Absoft are an accredited SAP partner and have been providing dedicated SAP software and business consultancy services since 1991. They specialise in the upstream oil & gas industry, helping clients implement and maintain best practice SAP solutions along with supporting business processes.
The company also provide Integrated SAP Support services (either onsite or remotely) for many industry sectors and public organisations across the UK. Their capabilities span both technical and functional disciplines within SAP and they are Partner Centre of Expertise accredited.
Absoft design, implement and maintain best practice SAP systems for specific company requirements. This includes managing data requirements for M&A activity, reinvigorating older systems and processes to meet evolving business needs and utilise evolving technology, such as user friendly mobile applications, or providing bespoke SAP training.
Absoft’s specialist consultants cover all functional needs from finance and HR to supply chain, logistics and maintenance. They have delivered thousands of upstream projects in the North Sea and Europe, with wider project execution over 40 countries to date.
The Integrated SAP Support side of the business, however, is purely focused on the UK market. Absoft serve customers from their offices in Aberdeen and London, covering all parts of the country. None of the support service is outsourced and dedicated support consultants get to know their customers in depth.
Beyond functional support, the company provide all necessary technical support. This covers ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) development, NetWeaver, hardware and upgrade services. Absoft serve SAP users in any industry but they have a strong background in oil & gas, manufacturing and local councils alongside higher education and transport.
As a Principal Consultant and Discipline Team Lead, John Meiklejohn is responsible for supply chain and logistical project teams. His roles and responsibilities cover all aspects of service delivery. These range from preparing proposals and project scopes to overseeing the quality of other consultants’ work and delivering projects.
John has undergone a range of training backed up by 20 years’ experience implementing SAP, enabling him to support customers and other Absoft consultants to a highly specialised level. This includes configuring Materials Management, Inventory Management and Plant Maintenance modules, among others. John has detailed experience of the requirements for the Management of Maintenance in the North Sea, supporting a range of legislative standards including ISO 14224 and NORSOK Z008.
Absoft is focused on helping its customers put in place and maintain SAP systems that enable operational compliance with health and safety programs, whether internally or externally driven.
John said: “We work with clients to manage and report on inspection and preventative maintenance of Safety Critical equipment. We provide a means of planning work, registering results, comparing with agreed standards and indicating if the results are acceptable, putting in place actions to rectify equipment failing to meet the required standards.”
It is essential that all Safety Critical equipment is managed and maintained to the highest level, especially in high risk oil & gas operations. Absoft can provide the functionality to assess the potential for failures before they occur. This ensures that the correct mitigating actions can be put in place at the optimal point in time.
As a consequence of implementing safety critical processes, safety critical stock can also be easily reviewed, as John explained: “We enable organisations to register materials and ensure their supply chain processes are sufficiently aligned to meet the demands of both planned and corrective maintenance. This results in a reduced risk of stock outs or unavailability of critical components.”
Beyond operational safety, Absoft help companies ensure they are in compliance with their HR, payroll, logistics and accounting processes using SAP.
Absoft work with operating drilling and oilfields service companies of all sizes and offer fixed date project delivery as well as ongoing support. Clients include Total E&P, Apache, Halliburton, Petrofac, Chevron and Philips among many others.
John had the following advice for organisations struggling to meet exemplary standards of safety: “Speak to us. We have a strong track record with many clients across the upstream oil & gas sector. We assist with improvements to business processes and data systems in order to help operating, drilling and service companies meet and prove compliance with all applicable safety standards. And as an added bonus, we can improve your efficiency and profitability in the process”
Absoft pride themselves on providing excellent customer service, which is achieved through committed, trained and competent employees.
“Our Absoft Centre of Excellence drives all operations within our business,” John explained. “It is how we deliver company values on a daily basis. Our mission is to drive operational excellence and enhanced business performance through SAP best practice.”
Absoft are members of the Achilles Group, including First Point Assessment Ltd (FPAL), JQS and Sellihca. They are also members of the Bright Green Business Network, Oil & Gas UK, Norway2UK, SBN Norway and the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
“These memberships are useful in not only helping us to network with our peers within the industry, but also making sure we keep up to date with the challenges our clients are facing,” John said.
The company hold the SAP Active Quality Management Accreditation. Awarded in 2012, this is SAP’s global quality accreditation program, of which Absoft were delighted to become certified members. They were awarded the SAP Partner Centre of Excellence (PCoE) certification in the same year. The award verifies that Absoft provide support to their customers in accordance with SAP’s current technical and organisational standards. It follows an extensive audit by SAP of their support service.
Several of Absoft’s consultants are ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) trained and the company’s market-leading SAP Support Service is aligned with ITIL. They are also well versed in utilising the Prince 2 methodology and principles within their SAP implementation projects alongside ASAP. Several of their project managers are Prince 2 certified.
Absoft were proud to gain a One Star Best Companies accreditation in 2013. The award further acknowledges their commitment to excellence.
The company currently hold two ISO standards. They were extremely pleased to have attained the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 (IT Service Management Service System) certification in January 2013, and also the ISO/IEC 27001: 2005 (Information Security Management) certification in December 2012.
The company excel at maintaining strong relationships with their clients and 80% of their business comes from existing customers. John said: “What sets our service apart is the very specialist expertise we have developed along with the flexible approach we take to service delivery.
“On the oil and gas side of the business, we have dealt with every type of scenario over the last 20 years. We know how to help clients achieve their goals through use of best fit SAP solutions and business processes.
“In our Integrated SAP Support business, we can offer any range of service to exactly fit a customer’s internal capacities. That may mean providing a complete and proactive managed service or just a few hours a month to help with occasional higher level technical issues. We don’t lock our customers into inflexible contracts.
“Absoft is happy to be your chosen SAP partner, or just there to help with the more challenging areas.” Â
