How to break down a plan into steps
It's crucial to provide the right amount of information at the right time to ensure effective communication with the driller and the team. Establishing pre-defined Activities and Steps for common well operations can be beneficial.
Here's why getting the Steps right from the start matters:
When the driller starts a Step, the work instruction should be clear and concise.
The driller should only need to add or create an action if an unexpected situation arises. Additional comments can be added as required. Read more about actions here: What is the difference between actions and steps?
Steps should have an expected duration of more than 10 minutes. The driller shouldn't have to move to the next Step after, e.g. 3 minutes, due to minimal tasks like dropping a dart or closing a valve.
For RigFlow users, it's essential for the operator to establish driller-friendly Steps correctly from the beginning. Poor setup can frustrate the driller by causing unnecessary starting and stopping of Steps or requiring extra time to add Actions.
Ideally, each Step should represent a significant part of the operation and be separately reported in the Daily Drilling Report. Aim for each Step to last 10-15 minutes and be relevant to a report code.
For example, drilling for 12 hours could be one Step, while changing elevator inserts and slips for 15 minutes would require a separate Step. Similarly, short activities like “close BOP” are recommended not to be separate Steps due to their brief duration.
Engineers should approach plan creation, understanding that plans must be broken down into specific steps for accurate reporting at the code level.
For example, Hold TBT and Pick up 8 1/2 in BHA will constitute two separate steps within a plan.
The two steps would be:
Hold TBT
Pick up 8 1/2 in BHA
Similarly, your daily drilling report follows this breakdown, with activities such as Circulating, POOH (Pulling Out Of Hole), Pump Slug, Flow check, etc., representing individual steps.