distances rather than following hierarchical plant structures for example.: Pipelines Roads Power distribution lines Rail tracks
Comprehensive support for linear assets, which enables companies to efficiently manage additional business areas in Oracle Enterprise Asset Management
Enhancement of work order processing to support linear work definition, including work orders, confirmations, and maintenance plans
Maintenance order on linear asset
Maintenance of linear assets (A kind of networks) is completely different from maintaining nonlinear assets like a fleet, machine. They through lot more challenges in modelling and executing the maintenance work compared to nonlinear assets. The ability to model and execute the maintenance these assets is what can tap the huge market potential in this segment. Assets can be broadly divided into two categories namely Linear and Nonlinear. If we underrated nonlinear assets, it is easy to understand linear assets. Nonlinear assets are like Plant, equipment, Machine, fleet etc., they are confined to a size and specific location etc., Maintenance of them is relatively easy. Linear assets are not specific to single location. Linear assets can be like roads, runways, gas pipe lines, electrical transmissions, rail tracks, telecom lines etc., where they are not specific one single location. They more or less represent a network. Many linear asset networks cross over with other networks and can also be a place holder of many nonlinear assets. For e:g one railway track can connect to other railway track and also holds many nonlinear assets like traffic control systems, stations, power generating equipment and more importantly other parallel linear asset like power cables etc., Maintaining these assets requires much more capability than maintaining nonlinear assets. There are many challenges that will surface in maintaining these assets. All these challenges need to be addresses adequately by any ERP to realize the benefits. Again the challenges will be different for different industries and this blog lists these challenges a generic manner. 1. Modelling of the linear assets: As the linear assets are not confined to a single location but widely spread across some geographies, modelling of these assets is the first most challenge for any ERP. This modelling can be either engineering or visual in nature. For e.g. a metro rail network is spread across a city. Typical asset hierarchy may not work here. 2. Assigning the nonlinear assets to the linear assets: Every linear asset can be a place holder for many nonlinear assets. For e.g. a national highway contains traffic signals, light posts at definite locations also requires maintenance. 3. Parallel networks: There are some networks that work in parallel. A metro rail network requires a parallel power lines. Failure of any of them can result in stoppage of the services. Modelling of such networks is a challenge. 4. Intersecting networks: Networks that cross over. Typically can operate independently but the shutting down of one network can result in shutting down of other network. A metro rail network and a road network can operate independently but the shutting down of one network can result in shutting down of other network due to cross over at some places. This requires additional tag out processes. 5. Planned downtime of the network: The linear assets or networks does not offer too much of a time for planned down time. They need to be scheduled typically on a weekend or public holidays by virtue of their connection to the public life. At times they need to be scheduled in summer only. This leaves additional challenge for the ERP systems. 6. Increased load on other networks: At times when one network is down, the traffic is to be diverted to the other network. This mean, some networks can't be planned for maintenance in parallel. Higher load on other networks means more usage that could result in breakdown as well. 7. Skilled personnel in performing the maintenance: Maintaining the linear assets needs a crew (group of technicians) from different departments to work at the same time. e.g. technicians from civil and electrical departments. 8. Special equipment in performing the maintenance: Maintaining these assets needs at times needs special crew. For e.g. a crane or excavator and their operators would be special equipment in executing the maintenance of these assets. Also arranging the required consumables to complete the maintenance work location requires initial assessment and planning. 9. Work orders planning and execution: Work order planning and execution requires much more coordinated process than nonlinear assets. For e.g. arranging the crew from different departments, approvals from other departments even though the other department is not involved in the maintenance work. At times the maintenance of all networks is to be combined due to geographical constraints and same crew members. This also requires additional tag out processes. 10. Maintenance analytics: Apart from planning and executing the work, the ERP should generate the required analytics like down time trend, cost of maintaining the network, allocation of the costs to different networks etc., requires additional features. Any ERP that can beat these challenges is sure to tap the huge market and we will see how Oracle EAM is offering various solutions to address these challenges in the subsequent blogs.
Linear Asset Management and Dynamic Segmentation- Part I
Traditional Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems always treated assets as point assets. Plant equipment, Fleets, IT assets you name it, they are all point assets and have self-sufficient programs available within most of the EAM packages to take care of their maintenance requirements. So what's the fuss about linear assets then? Assets like railroad, gas pipelines etc. have characteristics which are associated to its length and may differ throughout its course. Moreover, locating a work area; tracking the work history; asset to asset/location relations etc. are always a limitation with point asset management process. Let us consider a case of railroad section spanning miles and crossing state boundaries. As we traverse through the length of rail road section, we can observe that specification of these sections changes, for example, speed limit for a section of rail changes on gradients or rail crossing; a section with curve has an angle of banking which is unique to the extent of curvature; a section with crossing/frog/ turnouts has different characteristics etc. All these changes within one single asset definitely require a different maintenance approach.
Maintenance operations like track inspections, gauging, track replacement etc. requires the planners to exactly locate the problem area section so that the crew can be dispatched accordingly. Work on the sections also have dependencies on other related assets like level crossings, underground culvert etc. and it is necessary to relationally capture them for better planning of work. This is because work on the principal asset can impact the dependent assets. Hierarchical relations seldom worked with Linear Assets as it meant breaking down of assets into multiple smaller assets to facilitate the parent child relationship. With no single location able to contain a linear asset, the location specific tracking also failed. Questions arose- how do we have these different specification captured? How to locate when there is no specific location information? Having no provision to create relationship within a particular segment of asset, how to define dependencies? The need was clear, a generalized view of assets as point assets had to change.
The questions are many but the concept of Dynamic Segmentation is the ultimate answer; it helps the maintenance planners to segment an asset into logical portions without impacting the underlying geometry of the Asset. Once the segments are identified, pinpointing the problem area and planning the work becomes easy. In the next part on this blog, through relevant examples, we will see how IBM Maximo deals with linear assets and in particular cater to concept of dynamic segmentation.
Linear Asset Management and Dynamic Segmentation- Part II
This one is from my experience in implementation of Baroda-Ahmedabad-KalolGas pipeline (BAKPL); a Gujarat state government project for transporting natural gas. Before the final commissioning of the gas pipeline, there are certain prerequisites like the entire pipeline should be free of impurities and reactive gasses. Also the welded pipe joints should be tested for internal cracks or weld burrs. Pigging, a well-known process for flushing out the pipeline of impurities is carried out by passing a probe called "Pig" through the length of the identified pipeline section. With equipment's like sensors and odometers attached, the modern Pigs are capable of pinpointing the exact location along with the details of the fault. These fault details can then be communicated to appropriate teams for the correction. However in this case, the identification of the location will happen through absolute length or via a GPS coordinates, the limitation of which we witnessed in the earlier part of the blog. Now let us look at the IBM Maximo application capabilities which support the Dynamic Segmentation concept thereby helping to effectively manage a scenario like this. Linear referencing method A linear referencing method (LRM) forms the basis for determining a position within an Asset in the linear context. A LRM once established, helps locating an Asset segments by means of a known start point, a measure, and a direction. It provides a three dimensional view of the work location by means of defining distance offset along X, Y and Z coordinates. To locate an underground pipeline section with fault, the location can be specified as Locate 1 is at -2 miles(X- Axis where -ve indicates it occurs before a known point) from milestone pump station 1, and is 1.5 feet (Y -Axis, + ve indicating right) from the millstone measured from the midline and is -2 Feet(Z-Axis, -ve indicating underground) from the surface. Specification The BAKPL spanned for 220 Kilometers, the diameter of the pipeline section did not change throughout the length, however there were distinguishable sections like a section of 25 meters passing through swamp and requiring a cathodic protection for corrosion treatment. Few sections submerged in water bodies requiring heavy concrete layering to counter buoyancy etc. Specifications help to define the specific characteristics of the sections along the length of the linear assets. This assists the Maintenance planners to understand comprehensive linear characteristics which are imperative for an effective maintenance planning. Features The main purpose of features is to locate the start and end points of work locations along a linear asset and through a known point. The features are mostly non asset components of a linear asset. For example, to replace cathodic plates on a specific section of pipeline, the maintenance planner can specify the work area to be at a specific distance from "Shutoff Valve- 4" with respective Y and Z offset defined. The shutoff valve in this context serves as the feature enabling the relational measurement point. Relationship Relationship is the defined interdependency between two linear assets, a linear and a point asset, or a linear asset and a location. The relationship is used to describe the dependency or connectivity which serves as a useful information for the Maintenance planners to account for Assets getting impacted due to work on the principal Assets. The relationship also contributes to the dynamic segmentation to locate the problem area in relation to segments within other linear or point assets. An optical fiber cable of a telecom backbone can intersect the gas pipeline and to perform the maintenance operation on this intersecting section of the pipeline the Maintenance planned needs to be aware of the position to avoid any damage to the optical fiber during the digging operations.
Linear Asset Management (LAM), in essence focuses on creating a platform for the planners to define the Assets in the linear context and effectively plan the work. The dynamic segmentation provides a whole new aspect to the Asset definition, it enables the maintenance planners to view Assets in the linear context while still being able to leverage inherent maintenance programs meant for point assets. LAM opens up for a wide range of Assets across industry domains like Transportation (Roads, Railways), Utilities (Electrical Transmission and Distribution lines, Water and Gas Pipelines), and Telecom (Backbone). The more we go deeper , looking into the Maintenance requirement on these domains, the more we can appreciate the LAM capabilities addressing the respective business use cases. It's a matter of faster adaptation to LAM and then a time will come when the stake holders get retrospective and relate to past challenges and appreciate the wonders this concept brought into the current time work and Asset Management practices.
Solutions for Linear Asset Management - A Data Model for Defining the Linear Assets
In my earlier Blog, I have detailed the challenges arising in Linear Asset Management and I like to highlight the possible out of the box or custom solutions to overcome these challenges. This blog primarily explains how a data model can be developed to define the network of linear assets and their attributes using Oracle EAM Asset group attributes. The first most important challenge in Linear Asset Management is model the network with the linear assets. Linear assets are not specific to a point of geographic location. They have a definite length or area that requires defining with beginning and ending co-ordinates and other attributes. A network of the asset can be split into multiple segments and each segment has a definite start and end point. The end of one segment will be the start of the other part. This relationship will continue for all segments except the first and last part. Network modelling can be divided into two parts. The first step is to assign the assets to a specific location on map (like Google maps) and secondly to build a network by connecting all such assets. Defining a suitable data model is critical for establishing the asset network. Oracle R12 (12.1.1 onwards) allows us to map each of the asset to geographical location on a map. The required setups can be obtained from Metalink Note 779351.1. The second part is to assign them to a network. This can partially be fulfilled by using the Parent child relation of assets where the whole network is defined as parent and each distinct part of the asset can be defined as the child(s) for the parent assembly. This is not a complete out of the box solution from Oracle EAM. In this case the customers may have to integrate these assets to an external application or opt for bespoke development. The bespoke development need to offer the ability to define the asset network, crossovers, dependencies, relationships etc., and once such relationship is established Oracle EAM can be used effectively for maintenance planning and execution of liner assets. Let me explain how such a typical asset networking model will look like with a schematic diagram and the important characteristics of each segment to build the relationship with similar segments and intersections with other networks (Where other network cross over this network like a road network crosses the rail network). The below is simple case of 3 networks that intersect at some segments, Cross over at other segments. This example shows how various attributes can be defined for various segments. Each network is a linear asset in this case.
Important attributes of each segment can be Length Owned by: Network Name (Parent Asset) Starting Point Latitude Starting Point Longitude Starting Point Type: Linear (Connects to the segment of own network) / Nodal (Connecting to Other networks Ending Point Latitude Ending Point Longitude Ending Point Type: Linear (Connects to the segment of own network) / Nodal (Connecting to Other networks Segment Category Segment Type: Common / Individual Approval required from Cross over network: Yes / No This is a data model for a simple asset network using the asset group attributes. Depending upon the type of network it will be required to configure many attribute groups and define the attributes. Segment Name Owned by: Network Name (Parent Asset) Magnitude (Length / height etc.,) Starting Point Latitude (DD.MM.SEC) Starting Point Longitude (DD.MM.SEC) Starting Point Type: Linear (Connects to the segment of own network) / Nodal (Connecting to Other networks Ending Point Latitude (DD.MM.SEC) Ending Point Longitude (DD.MM.SEC) Ending Point Type: Linear (Connects to the segment of own network) / Nodal (Connecting to Other networks Segment Type: Common / Individual Approval required from Cross over network: Yes / No S1 Network1 100 44.5.32
Linear 44.5.39 11.9.32 Linear Individual No S2 Network1 105 44.5.39 11.9.32 Linear 44.5.44 11.9.32 Nodal Individual No S3 Network1 105 44.5.44 11.9.32 Nodal 44.5.47 11.9.32 Nodal Common Yes S4 Network1 110 44.5.47 11.9.32 Nodal 44.5.51 11.9.32 Linear Individual No S5 Network1 95 44.5.51 11.9.32 Linear 44.5.55 11.9.32 Nodal Individual Yes S6 Network1 110 44.5.55 11.9.32 Linear 44.5.59 11.9.32 Linear Individual Yes S7 Network2 110 44.6.12 11.9.32 Linear 44.6.11 11.9.31 Linear Individual No S8 Network2 110 44.6.32 11.9.32 Linear 44.5.44 11.9.32 Nodal Individual No S9 Network2 100 44.5.47 11.9.32 Nodal 44.5.53 11.9.36 Linear Individual No S10 Network2 112 44.6.32 11.9.32 Linear 44.6.32 11.9.32 Linear Individual No S11 Network3 115 43.5.32 11.9.32 Linear 44.5.55 11.9.32 Nodal Individual Yes S12 Network3 105 44.5.51 11.9.32 Nodal 44.5.51 11.9.39 Linear Individual Yes S13 Network3 110 44.5.51 11.9.39 Linear 44.5.51 11.9.46 Linear Individual No
In the next blog we will see how to attach non liner assets to a linear assets network.
Asset and its relationships within eAM
Asset as in Asset Number in Oracle eAM module represents an individual object. It could be equipment, a part of equipment, a group of equipment that collectively performs a function, a facility or just an area. Any thing that gets maintained (predominantly physical maintenance) by a business organization can be treated as an asset in Oracle eAM, defined as an Asset number. an eAM Asset number must belong to an eAM Asset Group. For better clarity on the data model of the eAM Asset Group, please read my blog where I have explained the eAM Assets inter-relationships with other modules. Objective:- In this blog I want to explain how an individual Asset (eAM Asset Number) relates to the key data objects within Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) module. Please take a look at following diagram that illustrates the direct and indirect links between eAM Asset Number with other objects:
Asset relationships within eAM eAM Attributes are set against an eAM Asset Number. These attributes are combined into groups. eAM Activities are assigned to an eAM Asset Number. Each activity has individual Routing and Bill of material definitions. eAM Meters are assigned to an eAM Asset Number. Each meter reading details are updated against the Asset. eAM PM Schedules are assigned right down to an eAM Asset Number. Same goes with PM Suppressions. Bill of material are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that bill. The effectivity of a particular bill component is be limited to one or range of eAM Asset Numbers by using Serial Effectivity control functionality within bill of material definition. Routings are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that routing. Quality Plans are assigned at eAM Asset Group level. This can be done right at the eAM Asset level as well. Documents (or links) can be attached to an eAM Asset Number. These attachments will get defaulted on to the eAM work orders created for that asset. Thank you for visiting this blog. Have a great day. Asset Group and its relationships within eAM The word Asset Group trips out many people and remains a clearly un-answered question for range of Oracle users including technical consultants and business end users. explaining the Asset Group to different user groups is challenge, particularly when it comes to linear assets. For better clarity on the data model of the eAM Asset Group, please read my blog where I have explained the eAM Assets inter-relationships with other modules. Objective:- In this blog I want to explain how an Asset Group relates to the key data objects within Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) module. These relationships are very important to consider while deciding on eAM Asset Groups for an organisation. Details:- Please take a look at following diagram that illustrates the direct and indirect links between eAM Asset Groups with other objects:
Asset Group relationships within eAM eAM Attribute Groups are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the assigned attribute groups. eAM Activities are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the assigned activities. eAM Meter Templates are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the meters that are part of the assigned meter templates. eAM PM Schedule Templates are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the PM schedules that are part of the assigned PM Schedule Templates. Same goes with PM Suppression templates. Bill of material are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that bill. Although the effectivity of a particular bill component can be limited to one or range of eAM Asset Numbers the process of maintaining that effectivity control can get quite cumbersome. Routings are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that routing. Quality Plans are assigned at eAM Asset Group level. This can be done right at the eAM Asset level as well, but the data management can get complicated and over burden. eAM Failure Sets are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the failure sets, there by the failure codes, causes, etc. Documents (or links) can be attached to the eAM Asset Group that can be shared across the related eAM Assets. although this is not a major advantage it just helps to simplify the management of attachments. Final note:- When it comes to deciding on the asset groups, although the Oracle eAM documentation states the Asset Group is simple as the combination of Make and Model of the assets, in reality its a tough decision to make. The Oracle EBS shouldnt be overloaded with too many unneccessary asset groups, same time the seeded functionalities of eAM can be comprehensively used. The consultants and business process owners needs to work closely to get the balance right.
Explain the different types of assets?
Linear Assets: Identify an asset as linear within the Asset Repository. These are assets that have coordinates for their start and end points, such as a pipeline, train track or a highway. You can identify linear assets at the Asset Subtype level when defining subtypes. In this way, when you select a subtype for the asset, the Linear Asset check box automatically inherits the designation that was made for the asset subtype. You can, however, override the subtype linear designation here at the individual asset level.
Note. Identification of linear assets facilitates potential integrations with third-party products.
Linear assets A linear asset, also known as a continuous asset, is an asset that you maintain in segments, such as a road, a pipeline, or a railroad track. You make measurements along the linear asset to specify work, monitoring, metering, the placement of signs, and so on.
Five reasons why linear assets are different. Ive recently been doing some work on linear assets and the functionality an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system needs to support the management of linear assets. Sure we need the basics we need to be able to reflect the technical object structure in the computer system and we need to be able to plan and execute work against the technical objects and we need to be able to record information (failure codes, costs, measurements, inspections etc) against the technical objects. But theres more, once we get to a lower level of detail, once we start defining the asset structure and the information that needs to be recorded it becomes apparent why this:
Is different to this:
Linear assets are prevalent in many industries from railways to roads, pipelines to electricity distribution networks and canals and waterways. Ive identified five areas that need to be assesed when selecting and implementing a linear asset management solution. 1. Structuring. Long and straight is different to up and down. There is always much discussion during any EAM implementation on how to structure the organisations technical objects and this is usually related to the level of detail needed to support the operational and reporting requirements. Its no different when we structure linear assets and we need to answer the two questions what level of detail do we need to capture maintenance history and costs? And what is the organisations capacity to support this level of detail? 2. Linear is not GIS linear asset management pre-dates Geographic Information Systems and they are not the same thing. The two concepts complement each other, GIS does not replace LAM. Linear assets can have geo-coordinates and can be represented as a line or points on a map but most organisations maintaining linear assets still use non-map based linear representations to manage their assets and plan and record work on those assets. The one area where there is good synergy between the information collected by a LAM solution and GIS is in the area of reporting. Information extracted from a LAM system to a information warehouse is a good starting point to overlay linear information onto a map and run reports which answer questions such as which section of road has the highest number of potholes, etc. 3. Dynamic segmentation is the ability to defined changing characteristic features along the length of an asset. For example a segment of rail track will have changing features along its length. A segment of rail might be anything from 5km to 100km long and through this length the features such as rail type, sleeper type, fastenings, alignment etc will change. These features are not assets, the rail track is the asset and the features can change across that asset in a dynamic way as the segment of track is maintained. 4. Liner reference methods. The position on a linear asset (relative to the start point of the asset) could be represented in a number of ways. The position could be an absolute point as measured from the start of the segment, or it could be a measurement relative to some defined marker such as a kilometer or mile post. Or indeed it could be the distance from a well-known marker, for example 5oom from the large oak tree. A good LAM system will be able to translate absolute distance into relative distance. This translation is usually needed when someone in the field reports a fault on a linear asset as a certain distance before or after a marker. When a work request is created only this distance is known and the LAM system then converts it to absolute distance against the asset. The diagram below from Paul Scarponcini shows some of the methods used to record distance on a linear asset.
5. Mass changes. Enterprise Asset Management is always static or master data, intensive. LAM is no different. Tools are need to effect mass changes to the linear assets under management - this is particularly relevant where costing boundaries change and both the linear assets and point assets need to be updated with new cost collectors. There are many more ways that linear is different from point these are the most important you need to consider when selecting and implimenting an enterprise wide linear asset managment solution.
Linear Asset Management This is a feature written for customers with network, linear assets. This feature is relevant for Exor customers with Exor software and eAM software; both applications must be installed. On eAM's side, a new Public API was created.
Linear Asset Management These manual steps are necessary when the customer has the Exor Application installed and wants to utilize the EAM/Exor integration functionality. All other Oracle Applications customers do not need to execute the following steps and are not impacted. 1. Create FND users in Oracle Applications for all Exor users that use this functionality. The user name should be the same in both applications. In Oracle Applications, the user must be associated with the seeded Linear Asset Management User responsibility. There are no single sign-on impacts. 2. Create the following synonym in Exor Schema for the wrapper Public API created in EAM.create synonym eam_linear_locations_pub for apps.eam_linear_locations_pub; 3. Manually grant EXECUTE privilege in APPS schema to Exor users that call EAM_LINEAR_LOCATIONS_PUB package. GRANT EXECUTE ON EAM_LINEAR_LOCATIONS_PUB TO ;
New APIs New API Name Technical Name Description API to import Linear Assets and create EAM assets EAM_LINEAR_LOCATIONS_PUB.create_asset This API imports linear assets from an outside system into EAM.
Oracle teams up with Exor to help companies manage transportation assets Oracle Corp. has teamed with Exor Corp. to develop enhanced linear asset management capabilities for multiple industries, including transportation, local and state government, utilities and energy. By integrating Oracle Enterprise Asset Management with Exor, organizations will be able to manage all aspects of linear assets -- highways, pipelines, railway tracks, transmission lines and cables -- that historically have presented numerous challenges because of their distributed and networked characteristics. The combined Oracle and Exor offering will provide continuous variable definition and segmentation of linear assets. Organizations may model their network of assets -- for example, state highways or railway tracks -- using spatial technology and by using GIS systems. The highways are represented as linear assets on the network. Other assets, such as signs, traffic lights and bridges, are also modeled in the network as non-linear assets. This network can then be managed and maintained by using the Exor and Oracle Enterprise Asset Management offering to perform comprehensive, real-time maintenance work, resource dispatching for inspection and cost and budget analysis. The combined Oracle and Exor offering will enable the following features: * Linear asset modeling, which helps companies define and locate asset networks, organize assets into multiple linear networks and understand the relationship between an individual asset and the networks, capture unlimited data points for linear assets as well as networks and graphically display the data using a geographic maps and schematics. * Work execution management for linear assets, which enables companies to plan and execute maintenance work for linear assets by providing real-time visibility of the entire asset network helping to ensure the right parts and the right people are sent to the right location. * Cost allocation and analytics for linear assets, which enables companies to manage and analyze costs for linear assets. These analytics also provide modeling and data management capabilities for advanced analytics such as dynamic segmentation, which helps companies identify the sections of linear assets (e.g., segments of a highway) that are the most expensive to maintain or have incurred the most problems. www.oracle.com www.exorcorp.com