Throughout the summer, our summer interns have been working to solve a real and

critical challenge for Enhanced Drilling, now part of Expro. The main goal of the project was

to streamline and modernize the daily reporting process from rig to shore.

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In just six weeks, the interdisciplinary team—with diverse backgrounds in design, finance, data, and technology—went from thorough user insight mapping to a system that solved the challenge seamlessly. The new solution reduces time spent, eliminates manual sources of error, and provides a comprehensive overview for both Enhanced Drilling and their clients.

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The challenge: Manual processes and demanding rig conditions

The existing process for daily reporting involved significant manual work, the use

of cumbersome spreadsheet formats, and distribution via email. This created several

identified bottlenecks:

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• Time-consuming data management: Operators experienced a high degree of manual entry, which was challenging in a stressful and noisy work environment, and often led to formatting errors.
• Traceability and dependency: Reports and data were stored in emails, making it time-consuming to retrieve historical data and creating a vulnerability due to reliance on specific individuals.
• Poor data quality: The data was largely unstructured, which made troubleshooting, analysis, and the use of information in real-time difficult.

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Insight-driven approach

To ensure the tool actually solved the operational problems, the team utilized an

agile process over six sprints. Through workshops and interviews, operators, project managers, and well engineers were involved to uncover real user needs

from both offshore operations and onshore coordination work.

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The solution: Offline-first platform and automation

To address the challenges, the team developed a modern and robust platform with two main components:

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• Offline-First Application: Operators on the rig use a dedicated desktop application (built on Electron and React) that utilizes a local SQLite database. This guarantees 100% uptime and prevents data loss in offshore conditions where internet connectivity is unstable.
• Admin portal and real-time data: Project managers onshore use a browser-based admin portal for real-time monitoring of reports and template management. A backend API (NestJS and PostgreSQL) ensures automatic data transfer between daily reports and facilitates seamless generation of PDF documents for the end customer.

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Business value and the road ahead

The delivery provides immediate operational benefits for Enhanced Drilling. The increased automation frees up significant time for project managers, administration, and operators, allowing them to prioritize more value-adding tasks. For the operators, this is particularly valuable: instead of spending time on cumbersome reporting in front of a computer, they can now focus more on the operational work on the rig. 

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The solution also improves access to historical data. Everything is collected in one database, making it easier to look up previous reports. In the event of incidents on the rig, where it was previously difficult to find the right information, it is now easier to trace what happened beforehand and follow up on the matter with a clear data foundation.

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The solution is developed with future needs in mind and lays a solid foundation for expansion into new use cases or integration with other parts of the company. These opportunities are a direct result of the agile delivery methodology used by the summer internship team this summer, where we move quickly from idea to value through continuous testing and close collaboration with the customer.

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About the delivery team

The project was carried out by summer students at Axaz in 2026. The solution

is now being handed over seamlessly, with well-documented source code that allows permanent

developers at Axaz to take over operations and further development immediately. With

interdisciplinary expertise in industrial economics, cybernetics, and design from NTNU,

NMBU, and UiO, the team has proven the value of agile methodology and close

user involvement.

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