Refinery Turnaround Planning Software
Even before a refinery turnaround begins.
When a refinery shuts down, every hour matters—and millions of dollars can be at stake.
A refinery turnaround requires thousands of interconnected decisions to come together within a tightly controlled maintenance window. When work packages, materials, labor, safety requirements and schedules are disconnected, a single overlooked dependency can threaten the entire operation.
KAP needed a better way to see what work was ready, what was waiting and what could delay execution. Ayoka helped connect those moving pieces through STO Planner—turning fragmented planning information into one coordinated operational workflow.
When planning work is disconnected, the financial exposure grows.
A refinery turnaround is a tightly coordinated maintenance event. KAP's planners had to connect equipment scope, safety, isolation, materials, scaffolding, inspection, labor, cost and schedule decisions before execution could begin. The original KICS application captured important business logic in Microsoft Access and Visual Basic, but separate client- and year-specific databases fragmented the operating picture.
Planning horizon
Turnaround planning can begin roughly nine months before the maintenance window.
Execution coverage
Maintenance execution can operate around the clock across three shifts.
Compressed execution
Some turnaround execution windows can be compressed into approximately 30 days.
In turnaround planning, work in process is work that is not yet ready to execute.
A work package can have an approved scope but still be waiting on materials, isolation, inspection, access, safety documentation, resources or a schedule decision. Each unfinished handoff represents committed planning effort and a potential constraint on the maintenance window.
Without connected visibility
- Separate records obscure what has changed.
- Task counts can overstate readiness.
- Unapproved scope can distort labor estimates.
- Shared scaffolds and blinds can be overlooked.
- Scheduling can receive stale package versions.
With STO Planner
- Each package has a controlled operational record.
- Weighted readiness shows what remains to be done.
- Approved scope informs estimates and staffing.
- Shared field dependencies stay connected.
- Changed packages are identified for renewed handoff.
From scope to schedule: six connected stages.
Configure the event
Define the facility, event, access permissions, planning assumptions and settings.
Define the scope
Organize equipment and approved work into controlled work packages.
Build the plan
Link activities, crafts, materials, isolation, scaffolding, inspection, safety, documents and costs.
Control readiness
Track weighted requirements against a resource-loaded planning baseline.
Refine the estimate
Progress from long-range assumptions to package-based estimates, indirect costs and supplier bids.
Hand off to scheduling
Lock approved packages and export activity, resource and code data for execution scheduling.
Turnaround expertise became connected software behavior.
Equipment-specific templates
Reusable planning rules that adapt to actual equipment and field conditions.
Weighted readiness
Requirements carry different weights; nonapplicable requirements redistribute their weight proportionally.
Resource-loaded baselines
Planning hours and package counts support workload and staffing forecasts.
Progressive estimating
Long-range budgets mature through approved direct scope, indirect costs and supplier bids.
Shared field dependencies
Common blinds and scaffolds can serve multiple packages without losing their relationships.
Controlled schedule changes
Lock, revise and relock logic flags packages modified after scheduling handoff.
Role-based permissions
Facility and event access combines with granular rights to view, edit, export and manage financial information.
Auditable history
Changes to work lists are traceable while centralized records preserve event history.
Self-service reporting
Authorized users can filter, group, aggregate and save operational views.
Understand the operation. Preserve its rules. Connect the work.
Ayoka studied KAP's existing Access forms and Visual Basic logic, then modeled the planning process around facilities, events and work packages. The resulting centralized cloud-based platform, STO Planner, connected the details that determine whether maintenance work is truly ready.
Approved, locked packages could be reviewed at the activity and resource level before export to the Primavera scheduling workflow. Exports carried sequence, duration, phase, work-package references, WBS, equipment information and activity codes.
Operational record
Client: KAP
Sector: Refining, petrochemical and industrial maintenance
Starting point: KICS, Microsoft Access and Visual Basic
Solution: STO Planner — Shutdown Turnaround Outage Planner
Connected functions: Scope, resources, readiness, estimates, controls and schedule export
One repeatable planning system instead of disconnected copies and handoffs.
Centralized planning
Facility- and event-specific access within one relational operating environment.
Meaningful readiness
Weighted requirements and baselines make incomplete work and planning constraints visible.
Connected financial planning
Approved work packages, labor forecasts and evolving estimates remain linked to scope.
Schedule control
Locked packages and modification detection provide a controlled path into execution scheduling.
Institutional knowledge
Specialized planning rules are preserved in reusable, auditable workflows.
Cross-event visibility
Shared data structures and reporting support review across planning cycles and authorized teams.
The same visibility problem exists across industrial operations.
When work moves between disconnected systems, leaders can lose sight of what is ready, what is waiting and what the next handoff requires. KAP shows how connecting WIP status, business rules, resources and financial decisions creates an operating picture that teams can act on—before constraints become execution problems.
Explore Factory Automation, PLC Integration, B.O.S.S., Rent Custom Software and the Sexing Technologies case study.
How This Applies to Your Operation
What is refinery turnaround planning software?
How do work packages and weighted readiness improve turnaround planning?
How can Primavera scheduling connect to turnaround work packages?
How do isolation, scaffolding and labor forecasts affect turnaround readiness?
How can turnaround planning software improve estimating?
How can teams see which turnaround activities are not ready to execute?
How is refinery turnaround WIP similar to factory WIP?
What can manufacturers learn from turnaround work-package dependencies?
How can disconnected planning handoffs create schedule and cost risk?
Related solution: If your operation needs software around these connections, explore Rent Custom Software.
What work is getting stuck between planning and execution?
Tell us what you're seeing. Ayoka starts with the workflow and the constraint, then connects the systems and decisions that move work forward.
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