Innovation #20

Innovative Achievements

MMS OFFERS NEW, FREE ELECTRONIC PRODUCTION REPORTING SOFTWARE

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service has developed computer software to allow more oil and natural gas companies to use personal computers for monthly production reporting. Available from the MMS at no cost, the Monthly Report of Operations, Form MMS-3160 template software offers extensive on-line help and incorporates an MMS edit processing routine that will ease preparation of production reports and reduce reporting errors. Companies currently using electronic commerce reporting options, including the template, receive an additional 10 days to submit their reports.

Of this latest in a series of MMS innovations to streamline and make agency processes more efficient, MMS Director Cynthia Quarterman said, "It is a user-friendly option to paper reporting. It makes the work more convenient, efficient and less susceptible to error, both for the reporter and for MMS. This innovation is one more step towards our goal to have 100% electronic reporting by 1999."

The automated reporting system is designed to ease the reporting burden of companies while reducing their costs and MMS' costs associated with manually entering the data into the computer system. The software gives the reporter the ability to report 5,000 lines of production data via electronic mail or diskette, and provides a historical electronic data base of reports, eliminating the need for paper files. The software can also be used to automatically extract reference data from prior reports, thereby eliminating the need to reenter unchanged reference data from month to month.

Companies interested in the new software or other electronic reporting options are invited to contact MMS at 1-800-525-7922.

MMS is developing similar software for the Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance, Form MMS-2014. Other reporting options for both the production and royalty reports are Electronic Data Interchange, Comma Separated Values, ASCII and magnetic tape.

MMS is the federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and collects, accounts for and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov
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