Garbage in, garbage out.

GIGO, if you need to put an acronym on it.

When businesses record, store, process, and output data, the quality of the result largely depends on the quality of the input.

Is your data accurate, consistent, and complete?

More specifically, as a CEO, CIO, Asset Manager, or Maintenance Manager, is your asset management data structured to meet your business needs?

Or is it garbage?

Functional Locations

We could speak in high-level abstracts about normalized data.

But let’s go the other way. A specific low-level example can illustrate the entire issue.

In a Maintenance Management System like SAP^®, the Functional Location (FLOC) is the key field that identifies the location of a business function, like a pump on a cooling water system or a pressure relief valve on a compressed air tank.

We also attach significant master data and default workorder data to the FLOC field, including:

• Plant
• System
• Subsystem
• Cost Centre
• Equipment criticality
• Default planner group
• Work Centre
• Ect.

Below is a chart that displays FLOC lengths and how many workorders have a FLOC of that length. It’s based on actual data from a recent EAM Assessment.

This chart will be available on your operational dashboard or can be created by loading a list of all open workorders into Excel.

Some issues the chart highlights:

• Many of the workorders are attached to a FLOC with a length of 35 characters. If a 35-character FLOC consistently identifies the maintainable equipment in the plant, then this is ok. But we’d prefer to see all workorders with a 35-character FLOC.
• Many of the FLOC lengths vary by one character—usually from poor governance around the FLOC and master data. This data inconsistency could become a safety, regulatory, or production risk to your business.
• There are a couple of workorders with a FLOC length of 0. That’s a problem. Without an accurate FLOC, the system cannot attach the correct master data. These workorders will be lost in the system – not good if it’s a critical piece of equipment or a high-priority job.

This chart is easy to generate and provides a quick way to do a health check on the quality and management of your master data.

Need Help?

At Rizing, we help managers of high-capital value assets improve their business performance and gain better value from their fixed and IT assets. If we can help you with further information about Functional Locations or asset management, please contact Rizing or the author directly via email (david.harrison@rizing.com).

The post Is Your Asset Management Data Garbage? appeared first on Rizing.

SAP developed the BTP cockpit as an all-encompassing platform to fit the needs of their large customer base. The BTP platform gives customers tools and features to organize their businesses effectively.

The flexibility is wonderful but can also be overwhelming and leave you feeling like you’re not equipped to make the necessary decisions.

Before developing your applications, ensure your organizational and landscape setup is appropriate for managing their lifecycles, and consider failover to prevent breakdowns.

BTP Account Model

BTP is structured according to global accounts, directories, and subaccounts.

Global Account

After making a contract with SAP, BTP assigns each customer a Global Account. The Global Account identifies a customer’s organization name and manages subaccounts, members, entitlements, and quotas.

Each customer receives entitlements and quotas to use platform resources per global account and then distributes the entitlements and quotas to the subaccount for actual consumption. Global accounts are independent of region and environment. Within a global account, customers manage all of their region-specific subaccounts:

Directories

Customers organize and manage their subaccounts by grouping them into directories. Directories are only available for global accounts with feature set B.

A directory can contain directories and subaccounts to create a hierarchy. Using directories to group other directories and subaccounts is optional. Each customer can create subaccounts directly under their global account.

The hierarchical structure can be up to seven levels deep. The highest level of a given path is always the global account. The lowest is a subaccount, which means there can be five levels of directories.

Each subaccount runs in one region (data centre) and one environment.

Subaccounts

BTP programmers use subaccounts to structure a global account according to each organization’s and project’s member, authorization, and entitlement requirements.

A global account can contain one or more subaccounts where applications are deployed, services are used, and subscriptions are managed.

Subaccounts in a global account are independent of each other. This is important to consider for security, member management, data management, data migration, integration, etc. when planning your landscape and overall architecture.

Creating a BTP Governance Model

As a starting point, customers should establish their appropriate organizational setup and corresponding governance model as part of moving to the cloud. A clear and well-planned organizational setup makes it easier to start consuming BTP services, building BTP applications, etc.

We also recommend that customers create onboarding and knowledge transfer processes before any BTP work begins. Use the following examples as a starting point:

Onboarding Process:

• Define Roles & Responsibilities within your organization (RACI Matrix)
• Create an onboarding process for development projects
• Create a knowledge transfer process for the involved teams
• Define support processes, operations documentation, and involved tools
• Define your change management processes

Building the Right Teams

Cloud Administration Team

The Cloud Administration Team defines, sets up, and maintains your cloud landscape.

The responsibility of this team is to operate and ensure a stable and secure cloud landscape. They also enable other developers to build cloud applications. The members of this team are experts in application development and setting up and running infrastructure for continuous deployments and integration scenarios.

This team supports your development teams by providing knowledge and defining guidelines that match your company’s quality and security requirements. The Cloud Administration Team should generally not be responsible for the lifecycle management of specific applications – the Cloud Development Team should do that.

Cloud Development Teams

The Cloud Development Teams are responsible for developing and operating the applications that run on BTP.

We recommend that Cloud Development Teams follow a DevOps approach, developing and operating applications. The team should maintain applications regularly after launch and fix any issues.

For example, if the team develops a SAPUI5 front end, every six months, they should verify that the latest SAPUI5 version still supports the UI controls used. This doesn’t require much effort but ensures the application continues to run properly.

The post SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) – Governance and Account Model appeared first on Rizing.

SAP® Business Technology Platform (BTP) is the foundation for all of SAP’s latest business applications. It provides an integrated suite of capabilities to help your organization get a faster start, simplify integration and deployment, and extend the value of your SAP investments.

OK, really, what is it?

There’s a popular line of toys made up of brightly colored plastic bricks, gears, and other pieces. You can snap them together in various ways to make models of whatever you imagine.

BTP is similar for developers and advanced SAP users who want to automate a manual or incomplete process.

BTP’s 90-plus building blocks offer application functionality in five areas:

• Integration
• Application Development
• Process Automation
• Data and Analytics
• AI

Users, developers, and business process experts use the different building blocks to rapidly develop automated solutions to manual or incomplete processes.

What Makes BTP Unique?

BTP benefits users by being:

Consolidated

BTP offers a simplified user experience consistent with other SAP-based applications. SAP BTP uses existing solutions like the SAP Integration Suite.

“Integration Suite is the glue between SAP business applications, third party apps, business partners, and entities like regulators and business networks,” says Martin Stenzig, Rizing CTO. “Our customers use it for its tight integration with SAP apps and the reduced implementation effort necessary due to the quantity of pre-packaged integration content.”

Easy to Use

With low-code and no-code environments available, even users with limited development experience can use BTP to create or extend applications quickly.

BTP also speeds up development by offering out-of-the-box services, content, security, and compliance.

“SAP’s Process Automation represents a combination of workflow and bot-based automation,” says Stenzig. “At Rizing, we used it to automate internal process effort by up to 60 percent.”

Flexible

BTP is flexible both in deployment and licensing.

Companies can choose where to deploy their finished applications – on-premise, in their local cloud, or on a hyperscaler.

Companies using BTP can choose different payment options based on application consumption.

Intelligent

BTP isn’t just for low-level process automation. BTP’s 90 building blocks include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

“SAP’s AI offering allows us to host the inference of our 3D machine learning models and detect assets and anomalies in record time,” says Stenzig.

Rizing’s BTP Products

Rizing has several commercial BTP-based products, showcasing the capabilities of the platform and Rizing’s experience with it:

LMS Planner

LMS Planner is a planning and scheduling tool that integrates with SAP SuccessFactors LMS to make corporate training management and resource scheduling easier and faster.

“We saw customers experiencing challenges with planning and scheduling in the LMS field,” says Stenzig. “We developed LMS Planner using BTP and can now reduce the planning effort by up to 25% and make the overall organization more efficient.”

LMS Planner on SAP Store

LMS Planner on Rizing.com

Lyra

Lyra’s superpower is seamlessly bringing together data from disparate sources.

Migrating from one software platform to another? Lyra can help. Worried about losing history? Lyra’s got you covered.

Built on SAP BTP, Analytics Cloud, and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, Lyra aggregates legacy system data with current data sourced from SAP SuccessFactors.

Rizing includes data analytic value packs with Lyra that jump-start your heroic reporting efforts.

“SAP Analytics Cloud and Data Warehouse Cloud are the foundation for Lyra’s HCM content,” says Stenzig. “Using these components and complementing them with Rizing’s subject matter expertise distilled into content packages we provide generate benefits for the customer in record time.”

Lyra on the SAP Store

Lyra on Rizing.com

Carbon

Built on SAP BTP, Carbon integrates SAP and Primavera P6 systems to ensure project, MRP, and financial data is always up-to-date.

Using SAP ERP and Primavera 6? Stop manually updating both systems and use Carbon instead. Carbon eliminates double entry, meaning your project cost, schedule, and resource data is always up to date.

Carbon on the SAP Store

Carbon on Rizing.com

OmniSpatial

OmniSpatial is Rizing’s browser-based field and office data collection and integration tool. Using it, staff can collect geotagged images, videos, notes, and audio memos for specific assets or any map location.

Built on SAP BTP, OmniSpatial provides GPS-enabled data collection that integrates with existing Esri map and feature services.

OmniSpatial works with or without an internet connection. The tool synchronizes local data with the enterprise database when network connectivity returns.

OmniSpatial on Rizing.com

LifeCycle Pricing

Rizing’s LifeCycle Pricing helps merchants make fast, smart pricing decisions using a centralized suite of retail pricing processes.

LCP integrates into your SAP environment to read SAP master data, TLOG, price, cost, competitor, inventory, and order data. It presents the information in a simple consolidated interface.

LifeCycle Pricing on the SAP Store

LifeCycle Pricing on Rizing.com

Rizing Custom BTP Applications for Clients

Have a business need not solved by one of Rizing’s existing BTP-based solutions?

No worries. We also provide custom BTP-based application development services.

“We bring our subject matter expertise and combine it with technical expertise to help you use BTP and leverage your existing SAP investment,” says Stenzig. “BTP has functionalities that allow us to accelerate the development of custom extensions, integrations, or data and decrease the time to market.”

SAP Recognizes Rizing’s BTP Experience

Rizing was an early adopter of the SAP Business Technology Platform. SAP has recognized our knowledge and experience in two ways:

BTP Advisory Council

Rizing is a founding member of the BTP Advisory Council. We work with SAP to recommend future BTP enhancements and guide the overall development of the platform.

BTP Development Partner

Rizing is one of just 12 development partners chosen by SAP. This relationship means Rizing is often involved in advanced and aggressive BTP-based projects.

Request a BTP Demo

If this sounds like a technology that could help your business, get in touch! We can talk about how Rizing could help you leverage the power of BTP for your business.

The post SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP) – Explanation and Examples appeared first on Rizing.

“We must all make the choice between what is right and what is easy.”
-Professor Dumbledore, Harry Potter

With deference to Prof. Dumbledore, the choice of an SAP licensing model isn’t always that clear.

The SAP® Business Technology Platform (BTP) combines the four pillars of data and analytics, application development, and integration in one unified environment.

Each pillar is a unique combination of products and services. Some pillars are delivered together, and others stand alone. As a suite, SAP BTP may mean something different to a customer depending on how the offerings are presented.

The SAP BTP cockpit is the central entry point to all these services. This is where a system administrator accesses and manages subscriptions and applications.

BTP Commercial Models Overview

To support customers with different needs, SAP offers a range of options for licensing their Business Technology platform. Options are primarily subscription-based and consumption-based.

SaaS Subscriptions

SAP formerly offered Software as a Service (SaaS) via subscriptions only. They felt customers had well-defined use cases for achieving their goals.

Purchasing an HRIS like SuccessFactors wouldn’t require input from other lines of business.

Many companies continue to use SAP on a subscription basis.

Thinking Past Subscriptions

Today’s cloud-based offerings require you to rethink how your business could run better. Cloud-based technology platforms can improve business processes, performance, and adaptability.

A cloud-based technology platform can provide:

• Flexibility of scaling data storage up when needed and scaling back when not needed
• World-class data security, compliance, and availability
• Elastic, pay-for-use pricing
• Ease of integration with other systems in the technology stack, increasing efficiency
• Better insights from data analysis
• Efficiencies from automating manual, non-value-added processes
• Faster implementation than on-premise software

These are some reasons SAP came up with new commercial models to support every customer.

SAP now offers consumption-based licensing as an alternative to subscription-based licensing.

SAP Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA)

CPEA SAP’s first consumption-based pricing model. It lets customers buy, consume, and pay based on their use (with an upfront commitment.)

CPEA reduces complexity and costs with self-provisioning and real-time usage and recording. Customers can turn the services they need on and off, then pay for what they consume.

This model works like a debit card. Customers put funds in, and they’re debited for what they use every month.

Pay As You Go (PayGo)

The final commercial model SAP offers is Pay As You Go (PayGo).

There is no up-front commitment. Like when using a credit card, the customer is billed every month for the services they’ve consumed. There is a premium charged for the convenience of not having to commit.

A Quick Comparison

Different Yet the Same

Users access and administer the system the same way matter the licensing model. The SAP BTP cockpit looks the same. The only difference is how the business is charged.

If you find yourself short of magic wands to help you decide which licensing model suits you best, have no fear! Contact us – we’d be happy to help you slay your business process monsters.

The post A Comparison of SAP Business Technology Platform Commercial Models appeared first on Rizing.

No.

They have different origins and uses.

Here are some insights into criticality and priority:

	Criticality	Priority
Origin:	Functional Location Master Data	Notification and Workorder transactional data
Use:	Identify the importance of that business function (or equipment) to the business's overall objectives.	Identify the urgency or importance of the workorder when compared to others.
Can it be linked to the business Risk Tools?	Yes, that's good practice	Yes, that's good practice
Impact/Use:	Drive RCA and engineering program prioritisation Guide maintenance strategy selection Guide spare parts holding strategies Guide Work Order ranking and more	Drive the business response to work on the plant (call-ins, overtime, expediting of parts, etc.) Set guidelines around the reporting and tracking of workorders etc. Drive a risk-based approach to unplanned and forced equipment outages Facilitate good planning and scheduling practices and more

Example

Consider a heat exchanger called HX1. HX1 has no redundancy. When it’s out of service, the whole plant is down.

The Criticality of HX1 to the business would be high. Let’s say an “A” on a scale of A – E.

Workorder 1 on HX1

A label on HX1 is faded but still readable. We decide to replace the label before it becomes unreadable.

The workorder would have a low “Priority.” Based on the business risk, it may be a 4 on a scale of 1 – 5.

This work would be planned, scheduled, and executed promptly but efficiently.

Workorder 2 on HX1

HX1 developed a blockage and isn’t functioning as designed. A plant shutdown is required to remove the blockage. This has a significant impact on production.

The workorder for repairing HX1 would have a “Priority” of 1, triggering urgent attention and an unplanned plant shutdown.

Make It Your Priority

At Rizing, we help managers of high capital-value assets improve business performance by getting better value from their fixed and IT assets.

If we can help you further understand criticality and priority, or anything else asset management-related, make it your priority to contact us or me directly at david.harrison@rizing.com.

The post Are Criticality and Priority the Same in Enterprise Asset Management? appeared first on Rizing.

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This article focuses on how combining SAP^® and GIS data helps planners see the spatial and topological relationships between assets, work, and the environment. It also shows how planners can consume the combined data using dashboards, web maps, and other visualization tools.

From planning and design, mobile data collection, asset and work integration, maintenance mobility and impacts on environmental, health and safety – using GIS and SAP together ensures companies:

• Maximize asset usage
• Increase plant safety
• Increase plant efficiency
• Maintain compliance

Better Data Means Better Decisions

Throughout the asset lifecycle we collect and store huge amounts of data about our assets:

• Location
• Characteristics
• Maintenance history

However, this data is typically stored in multiple systems.

To make quick, accurate, and proactive decisions on a day-to-day basis the data needs to be consolidated, integrated, and distributed using an automated process.

For example, integrated SAP and GIS data can show environmental factors causing specific equipment to need more maintenance. Knowing this, planners can avoid downtime by proactively increasing planned maintenance in other locations with similar environments and equipment.

Disconnected systems only show partial views of factors that influence asset health. By integrating SAP and GIS, organizations can use spatial and tabular analysis to get a complete view of their critical assets throughout the asset lifecycle.

Mercury from Rizing

We believe so strongly in the benefits of automatically synchronized SAP and GIS data that we built a tool to do it.

Rizing’s Mercury eliminates the need for manual data updates in both SAP and GIS. It automates the synchronization process, combining spatial and technical asset data into one logical entity. Your teams are more efficient and productive while continuing to work in the system best suited to their role.

Analytics: Choose Wisely

Analytics should:

• Create new insights
• Be shareable
• Be in an easy-to-consume format
• Be consistent
• Be repeatable
• Track changes
• Show trends
• Create actionable items/work

Selecting the right approach and analysis tool depends on:

• The type of data we’re working with.
• How dynamic or static the report interface should be.
• How to best communicate the results – graphs, charts, maps, tabular data, etc.
• A well-rounded analysis will probably have a combination of all these components.

The Circle of Life

You might find the result of your analysis leads you back to the beginning of the asset lifecycle process, giving you more data to analyze in the future.

For example, an analysis using integrated GIS and SAP data may show locations where certain types of assets are missing or deficient. This will prompt the lifecycle to re-start with plans to create or improve those assets.

SAP Strengths

As the system of record for work-related activities, SAP houses data for:

• Work management
• Work history
• Materials management
• Characteristics of non-spatial features and equipment

Analysis on the asset and work data in SAP alone can be a very powerful tool. However, an Enterprise GIS will provide spatial context that SAP lacks.

GIS Strengths

An enterprise GIS focuses on the attributes and characteristics of assets and geographic features.

Better Together

A wholistic analysis combines spatial and non-spatial data by integrating SAP and GIS to consolidate critical data elements for analysis.

These reports can be interactive or static and be visual or tabular. There are different tools planners can use to generate them. Let’s look at some industry-specific examples:

Roads & Highways

Data stored in GIS typically includes the spatial representation of the roadway network plus characteristics such as:

• Speed limit
• Number of lanes
• Pavement condition
• And assets including:
• Signs
• Guardrails
• Medians

This data is commonly stored in a linear referencing system (LRS).

In SAP, the same roads may be represented as functional locations, but instead of storing the network geometry SAP tracks the hierarchical asset and technical object structure along with work history.

Integrating SAP and GIS data allows planners to find answers for questions like:

• Where are the deficient pavement sections where no improvements have been completed in the past 10 years?
• Where are all the guardrails with materials from a certain supplier that were installed in the past 5 years?

Visualization Methods for Analysis

Now that we’ve consolidated our data and determined the analysis method, we need to visualize the results in a way that lets decision makers efficiently add more data points to their decision-making process.

An effective way for decision makers to consume spatial and tabular data through a single user interface is an Esri Operations Dashboard. It’s an easy-to-set-up and robust web interface for interacting with asset data in GIS and SAP.

For example, planners can create a dashboard that plots all SAP work orders associated with assets on a map.

By selecting a specific work order, users can view work order attributes and updated metrics.

Work orders by priority are displayed using a pie chart. Work orders by cost type are summarized on a bar chart.

Data from multiple data sources can be combined, summarized, and visualized to answer questions like:

• As a maintenance manager, what does my backlog of work look like and what are the priorities of outstanding work orders?
• Where are my emergency/priority work orders located?
• Can I complete multiple work orders in the same area and reduce mobilization costs?
• As a capital planner, how much money was spent in a particular area on specific maintenance activities over the past 3 months?

Straight-line Diagrams

At Rizing we work with many organizations that model their asset data using a linear referencing system. Historically, a straight-line diagram has been a proven visualization and reporting tool that shows a static cross-section view of linear and point assets.

But the old dog can learn new tricks.

When we create a straight-line diagram as a dynamic web-based application displaying GIS and SAP data, with map integration, video log data, and other linear characteristics, the old tried-and-true straight-line diagram finds new life.

Other Rizing Tools

Rizing’s Road Analyzer, Rail Analyzer, and Pipe Analyzer are dynamic straight line diagram tools that integrate live GIS and SAP data to show trends and perform analyses.

Rail Industry

When analyzing rail data in a straight line diagram, we visualize the the linear and point assets and characteristics along the track to better understand how they relate to another.

For assets sharing common identifiers (such as Functional Location ID) with data in SAP, creating a relationship from GIS data to SAP data (or view in the map service feeding the application) allows the straight line diagram to incorporate SAP data into its analysis.

In the example below, Work Orders from SAP are shown as yellow boxes below their associated rail crossings in GIS. This lets a user drill into SAP work history for a specific rail crossing in GIS.

Having SAP data in the straight line diagram helps explain why an asset has a certain condition or status without having to jump between applications.

Road Industry

Pavement condition data is a key metric for transportation organizations deciding on future projects and spending. This data is typically stored in GIS, with Route and Measure references for pavement condition extents.

To analyze pavement condition data with historical and planned work, linear work order data from SAP can be published in tabular format. Route IDs and Measures then locate the data in the straight line diagram.

With SAP integration, we can plan annual work for a section of pavement by looking at:

• Active pothole data (SAP notifications)
• Previous repair data (past SAP work orders with costs)
• Latest pavement condition data
• Upcoming capital project work (SAP work orders and portfolio program items)

Additionally, Road Analyzer integrates with other applications and visualization tools to generate reports from multiple data sources and formats, all in a single interface.

For example, integrating with a videolog data tool (like Road Video Viewer) enables Road Analyzer to display real-world views of an area. This helps planners answer questions about asset condition, asset location, etc.

Tabular-focused analysis is often needed to satisfy key reporting needs.

For example, dynamic segmentation is a critical analysis component for roadway reporting because it allows de-normalizing linearly referenced data stored in a normalized data model (like Esri’s Roads & Highways solution).

Rizing’s Segment Analyzer creates complex, repeatable processes to dynamically segment, aggregate, and post-process data from disparate sources to answer questions like:

• How many rail signals in poor condition exist in sections of track with maximum speed above 60 mph?
• How many miles of onshore 10-inch diameter Coated Steel Pipe do I have in my system that was installed between the years 2000 – 2009?
• What was the weighted average of traffic counts on a particular route in access-controlled areas during 2019?
• What is the most popular surface type on portions of routes with a roughness index above a certain threshold?

Segment Analyzer (along with HPMS Assistant and Validation Assistant) provide a seamless workflow for United States Departments of Transportation to satisfy annual reporting requirements on federally-mandated data items and logic rules.

Integrating GIS and SAP is the key for doing this type of analysis efficiently. Rizing’s Mercury eliminates duplicate data and streamlines the analysis and reporting process.

Summary

The tools discussed in this article work together to create a wholistic analysis and visualization ecosystem that combines spatial data from GIS with the financial reporting, performance management, predictive insights, and enterprise planning capabilities from SAP.

This gives asset-intensive organizations the ability to analyze data from various systems without duplicating it.

Organizations can visualize the data through a set of common dashboards easily accessed by key decision makers, forming a centralized backbone for analysis and reporting.

Chapters in this Series:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

The post Integrating SAP & GIS #8: Gain Insight Through Spatial Analysis of SAP and GIS Data appeared first on Rizing.

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One of the most challenging aspects of maintaining assets that are spread across a large geographic area is maintaining an accurate and complete asset registry.

Field data collection challenges fall into two major categories:

• How do I accurately capture newly constructed or installed assets in the field?
• How do I identify and capture existing assets that are missing in my asset registry?

This article will show how to streamline the process of capturing new or existing assets in the field using LiDAR and other mobile tools to ensure a complete and accurate asset registry shared across an organizations SAP and GIS environments.

Constant Change

Asset management and inventory control is a dynamic venture. Components, equipment, location, and personnel are constantly changing.

Knowing the exact geographic location, operational status, and divisional responsibility of each asset can be a daunting task. However, an accurate and complete asset registry is foundational to the asset and maintenance lifecycle.

Get it right, and it may go unnoticed. Get it wrong, and your organization’s asset management and reporting process will be viewed negatively.

This can impact:

• Asset maintenance
• Analysis
• Safety
• Regulatory compliance

Risks of Field Surveys

A field survey is an effective way to collect new feature data. While on-site, crews can also confirm the current physical location and characteristics of the asset.

Field surveys are often completed by employees sent to the project area with a data collection device. Employees need experience to know what features are required and what attributes are necessary to complete the dataset.

A field survey is a risky, expensive, and time-consuming process. It exposes crews to the dangers of adverse weather conditions, distracted drivers and inquisitive or combative onlookers.

These dangers can cause crew members to capture only the bare minimum of data so they can leave as soon as possible.

The collected data is still valuable, but the limited effort keeps customers from getting more than what the original feature was for. Additional feature requests will require another field visit.

This can all leave organizations hesitant to do more field surveys.

However, there are ways to make process less painful.

LiDAR surveys and mobility tools can reduce field survey risks and pain points and make any trip to the field a chance to do a field survey.

LiDAR Field Data Collection

Using a Mobile Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor package to collect 3-dimensional point clouds keeps field survey crews safe while also collecting more accurate data.

The Rizing Mobile LIDAR crew is a good example how this works. Our asset feature collection routine consists of a driver and a LiDAR collection technician who stay securely inside the vehicle while collecting geo-positioned 3D point clouds in a project area.

The 3D point cloud is a ‘line-of-sight’ collection routine where everything in a 360-degree field-of-view is precisely captured in its geographic position and scale. Data collection takes only as long as driving around the project area at speeds up to 50 mph.

Color Imagery

The Rizing Mobile LiDAR system also collects high resolution color imagery covering the entire 360-degree area of coverage as defined by the 3D point cloud. We include the georeferenced color imagery in our product deliverables. We also use it in the feature extraction and attribution phase of all projects.

Once the LiDAR crew confirms the field data collection, they can leave the project area and head back to the office. Working now in relative safety, analysts can extract features from the processed 3D point cloud and incorporate them into the database.

If the project evolves to require additional features or attribution, analysts can just go back to the saved 3D point cloud and add them.

Data Lifespan

The lifespan of the georeferenced LiDAR dataset, which has all the visible features from the collection area, is much longer than the minimum amount of data collected by a field survey.

Along with planimetric features such as poles, lines, conductors, attachment points, etc., being collected and attributed, the 3-dimensional component of the LiDAR data allows for:

• Topographic surface generation
• Pole “lean” angle determination
• Line sag and clearance
• Vegetation encroachment
• Tree and pole caliper, length, and distance measurements
• Post-collection design grade survey analysis

Rizing can deliver LiDAR generated and attributed design files usable with all geospatial mapping systems including AutoCAD, MicroStation and ESRI.

We approach mapping projects by getting input from all stakeholders, then collaboratively designing a database.

Mobile Data Collection

Data collection can also be done with one person using a mobile device. It’s a less efficient process for large scale efforts, but for small scale or impromptu “catch-and-collect scenarios”, it’s an extremely efficient capability.

Mobile collections usually happen when a maintenance technician or inspector is out in the field and notices data that isn’t accounted for in the database. The technician captures the missing data on their mobile device and logs it for review and approval into the production asset registry.

Being able to update your system of record using an application that enforces standards while standing right in front of your asset goes a long way towards having accurate data.

We believe that so strongly, in fact, that we built a tool to do it.

Rizing Omnispatial

Rizing’s Omnispatial is an innovative web application used for field and office asset data collection and maintenance workflows.

Omnispatial works seamlessly with many published geospatial web services, including Esri map and feature services. It provides asset location for:

• Traditional map points
• Lines
• Polygon modeled assets

It allows data collection on linearly referenced features using Esri’s traditional linear referencing and R&H web services.

OmniSpatial works the same no matter if you are in the field or in the office. The app can work offline in areas with limited connectivity and then synchronize updates once a connection is available.

Summary

We’ve looked at two ways to collect asset data in the field.

Using LiDAR – and the accompanying video log – is an accurate and fast way to build complete datasets for large areas. Change detection allows organizations to find assets details that aren’t in the current database and add them.

Using Omnispatial and a mobile device, an employee can capture smaller changes or details missed by LiDAR.

Combined, these methods can quickly create an accurate and complete asset registry, especially compared to manual field survey or paper-based research project.

Chapters in this Series:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

The post Integrating SAP and GIS 4/10: Asset Management and Field Data Collection appeared first on Rizing.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

In this installment of our GIS and SAP^® integration series we focus on asset and work integration for organizations with geographically dispersed assets.

Asset intensive organizations commonly have a Geographic Information System (GIS) as well as a robust Work Management application. Each system requires a repository of assets.

Benefits of integrating GIS for managing asset data and work include:

1. Saving time and effort by automatically synchronizing data between SAP and GIS. Technicians can focus on data quality and governance and stop doing redundant data entry.
2. Using asset location to help plan and schedule work. Seeing assets on a map helps planners create an efficient work sequence that minimizes travel time.

Let’s look at these in more detail:

Asset Master Data Management

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for asset management (like SAP) and GIS (like Esri ArcGIS) need detailed data to function efficiently. The need for good data increases as reliance on the two systems increases.

Synchronize Data Using Mercury

Rizing’s Mercury solution ensures high quality results by synchronizing shared data between SAP and GIS. We built it based on years of experience delivering GIS/SAP integrations in several industries.

The benefits of using Mercury include:

• Reducing confusion by establishing a system of record for all asset data.
• Eliminating manual asset maintenance across multiple systems by automating the synchronization process.
• Reducing risks by programmatically administering data governance rules.
• Increasing productivity by unlocking EAM spatial functions for use in work planning and scheduling.
• Lowering costs by installing as a packaged solution, eliminating the need to build a complex custom interface.

Even with integrated and synchronized data, GIS and SAP have unique strengths. Users can still perform their work in one system or the other without having to be proficient in both.

GIS Strengths:

• Spatial analysis
• Route optimization
• Location awareness
• Environmental awareness

Questions Best Answered by GIS:

• Where are my assets?
• How are they connected?
• What’s the most effective route to them?
• Where should new assets be installed?
• What major landscape features and attributes are they near?
• How can I group assets for efficiency?

SAP Strengths:

• Resource management
• Work management
• Asset traceability
• Cost tracking

Questions Best Answered by SAP:

• What state are my assets in?
• How do I maintain my assets?
• How do I fix assets that require repair?
• What is the work history for this asset and others like it?
• How do I manage costs associated with asset construction and maintenance?
• What are my preventive maintenance strategies?

Traceable, Verifiable, and Complete Data

We’re after traceable, verifiable, and complete asset – but as a means rather than an end. The end goal is having that data as a foundation for all the business processes that follow, including:

• Inspections
• Preventative maintenance
• Corrective maintenance
• Asset replacement

Work Management

Goals of work management are to:

• Maximize system uptime
• Extend asset life
• Reduce risk

Integrating GIS and SAP is the best way to achieve these goals.

SAP is well-known for its asset maintenance functionality including management of:

• Inspection work
• Preventive maintenance
• Corrective maintenance
• Capital work
• Spare part inventories
• Internal and external labor resources
• Repair histories and expenses

GIS adds:

• Access routes for hard-to-reach locations.
• Assistance with work schedule sequencing to minimize travel time between jobs.
• Alerts for when access requires special permits or permission from landowners.
• Notice of special equipment requirements for hazardous locations.

Geo Enablement Framework

One way to enable GIS functionality in SAP is the Geo Enablement Framework (GEF). GEF is a standard SAP product that provides access to map-based Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) transactions.

GEF offers many several advantages to SAP users:

• Enrich tabular business data with spatial awareness
  The ability to see assets and work orders on a map in SAP can improve decision-making. For example, several smaller repair jobs that are close together might be combined into one bigger work order or included in a future capital construction project planned for that spot.Feature Classes from GIS can be displayed in GEF as Reference Layers. This additional spatial information lets technicians plan and schedule work more efficiently, or locate work based on crew location.
• Initiate business transactions from a map
  Creating notifications and work orders directly from a map is a powerful tool. For example, a technician in the field might come across an asset needing work but lacking a visible equipment number. Communicating their location to a coworker with access to a map of assets makes it simple to find the asset and generate a notification from the same screen.
• Reduce reliance on asset structure hierarchy and naming convention
  Depending on the structure of an organization’s asset hierarchy, navigating to a specific asset in an SAP backend transaction without knowing the functional location can be difficult. This is especially true in organizations that have a flat or underdeveloped hierarchy. Simply selecting an asset on a map and drilling into the details can save time.
• Pull GEF business layers into GIS as map services for further analysis
  Serving up work order and notification geometry and attribution as a map service for GIS is another benefit of GEF. With SAP managing the work and GIS accessing spatial work management data, technicians can use spatial analytics tools to uncover location-based insights about work. We talk about this more in chapter 8 of this series.

GEF Expansions

SAP allows custom extensions to the GEF Framework.

Rizing’s LAM – GEF Extension is an example of this in action. It allows selection of Notification or Work Order start and end points on a map. The linear values are updated automatically and are transferred to the notification or work order.

Industry examples of Business Challenges simplified by SAP-GIS integration:

Utilities

No industry has as much to gain by integration of GIS and SAP as Utilities. Any action that reduces the risk of wildfires or pipeline leaks is invaluable. Combining the work management of SAP, location information from GIS, and synchronized data between the two systems can lead to more efficient:

• Vegetation management
• Pole test & treat
• Right of way management
• Gas leak surveys
• and more

Oil & Gas

The amount of effort required to clean up environmental disasters like massive oil leaks is well-known. Accurately assigning and mitigating risk is critical to Pipeline Integrity Management.

Considerations for risk determination and remediation planning include:

• Pipe assessments
• Flow analysis
• Temperature and pressure sensor analysis
• Corrosion analysis
• Environmental influence analysis

Like the Utility Industry, work management functionality with SAP and location information in GIS have a role in pipeline integrity management.

Oil & Gas or Gas Utilities transporting hazardous liquids or gas under pressure are subject to regulations found in Title 49 of Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Material Traceability requirements can be found in Part 192. Standard functionality in SAP and GIS with the data synchronization capabilities of Rizing’s Mercury provide a complete solution for Material Traceability.

Roads & Highways

A common example of the benefits of integrating SAP and GIS for Roads & Highways is road resurfacing projects.

Road repair history from SAP combined with road and surface condition data from GIS can help determine when and where to spend capital for road resurfacing or widening projects.

Rail:

Decisions to repair, reinforce, or replace sections of track come from analyzing data stored in SAP and GIS. SAP will have prior inspection and repair history while GIS will have track location information including soil conditions, weather conditions, areas with groundwater, etc.

Both systems may have data about the tracks and track installation. This data drives future inspection frequencies and helps prevent accidents. It can also help determine optimum speeds, train size, and train weight.

The ability to see work orders on a map allows planners to identify work planned for a specific location, which helps them schedule as much work as they can on that portion of track while it’s down for maintenance.

GIS also allows for polygonal representation of rail organizational territories (track inspectors, supervisors, etc.). Using this data with SAP helps the business right-size territories, as well as manage and query master data based on characteristics that were previously siloed from operations.

Conclusion

Providing dynamically synchronized integration of asset and spatial data through mobile solutions helps companies fully realize the power of SAP-GIS integration.

Assets in the real world can be matched with assets in the systems for efficient and effective management.

Data is updated on both sides, while SAP and GIS experts can keep working in the system best suited to them.

Chapters in this Series:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

The post Integrating SAP and GIS 5/10: Asset Work Integration appeared first on Rizing.

Pillars of Sustainability

The World Economic Forum (WEF) organizes sustainability efforts into four pillars:

• People
• Planet
• Prosperity
• Governance & steering

Learn how Rizing and SAP can provide insight, innovations, and applications to help your organization achieve results in each of those pillars.

Presentation topics include:

• Intelligent asset management and sustainable operations themes and trends
• Live demo of SAP’s Asset Performance Management solution portfolio in the SAP Experience Center
• Asset management drivers to safety and sustainability
• Mobile and scheduling
• Getting the basics right and creating an implementation roadmap​
• EH&S implementation packages​

It all happens in five European cities including Brussels, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Den Bosch, NL.

Register Now!

The post SAP and Rizing Team Up for Sustainability Roadshow appeared first on Rizing.

CEOs, CIOs, Asset Managers, and Maintenance Managers often ask these questions.

The Aged Workorder Backlog report answers them.

If you use SAP^® Enterprise Asset Management tools, your operational dashboard can display the Aged Workorder Backlog report dynamically. You can also load a list of all open workorders into Excel to generate the report on an ad-hoc basis.

What the report shows

• Prioritization is working – P1s are completed sooner than P4s.
• Response times are generally under 9 weeks. If that’s consistent with business expectations, then great.
• One high-priority workorder is 15 weeks old. If business risk factors into priority, then it’s time to investigate.
• Another open workorder is 19 weeks old. If the issue deteriorates over time it could lead to plant failure. A manager should investigate.

Other Aged Workorder Backlog insights

• Having open workorders after 19 weeks erodes confidence. The business should complete all work sooner.
• Fluctuations in the number of open workorders can indicate a mismatch between the capacity and the workload.
• Be consistent with prioritization approaches. For example, using a priority status of “O” (or similar) for Outage defeats the purpose of using risk-based prioritization. There are better ways to indicate workorders waiting due to an outage.

Need help with asset management?

At Rizing, we help managers get better business value from their high capital value assets. If we can help you with work order management, asset management, or getting this report from your system please contact Rizing Corporate or me directly via david.harrison@rizing.com.

The post How an Aged Workorder Backlog Report Can Improve Asset Management appeared first on Rizing.