the microsoft upstream reference architecture€¦ · upstream oil and gas sector are often limited...

The Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture

The flow of oilfield data increases exponentially each day. As a result, upstream

operators are demanding software solutions that enable them to work smarter

and take advantage of new technologies including cloud services, apps, mobility,

social computing and platforms that unlock the potential of Big Data. Microsoft

is at the forefront of these technology advancements.

Our vision is to shape the future of technology delivery in the energy industry. At

Microsoft, we believe that cloud services is the next generation of IT and the next

step in the industry’s increasing quest for efficiency gains and global

collaboration. According to a 2011 Microsoft and Accenture survey of over 200

oil and gas engineers, managers and IT managers, 36 percent have plans to use

cloud services in the future and another 32 percent are currently using private or

public cloud services.

Respondents expect their computing environment to provide easier access to

volumes of data necessary for oilfield operational decision making. Mobile devices

such as tablets and smart phones are beginning to offer new ways of accessing

this data in simpler, more pervasive ways, from integrated, secure, reliable and

instantly-available cloud-hosted Services.

Through the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) framework,

Microsoft is leading the industry to the cloud, and from there, providing the

foundation for the next generation of oilfield solutions.

The end result for operators is:

• Faster time to first oil,

• Optimized production,

• Improved recovery,

• Reduced operating costs,

• Improved safety and environmental performance,

• Increased return on assets and

• Reduced risk.

This whitepaper will be updated as required – please ensure that you have the

latest version.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/industries/manufacturing/docs/UpstreamSoftwareSolutions2011.pdf

http://aka.ms/itsdfk

The Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture MURA Framework

2

Created June 2010. Updated May 2013.

©2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided "as-is." Information and views

expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without

notice. You bear the risk of using it. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any

intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal,

reference purposes.

This White Paper is One of a Series of Core White Papers:

Empowering the Upstream Business in a Connected World (May 2013)

Big Data in Oil & Gas (May 2013)

Security in Upstream Oil & Gas (April 2012)

The Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (this document)

http://aka.ms/ictt9o

http://aka.ms/whitepaper_o-g_bi

http://aka.ms/c4zsjw


3

Contents

Upstream Business Demand More from IT Architecture ............................................................................. 4 A Day in the Life of an Upstream Organization ................................................................................................................... 5 Current State: Overview and Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 5

Drivers for the Evolution of a More Efficient Architecture ......................................................................... 7 Enabling the Evolution ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Standards ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Technology ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Future State ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Guiding Principles ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Role Based Productivity and Insights .....................................................................................................................................11 Natural User Experience ..............................................................................................................................................................12 Social Enterprise .............................................................................................................................................................................12 Connected Business ......................................................................................................................................................................13 Secure, Scalable, High-Performance Infrastructure ..........................................................................................................13

Microsoft Technology Underpinning the Reference Architecture ........................................................... 18 MURA - Microsoft Technology View ............................................................................................................ 20 MURA Framework Overview .......................................................................................................................... 21

Rich Interactive Clients ................................................................................................................................................................24 Integrated Portal ............................................................................................................................................................................24 Data Integration .............................................................................................................................................................................24 Forecast Model Synchronization .............................................................................................................................................27 Managing and Processing Mountains of Data ...................................................................................................................27 Operational Data Store ................................................................................................................................................................28 Securely Collaborating with Partners .....................................................................................................................................28

Getting There .................................................................................................................................................... 29 About the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) framework ........................................ 30


4

Upstream Business Demand More from IT Architecture

An upstream reference architecture must support and respond to the functional activities of an

upstream organization and provide the capabilities needed to effectively and efficiently run the

business.

Oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) is a vast, complex, data-driven business, with data

volumes growing exponentially. These upstream organizations work simultaneously with both

structured and unstructured data.

Structured data is handled in the domain-specific applications used to manage surveying,

processing and imaging, exploration planning, reservoir modeling, production, and other upstream

activities. At the same time, large amounts of information pertaining to those same activities are

generated in unstructured forms, such as emails and text messages, word processing documents,

spreadsheets, voice recordings, and others.

Figure 1 shows the broad spectrum of structured and unstructured data upstream organizations

use to orchestrate, automate, integrate, and execute integrated upstream operations and

management activities.

Figure 1. Upstream business activities use a broad range of structured and unstructured data.


5

Domain-oriented structured data is used for:

Collaboration, including visualization, data fusion, decision tracking, and knowledge

management.

Optimization, including simulation, proxy models, decision selection, and

implementation.

Operational data analysis, such as trend- and root-cause analysis, solution evaluation,

key performance indicators (KPI) and problem detection.

Data management, which includes: quality control, validation, data storage and

archiving, loss management, allocation and rate estimation and acquisition, including

measurements and data transmission.

A Day in the Life of an Upstream Organization

For a clearer understanding of the use of both structured and unstructured data, consider the

following scenario.

A global asset team made up of geologists, geophysicists, and reservoir engineers, located in three

different countries, works together to develop a field development plan to assess the economic

potential for various tertiary recovery options on a key field with declining production. The team

tunes the reservoir model in Petrel with all available G&G and production data, and plans several

well options modeling fluid flow along streamlines and using reservoir simulation to assess the

potential and impact of the placement and timing of those wells. The team works together on the

shared models within the application software. However, the number of scenarios and the

complexity of the analysis require that the work be an iterative, collaborative effort. So the team

also discusses options and exchanges ideas using email and text messaging, and shares necessary

documents through their secure team portal, which makes it possible for them to prepare multiple

options in parallel for management and partner review.

Current State: Overview and Challenges

The current state of IT infrastructure in most upstream businesses is unable to adequately support

and respond to analysis, operations, and business needs.

In most organizations, the volume of information is increasing exponentially because digital

sensors are deployed in more exploration and production plays, more data sources are connected

to IT systems, and growing volumes of information are captured and stored in enterprise databases.

Large volumes of domain-specific information are also embedded in various upstream

applications. This data situation means it’s difficult or impossible to use that data to quickly and

efficiently get the information and answers needed.


6

Figure 2. The current state of IT architectures for the upstream oil and gas sector.

A few basic issues define the requirements of an upstream IT architecture.

Data Management. That growing volume of data now typically resides in disparate source

systems, such as Landmark’s SeisWorks seismic interpretation software or Schlumberger’s Petrel—

or maybe even a combination of both. The Web-based tools used for viewing and collaborating

on this information are not fully integrated. That means when a geologist is reviewing seismic data

for a prospect and he or she needs to cross check core samples, that information can typically be

accessed only through an inconvenient and time-consuming search of the different systems, rather

than from one common interface.

When integration does exist, it is usually through point-to-point connections or intermediary

database tables. These one-off connections add time and cost, and cannot easily be shared or

reused by other applications. Various industry solutions provide data- or application-integration

frameworks, which create a common access layer to help address this integration problem.

Integration. Each discipline—petrophysics, geology, reservoir engineering, and others—tends to

have and use its own analytic modeling systems, but currently little connectivity or interaction

exists between those models. Therefore, changes in conclusions for one discipline are not always

carried through to others, which can cause increased inaccuracy, errors and uncertainty.

Collaboration. With current IT infrastructure, collaboration is also difficult because there is no

convenient, shared location where multiple internal and external partners can access information

stored on the corporate network. For example, a seismic service company employee who works on

prospects for multiple energy companies needs separate log-in locations and passwords for each

Current Architectures

Existing IT architectures in the

upstream oil and gas sector are often

limited by applications in silos, poor

integration, and barriers to

collaboration. Paradoxically, the

most common activities across all of

these domains are word processing,

spreadsheet, email, and other basic

business applications.


7

of those collaborative partnerships. These same collaboration challenges also typically exist within

individual oil and gas companies.

Performance Management. In the current state, KPIs, which are needed to understand and assess

the current status and overall health of an organization, are often not readily available. The manual,

time- and labor-intensive processes needed to gather and analyze KPIs means that managers and

engineers waste valuable time waiting for answers, while data is collected, analyzed, and translated

into the insights needed to understand and run the business.

In this siloed environment, it is often difficult to locate information and ensure the timeliness and

quality of that data. For example, three or four different systems may compile lists of available field

data, but the organization may lack a single, comprehensive, and up-to-date list of those crucial

subsurface assets.

Drivers for the Evolution of a More Efficient Architecture

Powerful reasons are compelling oil and gas companies to seek a new and more efficient upstream

IT architecture that takes advantage of the cloud. Companies must have:

Reduced implementation and support costs. Oil and gas companies can do this by maximizing

their use of existing technology investments when purchasing new solutions from vendors.

However, until now, they have had little guidance on how investments in such solutions could fully

use existing technology investments that the organizations’ IT departments have already made.

For example, it would be advantageous for a company to know that a vendor’s solution would use

already-purchased management solutions like Microsoft System Center to ease deployment or use

single-sign on technologies from already-deployed identity management solutions, like Active

Directory. Further, by making extensive use of cloud solutions, capital investment on data centers

can be reduced as can the support costs of running them, maximizing business agility and lowering

IT costs.

Ability to deliver more with less. In today’s business and operational environment, companies

must deliver more throughput with fewer resources and severely time-constrained work teams. To

deliver better results faster, G&G and engineering workers must be able to spend more time doing

domain-focused work—and less time searching for and preparing the data needed for that work.

Workflows, data-driven events, and automated analysis should help drive their efforts to identify

risks and help manage the exploration portfolio or production operations.

Integrated views. Workers also need integrated views that reveal all relevant data, both structured

and unstructured, for a particular situation. For example, in an exploration scenario, that

comprehensive perspective should include tornado charts that measure risk, analog well

production histories, rock properties, log files, rig schedules, and other variables relating to the

prospect in question.


8

Easily accessible KPIs. Management needs up-to-date key performance indicators (KPIs) to fully

understand the current status and overall health of an organization. For example, ideally managers

should be able to see a single screen showing the portfolio of current opportunities, which ones

are drill ready, the available rigs, and the prospect peer reviews that are scheduled for the next two

weeks. With appropriate drill-down details, managers can focus their time on the under-

performing evaluation teams to quickly take remedial action to bring them back to the expected

level of productivity.

Plug-and-play technology. The industry needs an architectural approach that allows upstream

organizations to use more flexible and cost-efficient cloud-based plug-and-play business logic. If

a technology supplier comes up with a better web-based seismic viewer, the architecture should

allow that solution to be deployed quickly and economically to other cloud-based solutions that

could make use of it. This approach reduces the constraints on IT, gives companies access to best-

of-breed solutions, and can reduce the time needed to deploy new solutions from years or several

months to just a month or even days.

Integration of structured and unstructured data. Lastly, upstream organizations also need the

ability to connect and integrate the large volumes of unstructured data generated and used by

non-domain-specific sources, such as word processing and email programs, unified

communications, and collaborative applications. This requirement recognizes that much of the

information needed to manage upstream projects is in fact hosted in non-domain applications and

environments, both on-premises and increasingly, in the cloud.

Enabling the Evolution

As noted, several emerging industry standards and technologies are now enabling the more

flexible, integrated on-premise and cloud-based IT architecture needed in the upstream oil and

gas industry.

Standards

XML standards-based technologies such as WITSML, PRODML or RESQML, curated and supported

by Energistics, provide common data interfaces. This provides the foundation needed to ensure

plug-and-play access to best-in-class hardware and software solutions that run both in the private

data center and in the cloud. For example, if a company currently has a wellbore viewer that is

WITSML compliant, the company can deploy any WITSML-based wellbore viewer solution with

such an interface in place. Further, standard industry database schemas like the Professional

Petroleum Data Model (PPDM) further support this, particularly when deployed to cloud-based-

based databases like SQL Azure.

http://www.energistics.org/

http://www.ppdm.org/


9

Technology

Cloud computing refers to remote centers for storing and accessing data and applications using

the Internet, which are designed to save businesses money, in part by reducing the need to build

major on-premise computing infrastructure.

The cloud approach is ideal for complex upstream operations, given its multi-vendor, multi-partner

environment and huge volumes of data that require a combination of strict security and easy

sharing with appropriate partners. Solutions delivered via a cloud infrastructure allow businesses

to rent only the functionality they need, when they need it, and on a per-user basis. Cloud-enabled

standards, such as the OData standard and industry data standards such Energistics in combination

with technology such as secured web services, permit easy, secure integration between different

instances of cloud-hosted services, even those provided by different vendors.

Mobility. With the proliferation of devices now available to consumers as well as businesses,

especially tablets and smart phones, there is increasing pressure on IT departments to support the

flexibility that such mobile devices can enable for end users. This is particularly true when running

apps that connect to services and solutions that run in the public cloud as described above. Further,

some hardware manufacturers are further enabling these capabilities in the field of oil and gas by

providing touch-tablet solutions in “ruggedized” form factors to support long-term survival in the

harsh operating environments on the pad or rig and the explosive-gas safety requirements of the

plant, for example.

Big Data. Today, organizations need to unlock insights from data of any size and any type. To gain

the full value of Big Data, the industry needs a modern data platform to manage data of any type,

whether structured such as sensor data from rigs, or unstructured such as raw seismic data - and

of any size: from gigabytes to petabytes. This ‘Big Data’ solution should also manage data at rest

or in motion, and support modern tooling like Hadoop. Finally, when only a portion of a given set

of data needs to be accessed by analytical tools upon this platform, there should be ways of

temporarily storing the rest of the data in low-cost, secure cloud storage to lower on-premise data

center costs for these huge data sets.

Social. The industry also is now embracing social media capabilities such as status updates and

notifications from social networks, messages, instant messaging, blogs, and wikis. As upstream

professionals use these technologies to manage their personal connections more and more, the

industry is adapting network-based capabilities to foster cross-discipline collaboration and to

better understand and manage the upstream operations environment.

Future State

Using a combination of the technologies described above in the manner outlined in this paper and

those subsequent to it, upstream businesses will be able to realize an IT infrastructure that supports

and rapidly responds to all analysis, operation and business needs.


10

Data Management. When source data such as seismic interpretation data is hosted in a cloud-

based infrastructure then the Web-based tools used for viewing and collaborating on this

information are much easier to fully integrate. For example, when a geologist is reviewing seismic

data for a prospect, he or she can cross check core samples using one common interface hosted in

a web-browser.

Integration. When the analytic modeling systems used by disciplines such as petrophysics,

geology and reservoir engineering are all hosted in the cloud as Software-as-a-Service solutions

then full connectivity and interaction is possible, leading to much more accurate decision making

in a much shorter time.

Collaboration. Using modern cloud-based collaboration solutions, it is much faster and simpler to

permit multiple employees within an organization as well as authorized external partners to

securely access shared information, and only for the time required, including years, months or just

days.

Performance Management. KPIs, used to understand and assess the current status and overall

health of an organization, are always readily available when hosted in modern cloud-based

applications. The data used to support these KPIs can be processed by the massive compute power

available in cloud infrastructures so that answers are available quickly as well.

Guiding Principles

The Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) is not prescriptive—that is, it does not lay

out specifics of the architecture’s structure and function in order to achieve the future state

described above. Rather, the MURA describes a set of guiding “pillars,” or principles, that govern

it. This descriptive approach provides an agreed-upon set of principles for establishing consistent

performance, but also provides the flexibility for companies to innovate and establish competitive

differences.

Shown in Figure 3 are the twenty-seven “guiding principles” used to define qualities that solutions

built upon the MURA should encompass (usually in part, not in whole).

The top four “pillars” relate to business-focused principles, and the “platform” across the bottom

is primarily focused around infrastructure and IT, and underpins those on top.

Each guiding principle is described in the following sections.


11

Figure 3. Guiding Principles of the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA).

Role Based Productivity and Insights

This group of guiding principles supports the business need to get the maximum insight from the

vast amount of business-related data and to maximize the productivity of workers.

Real-Time Analytics. Rich statistical and analysis packages for data mining, discovery, and

reporting for diverse information consumers.

Complex Event Processing. Stream-processing engines that can detect and filter real-

time events, either on-premise or in the cloud.

People, Process & Information Integration. Business workers use a variety of differing

software tools and systems to do their jobs – often with related or even the same

information or data. These tools or systems should be seamlessly integrated in order to

allow business workers to avoid continuously importing and exporting data from one

system to another in order to complete their workflows. This extends to workflows that

include multiple users in their execution.

Self-Serve Business Intelligence. To help them gain deeper insights into the increasing

quantities of relevant data that is collected, workers should be able to use tools to find,

select, and explore their data in different and flexible ways that make sense to them. They

should be able to perform this process on their own and without, for example, having to

define a report and request their IT to provide it for them.

MURA Guiding PrinciplesSocial

Enterprise

Collaboration &

Knowledge Sharing

Mobility

Geolocalization

People & Expertise

Search

Role Based

Productivity &

Insights

Real-Time Analytics

Complex Event

Processing

People, Process &

Information Integration

Self-Serve Business

Intelligence

Storage & Master Data

Management

Connected

Business

Industry Standards

Published Interfaces

Information Models

Security

Workflow, Process &

Information Integration

Natural User

Experience

Rich Interactive

User Experience

Smart, Connected

Devices

User-Culture Localized

Simplicity & Ease-of-use

Secure, Scalable, High-Performance Infrastructure

Location

AgnosticSecureScalable Manageability Integration

Domain Specific

Infrastructure

Global High

Availability

App & Data

Marketplace

Software as

a Service


12

Storage & Master Data Management. Repositories to capture and enable analysis of

operational and business data; located on-premise, in the cloud, or a hybrid mixture of

both.

Natural User Experience

This group of guiding principles includes those features that enable participants to best experience

the world and how technology fits into that experience, such as:

Rich Interactive User Experience. This is a key quality of the user experience of

applications for field workers, operations staff, control center personnel, and for use at

home and on the road using lightweight tablet and smart-phone devices.

Smart, Connected Devices. Devices with integrated capabilities that are also connected

to the network. Examples include embedded devices running retail fuel pumps on gas

station forecourts, ruggedized slate or tablet devices used to record production data by

pumpers at the pad, or line-of-business apps running on smart phones that visualize data

or enable collaboration with employees in corporate headquarters using Lync.

User-Culture Localized. Oil and gas is a very global industry and therefore users around

the world should be able to interact with their software tools and systems using their local

culture’s language and their culture’s date and number formats.

Simplicity & Ease-of-use. As software tooling gets more feature-rich and runs on ever

more powerful devices, it should at the same time continue to be simple and easy to use,

as well as support input methods that make the most sense (like mouse and keyboard,

touch, both, and/or Kinect).

Social Enterprise

This group of guiding principles supports the needs of business workers to maximize their

productivity via the assistance of their colleagues and others in the industry, including those people

they do not yet know.

Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing. Collaboration using both thick and thin clients,

across a variety of devices, and leveraging today’s most advanced collaborative tools

through corporate portals and public cloud services.

Mobility. Workers in the field and even in corporate headquarters are increasingly

demanding the ability to work from a mobile location using the device appropriate to their

needs. Therefore, solutions should support this capability and work across multiple devices.

Geolocalization. There is also a need to know the location of the source of any given set

of data, as well as the location of workers in relation to other workers and/or assets that

produce this data, on an ongoing and searchable basis.

People & Expertise Search. Due to the massive size and geographic spread of enterprises

and project teams, workers needing to collaborate do not always know the expertise of

their fellow workers. This tooling allows workers to quickly and easily find colleagues or


13

business partners with specific skillsets for a workflow they are trying to execute upon and

for which they have a need for particular skills in order to successfully complete it.

Connected Business

For the MURA to successfully deliver cost-effective, integrative benefits, it must enable

comprehensive interoperability both on-premise and in the cloud. As a result, these features are

of critical importance:

Industry Standards. These define a consistent, industry-wide interface to allow new

component deployment, such as Energistics or PPDM.

Published Interfaces. These are transparently publicized for open-industry use, even if a

standard is not available, and satisfy important interoperability needs. All the elements of

an interface are well defined so that applications can be independently developed to

leverage the interface.

Information Models. Consistent ontology (naming system) for referring to equipment and

assets to enable exchange of information throughout the enterprise and the value chain.

Secure. The definition of the security implementation including authentication,

authorization, identity lifecycle management, certificates, claims and threat models to

enable secure interoperable design and deployment.

Workflow, Process & Information Integration. Connected, agile businesses require

solutions that integrate the workflows of the business workers and the systems they use,

their process and procedures, and the information those workers create and manage as

part of their work-day across all the upstream systems they interact with.

Secure, Scalable, High-Performance Infrastructure

This group of guiding principles captures the needs of the underlying technical infrastructure and

includes:

Scalable. Support for more users, larger models, increased transaction volumes, etc. can be

accommodated through increasing hardware performance (scale-up) or the linear addition

of hardware and network resources (scale-out), either on-premise, in the cloud, or a

combination of both.

Secure. Deployed components, functionality, and associated information are protected

from unauthorized access or malicious attacks.

Location Agnostic. Services are designed so that they can be deployed on-premise in a

private data center, in the public cloud, on a smart phone, on a tablet or on a workstation.

Users and software components have secure access to platforms and services wherever they

are located.

Manageability. Infrastructure components can be efficiently deployed, managed and

monitored.

Integration. Messaging and database technology for linking together workflow, processes,

and data optimization. This includes services and components for communication of device


14

and equipment data, between solutions deployed in the private data center and/or public

cloud, typically via a Service Bus architecture.

Domain Specific Infrastructure. This incorporates trade-specific infrastructure

connections leveraging unified communications to manage compliant devices, from down-

hole sensors and well heads, to pumps, intelligent bits, compressors, and other plant

equipment. The connections then flow that data into appropriate operational systems.

Global High Availability. Solutions should be available around the world, all the time to

meet the needs of the global industry.

App & Data Marketplace. Marketplaces are now becoming a common method of

deploying applications to both desktops and mobile devices, and a place from which to

purchase data from vendors. These may be public or a corporate-managed store.

Software as a Service. Oil and gas companies want to buy their software from their

software suppliers as modern cloud-based solutions in order to reduce costs and increase

flexibility.

A Note on Enterprise Architecture Frameworks

Although the term “enterprise architecture” is used extensively, no universally accepted

definition exists. However, the discipline is crucial in managing complexity and reducing

time-to-value as software becomes increasingly interwoven with both business and the

daily work lives and home lives of people everywhere.

Enterprise architecture frameworks serve as important vehicles to classify, organize, and

structure knowledge repositories and their associated knowledge-maintenance

processes. They serve to divide a complex system into interrelated, manageable, and

comprehensible perspectives. The information captured in various viewpoints then can

be analyzed for specific purposes, providing insights into the operation of the system

as a whole. Good enterprise architectures, and their associated frameworks, derive their

value from the agility and continuous operational value they provide the enterprise

over time.

Several well-known frameworks exist. The white paper titled “Comparison of the Top

Four Enterprise Architecture Methodologies” by ObjectWatch CTO Roger Sessions offers

a good overview and comparison of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise

Architecture, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TO GAF), the Federal Enterprise

Architecture (FEA), and the Gartner/Meta Methodology. For more information, go to:

http://tinyurl.com/3evkw46

Role of the RA Framework within the Partner Network

http://tinyurl.com/3evkw46


15

Microsoft understands that no single company can meet the breadth of any given enterprise

customer’s needs; it has always relied on an extensive partner network to bring innovative solutions

to market. As such, the reference architecture framework must provide a consistent value

proposition for both customers and partners, so they can leverage and add their own distinctive

know-how and capabilities.

The MURA framework aims to better meet customer needs by sharing Microsoft’s strategies and

broad technology solutions with its partner network that delivers specialized Oil & Gas industry

know-how and line-of-business Solutions. The framework offers guidance on the value proposition

of Microsoft’s technologies and how they align with industry trends and challenges without

constraining the ways in which these technologies can be integrated into innovative partner

products and solutions.

Several examples of innovative partner solutions are available on the MURA website in the form of

brief, two-sided “Solution Sheets”, demonstrating the valuable industry solutions that have already

been created, or which could be created, using the MURA framework.

The framework also is intended to serve as an “idea beacon” to broadly facilitate innovation within

the network, thereby continually reinforcing mutual learning about the needs of tomorrow’s

markets, and to respond rapidly and flexibly to market and customer pull.

Scope of the Reference Architecture Framework

We have used the word “architecture” knowing that there is no accepted universal definition of

that term as it applies to software (see “A Note on Enterprise Architecture Frameworks”).

Nevertheless, there is a striking convergence around the objectives of Enterprise Architectures—

helping organizations manage complexity, find better ways to use technology to support business

goals, and reduce the time and costs of building complex systems.

Figure 4 shows a practical and commonly used architectural layering scheme that is analogous to

the architectural segments of the Federal Enterprise Architecture.1 The MURA framework’s aim is

to provide the industry and its enterprise and business architects with scoping guidance, solution

component selection, and solution best practices. Once these selections are made, the components

can be mapped and incorporated into the lower architectural layers for deeper technical and

design specification.

1 http://tinyurl.com/3og3njm

http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/industry/manufacturing-and-resources/oil-and-gas-mining/reference-architecture.aspx

http://tinyurl.com/3og3njm


16

Figure 4 - Scope of the Reference Architecture Framework

This white paper is intended to offer pragmatic guidance at a business level that influences

organizational structure, internal business processes, cross-enterprise business processes, and user

roles, among others. At a technical level, the guidance involves object models, data models,

interaction diagrams, and so on, but these are beyond the scope of this document. The framework

offers input and guidance on the construction of an enterprise architecture but is, of itself, a level

removed from specific business scenarios such as those described in MURA Solution Sheets on the

MURA website when associated with a particular company’s enterprise landscape.

A Note on Terminology

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) defines a building block as a

(potentially reusable) component of business, IT, or architectural capability that can

be combined with other building blocks to deliver architectures and solutions.

Architecture building blocks (ABBs) typically describe the required capability and

shape the specification of solution building blocks (SBBs). An enterprise’s customer

service capability, for example, may be supported by many SBBs, such as processes,

data, and application software.

SBBs are the components used to implement a required capability. For example, a

network is a building block described through complementary artifacts and then put

to use to realize solutions for the enterprise.

For more information, go to: http://www.togaf.org/

Industry

Solution

Architecture

Guideline

Architecture

Design

Guideline*

Implementation

Guideline

Guideline architecture Target audience and deliverables Objectives

For Business Users / Business Architects

For IT Architects & Developers

For Developers

http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/industry/manufacturing-and-resources/oil-and-gas-mining/reference-architecture.aspx

http://www.togaf.org/


17

As an industry framework, the MURA is informed by the macroeconomic trends and business issues

of primary concern to enterprises in the upstream oil & gas industry. Microsoft has taken this

approach as a balance between industry-specific needs for greater relevance and generic business

solution and technology guidance for broader applicability across the business-process spectrum.

Like any enterprise architecture framework, the MURA framework is a guide. Any framework will

need to be adapted to the needs of an organization based on its business objectives, current

business structure and IT landscape, and a definition of the desired business state. CIO s and

enterprise architects need to accommodate the broader enterprise context and business

environment when applying a framework and developing an implementation blueprint.

Among the considerations are:

Understanding the external and internal business drivers that induce change

Understanding the goals and objectives of the business that represent an initiative’s

outcomes

Evaluating the existing frameworks, applications, platforms, and technologies that are best

suited to deliver capabilities for meeting business goals and objectives

Developing a business and architecture blueprint that incorporates the appropriate

capabilities and solution building blocks, integrates with existing systems and processes,

and specifies the business transformation (changed business models, business processes,

etc.)

Implementing and validating the approach through proofs of concept, pilots, and

incremental rollouts

Figure 5 - MURA informs Enterprise Business Initiatives

The CustomerThe MURA Framework Independent Software

Vendor & System

Integrator Partners

Process Improvement

Line-of-Business Applications

Business Architecture and

Solution Building Blocks

Business TransformationArchitecture & Technical

Implementation


18

Figure 5 shows how the MURA framework can be applied to customer initiatives when a business

is evaluating the capabilities needed to meet business requirements and selecting the appropriate

solution components. The framework also provides guidance for collaboration between Microsoft

and its partner networks, so final solutions deliver the highest value and performance to customers

with the minimum of effort and cost.

Microsoft Technology Underpinning the Reference Architecture

Today there is a large and wide-ranging selection of leading-edge technologies from Microsoft

that oil and gas companies have access to. It is important to understand how industry solutions

that apply the MURA principles relate to the Microsoft technologies that underpin them.

A detailed diagram in Figure 6 illustrates all the Microsoft technology currently available.

Figure 6 - Microsoft Technology (Detailed View)

Technologies in Figure 6 are separated into the following two groups:

Private cloud (on-premise) solutions

Public cloud solutions

System Center 2012 App Controller (Private & Public Cloud Self Service)

Microsoft Surface | Tablet | Ultra book | Laptop | Netbook | Desktop

Microsoft Lync | Microsoft Account | Fast & Fluid UX | Modern Apps | Start screen | Semantic Zoom | Live Tiles | Windows Store | Apps (Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging, Photos, SkyDrive, Reader, Music, Video) | Internet Explorer 10 | Desktop |

Windows Explorer | Windows Defender | Windows Update | Task Manager | Multi-Monitor | Exchange ActiveSync | Reset and refresh PC | ...

Pre

sen

tati

on

Layer

Mobile Windows Embedded

Web

Applications /

Por tals

Native Apps

Com

mo

n S

erv

ices

Unified Communication

Lync Server 2013

Windows Server 2012

Windows

HPC Pack

2012

High

Performance

Computing

Lin

e o

f B

us

ine

ss

Serv

ices

Dynamics CRM 2011

Customer Service

Sales Force

AutomationCRM

Connector

for AX

Forefront Identity & Access Management Suite

System Center 2012 Suite

Co

re In

fra

str

uc

ture

Windows RT (ARM) Windows Phone 8

Windows Embedded (Auto

PC, Blue&Me, etc)

Tools

Se

cu

rity

Se

rvic

es Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2

User Provision ing Identity Synchronization

Windows Server 2012

Data

Serv

ices

SQL Server 2012

Cubes, Analytics (Analysis Services)

Paralle l Data

Warehouse Version 2

ETL (Integration Services)

Data Warehouse

Data Quality Services | ColumnStore Index | Hadoop | AlwaysOn | BISM | EIM | Complex Event Processing (CEP) |

Master Data Mgmt | Spatial Data | XML | FileStream | CLR | High Availabil ity | Log Shipping | Encryption | Compression |

Message Queues | Service Broker | Audit | Application Deployment (DAC) | Multi-Server Mgmt | Resource Governor &

Policies | Semantic and Full Text Search | Change Tracking | Change Capture | Replication | SQL Server Data Tools

MPP

App Controller

Datacenter Management

Windows Azure

Azure Storage

Dynamic

Data

Center

Alliance

(Public

Hosting)

Dynamics CRM

Online

Forefront Unified

Access Gateway

2010

BYOD Secure

Access

Reverse Proxy | Any Where Access

(SSLVPN / Direct Access)

Core Database Engine

Marketing

& Customer

Service

Sales Force

Automation

Windows Azure

Azure Service Bus

Windows Azure Active Directory

Federation Gateway

Exchange

Online

Archiving

Sh

are

Po

int

Sky

Dri

ve P

roS

ke

tch

Flo

w

Team

Fou

nda

tio

n S

erv

er

201

2

Public CloudPrivate Cloud

Azure Virtual Network

SOA

MPI

Win

do

ws A

zu

re

App

lia

nce

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Vertical Solutions

AX for Retail

Public Cloud Offerings

Azure

Marketplace

Exchange Server 2013

Email

Archiving

System Center Orchestrator

Voice Mail

Journaling

Information Protection & Control |

Security (DLP)

Pro

ject

Mg

mt

ISV Apps

Windows Azure SQL Database

WCF Data Services/Entity Framework/ADO.NET/ODBC Multi-Tenant

Spatial Data

BLOB Tables Queues

Cloud RDBMS (with Database Manager) & SQL Azure Federation

Data SyncReporting

REST & Managed API

Drive

Data Market

HealthVault

Community

Connect

Family Health

Mgmt &

Devices

Vis

ua

l

Stu

dio

201

2

Vis

ual

Stu

dio

Lig

htS

wit

ch

Import and Expor t

Policy Management Credential Management

User Management Group Management

Marketing

Windows

MultiPoint

Server 2011

System Center

Advisor

Configuration

Aler ts

Notifications

Monitoring

Private Cloud Fast Track (HP, Dell, Fuijitsu, Hitachi, IBM, NEC, Cisco, NetApp & EMC2)

Data Mining Predictive Analysis Segmentation Analysis Statist ical Analysis

Active Directory Services

Federation

Services V2

Windows Authentication

Security (Dynamic Access Contro l, Virtual Smart Card, Direct Access, Network Access Protection, U-Prove, AppLocker, BitLocker,

Kerberos, Trusted Platform Module, Encrypted File System, IPV6 suppor t)

Lightweight Directory Services

Domain Services Group Policy Authorization Manager

Rights Management (ADRMS & DLP)

Core Capabilities [IIS 8.0, Offloaded Data Transfers, SMB 3.0 Support, Resilient File System, Storage

Mgmt. Provider, Server Manager, App-V, Terminal Services, Remote Desktop Services, Failover

Cluster ing, Application Server, File Classification Infrastructure, Certificate Server, Network Load

Balancing, Windows Server Backup, Streaming Media Services, BranchCache, Software RAID]

Windows Azure & Database

C# | VB.NET | Java | PHP |

Ruby | Node.js | Memcached |

MongoDB

Windows Azure SDK

Develo

pm

ent

Serv

ices

.NE

T

Fra

mew

ork

4.5 Surface

Surface

Toolkit,

Controls

& SDK

Embedded

.NET Micro

Framework

Mobile Smart Apps

WP8

SDK &

XNA

WinForms, WPF

& VSTO

Web Apps (ASP.NET 4.5)

Silverlight 5.0

ASP.NET Web Pages 2 , MVC

4.0, AJAX, jQuery & SignalR

Communicat ion & WF Foundation

Web API, Web Services | SOA

Framework | MSMQ 5.0 | Workflow

& Rules Engine

Native Apps

Win32/64 API

Windows SDK

COM/DCOM

DirectX SDK

Visual C++

CORE IO

FIM SDK

Lync SDK

Exchange SDK

SCOM SDK

SCVMM SDKW

indow

s M

gm

t.

Fra

mew

ork

Complex Event Processing (StreamInsight)

MO

F,

MS

DN

, P

att

ern

s,

Pra

cti

ces

, &

Te

ch

Ne

t

Require

me

nt M

gm

tT

est M

anager

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 (ERP)

Production Mgmt

Finance Mgmt

HR Mgmt

Sales & Marketing

Supply Chain Management

Project Management & Accounting

Service Management

BI & Reporting

REST &

Managed

API

Windows

Server 2012

Essentials

xRM Framework

Customer

Care

Accelerator

(CCA)

CRM SDK

Connector for Apache

Hadoop

Integrated

social collab

Socia

l

Colla

b

TFS

Fast Track Data Warehouse 4.0 & Consolidation Appliance Reference Architecture

Lab

Mgm

tR

ele

ase M

gm

tT

eam

Develo

pm

ent

Develo

pm

ent

Pro

cess

Build M

gm

tV

ers

ion

Contr

ol

Web A

cce

ss

Microsoft

Security

Compliance

Manager 3.0

Configuration Manager

Configure, Deploy, Upgrade

Infrastructure

Data Protection Manager

Back up & Recovery

Virtual Machine Manager

Mobile Device Manager

Multi-vendor Virtualization,

Physical-to-Virtual-Machine,

etc.

Endpoint Protection Unified Installer

Vertical

Templates

Azure Traffic

Manager

Windows

Azure Media

Services

Smart Card/Certificate

ManagementBhold Suite

MS Media

Platform

Player Fx

& Video

Editor

AX for Services

AX for DistributionAX for

Manufacturing

AX for Public Sector

Partner (ISV)

Solutions

Hyper-V [Live Migration, Dynamic Memory, Hyper-V Replica, Hyper-V Application Monitoring, Cluster Shared Volumes, Encrypted Cluster Volumes, Multitenant, PVLAN,

Extension monitoring, NUMA Support, Resource Metering, Data Center Bridging, Storage Spaces]

VDI [Centralized Management,

Virtual Desktops, Session-Based

Desktops, RemoteApp,

RemoteFX & Inte lligent patching]

Network [Network Virtualization,

NIC Teaming, Hyper-V

Extensible Switch, IPAM, SMB

Multichannel & SMB Direct]

BI

De

v

Stu

dio

Rep

ort

Buil

de

r

Sh

are

Po

int

Desig

ner

201

3

Info

Pa

th

Desig

ner

201

3

Rep

ort

Ma

na

ge

r

Exp

ressio

n

Stu

dio

4

SQ

L S

erv

er

Mgm

t.

Stu

dio

We

b

Ma

trix

2

Su

per

Pre

vie

w

Shared Kernel | BitLocker | Enterpr ise Mgmt.

| Company Hub | Desktop IE10 | Skype |

VoIP In tegration | Office Mobile Hub

Windows 8 Pro (X86 / X64)

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel,

PowerPoint, OneNote)

Windows 8 (X86 / X64)

x86/64 Desktop Software | Storage SpacesMicrosoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Pro ject, Visio, Access, Publisher) | x86/64 Desktop Software | Storage Spaces | BitLocker and

BitLocker To Go | MDOP | Boot from VHD | Client Hyper-V | Domain Join | Encrypted File System | Group Policy | Remote Desktop (host) | Windows To Go

ComputeDynamic DeployCDN

Hadoop

APP-V

Po

werP

oin

t

Sto

ry

Boa

rdin

g

Reporting &

Visualization

Power View Data Alerts Reporting Services

Windows 8 Modern Apps

Windows Runtime | Windows SDK for

Windows 8 | Multilingual App Toolkit |

Windows 8 Ads in Apps SDK | Windows

App Certification Kit | Live SDKIIS 8.0 | Windows AppFabric [Hosting | Caching]

Provisioning Engine

Cloud Management

Operations Manager

Service Manager

Monitoring Infrastructure

Case Registration & Resolution IT Service Mgmt.

App Performance Mgmt.

Windows

Server 2012 for

Embedded

Systems

App

lic

atio

n S

erv

ice

s

Office 365

Cloud email

Shared Calendars and Contacts

IM

PC-to-PC

calling

Onl ine Conferencing

Office Web Apps (Word,

Excel, PowerPoint, and

OneNote)

Active Directory

Synchronization

Hosted Voicemai l

Unlimited Email Storage and Archiving

Intranet

site

Public-

facing site

Project

Onl ine

Windows Azure

Web Sites

Inte

gra

tio

n

Serv

ices

BizTalk Server 2013 Windows Azure

Azure Container

LOB Integrat ion

Business Data

Connectivity

Services

Azure

Service Bus | Messaging |

Caching | Integration | Service

Management | Mobile Services

Multi-tenancy | State Mgmt. |

Composition Runtime | Scale-Out |

High Availabil ity

Duet Enterprise

for SharePoint

Workflow

LOB Adaptors (SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards OneWorld XE, JD Edwards Enterpr iseOne, Siebel eBusiness Applications,

TIBCO, IBM DB2, ODBC, Host Fi les, WebSphere MQ, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, SharePoint, MSMQ, HTTP, POP3, SMTP, File, FTP, FTPS, SOAP, WCF)

Business Process

Management

Messaging &

Transformation

Single Sign

On

Business Activity

MonitoringRFIDEDI

Accelerators (HL7, SWIFT, HIPPA,

RosettaNet)

ESB Toolkit 2.0Azure AppFabric

Connect IntegrationHost In tegration

ServerRules EngineOrchestration

SharePoint Server 2013

Document Management

Business Intelligence

Web Content Management

Scorecards, BI Dashboards, Reports

Single Sign On

Excel Services

Visio Services

PowerPivot for SharePoint 2013

Collaboration

Access Services Per formance

Point Services

SQL

Server

Reporting

Services

Power View

SharePoint Apps

App Model Cloud Apps

Location & Map aware

SharePoint Store

Mobile view

Enterprise Social / Web 2.0

Microblogging Blogs

Records Management Surveys

Activity Feeds

Pictures

Wiki

Polls My Sites

Follow People / Sites

Tags

Notes

Rating

Gamificat ion

Reputation

Badges

Leader

Board

Meta-data Management

Enterprise Search

Best

bets

Structured & Unstructured Content

Workflow

People and Expertise Search

KeywordsKnowledge

mining

Yammer

Multi-channel | Inbox |

Org Chart | Expertise |

Gamification | Events |

Feeds | Groups | Profiles

| Polls | Content

Collaboration | Search |

Analytics

Storsimple

eCommerce

Presence

Mobility

Audio/Video Web Conferencing

Instant Messaging

Enterprise Voice

Group Chat

Skype-Lync Federation Add-ins

Mobility & ActiveSync Web App

Windows Azure Active Directory RMS

AD RMS File API Rights Protected Folder

Virtual Machines

Project Server

2013

Project

Management

Por tfolio

Management

Reporting &

Analytics

Office Web

App Server

Office

Documents

View & Edit

Multi-

Device

Support

Cloud based

Identity Service

Multi-factor

Authentication

(PhoneFactor)

Storsimple Appliance

Bing Maps for

EnterpriseMarketing

Pilot

Social

listening &

Analyt ics

CLR Parallel Computing | Async/Await Socket Cryptography Threading Security Data Access Collections GlobalizationGarbage CollectionC#, VB.NET, JS, F# ...

Big Data [HDInsight]

Exchange

Hosted

Protection

Windows Intune

Manage

Updates

Security

Policies

Malware

Protection

Remote

Assistance

PC

Monitoring

HW & SW

Inventory

Cloud Monitoring (MetricsHub)

Multi-device Mgmt.- WP8, iOS, Android


19

Solutions built on Microsoft technology within private cloud can be classified under the following

horizontal designations:

1. User Experience

2. Line of Business Services (i.e. CRM)

3. Application Services

4. Integration Services

5. Development Services

6. Data Services

7. Common Services

8. Security Services

9. Core Infrastructure

A summary view of Figure 6 is shown in Figure 7 - Microsoft Technology (Summary View). The

horizontal areas shown above are indicated numerically for clarity.

Figure 7 - Microsoft Technology (Summary View)

These technology building blocks underpin a MURA solution built upon Microsoft technology.

Public Cloud

Use

r

Exp

eri

en

ce

Ap

pli

cati

on

Inte

gra

tio

nC

om

mo

nLin

e O

f

Bu

sin

ess

Infr

ast

ruct

ure

Se

curi

tyD

ata

Office

365

Windows

Azure

Develo

pm

en

t

Private Cloud

System Center App Controller

SharePoint

Microsoft Surface | Tablet | Ultra book | Laptop | Netbook | Desktop MobileWindows

Embedded

Project

Server

Unified

Communications

FAST for

SharePoint

Dynamics CRM

System Center

BizTalk

Windows

Server

SQL Server

.NET Framework

Microsoft Dynamics AX (ERP)

Forefront


20

A role of the MURA Guiding Principles, described in the following section, is in choosing which of

the many Microsoft products and technologies available within these technology blocks might be

best suited to any given business need. Each Principle in the following section maps back to

particular technology from Microsoft.

MURA - Microsoft Technology View

It is useful to understand how the building blocks described in the previous section map to the

Guiding Principles of MURA. This is illustrated in Table 1, below.

Table 1 - Mapping Principles to Microsoft Technology

Pillar Guiding

Principle

Microsoft Technologies

Ro

le-B

ase

d P

rod

uctiv

ity &

Insig

hts

Real-Time

Analytics

SQL Server, SharePoint, Windows Azure Business Analytics

Complex Event

Processing

StreamInsight, SQL Server

People, Process &

Information

Integration

BizTalk Server, Windows Azure Service Bus Relay, Dynamics

CRM

Self-Serve

Business

Intelligence

PowerView, PerformancePoint, Data Explorer, PowerPivot

En

han

ced

Use

r

Ex

perie

nce

Rich Interactive

User Experience

Windows 8 Modern UI, Silverlight, Windows Presentation

Foundation, Direct3D, RemoteFX, Kinect

Smart, Connected

Devices

Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone, Windows Azure

Mobile Services, Windows Embedded

User-Culture

Localized


Foundation

Simplicity & Ease-

of-use


Foundation, Kinect

So

cial E

nte

rprise

Collaboration &

Knowledge

Sharing

Lync, Office 365, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, Lync, Yammer,

Skype, Office 365, SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint, Project

Mobility Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone, Windows Azure

Mobile Services, Windows Embedded

Geolocalization SQL Server, Bing Maps, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows

Phone,

People &

Expertise Search

Lync, Office 365, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, Lync, Yammer

http://www.microsoft.com/SQLServer

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/preview/sharepoint.aspx

https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/business-analytics/

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/business-intelligence/streaming-data.aspx


http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/

https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/service-bus-relay/

http://crm.dynamics.com/


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh213579.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee424392.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/download-data-explorer-for-excel-FX104018616.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/powerpivot.aspx

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/home

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh309466(v=vs.85).aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/virtual-desktop-infrastructure-features.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/meet

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/rt

http://www.windowsphone.com/

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/mobile-services/


http://www.windowsembedded.com/we8standard









http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/

http://lync.microsoft.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/default.aspx




https://www.yammer.com/

http://www.skype.com/


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/what-is-skydrive-pro-HA102822076.aspx


http://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/Preview/default.aspx








http://maps.bing.com/












21

Pillar Guiding

Principle

Microsoft Technologies

Co

nn

ecte

d B

usin

ess

Industry

Standards

Windows Communication Foundation, SQL Server, BizTalk

Server

Published

Interfaces

Windows Communication Foundation, Azure Marketplace,

SharePoint, Office Web Apps

Information

Models

Entity Framework, LINQ to SQL, SQL Server

Secure Active Directory, Windows Azure Active Directory

Workflow,

Process &

Information

Integration

Windows Workflow Foundation, BizTalk Server, Dynamics

CRM

Secu

re, S

cala

ble

, Hig

h-P

erfo

rman

ce In

frastru

cture

Scalable Windows Server, HPC, SQL Server PDW, HDInsight Server,

Windows Azure

Secure Active Directory, Windows Azure Active Directory, Security

Development Lifecycle, BitLocker, AppLocker, Forefront

Identity Manager, U-Prove

Location

Agnostic

Hyper-V, Windows Azure

Manageability System Center

Integration BizTalk Server, Windows Azure Service Bus, Windows

Communication Foundation

Domain Specific

Infrastructure

Windows Embedded

Global High

Availability

Windows Azure

App & Data

Marketplace

Windows Azure Marketplace

Software as a

Service

Windows Azure, Dynamics CRM, Office365, Yammer,

SkyDrive Pro

MURA Framework Overview

Figure 8 shows the MURA that reflects a service-oriented computing environment and

encompasses the integration of domain applications, business productivity tools and back-

applications, all hosted in a traditional on-premise format. Figure 9 shows the MURA when

deployed to the cloud.

By following the service-oriented architecture (SOA) approach for interactions between

components on different layers of the architecture, upstream businesses, technology vendors,

system integrators, and other Microsoft partners can realize the full benefits of this environment.


http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/enterprise-information-management/integration-services.aspx




https://datamarket.azure.com/


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219456.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/data/ef

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386976.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/enterprise-information-management/integration-services.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/identity-access.aspx

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/identity/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/jj684582.aspx




http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/default.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/hpc/cc453771.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/data-warehousing/pdw.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/bigdata

http://www.windowsazure.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/identity-access.aspx

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/identity/

http://www.microsoft.com/security/sdl/default.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/security/sdl/default.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831713

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831409.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/forefront/identity-manager.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/forefront/identity-manager.aspx

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/u-prove/

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/hyper-v-server/default.aspx


http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/default.aspx


https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/messaging/





https://datamarket.azure.com/



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/what-is-office-365-FX102997580.aspx


http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/what-is-skydrive-pro-HA102822076.aspx


22

Figure 8 - MURA On-Premise

On

-Pre

mis

eRich Interactive Clients – Windows and Web-Based

Web Browser Office Productivity ClientsProduct-Specific Rich

Client

Real-time Communications & Collaboration Clients

Hig

h P

erf

orm

ance

Co

mp

uti

ng

Ap

plic

atio

n V

irtu

aliz

atio

n

Rea

l-Tim

e C

om

mu

nic

atio

n &

Co

llab

ora

tion

Mess

agin

g

Iden

tity

Managem

ent

Sec

urity

& E

ntitl

ement

Ap

plicati

on

Data

Geology and

Geophysics

Drilling and

Completions

Production

Operations

Data

Integration &

Information

Management

Data Access and Canonical / Semantic Data Services

Back Office

(ERP, CRM,

etc.)

Orc

hest

rati

on

Inte

gra

tio

nP

rese

nta

tio

n

Process Flow Web

Part

Excel Services Web

Part

Reporting Web

Part

Product Specific Web

Part

Business Intelligence Web

Part

Integrated Portal Services

Integration Service Bus

Messaging Queuing TransformationIndustry-Standard

Services

Custom Connection Services

Business Process Management & Workflow Enablement Services

Assets Data Operational Data Real-Time Data Reporting Corporate Data Unstructured Data

Back

en

d I

nfr

ast

ructu

re S

erv

ice

s


23

Figure 9 - MURA Deployed to the Cloud

The next sections walk through some key aspects of the MURA and discuss the interactions that

would take place between the components after implementation either on-premise, in the cloud,

or as a hybrid solution (partially on-premise, partially in the cloud), as described above. Scenarios

serve as examples and show how a solution can be delivered by leveraging the various components

of this architecture.

Clo

ud

Clie

nt

Pre

sen

tati

on

Rich Interactive Clients – Windows and Web-Based


ClientReal-time Communications &

Collaboration Clients

Data


Pre

sen

tati

on

Process Flow Web

PartExcel Services Web

PartReporting Web

PartProduct Specific Web

PartBusiness Intelligence Web

Part


Operational Data Real-Time Data Reporting Corporate Data Unstructured DataAssets Data

Orc

hest

rati

on

Inte

gra

tio

n Integration Service Bus


Services

Custom Connection

Services


Ap

plicati

on

Geology and

Geophysics

Drilling and

Completions

Production

Operations

Data

Integration &

Information

Management

Back Office

(ERP, CRM,

etc.)


24

Rich Interactive Clients

Both Windows and Web-based Rich Interactive Clients (Figure 10) form the presentation layer of

the architecture for the business user, who, for a device, may be using a Workstation PC, a laptop,

a touch-tablet, a smartphone or a varied combination of some or all of these at different times as

the users’ needs and/or location dictate.

Figure 10 - Windows and Web-based Rich Interactive Clients

Integrated Portal

The Integrated Portal (Figure 11) functions as a common platform where geoscientists, engineers,

and managers access IT-based domain work processes of all types. The Portal establishes a single

location where authorized employees find and use a wide range of data, including dashboard-

based KPIs, technical applications, such as those used for the interpretation of seismic data, log

files, field studies, scout reports, rig activity, and business intelligence systems.

Figure 11 - Integrated Portal

This Web-based portal also provides mechanisms that support blogs, wikis, and corporate social

networks like Yammer used to establish and maintain cross-domain collaborative systems. Rather

than logging on to a specific system (such as SAP to access a work order), users simply log on to

the Integrated Portal to access work orders, KPIs, analytic, and other exploration or production

related systems.

This portal-based approach allows all disciplines and managers to focus on drilling assets, technical

resources, and reserve replacement ratios, instead of working to locate data in multiple siloed

applications. For example, if a problem arises with a drilling rig, a drilling engineer or operations

personnel can quickly and easily use the tools available through the portal to drill down and see

all pertinent data relating to that rig in order to analyze the problem and make a timely operational

decision.

Data Integration

The Data Integration and Business Process Management components (Figure 12) are in many ways

the heart of a more effective IT architecture, providing a central mechanism for the movement of

data between systems, equipment, and other elements in the IT infrastructure using technology

such as BizTalk or Azure Service Bus.

Pre

sen

tati

on

Rich Interactive Clients – Windows and Web-Based


Client

Real-time Communications &

Collaboration Clients

Pre

sen

tati

on

Process Flow Web Part

Excel Services Web Part

Reporting Web Part

Product Specific Web Part

Business Intelligence Web Part



25

Figure 12- The Business Process Management Components

Figure 13 shows how the Data Integration and Business Process Management component

provides a centralized repository for incoming data from log analysis and from work management,

spatial, production, and financial systems. Using defined business rules, this component

orchestrates the movement of data between various systems, including the seismic data store,

operational data store, and the economic evaluation applications used to model the expected ROI

of lease opportunities.

Figure 13 - Data Integration and Business Process Management

The Data Integration and Business Process Management components also serve to synchronize

hierarchical and metadata across systems to ensure operational coordination and reporting

accuracy. This capability addresses a number of common issues in dynamic upstream operations.

For example, when a lease evaluation or other type of work process is initiated, the intelligence

built into this component identifies the correct source of all data needed for that activity. The data

is then collected and packaged into an XML file (or other standardized format) and forwarded to

the application used to handle the economic evaluation or other work process.

By establishing a common path for all relevant field data, the Data Integration and Business Process

Management components also measurably reduce the time, cost, and complexity of deploying

new applications.

Orc

hest

rati

on

Inte

gra

tio

n Integration Service Bus


ServicesCustom Connection

Services



26

Industry standard interfaces (such as WITSML and PRODML) ensure interoperability and the

smooth flow of information throughout the entire architecture.

A Canonical/Semantic Data Services component (Figure 14) serves to translate and present data

in logical and familiar, domain-oriented terms that make sense to G&G, engineering, and other

upstream professionals.

Figure 14 - The Canonical/Semantic Data Services Component

The Orchestration Layer (Figure 15) delivers data to the simulators used to run various models, as

well as to the visualization tools, reporting systems, and business intelligence systems accessed

through the Integrated Portal. This Orchestration Layer also coordinates activities in a business

process workflow. For example, when a work process, like a lease review, is initiated, this service

pulls a list of wells, all relevant work orders, production data, well tests, and other required

information. The component then packages the data and serves it to the appropriate application(s).

Figure 15 - The Orchestration Layer

When deployed on premise, Security and Entitlement Services (Figure 16) allow organizations to

provide convenient, role-appropriate access to enterprise data. For example, an engineer might be

given access to rock properties, well production histories, and rig schedules related to a specific set

of wells, but not to reservoir data that is proprietary to the business. This service is used to manage

security and entitlement for employees, partners, and others involved in a project or venture. (More

information on this topic is available in the Security in Upstream Oil & Gas white paper.)

When the architecture is deployed to the cloud, these Security services should be delivered by the

hosting cloud service.

Data


Operational Data Real-Time Data Reporting Corporate Data Unstructured DataAssets Data

Orc

hest

rati

on


http://aka.ms/c4zsjw


27

Figure 16 - Security and Entitlement Services

Forecast Model Synchronization

The ability to update and synchronize forecast modeling applications is crucial to the success of a

dynamic upstream oil and gas operation. This is a key capability within the Data Integration and

Business Process Management Components of this architecture to ensure synchronization of data

for reservoir, wellbore, surface network, facility, and economic modeling applications.

Here is how model synchronization works in this architecture: If a geologist makes a change in an

earth model that reflects new rock properties from core data, that employee then re-runs the

reservoir model to update the reserves estimates. Then, model synchronization automatically

pushes those changes to all other affected models. In this example of a reservoir change model

(refer to Figure 13), synchronization ensures that updated and accurate data is pushed to the

surface network, facilities, and economic models. Thus, users of all those modeling systems are

working from a single, updated set of forecast data.

Managing and Processing Mountains of Data

The exploration process is the most data intensive of all the upstream processes. Seismic data

constitutes one of the fastest growing and the largest data type by volume. Online storage

requirements are approaching multiple petabytes (1 petabyte = 1000 terabytes) for most large oil

and gas companies. Offline storage requirements are even larger and can be augmented using the

cloud.

To continue accessing data sets greater then 100Tb in size and make informed investment and

management decisions concerning exploration opportunities, the oil and gas industry needs high-

performance computing solutions (Figure 17) for its computational and data-driven problems.

Ideally, the high-performance computing solutions should integrate with the MURA and provide

the capability to leverage the expertise of geoscience experts worldwide and from its vendor

community.

Figure 17 - High-Performance Computing Solution

High Performance Computing Application Virtualization

Real-Time Communication & Collaboration

Messaging

Identity ManagementSecurity & Entitlement

Backend Infrastructure Services

High Performance Computing Application Virtualization

Real-Time Communication & Collaboration

Messaging

Identity ManagementSecurity & Entitlement

Backend Infrastructure Services


28

When the MURA is deployed on-premise, high-performance computing (HPC) cluster server

environments, powered by Windows HPC Server and perhaps extended to Windows Azure, provide

an easy-to-access HPC platform that makes the analysis of large data sets easy for the non-expert

user to schedule and run. With Windows HPC Server, users can deploy, manage, monitor, and

maintain an HPC server-based cluster with the same tools already used to manage existing

Windows Server systems.

When the MURA is deployed to the cloud, these services would make use of the ‘elastic compute’

capabilities from the cloud (e.g. Windows Azure HDInsight), providing much greater flexibility and

computational power but only when needed, saving time and money.

Operational Data Store

The Operational Data Store (Figure 14) serves to aggregate hierarchical data and metadata across

the entire architecture. Here data is also optimized for different purposes and synchronized for use

in a wide range of exploration- or production-oriented applications. For example, well lists are

maintained in the Operational Data Store, and when a change of any kind is made to that list, the

change is pushed out to every system, whether it is on premise or the cloud, that includes or relies

on an accurate, up-to-date well list.

In this architectural approach, data is stored in a domain-based data model like PPDM, rather than

being identified and organized by the system that originates the data. As noted elsewhere in this

paper, this domain-oriented method of handling data allows engineers and other employees to

relate data more directly to everyday oil and gas exploration and production activities.

Also important to note: The Operational Data Store does not create another system of record.

Information is stored here only for reporting purposes or to be presented through the Integrated

Portal or as metadata needed for data management purposes.

Securely Collaborating with Partners

This architecture also provides for highly secure and convenient collaboration between an operator

and various partners. An external network, or cloud like Office365, establishes a secure location

where partners can log in, store data, share, and collaborate as needed.

Federated security capabilities allow operators and partners to establish secure user groups and

identifications. For example, employees from Contoso Oil Corporation log in using their Contoso

identities, while employees from partner Fabrikam log in to the same external network using their

own corporate security credentials.

The result is a convenient yet secure external network designed specifically to serve collaborative

partnerships in the upstream oil and gas industry.


29

Getting There

How can oil and gas businesses best realize the MURA framework and the solutions built upon it,

as described in this paper? Microsoft urges companies to consider the following factors when

seeking to create a modern, more flexible and proactive IT infrastructure.

When building solutions, start on the cloud. Companies considering building new solutions

should look to the cloud as the platform of choice to host them, as it is only there that maximum

flexibility and interoperability can be achieved now and in the future.

When evaluating solutions, prefer the cloud. Companies considering the purchase of a solution

that conforms to the MURA will find that those solutions built on the cloud are the best fit across

all four of the pillars of Guiding Principles, and will maximize interoperability via secure Industry

and technology standards.

When integrating solutions, consider the cloud. As proposed by this paper, optimal flexibility

and performance going forward will only be achieved by using the cloud as a platform for

tomorrows’ solutions. However, there will always be a requirement for integrating legacy solutions

that run on premise, or between cloud-based solutions, or both. This, therefore, should be an

important consideration for companies looking to this future.

Focus on business processes and work to incorporate robust data management into those

processes. If a process includes data on a well to be drilled in the future, formulate a cloud-based

solution that transfers that updated information to any other cloud-based application that uses

data on well counts, production volumes, or other relevant metrics. If the process is exploration

focused, concentrate on the search, discovery, and collaboration aspects of the process to enable

a robust discussion and consideration of the various insights and innovation that each discipline,

partner or vendor brings to the dialogue.

Use the vocabulary of your business when creating a solution. Build data models in the cloud

that use and present information in ways that engineers and geoscientists understand—not based

on the systems that generate that data.

Maintain a cloud-based “system of record” for data. It makes little sense to create additional

on-premise databases or to gather all data into a temporary data warehouse to support daily work

processes. Rather, seek to establish a single, integrated, cloud-based data model that easily

accesses needed data from other cloud services or secure on-premises sources, and serves up that

information efficiently to systems, employees and managers. Create data warehouses only when

they can deliver and improve the speed and performance of the end user experience.


30

To deliver faster insights and make better decisions, IT solutions must enable visibility and

collaboration. Microsoft has created a robust partner ecosystem designed to help oil and gas

businesses transcend traditional barriers, accelerate decision making, and drive efficiencies. Our

partners’ upstream software solutions can help companies gain the full benefits of a more effective

IT architecture.

The MURA described here and the process of transitioning to this more efficient, cloud-based

future state can be applied to address the real-world needs of oil and gas upstream operations.

About the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) framework

Microsoft is at the forefront of new technology advancements including cloud services, apps,

mobility, social computing and platforms that unlock the potential of Big Data. Through the

Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) framework, Microsoft is leading the industry

and its global oil and gas industry partners to ensure that the latest versions of these technologies

provide the foundation for all their oilfield solutions. All of these solutions apply key guiding

principles, which ensure consistency and technical integrity for the solutions built on the Microsoft

technology platform. In turn, global oil and gas companies can realize maximum value from their

existing investments in Microsoft technology – helping them save on further IT costs.

For more information or questions, visit www.microsoft.com/mura or send an email to Adam Hems,

the Worldwide Industry Technical Strategist for Oil & Gas at Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/mura

mailto:[email protected]?subject=MURA