When Anadarko Petroleum Corp. merged with Union Pacific Resources in July 2000 to form one of the world's largest independents, it was a necessity to combine the business processes and computer systems of the two companies in a timely, seamless manner. The merger with UPR effectively doubled the size of Anadarko. And, it needed to create an information system that would support the vast amounts of data resulting from UPR as well as position Anadarko for future growth. Two years later, the company is seeing the benefits through enhanced productivity, fewer manual interfaces, more timely data, and a significant reduction in the amount of data archeology previously required. But it wasn't easy. In fact, it had the potential to become an IT nightmare. The "integration challenge" was recognized early by Anadarko executive management. As soon as the merger was consummated, a program-management office (PMO) consisting of about eight full-time employees was established. An expanded team involved more than 200 employees who organized, planned and implemented the integration. It pulled expertise and input from various parts of the organization, including operations, accounting, business services, human resources and information technology. It also called upon leading consultants and proven software vendors for help. In 2001, the equivalent of about 1,100 months of work was squeezed into a 12-month period. At the peak of the integration process, a "war room" approach was applied to integration-testing. Initial focus While the fundamental purpose of the PMO was systems integration, it was regarded as an opportunity to upgrade and improve Anadarko's business processes at the same time. E&P systems were tackled first and then accounting and administrative processes. After taking a hard look at Anadarko's and UPR's strengths and weaknesses, the PMO recommended the systems and processes that needed to be kept and that needed to be changed. One thing in its favor was that Anadarko and UPR used the same business-management software, Paradigm's Excalibur Energy Management System. However, each company used different versions. Rather than adopt one or the other, the PMO elected to migrate the combined data into a completely new set-up that included revised business processes. Improvements were made to all types of processes-from entry of well-information data to how time and labor information is completed online. As a result, it affected nearly every person in the company. The process redesign has since resulted in an overall increased awareness of Anadarko's business processes. The new system is estimated to be capable of handling about 2 million revenue transactions per month-a dramatic improvement. Technical tools, support The project teams evaluated the current systems and tested the new systems, documented the current business processes and developed the combined processes, developed training sessions for employees, tested the integration of the new systems and processes, and ensured timely communications with the future users. Anadarko retained the services of Accenture, a management- and technology-services organization, and engaged a team from Paradigm Technologies. The latter included several full-time people in Houston and Denver who helped consolidate all of the Anadarko data into the new Excalibur system, while insuring validation and clean-up of all master files. Paradigm also provided a variety of services specific to Anadarko's new business processes, along with support for training Anadarko's staff. While Anadarko had concerns about the volume of data that the new system would be able to handle, it found the Excalibur system to be highly scalable. To Paradigm's credit, the system didn't require many enhancements to handle the integration. Overcoming roadblocks In the E&P business cycle, many different transactions and processes occur at various times of the month. It was critical that data entry was choreographed and moved between the systems, stored where it was needed, then manipulated and passed along in a timely manner without redundancy. The PMO placed a high priority on inputting data only once at the source, and this became an important guiding principle. Across all the systems, more than 1,200 employees were trained on at least one new process or system that affected them. In addition to more than 100 training sessions, communications with employees consisted of hundreds of meetings, a monthly newsletter, e-mail messages and updates, field- and division-office visits, and a PMO web site. The vast majority of employees working on the PMO were pulled from different business areas and maintained their usual responsibilities on top of the integration project. At the peak of the implementation process, the equivalent of about 125 full-time personnel were working on the project. The PMO had to choreograph when these resources were needed. Plans were developed so that everyone knew exactly how systems were rolled out, how they were supported once they were in production, and how they interfaced with the systems that would be phased in later. Detailed resource plans and timelines were used to prevent last-minute surprises. One obstacle that was averted by meticulous planning was the early realization that there was not enough converted data available to the new system to perform effective integration testing. Testing was stopped temporarily and a concentrated effort was undertaken to get all the data converted into the Excalibur system before moving forward. To keep close to schedule, the team compressed its integration-testing phase from months into less than 30 days. Using Accenture's business-integration methodology, a fully functional integration test was scripted using the war room to ensure the testing was effective in such a short time-frame. Mission accomplished The merger integration, which began in July 2000, was completed in December 2001. Because data was entered at the source and only once, there are far fewer manual interfaces than what both companies had prior to the merger. As a result, employees are enjoying more timely data and spending less time researching errors. System users are able to do the processes quicker, and they can spend more time on analysis of information and results. Additionally, there's a lot more communication and understanding between various departments now that the data and processes have been integrated. Also, by emphasizing common processes and integration, the resulting standardization eliminates many of the side-systems that occur when lacking a common set of processes. New employees become productive faster, and documented processes are easy to update as the business changes. Another key benefit of data management is how it is available for Anadarko's management team to make better decisions. Since going live with the new system, the company has developed an Executive Information System that is an accumulation of data believed to be of better quality than before. It gives Anadarko executives a clear picture of how the business is going-from production operations to financial results. Finally, as an integral part of looking ahead, the PMO coordinated the development of the Anadarko Process Library. This online library documents the business processes and associated applications systems, provides training and can be continually updated. As Anadarko continues to grow, the organizational framework and technological capabilities are now in place to support the company's strategy. Diane Dickey is vice president and controller for Anadarko Petroleum Corp.