Schedules Overview
The Schedules feature helps teams model how timing influences economic evaluations. It introduces a structured way to define development timelines using Activity Dates and apply those timelines across the well inventory to control when production and costs occur.
By using Schedules, evaluators can:
- Represent the timing of development activities in a consistent, reusable way
- Tie the timing of economic inputs to when wells are planned to be drilled, completed, and brought online
- Rapidly update timing assumptions across the inventory by shifting well-level Activity Dates
For example, a well’s Planned Spud and On Production dates can drive when drilling costs, operating expenses, and production forecasts occur. Together, these Activity Dates define a well’s place on the development timeline and enable robust schedule-based planning.
Timing through Lookups & Forecasts
The Schedules feature aligns well-level timelines to cost and production models in different ways.
For capital and operating costs, individual costs within lookups are input relative to specific Activity Dates. Wells then have their own values for these Activity Dates, allowing cost timing to reflect each well’s place in the development plan.
Forecasts behave slightly differently. Decline start dates can be set to use a Forecast Anchor instead of an explicit date. This anchor is then linked to an Activity Date, which determines its start.
Defining Activity Dates at the Project Level
Activity Dates are defined at the project level and represent distinct development milestones that costs or production are tied to. Default Activity Dates such as Planned Spud and On Production are provided, but they can be renamed or replaced unless already in use.
Activity Dates are configured through Tools > Global Project Data > Activity Dates.
⚠️ Important: Activity Dates cannot be deleted if they are referenced in any well or lookup. This ensures consistency and prevents accidental breakage of schedule logic.
This centralized configuration model allows teams to maintain a shared definition of development phases while keeping timing logic aligned across wells and lookups.
Scheduling with Activity Dates through Lookups
Capital and operating cost lookups must define an anchor date for each cost entry. Though not the only option, Activity Dates are the preferred anchors, offering the most comprehensive scheduling functionality in Val Nav. Costs are established relative to the selected anchor date.
The Cost Anchor Date can be set directly in the UI or in bulk using the Capital and Operating Cost Deck spreadsheet import.
Modeling with Wells & Groups
Well's can define their timing at the rescat level with Activity Dates in the new Schedules data area, which allows scheduling through Common, inheriting timing across multiple uncertainties (e.g., TP, TPP or P10, P50, P90). When lookups are assigned to wells, they automatically schedule based on the well’s Activity Dates.
To schedule forecasts based on Activity Dates, declines start dates must be set to "Anchored" and a Forecast Anchor must be set to an Activity Date. The Forecast Anchor is shared for all declines on a rescat. You can also apply offsets to the activity date using the new Anchor Offset input to stagger decline starts across products if needed for use cases like modeling water breakthrough.
Anchored forecasts are now the default for newly created declines unless the well is already set to manual, easing the configuration burden.
As always, Activity Dates and Forecast Anchors can be updated efficiently using Val Nav’s bulk-editing tools: Data View, Spreadsheet Import, Input Copier, and Data Manager. This allows you to reschedule inventory for new development scenarios rapidly and reliably.
Lastly, consider the implications of anchored forecasts for producing wells. Since the anchor is shared across all product and ratio declines, they will shift together. When one product’s forecast is shifted, all other forecasts dependent on the anchor will shift accordingly. Val Nav automatically preserves each decline’s original parameters and Reserves by walking the curve up or down as needed.
Reconciliation & Schedules
Schedules are integrated into the reconciliation workflow to ensure timing changes are clearly tracked and auditable.
Option to Disconnect Lookups on Promotion
A project-level option allows users to realize lookup-driven values into manual entries during promotion. This breaks the connection between the well and both the lookup logic and Activity Dates for cost timing.
This is useful when promoting reserves that are under review and should remain stable, even if the underlying development plan changes.
When disabled, the link to Activity Dates is preserved, allowing schedule-driven costs to remain dynamic.
The Schedule Step in Reconciliation
A dedicated Schedule step in reconciliation tracks:
- Changes to Activity Date definitions (e.g., new dates, renames)
- Updates to well-level Activity Date assignments
⚠️ Note: This step does not reflect changes to lookup logic or cost amounts. Those are managed in the Capital and Operating Cost steps.
This separation ensures that changes in when a cost or production event occurs are managed independently from changes to what the value is, providing clear accountability throughout development plan evolution.
Together, the Schedules feature and its reconciliation step offer robust tools to model, manage, and track the timing of development across an asset's lifecycle.
Activity Dates and Pre-Existing Scheduling Functionality
Activity Dates represent Val Nav’s most comprehensive and flexible approach to scheduling. While not yet at full feature parity with all legacy scheduling tools, Activity Dates are intended to be the foundation for future scheduling workflows.
Timeline & Project Start
The Timeline tab is still driven by the Project Start date, which must be set. If Activity Dates are in use, shifting the Project Start will also shift Activity Dates accordingly, maintaining their relative spacing and ensuring consistency across the development plan.
Bulk Well Generator
The Bulk Well Generator automatically assigns Activity Dates to newly generated wells if set on the seed well. Dates of a newly generated well are determined relative from the rig-based start date determination and the seed well's timing. If the Common Production Start option is used, it sets the Activity Date used for the seed well’s Forecast Anchor.
Adjust Dates
While the Adjust Dates tool includes an option to shift Activity Dates, it is generally recommended to use more powerful tools like Data View and Spreadsheet Import for managing Activity Date values. These options offer greater flexibility, control, and bulk-editing capabilities.
Schedules Entity
The lesser-used Schedules Entity is a container to group wells and schedule them together alongside a stored constraint. Though it may drive some confusion from their shared naming, it is not in direct conflict with the Schedules data area.