Engineering Studies

Vista engineers hydrocarbon production and treatment facilities. Early in the design, as part of our planning mandate, it is often necessary to perform engineering studies which examine various options to optimize the design.

These options can include many things, such as different process technologies, different process design schemes, utilization of existing plant facilities, alternative construction materials/techniques, scheduling alternatives, as well as many other factors. Capital costing is essential to compare alternatives. As well, on revamps of existing plants, it is sometimes necessary to complete plant performance tests to fully assess the capabilities of existing plant equipment.

Detailed Design Engineering

Vista Projects provides full in-house preliminary and detailed engineering design services for Oil and Gas processing plants and facilities. Vista continues to work on leading edge SAGD & CSS bitumen / heavy oil technology for a number of major oil & gas companies, besides other client specific technologies. Detailed engineering 3D CAD models, drawings, and specifications can be prepared by the following engineering disciplines:

• Process engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Piping design
• Instrumentation & Control system engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Civil/Structural engineering

Project Controls

Vista's Project Control services involve estimating, scheduling, change management, cost control, progress measurement and earn value reporting for every project undertaken. Our risk management team analyzes any risk, ensures all necessary controls are incorporated into the project and provides recommendations to proceed.

Successful delivery of projects from conceptual through start-up phases depends on an in-depth understanding of project risk, finance, planning, cost, and schedule. Vista's Project Controls Group provides management, project teams and investment partners with the integrated tools required to understand and manage a project's economics and schedule while executing it in a controlled and transparent fashion.

Risk and Decision Management

Vista's Risk Management team employs a structured approach to strategic decision making and project risk analysis which enables clients and project management to adopt a proactive approach to project risk assessment, mitigation and management in environments of uncertainty.Strategic decision analysis helps clients evaluate key strategic decisions through the use of quantitative tools that capture important alternatives, risks and opportunities and translate them into parameters that are easy to communicate and understand at the global level. The process is invaluable to improving a wide range of decisions from project selection within capital constraints to plant location studies, technology selection, and contracting strategies for execution. The Project Risk Analysis process assists owners, management and project teams in the quantitative assessment of risk on projects at all stages of development. It identifies areas that have the highest potential impact on overall project value, including cost and schedule, and gives the team the tools to focus on strategies that capture opportunities and mitigate the most significant risks. Development and maintenance of ongoing risk management plans integrates the results into project execution through the project life-cycle.

Cost Estimating and Project Finance:

Accurate and reliable estimates of project costs lay the foundation for understanding a project's financial impact and returns as well as enabling effective control through execution. Vista's Cost Estimation team specializes in the estimation of project costs from early stage factored estimates through detailed work break-down structures and control estimates. Built from an extensive database of project costs and metrics, our estimates employ tools that are integrated with our engineering and reporting teams to ensure seamless development and capture of project costs. With expertise in corporate finance and project economics, our Project Finance team assists owners in the evaluation of project returns over the full life-cycle, from engineering and construction, through operation, production and abandonment.

Planning and Scheduling:

Effective project planning is critical to success. We draw on our in-depth project expertise to develop overall project plans then use industry leading tools to translate these plans into executable, understandable schedules at the appropriate level of detail. Ongoing schedule progressing and reporting allows clients to know where their projects stand at any time.

Project Reporting and Accounting:

As a project moves into its engineering and execution phases, our project reporting and accounting team continually monitors project performance and health through a variety of integrated tools including:

• Project status and summary reports for management
• Monthly cost and capital spending reports to provide snapshots of activity to date
• Cost and schedule change management to understand and communicate important project changes
• Cash flow and capital spending projections
• Project man-hour reporting and earned value analysis to track productivity
• Vendor invoice processing and attesting in support of procurement activities
• Support for internal and external audit requirements

Our project reporting is customizable to meet your needs and flexible to integrate with your corporate accounting structures such as SAP, JDE, BAAN or Oracle.

Material Control:

Vista has developed industry leading material management software and processes that provide support for bulk material estimating, purchasing, and logistical optimization. Regular tracking and reporting ensures adequate bulk material supplies such as pipe, valves, piling and structural steel are on hand to avoid construction and fabrication delays.

Procurement

Vista's Procurement Group has met the challenges of increasing supply demands by providing efficient supply and delivery solutions to our clients under a single point of contact and responsibility. Our expertise includes:

• Tender package preparation and tendering
• Bid evaluation and purchasing
• Contract administration
• Inspection and expediting

Project Management

Vista has a long history of managing projects covering a wide range of size and complexity, combining quality and safety with efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Our expertise includes:

• Project coordination
• Scheduling
• Budget/cost control
• Progress reporting
• Field coordination/inspection
• Risk analysis/management

Technology Solutions

Vista believes in using proven technology (as a part of our people, process, technology mix) to deliver the best value to our clients. We employ various business applications and tools geared towards project efficiency, accuracy and timeliness. While the careful integration of available tools provides an optimum solution, Vista can also develop custom elements to complete the solution. Vista's project engineering and management methodologies are technology independent. Several clients have their own systems and procedures and we have the capability to integrate or adopt what brings success to the client's project.

QDMS Document Management Solution

QDMS is an internal document management solution that is used by our document control department. The key value is that it provides efficiency within the team for organizing, disseminating, and keeping track of engineering documents. Internal benefits of this tool include ease of sharing work within teams as well as accuracy in document distribution. To the client, this means reduced man-hours and increased accuracy, resulting in fiscal savings as well as a successful engineering deliverable.

OnTrack Purchasing Solution

Internal benefits include consistent purchase orders, increased timeliness and accuracy of cost reporting, as well as improved estimation capability by analysis of historical purchasing data. Again, this results in fiscal discipline and cost saving for the client.

Material Management Suite

This unique, in-house developed solution integrates with our AutoCAD and Purchasing Systems. Information from this system is used to produce accurate and timely Bills of Material, RFQs (Request for Quotations), and POs (Purchase Orders). This solution also contains the client mandated construction strategy logic and decides distribution of materials between shops and field. Because of the accuracy that this tool brings to the engineering of a project, there are substantial savings during the construction phase. Industry research says that a dollar saved in design results in at least ten times the savings during construction phase - this tool helps our clients and their projects in successfully completing their large projects on time and on cost.

Estimating Toolkit

Our software-facilitated estimating process provides standardized and consistent methodology and supports Vista's flexible client focus. Estimates are designed to align with project controls to maximize the quality of available data. The tools allow the estimator to be more efficient in developing estimates that reflect the way the work will be performed, and validating actual costs for cash flow forecasting.

Docushare - Internet Enabled Document Distribution Tool

This provides clients based at remote locations a secure repository for document exchange (chiefly engineering drawings, and packages) over the internet. This solution focuses on controlled access and is intuitive and easy to use. Coordinating with remote construction sites as well as several offices can be a major challenge and our Docushare tool helps in a better control and organization of engineering deliverables.