A people-focused approach to field service transformation

KPMG reconfigures Microsoft Dynamics 365 for a major oil company

Client

A major U. S. oil producer

Industry

Energy, natural resources, and chemicals

Primary goal

Reimplement a stalled Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service deployment

Primary platforms

Microsoft Dynamics 365®

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When an acquisition doubles your revenue in your largest market, there are some big numbers at play—especially when you’re a $48 billion CPG company. And the bigger the numbers, the bigger the impact of every strategic and tactical decision you make. You can’t afford to have your visibility clouded and your decision-making hampered by having two disparate financial operations functions each with its own systems, software, and people. So, when a global CPG company found itself in this situation, it called on KPMG to drive fast, smooth, cost-efficient integration of financial operations.

Key outcomes

1

Increased engagement 

and global alignment between cross-functional teams

2

Greater visibility

 into consolidated spend driving meaningful insights and more proactive decisions

3

Days shaved off

the monthly close cycle

4

More accurate

revenue and sales forecasting

A major oil and gas company chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service® to transform operations and maintenance for producing assets. But their initial implementation failed to make everyday activities much easier for employees, even those accustomed to making reports via pen and paper. It also failed to deliver the efficiency and data sharing that management expected. KPMG was selected to replace the original system integrator (SI) and reconfigure Microsoft’s technology. By fielding a cross-functional team that combined energy industry experience with Dynamics 365 specialists, we helped enable connected operations that empowered people across the organization—from field workers who needed better tools to managers who needed better insights.

Key outcomes

Making a measurable difference

Estimated 2 percent to 5 percent

Operations expense savings from worker efficiency

Projected 1 percent to 5 percent

Gain in production volumes

Single asset launch

As the model for enterprise-wide transformation

Client transformation journey

Click on each part of the journey to learn more about our client’s transformation.

Client transformation journey

Before

Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.

After

Unified financial operations support global success.

While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

Future

A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

Before

Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.

After

Unified financial operations support global success.

While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

Future

A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

Client transformation journey

  • Before

    Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

    Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.The preconfigured assets and technology accelerators delivered by KPMG Powered Enterprise let ambitious leadership teams take advantage of embedded leading practices to speed up the decision-making process while instilling confidence.

  • After

    Unified financial operations support global success.

    While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

  • Future

    A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

    There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

What makes KPMG different is our ability to give clients a range of knowledge and experience delivered by a single coordinated team. This engagement required a strong understanding of the oil and gas industry as well as deep experience with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise Resource Planning platform. By listening closely to the client from the very beginning, we were able to assemble the right group of specialists to help meet their specific goals.

KPMG Advisory Managing Director, Platforms

Rob Moeller

1. Vision and validation phase

Real goals and relevant functions

Despite the unsuccessful first launch, the client understood that the Dynamics 365 Field Service application was the right solution for automating and connecting operations, so the need for an initial technology review and selection process was eliminated. The client’s basic goals were also already well-defined: to implement a scalable Microsoft Field Service foundation that would optimize routine, ad-hoc, and maintenance tasks for their production, maintenance, and reliability workers in the field.

The key to a more effective deployment would be to bring a “business value first” approach to the project by defining leading practices that would drive value for the business overall and then configuring Dynamics 365 to meet those objectives. It would also require prioritizing which field service tasks mattered most to employees and ensuring they worked well before adding other functions. Before the project began, our KPMG team spent weeks with the client’s Information Technology (IT) team to establish clear business objectives for the new deployment and review existing problems. Putting in this time at the start helped to build acceptance among management and local stakeholders as the project moved forward.

2. Construction phase

Building a strong foundation

In designing and constructing a solution for the client’s initial unconventional asset, our team needed to balance specific local requirements with the broader goal of establishing a strong foundation that could be scaled and adopted more widely in the future. While focusing on the initial asset deployment, our team engaged with other regional assets, gathering requirements to inform design decisions for a scalable company-wide solution.

While the Dynamics 365 Field Service app can be used to connect and automate a wide range of activities, our team began by focusing on the most common recurring tasks at a single unconventional asset, such as routine inspections. The new configuration would allow field service workers to log onto the system to find their daily routes for recurring tasks across multiple locations; record their activities; and report leaks, malfunctions, or other relevant information.

Because recurring tasks tend to be numerous, frequently executed, and relevant to other activities, establishing strong performance on this function was a critical first step in our initial deployment. After that, our teams worked with IT managers in the client’s Houston offices and on-site personnel in the field office to design other key functions, such as routine maintenance, alarm responses, and ad hoc responses to problems found during inspections. The data gathered through these activities would also help on-site managers to anticipate possible problems or performance issues—such as lower-than-expected oil or gas flows—before they become serious enough to produce an alarm or cause a downtime event.

Combining the industry knowledge of the KPMG Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals practice with the Dynamics 365 experience of our software platforms and implementation specialists let us create a solution that was tailored to the initial asset, but only lightly customized, and thus scalable to other locations.

3. Delivery phase

Quick acceptance and tangible benefits

After nearly a year of work, the new Dynamics 365 Field Service application went live at the initial North American unconventional asset. Thanks partly to our early validation work with IT management and extensive testing and User Acceptance Training, employees were ready to accept the new system and impressed with its functionality. Key outcomes for the client included:

  • Better worker efficiency overall, including an estimated 2 percent to 5 percent in operations expense savings
  • Increased field task transparency and reporting for supervisors to monitor performance
  • Improved scheduling and prioritization efficiency
  • Reduced downtime leading to a projected 1 percent to 5 percent production volume increase
  • Improved operations by consistently defining priorities and exceptions, leading to an estimated 3 percent to 10 percent unit cost reduction
  • Allowed client to automate deployments, reducing errors and administrative effort required
  • Improved online and offline communications
  • Optimal development and configuration of Dynamics 365 has allowed client to manage the platform without KPMG support
  • Platform can be easily extended via simple low-code enhancements.

4. Evolution phase

Ready for the next stage?

The successful redeployment at the initial unconventional asset has established a strong basis for developing a wider “Connected Field Worker” cloud-based platform across the client’s entire range of assets. KPMG continues to work with the client on related IT projects, but the decision to move forward with such a major enterprise-wide transformation may require greater support from senior management and other stakeholders. 

Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service, and Dynamics 365 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

Energy industry experience and knowledge

The KPMG Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals practice offers oil and gas clients the experience and knowledge to respond to changing market conditions and execute dynamic business strategies through digital transformation. Along with consulting services, we also bring industry-specific insights to tax and audit projects. 

Meet our team

Transform the way you manage field service and operations

Let’s talk about where you are now and your goals for the future.

Image of Thomas Royce
Thomas Royce
Director, Advisory, Supply Chain & Operations, KPMG US
Image of Rob Moeller
Rob Moeller
Advisory Managing Director, Platforms, KPMG US

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A people-focused approach to field service transformation

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