focus on innovation. Additionally, commodity prices are reallocating the financial resources to reward the innovative producer. These are fundamental changes in the underlying oil and gas business that will reconfigure who the winners and losers within the industry are.

To address this changed environment People, Ideas & Objects provides the oil and gas producer with an overall vision of how the industry could operate in this future. This vision is captured in our Draft Specification and is based on using the Joint Operating Committee (JOC), and applying the Information Technologies of the 21st Century. It is our vision that addresses the issues that Imperial et al are facing in staffing the Mackenzie Gas Project, and the issues that all producers are facing throughout the global oil and gas industry.

This vision of how the industry could operate is based on a solid understanding of industry operations, steeped in academic research, and based on the unique idea of using the industry standard Joint Operating Committee. By building the ERP systems that identify and support the movement of the compliance and governance frameworks of the hierarchy; over to and into alignment with the legal, financial, operational decision making, cultural, communication and innovation frameworks of the JOC, the producer attains a speed, accountability and innovativeness of operations.

In establishing this vision, and by developing the use of the Joint Operating Committee, People, Ideas & Objects have now set a standard of “start-up” ERP vendors investment requirements. This would also pertain to the standard bearer SAP and other vendors to provide a comprehensive and compelling vision for how the oil and gas producer can solve the issues the industry faces. Either way, as a start-up or as a full solution vendor, the need for “custom” development to meet an oil and gas vision is a necessity to selling an ERP solution in the marketplace today. Where are the others vendors visions and solutions?

Lastly I would argue that neither Imperial, Shell, ConocoPhillips or Exxon, the producers mentioned in this article, in any combination or permutation could develop this solution. And neither could any producer who participated in any Joint Operating Committee. What is necessary is to have a solution provider that is a third party to all of the producers, that represents all of the producers needs, such as People, Ideas & Objects is configured to do. For Imperial or Shell or any combination of producers alone to provide a software solution would limit the acceptance of the solution by the other producers in the Joint Operating Committee. This acceptance limitation is not an issue with the solution provided through People, Ideas & Objects.

It is now time for producers to act. Review of our Revenue Model will inform producers with attributes of how they can participate in the development of People, Ideas & Objects Preliminary Specification. Producers can contact me here for further information, or to begin the process of their participation.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Free Riders and the Participation Bonus.

Free riders have been defined in wikipedia as

In economics, collective bargaining, psychology, and political science, "free riders" are those who consume more than their fair share of a public resource, or shoulder less than a fair share of the costs of its production. Free riding is usually considered to be an economic "problem" only when it leads to the non-production or under-production of a public good (and thus to Pareto inefficiency), or when it leads to the excessive use of a common property resource. The free rider problem is the question of how to limit free riding (or its negative effects) in these situations.
For the purpose of People, Ideas & Objects “free riders” is a serious problem that we have chosen to deal with in our Revenue Model. Simply our free rider problem is that many producer firms would feel their best approach to supporting People, Ideas & Objects would be to abstain from actively participating, particularly financially, and leave the burden to other producers to carry the weight of building the application without their direct participation. Applications such as People, Ideas & Objects can not be built with that method of participation.

The manner in which we solve this free rider problem is by assessing a late fee of 300% on top of our annual subscription fee. The annual subscription fees are due and payable on January 1 of the current year and need to be paid in full prior to the participation in the communities or prospective use of any software. Late fees are assessed on any outstanding annual subscription fees as of March 31, of the calendar year in which the fees were assessed. 2010 subscription fees were assessed at $1.00. 2011 subscription fees will also be assessed at $1.00. All fees, subscription and late, for all years, 2010 forward are to be paid before participation in communities can commence or prospectively use any software. Fees are assessed on the producers annual barrel of oil per equivalent production. (Eg. a producer currently producing 1 million boe / day would owe $1 million 2010 subscription fees and $3 million late fees, and $1 million 2011 subscription fees.)

The participation bonus is related to the late fee in that as firms that may have chosen to wait or hold back their participation in developing People, Ideas & Objects applications. That may have subsequently decide to join the development or begin using the application. Are then required to pay the subscription and late fees back to 2010 to the current date. As these lump sum payments are received by People, Ideas & Objects they offset the current years budgetary revenue requirements of the firm, therefore reducing the current years budget subscription fee value and therefore reducing those subscribing producers annual subscription fees for the subsequent subscription year. That’s the participation bonus.

It’s necessary that a project such as this deals with the free rider problem and at the same time reward those producers that participate early. For the industry to successfully provide for the consumers energy demands, it’s necessary to build the systems that identify and support the Joint Operating Committee. Building the Preliminary Specification is the focus of People, Ideas & Objects. Producers are encouraged to contact me in order to support our Revenue Model and begin their participation in these communities. Those individuals that are interested in joining People, Ideas & Objects can join me here and begin building the software necessary for the successful and innovative oil and gas industry.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Our Revenue Model - Defined

I am pleased to have defined the Revenue Model for People, Ideas & Objects. I have aggregated the material in one knol located here. We now have the justification for producers to support these developments. Definition of the Revenue Model initiates Phase Two of this projects development, the Preliminary Specification. Readers can aggregate all of the posts for Phase Two here.

Producers are encouraged to contact me here in order to begin their participation in these communities.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Budget for Phase Two

Here we step into the truly surreal world of People, Ideas & Objects budgetary needs. The objective of Phase Two is to complete the Preliminary Specification. A task that has been defined as 100 man years of effort. A task that when complete would be a significant step forward for the innovative oil and gas producers. Costing this part of the development is relatively easy. We pay standard rates for contributions of $125.00 U.S. per hour. Therefore 100 man years at 1,760 hours per year totals $22 million. I could identify many other costs involved in supporting these developments, however.

Our revenue model sets an annual rental fee for each calendar year. That fee was set at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent for the 2010 year. Penalties are due and payable effective March 31 on any outstanding fee for that year. As of today’s date, each and every producer will be assessed the 300% penalty on their 2010 rental fees. These fees and penalties are to be paid in full by all producers irrespective of when they may join the developments. No participation or use of the software is permitted by any producer until all outstanding fees and penalties, back to January 1, 2010, are paid in full. The incentives are to participate early, and there are no financial benefits in waiting for other producers to pay disproportionately the fees and costs of these developments. Early participation is rewarded with a reduction of 75% of the total potential fees, (penalty avoidance) and greater participation in the definition of the software. (Or the ability to map the software to deal with the producers organization.)

To set a dollar amount to complete the Preliminary Specification is beyond what can be reasonably budgeted or defined. We are therefore proceeding with Phase Two on the basis that as producers join, and pay their required fees and penalties, we will proceed with the further development of the project. A pay as you go basis as producers join the development. The nature of the Preliminary Specification facilitates this stop-and-go type of development.

It is also time to set the fees for 2011. As in 2010, 2011 fees are set at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent. This fact alone shows the value proposition of this project. That although the costs of development are high, the costs to an individual producer are not only reasonable, they are a mere shadow of the traditional ERP software costs.

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.

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Friday, August 06, 2010

Our Revenue Model Part VII

People, Ideas & Objects focus is on its users and the business issues that they face. We are not providing “new” technology for technologies sake. With respect to our revenue model, technology has a substantial impact on our product delivery.

Past systems development and integration projects have led to time and monetary black holes. Users have frequently had to adapt to poor or technology focused perspectives of their jobs. These are the issues that users face in the marketplace today.

A key area of People, Ideas & Objects competitive offering is that our software development capabilities are based on the “Agile” development principles. In addition to being user focused, these capabilities provide iterative developments that are substantially more productive then past methodologies. More productive due to the focus on working with the user to solve their systems development needs. Getting the users needs satisfied, not chasing blind bunny trails.

Agile developments affect our revenue model by budgeting for the current years activities. Although our total costs remain high, taken from an annual perspective helps to break down the ominous nature of these developments. A release early and release often schedule also benefits the entire community, leading to further focused iterative developments in the short term. I anticipate the only time users will be working without the assistance of developers is in the development of the Preliminary Specification. While the Preliminary Specification is being developed, our development team will be forming, installing the infrastructure and working with Oracle to become familiar with their Fusion Middleware product offerings. Then the two communities will begin to use and develop the systems based on users priorities.

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Our Revenue Model Part VI

Throughout the past few months (here, here and here) we have talked about the risks of becoming blind sleep-walking agents of whomever will feed us. An issue when we are discussing systems development. People, Ideas & Objects Revenue Model shows these risks are real and require a new approach to funding these software developments. It serves no ones interests, People, Ideas & Objects, the Community of Independent Service Providers, Users or Producers to proceed without dealing with this issue. It is best to identify these conflicts and compromising situations now, while the influences are manageable.

Producers are expected to fund the software developments on the basis of their production profile. Rental fees are assessed on all producers starting January 2010. This eliminates the possibility that some producers will pay disproportionate shares of the development costs. All producers will be required to have their rental fees, and penalties, paid in full from January 2010 to the current year in order to access the applications. These methods and penalties eliminate all incentive to delay and avoid financial participation by producer firms.

Financial participation is how the communities are supported and hence able to avoid the trap of becoming blind sleep-walking agents of whoever feeds them. People, Ideas & Objects are user focused developments. The choices that a software development project can prioritize are many. Users are one, technical efficiency another and there are many other possibilities. For users to support the producers focus on its competitive advantages of their asset base, oil and gas leases and earth science and engineering capabilities. Users need to have the software tools and means of production, (the financial resources to build those tools) within their control.

This discussion does not preclude the producers participation in these communities. Producers, on the contrary, are critical elements of the user community. These developments will need their full participation and contribution. What is necessary to proceed is the appropriate “political environment” in which users are able to define, build and use the software tools they need to do their jobs.

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Our Revenue Model Part V

Another element of our Revenue Model is the means in which People, Ideas & Objects is capitalized. Traditionally software developers are stand-alone organizations with their own banking, regulatory and venture capital influences. People, Ideas & Objects is taking a project management perspective in providing this software solution to the marketplace. The differences in our capital structure are significant, with our Revenue Model being a critical element in defining and supporting these differences.

The fact of the matter is, by having user based developments defined and supported by various communities. To then have various venture capitalists, or other groups involved in a traditional capital structure, influence whether or not the software was built to specification is too large of a compromise to be viable. Therefore People, Ideas & Objects is funded by its Revenue Model and focused on its users.

To be clear the scope of People, Ideas & Objects is beyond what venture capital groups would be willing to fund. That is to say if the producers are unwilling to invest in this software development, based on the value proposition put forward, no venture capital groups would touch this type of venture. Amortizing the costs of this development over the production profile of the industry is our value proposition. Complicating our capital structure only complicates and compromises the deliver-ability of the software.

To suggest that People, Ideas & Objects can be structured without the traditional involvement of investment capital might be naive for me to consider. However I do know, that it would be naive to suggest that the systems as described in the Draft Specification could be built with the influences of a traditional capital structure. Therefore, it is with that in mind, and to ensure that the Preliminary Specification captures the full scope of the technical and geographical concerns of each subscribing producer. That producers would be wise to support these developments to ensure their concerns remain the appropriate priority of this software development.

One area where our capital structure is not a concern is in the hosting of the application on the cloud computing infrastructure. I have addressed these needs by separating these business concerns from the software development activities. As I have documented in our Hardware Policies & Procedures, the hardware infrastructure is directly managed by the producers themselves. The purpose in structuring the hardware in this fashion is to eliminate the producers regulatory concerns in running their ERP systems, and to ensure that all parties have a vested interest in the infrastructure. In the process of meeting those concerns the business of the firm that hosts the application will have its own capital structure that will not in any way affect or influence the software developments or communities of People, Ideas & Objects.

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Our Revenue Model Part IV

This post seeks to clarify People, Ideas & Objects revenue model and provide an understanding of the flow of funds within the associated communities. Needless to say all the funds flow from the Producers, however that is where the money is. I’ll break down the general flow to show how each of the different groups are sustained over the long term.

To start we need to clearly identify the three different groups that are supported directly by the producer firms. These groups include (1) People, Ideas & Objects, (2) the user communities and (3) the Community of Independent Service Providers (CISP). The need for this financial support is as follows.

  1. People, Ideas & Objects assesses an annual rental on all producers for access to the software applications, cloud computing infrastructure and the communities involved in the development. These funds are assessed based on an annual rental for each barrel of oil equivalent of the producer. This rental has been set at $1.00 per barrel of oil equivalent for the 2010 calendar year. In addition, assessments are due and payable by March 31, of each year. Producers are subject to a 300% penalty for any late payments. All producers are required to pay the rental from 2010 forward. 
  2. The second group that receives producer funds are the users themselves. These users are the producers employees or consultants that they hire to do the work within their organizations and Joint Operating Committees. These funds are incurred indirectly as a result of the individuals doing their jobs and are not necessarily a direct cash payout. These costs are incurred by the users on behalf of the producers in working with the Community of Independent Service Providers and the People, Ideas & Objects developers. The work the users are compensated for is in defining and designing the systems they and the producers want and need. 
  3. The third group that receives direct funding from the producers is the Community of Independent Service Providers. This community is engaged by the producers to handle many of their specific systems related needs. Accounting integration and systems development are the two areas where the CISP will be used most often.

What happens to these funds is also important to note.
  1. People, Ideas & Objects incurs the costs associated with the hosting of the infrastructure for running the application and software development environment. We also have the developers on staff who are working with the Community of Independent Service Providers and user groups to define and enhance the systems they need and want. Lastly we directly compensate the CISP for the work that is done concerning the applications development.
  2. Users are direct recipients of the funds they earn in their positions with the producer firms. 
  3. The Community of Independent Service Providers are independent in that they are not affiliated with one specific producer or Joint Operating Committee. They are service providers to the oil and gas industry. Their services to People, Ideas & Objects and subscribing producers are provided as independent organizations. 

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Our Revenue Model Part III

Continuing on with our discussion of People, Ideas & Objects revenue model. Today we discuss the impact of the revenue model, and the Draft Specification, has on the competitive advantages of the producer firm.

We start off with recognition that China is now the world’s number one consumer of energy. The demand for energy in the next several decades will be insatiable. The somewhat fixed number of earth scientists and engineers will have substantial business opportunities addressing this world demand. It is through a reorganization of these fixed human resources, by having People, Ideas & Objects software applications define and support enhanced divisions of labor and specialization, that this demand for energy will be satisfied.

Building systems that deal with the commercial interactions between the producer, society and the individuals that work in oil and gas, and the service industries, is beyond the direct concern of the producer. Yet, are a necessity of basic operations. If we agree that the competitive advantages of the producer firm are based on it’s unique composition of oil and gas leases, physical assets of the firm, and application of the firms earth science and engineering capabilities. The producer will remain involved and focused on the development of efficient software systems to identify and support those competitive advantages. Much in the same manner as society and individuals will work to develop those same systems to meet their needs.

Therefore, the producers decision to financially support these developments affect society and individuals. The producer firm receives 100% of the direct revenues from oil and gas sales. Allocation of a portion of these oil and gas revenues towards an initiative like People, Ideas & Objects can not be evaluated based on its competitive return at the producer level. Everyone is familiar with one or more software development or implementation projects that were terminated as the result of a lack of long term funding. These failures have little to do with the quality of the project or the people that were behind it. Over time the sense of urgency that the project may have put forward fades as does the financial support. Approaching a project with the scope of People, Ideas & Objects, without having an answer to a fading sense of urgency would be a failure.

The question therefore becomes, how does the revenue model of People, Ideas & Objects 1) sustain these communities throughout the development cycle and 2) provide these communities with the software tools they need to expand economic output? We provide this by way of the inherent promise or guarantee of this project. That being, this software development, and associated communities, provide the innovative oil and gas producer with the most profitable means of oil and gas operations. The profitable nature arising as a result of the expanded oil and gas output, based on the enhanced division of labor enabled with the People, Ideas & Objects application, and, the value proposition we have put forward.

Society is put in peril when world oil production declines. There is evidence that the world's oil production has declined. Therefore the world needs to have the energy industry expand its production. To do so requires that we reorganize to enhance the division of labor and specialization within the industry. As economic development has proven, reorganization would achieve far greater oil and gas production. Management of the industry is conflicted in expanding the output of the industry. The less they do, the higher the oil and gas prices and the better they appear to perform. This managerial conflict must be addressed and the performance of the industry unleashed. To do so requires the current management of the industry to fund People, Ideas & Objects and build the systems as defined in the Draft Specification. Please join me here.


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