Refinery Turnaround
Planning Software
Built Around the Operation.
How Ayoka Systems transformed a fragmented Microsoft Access and Visual Basic application into a centralized, cloud-based planning system for refinery and chemical-plant shutdowns, turnarounds and outages.
KAP's planners needed to coordinate equipment scope, materials, isolation, scaffolding, inspection, safety, labor, estimates, readiness, permissions and schedule handoff across complex maintenance events. Ayoka learned those operating rules and built them into STO Planner - a system shaped around the way turnaround planning actually works.
PROCESSES
DATA
RESULTS
At a Glance
- Client: KAP, an industrial consulting organization supporting refinery and chemical-plant maintenance planning
- Industry: Oil refining, petrochemical processing, industrial maintenance and shutdown/turnaround/outage planning
- Starting point: Microsoft Access + Visual Basic, with separate database copies generally maintained by client and year
- Ayoka solution: A cloud-based, facility- and event-driven planning platform with relational data, granular permissions, configurable calculations, interactive reporting and schedule export
- Operational focus: Work packages, scope control, labor and indirect-cost forecasting, readiness, auditability and controlled handoff into execution scheduling
The Challenge
A refinery turnaround is a planned maintenance period in which interconnected equipment is taken out of service, made safe, repaired, inspected and returned to operation. Planning can begin roughly nine months before the maintenance window. Execution may run around the clock across three shifts and can be compressed into approximately 30 days.
KAP had already encoded part of its planning knowledge in KICS, a Microsoft Access application with Visual Basic logic. Separate database copies helped keep client information separated, but they also fragmented operating history and made it harder to compare events, maintain one evolving application and carry KAP's methodology forward.
The real challenge was not simply moving a database to the cloud. KAP needed to preserve the separation required by client work while creating a centralized system that could retain history and represent the specialized business rules behind turnaround planning.
The Ayoka Approach
Ayoka studied the existing Access application, its form logic and the way KAP's planners prepared shutdown work. The team then designed a relational, facility- and event-driven platform that was later branded STO Planner - Shutdown Turnaround Outage Planner.
The platform uses facility and event as core operating filters. Authorized users work only within the areas assigned to them, while the centralized structure preserves history across planning cycles.
The work package became the center of planning: the place where technical scope connects to equipment, people, materials, access requirements, safety controls, financial coding, supporting records, estimates and schedule activities.
How STO Planner Moves Work From Scope to Schedule
the Event
the Scope
the Plan
Readiness
the Estimate
Scheduling
- Configure the Event - Establish the facility, turnaround event, permissions, planning assumptions and event-specific settings.
- Define the Scope - Organize approved work around equipment and controlled work packages.
- Build the Plan - Connect activities, resources, materials, isolation, scaffolding, insulation, inspection, safety, documents and cost structures.
- Control Readiness - Measure planning progress with weighted requirements and compare actual completion with a resource-loaded baseline.
- Refine the Estimate - Mature the estimate from long-range assumptions through approved scope, indirect costs and detailed supplier bids.
- Export to Scheduling - Lock approved packages and hand controlled activity, resource, WBS, equipment and code data into the execution scheduling environment.
Business Logic Generic Software Can Miss
- Equipment-specific planning templates preserve repeatable knowledge without forcing every work package into an identical plan.
- Weighted readiness recognizes that materials, specifications, safety, inspection and other requirements do not contribute equally to completion.
- When a readiness item does not apply, its weight is removed and redistributed proportionally across the remaining applicable requirements instead of leaving a false incomplete score.
- Approved-package logic prevents draft or unapproved scope from silently entering the same labor estimate.
- Baseline and working resource plans convert package counts and planning hours into weekly workload and staffing requirements.
- Schedule-change detection identifies packages that changed after handoff so they can be reviewed and exported again.
- Lock-revise-relock control separates a planning draft from the controlled version handed to execution.
- Shared blinds and shared scaffolds reflect real field conditions where one isolation or access arrangement can support multiple work packages.
Work Packages
Scope • Resources • Readiness • Estimates • Schedule
Handoff
Estimating That Matures With the Plan
STO Planner preserves multiple estimating stages rather than forcing one number to serve every phase of the turnaround. Long-range assumptions can mature into package-driven direct estimates, indirect implications and detailed estimates that incorporate specific third-party bids.
That progression lets the planning team compare the long-range budget with what approved scope, labor assumptions, overhead structure and supplier pricing are indicating before execution.
Planning Progress That Reflects Readiness
A simple task count can distort turnaround readiness. STO Planner allows an event to define planning requirements and their relative weights. If a requirement does not apply, the system normalizes the remaining applicable weights so the package can reach 100 percent based on the work it genuinely requires.
Actual weighted completion can be compared with the resource-loaded baseline by day, week or month and reviewed by equipment type, unit or planner.
Granular Access, Auditability and Self-Service Views
Facility and event assignments are combined with granular permissions controlling viewing, adding, editing, deleting, exporting and access to financial or dashboard functions. Work-list changes are auditable.
Configurable grid views allow authorized users to sort, filter, group, aggregate and save layouts so different operational roles can work with the same underlying information without requiring a developer to build a new report for every question.
Controlled Handoff to Execution Scheduling
Authorized users can review approved and locked work packages at the activity and resource level before export. The scheduling handoff includes sequence, duration, phase, work-package reference, WBS, equipment information and activity codes. The application refers to this as a Primavera export, reflecting KAP's scheduling workflow.
If a package changes after handoff, STO Planner marks it as modified so the planner can review the change, relock the package and create a new controlled export.
What Changed for KAP
- Facility and event separation replaced reliance on isolated client- and year-specific copies of the application.
- A relational model connected equipment, scope, activities, resources, costs, checklists, documents, decisions and schedule codes.
- Reusable templates captured equipment-specific planning knowledge while remaining editable for actual field conditions.
- Weighted readiness and resource-loaded baselines created a more meaningful view of planning progress.
- Successive estimating stages connected long-range assumptions with approved packages, indirect costs and supplier bids.
- Granular permissions and audit records supported work across multiple clients, facilities, events and roles.
- Interactive layouts and exports reduced dependence on one-off report development.
- Schedule locking and change detection created a controlled path from planning into execution scheduling.
The defensible outcome: specialized planning knowledge was converted into a repeatable and auditable operating system. Ayoka should not claim a quantified ROI because the available project record does not establish a measured before-and-after time, cost or outage-duration result.
Why This Matters to Industrial Operations
Many industrial organizations still run critical processes across spreadsheets, desktop databases, shared drives, scheduling tools and specialist knowledge held by experienced employees. The difficult business logic often lives between those tools: what scope is approved, what is ready, what changed, what a decision affects, which estimate is current and what version should move into execution.
The KAP project demonstrates Ayoka's core capability: learn the operating process, identify the business rules that must survive and build software around the way the operation actually works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is shutdown, turnaround and outage planning software?
It is software used to prepare scope, work packages, resources, costs, readiness checks and schedule data for a major planned maintenance event at a refinery, chemical plant or other continuous-process facility.
Why are work packages important in a refinery turnaround?
A work package brings technical scope together with equipment, activities, crafts, materials, isolation, access, inspection, safety, cost codes, supporting documents and schedule information so execution teams have the required elements aligned before the outage window.
How can planning percent complete reflect true readiness?
STO Planner assigns different weights to planning requirements. Completed applicable items contribute their normalized weight. When an item does not apply, its weight is redistributed proportionally across the remaining applicable items so readiness is not understated.
How can turnaround labor demand be forecast?
KAP's system combines approved package counts with equipment-specific planning and direct-field-labor assumptions, spreads planning effort across the target duration and estimates staffing from the available hours per person per week.
How does turnaround planning connect with Primavera scheduling?
Approved and locked packages are reviewed at activity and resource level and exported with sequences, durations, phases, work-package references, WBS values, equipment data and activity codes for import into the execution schedule.
Can one turnaround planning system support multiple facilities and events?
Yes. STO Planner separates information by facility and event, assigns users to permitted areas and retains history across events without requiring a separate desktop database for every client and year.
What kinds of business rules can purpose-built industrial software preserve?
Examples from this project include weighted readiness, equipment-specific planning hours, approved-scope counting, resource loading, estimate progression, shared access and isolation requirements, permissions, auditability and controlled schedule handoff.
