Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the operations and production systems manager for an energy company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Inventive?

We wanted to better capture our field costs, as well as our drilling and completion operations. We hired Inventive to revamp the system that we were already using and make it more user-friendly.

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What was the scope of their involvement?

For this particular project, Inventive update our old system by creating a new way to view the reports that our field personnel was entering. They used Azure to do this and then they also did some re-coding and reprogramming. Now, they just work on maintaining the system and making any necessary changes.

What is the team composition?

At any given time, we worked with between 3–5 people. I was in constant contact with one person and occasional contact with two. Their project manager was also part of the team.

How did you come to work with Inventive?

We were referred to them by another developer that we know.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested between $100,000–$115,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this particular project, we worked with them from July–October 2019 but we have an ongoing retainer with them.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

As far as what they accomplished, it was great. They turned an archaic system into one that’s a lot more user-friendly and better functioning, which involved a lot of intricate details. Even though they didn’t have a background in oil and gas, they were able to take our vision and turn it into a usable application.

How did Inventive Works perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Trello so we had a board where we posted questions, ideas, accomplishments, and pending work. We communicated a lot. As well as emails and phone calls, I had weekly Zoom calls with the project manager and group of other teammates where we discussed any updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very friendly. Sometimes developers aren’t very personable but their team is the opposite. They’re also very involved so they’re amazing people to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints. Anything I asked them to recreate or redo, they did. They are a great team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a solid vision laid out and be specific. If you don’t understand what you want, it will be hard to explain it to them and then your vision might get skewed by the developer’s own creativity. Have your project mapped out and know what your end product will be.