NRL Cost Estimation Engine – AI-Based Refinery Cost Estimation & SAP Integration

Sector Oil & Gas / Refinery / Petrochemical / Cost Estimation

Technologies AI-Based Cost Estimation, OCR, SAP MM Integration, NRL SOR Mapping

Project Overview

The NRL Cost Estimation Engine was developed to automate refinery and industrial project cost estimation workflows using AI-based document processing, OCR, standardized annexure formats, NRL Schedule of Rates (SOR), and SAP pricing integration.

Manual cost estimation required engineers to review technical drawings, PDFs, BOMs, and project documents, extract quantities, identify materials and services, match them with applicable rates, and prepare standardized annexures. These activities were time-consuming and created risks of manual errors, inconsistent pricing, and compliance issues. The solution was to develop an AI-powered cost estimation system that processes technical files, extracts quantities and material information, maps items with NRL SOR and approved rate sources, retrieves pricing from SAP MM, validates estimation rules, and automatically generates compliant estimation and annexure outputs.

Industry Problems

Challenges in NRL Cost Estimation & Compliance

Manual Quantity Extraction

Engineers had to manually review technical drawings, PDFs, and BOM documents to identify quantities, materials, and other estimation inputs.

Complex Annexure Formats

NRL estimates require standardized annexure structures, making manual preparation and formatting time-consuming and difficult to maintain consistently.

Manual Rate Identification

Estimators had to manually identify applicable rates and match materials or services with NRL SOR and other permitted rate sources.

SAP Pricing Validation

Pricing information needed to be checked against SAP MM data, creating additional effort when preparing and validating individual estimate line items.

Compliance & Deviation Management

Non-standard rates, overrides, missing information, and deviations required manual identification, justification, and documentation.

Time-Consuming Approval Process

Estimates required multiple levels of review and approval, with comments, corrections, deviations, and supporting information tracked manually.

Multiple Document Formats

Technical information could be available through drawings, PDFs, Excel BOMs, and other project files, making automated extraction more complex.

Audit & Traceability Challenges

Maintaining a complete history of rate sources, overrides, justifications, changes, approvals, and supporting documents was difficult.

Our Solutions

How the NRL Cost Estimation Engine Transformed Cost Estimation

AI-Based Technical Document Processing

We developed an automated document processing system capable of processing technical files used during refinery cost estimation.

Processes technical drawings, PDF documents, scanned files, Excel BOMs, and other project reference documents.
Provides OCR-based structured data extraction with a user interface for review and correction.

Automatically identifies quantities, material descriptions, BOM details, and units from technical documents.
Reduces repetitive manual entry while allowing users to review and correct the extracted information.

Automated Quantity & BOM Extraction

The system uses OCR and structured data extraction to identify quantities and material information from technical drawings and project documents.

Annexure-Based Estimation Engine

The estimation engine provides structured input forms aligned with standardized NRL annexure formats.

Supports project-wise templates and discipline-wise structures for standardizing estimate preparation.
Ensures all estimation information strictly follows the required format before automated line-item processing and submission.

Performs SOR code assignment, description mapping, rate validation, and discipline tagging.
Follows the permitted rate-source hierarchy when NRL SOR pricing is unavailable.

NRL SOR Mapping & Validation

The system automatically maps estimation line items to applicable NRL Schedule of Rates (SOR) codes and descriptions.

SAP MM Price Integration

The system integrates with SAP MM to retrieve material and service pricing information for consistent estimation.

Retrieves real-time material price, service price, work order information, and pricing date from SAP.
Improves accuracy and aligns the estimation process with verified enterprise pricing data.

Supports multiple rate sources including NRL SOR, CPWD/APWD, Licensor, LPP, Market, Budgetary, and PSU Reference.
Forces users to provide supporting justification and documentation when selecting non-standard pricing sources.

Automated Rate Source Management

Every estimate line item is strictly required to have a declared and validated rate source.

AI-Guided Estimation

The system provides an AI-powered interface that allows engineers to interact with the estimation workflow using structured commands.

Interprets natural language requests like “Add 15 m² of insulation to Section B” to populate the estimate.
Allows users to work through an AI prompt interface, standard estimation form, or structured grid.

Supports estimate classification from Class 5 to Class 1, showing the applicable accuracy range.
Enforces corresponding contingency recommendations defined by standard estimation methodology.

Automated Estimate Classification

The system enables automated enforcement of classification rules based on project maturity.

Automated Deviation Management

The system automatically identifies deviations from standard estimation rules and pricing structures.

Calculates deviations between standard rates and entered rates, prompting for necessary justification.
Records all overrides and justifications securely in the audit trail.

Automatically compiles scope, quantity basis, rate sources, assumptions, and exclusions.
Generates the final BOE output in the required standardized Annexure-1 format seamlessly.

Automated Basis of Estimate Generation

The system automatically compiles the key information required for the Basis of Estimate (BOE).

Compliance, Audit & Multi-Level Approval Workflow

The platform provides a highly configurable workflow and compliance engine involving checkers, reviewers, and approvers.

Validates required estimation information, discipline tagging, and deviation justification prior to submission.
Manages multi-tier approvals with timestamps, comments, rejections, and full audit logs.

Impact

Automated Cost Estimation: Reduced manual effort involved in preparing refinery and industrial project estimates.
AI-Based Quantity Extraction: Automatically extracted quantities and BOM information from drawings and technical documents.
NRL SOR Compliance: Standardized line-item coding and validation against applicable NRL SOR structures.
SAP Price Integration: Enabled automated retrieval of material and service pricing through SAP MM integration.
Reduced Manual Data Entry: Minimized repetitive entry of quantities, materials, and estimation information.
Automated Annexure Generation: Generated standardized annexure packs and Basis of Estimate documentation.
Improved Compliance & Approvals: Enforced deviation requirements and digitized checker, reviewer, and approver workflows.

FAQs

It is an AI-powered web application designed to automate refinery and industrial project cost estimation using technical document extraction, NRL SOR rules, SAP pricing, and automated annexure generation.

The system can process technical drawings, PDF documents, scanned files, Excel BOMs, and other project-related technical documents used as estimation inputs.

Yes. The system integrates with SAP MM to retrieve material and service pricing information for estimation line items.

Yes. Deviations from standard pricing or estimation structures can be flagged, and applicable overrides require documented justification and audit logging.

Yes. The system provides an AI-guided interface where users can describe estimation requirements using structured natural-language prompts in addition to the standard interface.