Study of DataOps as a concept for Aker BP to enable data-driven assets.

The oil and gas industry have faced many obstacles over the decades and in recent years the industry has had to endure increased pressure from the market, a global crisis caused by the coronavirus and oil prices reaching an all time low. Low oil prices stimulate a reaction from the industry having to do more with less, finding new ways of working and exploring previously untapped opportunities for improvement through digitalization. Aker BP aim to be at the forefront of digitizing the exploration and production (E&P) industry and their digital transformation is more than just technology. Aker BP aim to build digital capabilities, develop digital mind sets and implement new ways of working where decisions are driven by data. The company show a willingness to experiment with and develop new technologies, however data management efforts are increasing as digitalization projects are realised from Aker BP’s digital lab. An investment into data management is therefore required to allow for automation over time and ensure the right competence within Aker BP. In collaboration with Aker BP, this thesis investigates the importance of an organization wide data management and data governance strategy aligned with business objectives and how the emerging concept of DataOps can enable Aker BP’s ambitions of becoming a data-driven company. DataOps is an emerging approach advocated by data practitioners to cater to the challenges in data analytics projects. The thesis examine how Aker BP work with data in their organization today through interviews and discussions with different parts of the organization and assess how the principles and concepts of DataOps can be applied. To answer this, a DataOps maturity model has been developed and Aker BP’s ways of working evaluated by using the model. The principles and concepts of DataOps have then been considered and an implementation plan and critical success factors for succeeding with DataOps or maturing data management and data governance efforts are presented. The thesis focuses on the principle that DataOps’ goal is to liberate data from its sources to its consumers and proposes the necessary steps to embark on the DataOps journey and maturing data management within the company. The research show that data management efforts are limited and based on ad-hoc needs and fast changing priorities. The pressure on the data management function to verify, clean, liberate, analyse and advise on data is growing and the participants in the research emphasize the need for change. Based on the DataOps maturity model developed, the steps required to increase Aker BP’s DataOps maturity are identified. Further research should include implementation of the identified steps and investigate the efforts to further automating business processes and maturing Aker BP’s ability to work with data