A Case Study: Applied Knowledge Transfer
Authors: Green Todd , Hajri Nasser , Ortiz Steven , Nelson Jon 
Published: January 2020

Professionals in mid- to late-career stages who are considered part of the Baby Boomer generation are leaving the workforce while an even larger demographic, Millennials, are entering the workforce. The pace of the transition has resulted in many companies losing massive amounts of knowledge and struggling to operate at the same performance levels with a less experienced workforce. The scope of this paper is to highlight one company's approach to address the challenge of effective knowledge management and transfer.

In this case study, company leaders recognized the workforce transition in the mid-2000s and developed a strategy to manage and retain explicit and tacit knowledge from the experienced retiring workforce. A critical factor was to identify principle in-house subject matter experts (SMEs) and capture their knowledge. The next major step was to package the knowledge into assets from which the next generation could best learn. This paper discusses how the strategy, its implementation, and the evaluation of outcomes was critical to the success of this knowledge transfer initiative.

In 2010, an important component of the knowledge transfer initiative was the opening of a state-of-the-art training facility, the Upstream Professional Development Center (UPDC). A primary role of the UPDC is to enlist SMEs from line organizations to design, develop, and deliver critical, discipline and job-relevant curricula that train future generations of petroleum engineer and geoscientists. The UPDC utilizes teams of learning and development (L&D) specialists to work closely with SMEs to ensure technical courses contain best practices for effective learning and delivery methods. This collaboration assures that training is strategically aligned to organization needs, is delivered efficiently, and provides effective knowledge transfer that is measured and benchmarked. In 2016, the UPDC documented the success of this process by highlighting a roadmap to improve well intervention operations through the design, development, and delivery of well intervention courses (Ginest et al.).

Similarly, the knowledge and experience obtained from a coiled tubing (CT) course were crucial for designing a cost-effective corrosion inhibition matrix. This paper demonstrates the course effectiveness in which a participant applied the knowledge received from the UPDC training content to improve business outcomes. The business impact from the implementation of this knowledge transfer is a showcase for successful operational optimization.

The project included literature review, analysis of current service provider practices, laboratory test design, tests and evaluations, and the development of an acid corrosion inhibition matrix best practice for CT acidizing. This knowledge transfer case demonstrates how the successful application of knowledge transfer through training to the business workflow saves time and money, engages young talent working with experienced SMEs, and realizes the pinnacle metric of a training program, Return on Investment (ROI).