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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.

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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.

STAMFORD, CT – December 8, 2021 – Rizing, LLC is pleased to announce that Rizing Geospatial, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rizing, LLC (Rizing), has been added to the Texas Department of Information Resources (Texas DIR) Cooperative Contracts Program for geospatial products and related services on behalf of the State of Texas. This award makes these solutions available to state and local government, public education, other public entities in Texas, as well as public entities outside the state.

“We are excited to be a part of the Texas DIR Cooperative Contracts Program and look forward to working with state and local agencies throughout Texas and the rest of the country,” says Connie Gurchiek, President, Geospatial, Rizing LLC. “The program provides us a flexible contract mechanism to offer our unique blend of geospatial products and services as well as LiDAR-related offerings to a broader group of clients.”

Rizing Geospatial, LLC solutions are available under DIR Contract:
https://dir.texas.gov/contracts/dir-cpo-4816

Learn more about Rizing Geospatial, LLC:
https://rizing.com/geospatial-solutions/

About Rizing
It’s the experience that matters. Rizing professionals help your business succeed at any point in your SAP^® journey. Rizing’s objective is to empower your business to unlock the intelligent enterprise with cloud technologies from SAP, our Geospatial solutions, and our proprietary, cutting-edge products: Blueline, Lyra, Lifecycle Pricing, Carbon, Mercury, and Hydrogen available on the SAP Store. With real-life experiences in business areas like enterprise asset management, human capital management, and consumer industries, we know how to simplify your digital transformation so that your business can be everything you want it to be. From targeted small business needs to full-scale large enterprise resource planning solutions, our SAP-certified consultants are focused on your growth. For more information, please visit www.rizing.com.

# # #

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. SAP cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which SAP has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates.

The post Rizing Awarded Texas DIR Contract for Geospatial Software Products and Related Services appeared first on Rizing.

1: Optimize Your Workflow by Linking GIS and SAP Systems
In many industries with dispersed or “field” assets, critical information about these assets are maintained independently in a GIS system as well as in an ERP system (SAP) which has the capability and functionality for Enterprise Asset Management (EAM). Read More >>

2: Reduce Data Maintenance with Automation
Any organization separately maintaining a GIS and SAP system runs the risk of incomplete or inaccurate views of an asset due to either system containing bad data. Read More >>

3: Improve Data Management with a Designated System of Record
What a “System of Record” is and why is it important. Read More >>

4: Optimize Work Planning with Spatial Data
Planning for the maintenance of assets includes parameters like How often should I inspect or service assets? What tasks are involved in the maintenance of the asset, and on which maintenance cycle? Read More >>

5: Enable a Mobile Workforce with Asset and Spatial Data
Before GPS and before mobile maps, a cross-country trek or even a short drive to a new location required careful planning. It was easy to get lost and then have to stop and ask for directions. The whole process was difficult, error-prone, and stressful. Read More >>

6: Link Asset Health to Environmental Factors
Common sense tells us environmental factors impact asset health. Just think of car batteries in cold places like Minnesota. It’s not unusual for outdoor parking lots to have outlet plugs available to keep batteries charged. Read More >>

7: Enable Material Traceability
Material traceability is having traceable, verifiable, and complete data. For assets – like gas transmission pipelines – this data could include material attributes, manufacturer’s batch attributes, and test / inspection results. Read More >>

8: Perform Spatial Analysis of Field Work
The ability to integrate SAP data with enterprise GIS allows companies to identify trends surrounding different aspects of asset maintenance, giving management a powerful tool to identify and understand ways to more efficiently maintain assets. Read More >>

9: Optimize Maintenance Routes with Spatial Data
For dispersed asset maintenance, travel represents a significant overhead cost. Companies can increase profits with better planning and route optimization. Read More >>

10: Improve Regulatory Reporting
How integrating SAP and GIS platforms can save time, money, and ensure all operations are executed in accordance with all regulatory requirements. Read More >>

The post GIS Series: Top 10 Benefits of Integrating GIS and SAP appeared first on Rizing.

Editor’s Note: International Women’s Day 2020 draws attention to the difference individuals can make with #EachforEqual. We asked our leaders to contribute their perspectives and are proud to share those here in this blog series. In this article, Connie Gurchiek, Geospatial President of Rizing reflects on her life as a strong, independent and successful woman and how gender has impacted her career. 

I see myself as a strong, independent, and successful woman. I’d like to believe that those that know me would agree.  As I write this on International Women’s Day, I am reflecting on how the woman part of that statement has shaped my independence and success and my thoughts on females in the workplace today.

On Being An Independent Woman

One of my earliest memories is of my mom telling me that more than love or wealth or happiness, she wanted me to be independent.  That way, if I couldn’t rely on the marriage partner I chose, or if he died or walked out on me, I could take care of myself.  She said that I needed to make decisions early in life that would assure that I had choices later in life.  Now that was impactful!  Today, my sister and I are independent, maybe to a fault.

On Being a Successful Woman

It’s a bit harder to define the why of success.  But I would certainly like to believe that it is not because I am a female, but rather because of my accomplishments and my approach and attitude to the various jobs I have held throughout the years.  Of course, being female certainly impacted my career – both in positive and negative ways.

I have lived in a male-dominated world for more than 40 years. I was drawn to math and science in high school in the late 1970s.  That meant that many of my classes had very few girls.  I then got a degree in chemical engineering, graduating in 1985.  Again, my life choices meant that I was in the gender minority.  My career has been very technical, and even today, in 2020, I mainly work with men.

Four stories stand out in my long male-dominated career.

Becoming a Successful Woman as the Lone Female

Early on, I was working with a large engineering software company.  I started traveling, and I felt blessed to be able to see almost every state in this beautiful country of ours.  Almost all of that travel was with men, and I was usually the more technical of the two of us.  Often as we began to present, almost always to a large room of men, I felt dismissed.  But that changed as I presented, and it became obvious that I was the one that understood what we were selling from a technical perspective.  In the end, most of the people remembered me because I was the rare female that came to visit.

I grew to feel that being female was more positive than negative, and I gained a lot of recognition and knowledge through all of those client visits.  In addition, the vast majority of the men that I traveled with were respectful, wonderful human beings.  Maybe I’m just lucky, but while I have had inappropriate sexist and sexual things said to me, I have never been threatened by my male colleagues.

Working in a Control and Dominate Culture

The second and low point of my career was when I was working for an engineering firm. There the executives (all men) asked their assistants (all females) to call them Mr. So-and-So while the executives called the women by their first names.  This was just one example of the sexism that was truly systemic.  First, I tried to fight it, but when I realized that I was fighting a losing battle, I left.  The firm then proceeded to sue the company I moved to.  It was a very rough time.

The positive about the lawsuit was that it was the catalyst that made us start Transcend Spatial Solutions. That’s the third story.

Transcending the Marketplace with Geospatial

I and my four other founding partners (all men by the way) could write a book on what not to do when starting a company.  There was no careful planning.  We had no customers.  We had no money.  We didn’t even have a name.  What we did have was a lot of passion and a burning desire to succeed.  I look back at that time in early 2011, and I know that what drove me was my anger.  Whatever it was that drove the others, we were able to turn a truly horrible situation into a triumph.  We grew Transcend into a multi-million dollar company with about 40 employees.  I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the clients that trusted us with their business and to two of the men, Bill Schuman and Jesse Jay, that helped to start Transcend.

Rizing to Opportunity

Finally, the fourth chapter in my story was the  purchase of Transcend Spatial Solutions by Rizing.  I am so grateful to have landed in a company where we have a respectful and accepting culture and also the drive to continue to grow. I feel like I have an opportunity to continue to succeed, and even more importantly, our employees have exceptional opportunities to continue to move upward in their careers.

Gender Equality is Earned

So, all in all, why have I been successful?  I believe it’s because I have taken ownership of my career path and responsibility for both my failures and achievements. It’s because I have passion for what I do and a desire to be a lifetime learner.  I believe that there are times when being a female has helped me and times when it has been a detriment.  But… ultimately, it has neither made my career nor significantly impaired it.

I know that doesn’t fit the narrative for some women today, but I have never been a proponent of giving anyone of any gender, nationality, or background what they didn’t earn – good or bad.

I look at Transcend’s employees.  We have a group of all-female GIS Analysts, and they rock.  But none of them was hired because they were female.  They can rest assured that we hired them because of their capabilities and their potential.  We also have a group of all-male Project Managers.  They, too, are awesome, and they, too, were hired because they were who we believed were the most qualified candidates.

In general, I am so fortunate to work with a hugely talented group of people.  I want them all to be successful, and I appreciate all of their contributions – male or female.

Preferential Treatment Is Not Preferred

Lastly, don’t get me wrong.  I cheer right along with my female friends and coworkers when women do well.  I love to see women excel in the workplace. I’d also like to see more women in leadership roles both in my company, in politics, and as CEOs.  I have and will continue to promote women who deserve to be promoted.  I love mentorship programs that help women.

What I don’t want for myself or for any of my women coworkers is preferential treatment because of our gender.  I believe that causes resentment. And, even worse, it enforces the belief that some women have gotten ahead because of the feminist movement and not because of their capabilities. It’s insulting to think that women can’t compete unless they are given an advantage.

So… Instead of hiring or promoting a female just because she is female, I say hire the most qualified person. Let’s also expect the same, not higher, standards from our male counterparts.  Then and only then can we be equals in the workplace.

The post A Strong, Independent and Successful Woman appeared first on Rizing.

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This is the final installment in a series of 10 articles addressing the benefits of integrating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system with SAP^®.

Regulatory compliance can take many forms. Asset-heavy organizations like pipelines, electric utilities, or rail networks often share regulatory-related challenges.

Let’s look at some of the cross-industry regulatory activities and how an integrated SAP/GIS platform will save and money while ensuring companies remain compliant.

Identification of Regulated Work

If you have assets that move, they probably go through areas that have specific regulatory requirements – like environmentally sensitive sites, a place with a Right of Way, or indigenous-owned land. If so, you have a process for getting the necessary permits to do the work you need to do.

But how efficient is that permitting process?

SAP GEO Framework

By integrating GIS into SAP using SAP’s Geo Framework (GEF), work can be layered on top of regulated areas (represented as polygon features) on a shared map.

The system can be programmed to auto-load the necessary permitting operations into the work orders falling within the regulated areas.

This will save time, ensure the permitting process isn’t forgotten, and eliminate crews getting turned away or fined for not having the correct permits.

Auto-generated Maintenance Plans

The assets located inside regulated areas may also require different inspection and maintenance schedules. The integrated GIS/SAP system can automatically generate or update plans and schedules for them.

For example, the natural gas pipelines travel through populated areas require more inspections and maintenance. As that population grows, pipeline companies need to reassess their maintenance and inspection plans accordingly.

By using a GIS-enabled system, planners can bring in a population analysis component, allowing SAP to automate the analysis and adjustment of those plans.

Regulatory Reporting Challenges

Reporting requirements imposed by regulatory bodies is a fact of life for many companies. Reports often look different, but the challenges are the same:

• Gathering data across multiple systems is inefficient
• Data collected from different systems about a common asset rarely lines up
• Data in either system may be old and inaccurate

Automated Interface is Good

Back in chapter two of this series, we talked about the benefits of automating the synchronization of SAP and GIS.

Having that automation in place – and the resulting synchronized data between the two systems – is essential when regulatory reporting requirements are present.

For example, both GIS and SAP may store the length of a pipeline running through a certain tax jurisdiction. GIS may get a length number from analyzing shapes on a map, while SAP’s length would include additional pipe lengths required by an elevation change.

Mismatched Data is Bad

The numbers won’t match. And if they both make it into a common report, regulators may assume neither length is correct and respond with an audit or a fine.

An automated interface between GIS and SAP would show the correct geometry from GIS and the correct length values from SAP. The data doesn’t have to be manually combined, either system will have the correct data, and the final report will satisfy the regulators.

Proof of Regulatory Compliance

Regulators often ask for proof of the data that reports show. One example is inspections of infrastructure. The requirements are driven by public safety. The records are the first place investigators will look after something goes wrong. Having a proper process in place is essential.

GEF shines for this. It allows work to be rendered as geometry and be pushed to SAP Work Manager, which gives users the exact location of the required inspection.

During the inspection, Work Manager captures the device coordinates, which creates evidence for investigators. That data gets attached to the work order for recall later.

This data can also be used to make sure the inspection routes are optimized, and also be published to the GIS system to show inspection times for the asset on the map.

Easier Compliance

Needless to say (but we will anyway), regulatory compliance is critical.

Identifying, reporting, and substantiating work subject to regulation is a challenge for all of us.

But we believe an integrated GIS/SAP system provides solid benefits for keeping asset-rich companies with compliant.

Chapters in this Series:

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

Series Authors

• Ed Hudak, EAM Solution Architect
• Anders Nelson, Senior Consultant
• Michael Haydock, Consulting Manager
• Jessica Judd, Senior EAM Consultant

The post Integrating GIS and SAP 10/10: Improve Regulatory Reporting appeared first on Rizing.

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This is the ninth in a series of 10 articles addressing the benefits of integrating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system with SAP^®.

The Benefits of Route Optimization

If your corporate assets are all over the map, you’re probably spending a lot of money just getting to them.

Advanced travel route planning and optimization can help lower those costs.

Companies can leverage their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to optimize routes and save money in fuel consumption, employee time, and other areas.

Route Optimization without GIS

Without the spatial data that a GIS provides, factors like job duration, asset criticality, or regulatory priority can still be accounted for in route planning.

But, lacking either distance or location, it’s more of a sequence than a route.

You can turn a sequence into a truly optimized route by adding work location information to your data.

Keeping the Human Element in Route Optimization

Without GIS-enabled route planning, field workers often figure things out on the fly. They get used to managing for themselves.

Maintaining that autonomy while improving job dispatching and execution can be a challenge.

Make sure to continue to include your field technicians in route planning. They can give you valuable input on traffic patterns, new construction bottlenecks, or customer requests that your databases won’t have.

Address Locations and Precise Geometry

Traditionally, job sites were specified using addresses. But using only addresses for routing is problematic. Utility crews trying to replace a water meter and armed with only an address can still end up killing time trying to find the actual work site, determine a good way into it, and then locating the meter on the property.

It gets harder yet.

Rural locations or new construction sites may not have an address. Assets aren’t always linked to an address.

Even with GIS mapping software and smart, connected apps, this is the nature of addressing.

And, as tough as it is to say, it may never improve.

use Lat/Long for more optimized routes

When assets are managed in an integrated ERP/GIS system, planners can use precise latitude/longitude coordinates rather than addresses.

Mapping applications can now generate driving directions to an asset’s actual location. This is especially valuable when dealing with underground or hidden equipment.

optimized routes for first responders

First responders also benefit from precise locations. They would much rather be routed to the lat/long coordinates of the gas valve they need to turn off than the address the valve is near to.

Some cities also have non-unique or confusingly similar addresses. In an emergency, the difference between 400 First Avenue and 400 First Street could literally be life or death.

Remote Asset Locations

Your GPS won’t be of much help for corporate assets located in areas too remote for roads. Utility companies may use all-terrain vehicles or helicopters to visit some job sites. In these situations, planners benefit from more advanced technology.

For example, a west-coast-based utility uses a mobile app that combines asset information from an ERP system with driving directions and satellite views from a GIS system.

The combination proved useful on a recent job. While traveling to a location in the mountains, they used normal driving directions most of the way. Closer to the location, they switched to satellite view which revealed an unmapped dirt road that provided a shortcut to their destination.

Using Shapes for More optimized routes

Jobs aren’t always at a single location. For example, a gas leak survey would follow a street route. It would have a defined start and end point. If those points are known to an ERP/GIS integration, the work can efficiently be sequenced with other point-to-point jobs.

GIS-enabled planning tools are also more effective at other work – like vegetation clearing –better described by a polygon than a line.

optimized routes for Collection Crews

Saving the overhead costs of travel and salaries of maintenance crews isn’t the only way to benefit from optimizing work routes using an ERP/GIS system.

Cable and utility companies have credit and collection departments. The employees are dispatched into the field to collect overdue payments or turn off services due to non-payment.

Using an ERP/GIS system, planners could create routes to clusters of the highest-owing customers first.

Planners could also program the system to focus on dense populations like apartment complexes, where individual debts are small but collectively would represent a more cost-effective effort for the company.

The image above shows location and dollar range of delinquent customers. A collections group could use it to prioritize their work and maximize the return on their time and travel.

ERP/GIS FTW

The benefits of route optimization range from simple fuel cost savings to advanced geospatial routing parameters.

These results are only possible by using integrated ERP/GIS backend systems containing accurate data.

With that foundation in place, you can replace old-school address-based routing with highly accurate GIS-enabled routing.

And work smarter, not harder.

Chapters in this Series:

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

Series Authors

• Ed Hudak, EAM Solution Architect
• Anders Nelson, Senior Consultant
• Michael Haydock, Consulting Manager
• Jessica Judd, Senior EAM Consultant

The post Integrating GIS and SAP 9/10: Optimize Maintenance Routes with Spatial Data appeared first on Rizing.

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This is the seventh in a series of 10 articles addressing the benefits of integrating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system with SAP^®.

Material Traceability Defined

Material Traceability is having traceable, verifiable, and complete data. For assets such as gas transmission pipelines this set of data includes:

• Material attributes and manufacturer batch attributes
• Test / inspection results
• A history of inventory movements from manufacturer, to supplier, to storage, to job site, to its precise current location in a pipeline network
• Please see PHMSA excerpt at the end of this post for requirements

For many organizations, accessing this information digitally rather than searching hard-copy documents is more of a wish than a reality.

Successful implementation of a material traceability solution requires documented business processes and cross-functional coordination.

Critical Material Traceability Components

An ERP system such as SAP® and a GIS system for location information are critical components of a material traceability program.

We also recommend a document management system for storing key digital documents.

Material Traceability Process

An end-to-end process includes:

• Establish materials to be tracked in batches and those to be serialized
• Procurement of materials
• Receipt and storage of material and quality Inspection results
• Consumption of batches and serialized materials via work order
• Pass material and batch quantities as well as material and batch characteristics to GIS via interface
• As-built process in GIS mapping features and attribute values without re-keying data supplied by interface
• Passing of features and attribute location back to SAP from GIS via two-way interface
• Creation / change of functional locations and equipment with LAM values including batches as linear characteristics via SAP – GIS interface
• Ability to report serial number history
• Ability to track batch movement including return to SAP with precise location of batches throughout network
• Use of both SAP and GIS for reporting:
  • Serial number history
  • Batch inventory movements and location information
  • Spatial analytics enabling batch performance vs. location / environmental / climate factors

Role of each system in Material Traceability

Primary Benefits:

• Meet compliance / regulatory requirements
• Standardize business processes across functions
• Support where used and where in network reporting
• Avoid usage of unapproved materials
• Create traceable, verifiable, complete records
• Spatial Analytics of Material performance vs. climate, environmental factors
• Scalable solution for future initiatives

If material traceability was easy, more companies would already have well-established processes. If your company already owns SAP and a GIS application, a solution may not be far off.

Material Traceability To-Do:

• Companies must still work with Suppliers for proper labeling / barcoding of material
• Discipline must be established to track batches and serial numbers for all physical movement from receipt to storage, to job site, to precise installation location
• Scrapped or leftover remnants must be accounted for
• Mobile devices and label scanning is a must

Key Takeaway?

GIS and SAP are entirely capable of enabling and supporting material traceability.

Docket No. PHMSA-2012-0068, Pipeline Safety: Verification of Records

An owner or operator of a pipeline must meet the recordkeeping requirements of Part 192 and Part 195 in support of MAOP and MOP determination. Traceable records are those which can be clearly linked to original information about a pipeline segment or facility. Traceable records might include pipe mill records, purchase requisition, or as-built documentation indicating minimum pipe yield strength, seam type, wall thickness and diameter. Careful attention should be given to records transcribed from original documents as they may contain errors. Information from a transcribed document, in many cases, should be verified with complementary or supporting documents.

Chapters in this Series:

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

Series Authors

• Ed Hudak, EAM Solution Architect
• Anders Nelson, Senior Consultant
• Michael Haydock, Consulting Manager
• Jessica Judd, Senior EAM Consultant

The post Integrating GIS and SAP 7/10: Enable Material Traceability appeared first on Rizing.

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This is the sixth in a series of 10 articles addressing the benefits of integrating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) system with SAP^®.

Parking lots in Northern Minnesota often provide electrical outlets for car owners.

And they aren’t just for hybrid owners.

When it’s Minnesota-cold, batteries don’t hold a charge as long. Engine oil gets thicker, making it harder to turn over the engine while starting. Owners use those outlets to plug in battery chargers and engine block heaters to make sure they can get home.

Environmental Factors that can influence assets

Cold weather is just one way the environment can affect a physical asset like a car. Other climate and environmental factors include:

• Extreme heat / arid conditions
• Freezing and thawing cycles
• High winds / tornadoes / hurricanes
• Earthquakes
• Mountains / high elevations
• High vegetation
• Snowstorms
• Landslides
• Fresh or saltwater shorelines
• Being underwater

Lack of GIS Data Doesn’t Help

Without spatial analysis, maintaining asset health becomes a guessing game. Ignoring climate and environmental factors will cause asset health to decrease and/or asset risk to increase at unacceptable rates.

By integrating SAP and GIS, environmental data visually overlays asset location, highlighting potential issues.

SAP + GIS = Better Decision Making

Is it summertime? Powerlines can expand and droop with heat. Pull up a map of your service territory, overlay that view with one showing temperature readings, and now you know where to go inspect.

Are your assets in a forest? Vegetation grows faster when it’s warm. A similar view of your service territory would show areas that need more frequent inspections.

GIS Data Layers

Many types of data can be integrated into GIS and represented as a map layer:

• Streets
• Parcels
• Zoning
• Flood zone
• Client locations
• Competition
• Shopping centers
• Office parks
• Demographics

Layer Up

Stack these layers visually and undetected spatial trends and relationships will appear, revealing insight about relevant characteristics of a location.

Underground assets like metal pipelines can be prone to corrosion. Soil conditions impact corrosion rates, so an SAP/GIS integration would allow asset managers to add a data layer showing local soil conditions. The combined data will help them decide where to treat pipes with a protective coating or install them with cathodic protection to protect against corrosion.

System of Record

Having SAP as your system of record for asset maintenance means using it for routine inspections, preventive maintenance, and corrective maintenance.

When assets need to be maintained or replaced, SAP captures detailed information in a Maintenance Notification. The information captured is most valuable for analysis when it’s recorded with simple codes vs. plain text.

SAP Codes

Standard SAP code categories include Cause and Damage. As assets are repaired and replaced over time, cause and damage factors should be recorded. SAP Maintenance Orders can then automatically capture material and labor costs.

Armed with spatial analytics tools, causes, damage, frequency, and costs etc. can be compared with the climate and environmental factors listed above.

Real Data for the Real World

In an ideal world, assets would always be in environmentally favorable locations. Here in the real world, locations are often influenced by customer location, the availability of suitable access, power, or other resources.

By combining the detailed asset history SAP provides and the spatial awareness and other data layers that GIS allows, maintenance engineers are now capable of designing an inspection and prevention plan that will maximize investments and prolong asset health.

Chapters in this Series:

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

Series Authors

• Ed Hudak, EAM Solution Architect
• Anders Nelson, Senior Consultant
• Michael Haydock, Consulting Manager
• Jessica Judd, Senior EAM Consultant

The post Integrating GIS and SAP 6/10: Link Asset Health to Environmental Factors appeared first on Rizing.