Asset Documentation throughout the Lifecycle of a Process Plant

Safe and efficient operation of process plants must rely on well-managed asset information and ISO standards.

We all want production plants to be run safely and securely regarding health, safety, environment, and production uptime. That´s why there are principles of good practices described in ISO standards and regulations. This article identifies the main standards that specify the requirements for information management in the design, construction, handover, operation, and change of facilities and plants. Asset Document Management (ADM) is an essential part of asset information management.

Introduction

In my last article, you learned how important it is to have a proper ADM in place when planning, investing, building, operating, and maintaining large facilities or plants. It begins with the document handover planning already at the beginning of the capital project. But also, throughout the operation phase of a plant, management of document change is the precondition for effective and secure plant operation. We call it Asset Lifecycle Documentation.

This article addresses the Asset Lifecycle Documentation from

1.      The initial creation of engineering and maintenance documents during the capital project phase through

2.      Handover of as-built documentation to

3.      Operation and Maintenance (O&M) on as-built documentation and continuous management of change to

4.      Decommissioning, deconstruction, and retention.

We will also discuss ISO standards and regulations for asset documentation. For various reasons, asset documentation is handled quite differently from industry to industry, from company to company, and even from plant to plant within a single company. It is important to understand the industry standards and regulations to derive best practices in organizing the asset documentation inside the plant but also across all sites and in collaboration with contractors and suppliers.

Definition

The overall goal of Asset Document Management (ADM) for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) is to keep all technical asset documentation up to date so that it is entirely available in the latest approved revision whenever and wherever needed in the O&M processes with an auditable history.

ADM is a major part of Asset Lifecycle Information Management. Both are aiming to: 

  1. Structure asset and engineering INFORMATION as effectively as possible and

  2. Organize asset and engineering documentation PROCESSES as efficiently as possible

Across all phases of the lifecycle of a plant.

Change management is already difficult enough but the biggest challenge is the initial handover of all technical documentation from the engineering project into the O&M phase and vice versa.

Engineering Document Management in Capital Projects

The purpose of EDM in Capital Projects is to control the delivery of engineering project documents that are contractually agreed to be delivered and approved at a particular milestone of the project. It needs an EDM System to manage the large number of documents that are sent and received from vendors and contractors to achieve the following:

  1. Optimize document control in complex projects that are planned with thousands of documents and drawings

  2. Manage collaboration of hundreds of project members and contractors who are working across the globe

  3. Accelerate review and approval processes of documents and comply with SOPs and regulations

  4. Deliver project documents on time to the client to ensure sign-off and payment

  5. Control that contractors and suppliers deliver document revisions on time and quality

  6. Monitor official revision stages of documents to meet project milestones by integration into project management tools like Primavera

  7. Mapping project documentation to equipment and functional locations in asset information systems  

 

Asset Document Management for Operation and Maintenance

The aim of ADM in the O&M phase of plants is to manage As-built documentation which is technical asset documentation of engineering drawings as well as maintenance documents and operating procedures.

Owners and operators of facilities and plants have 6 major goals when introducing ADM for engineering documents:

  1. Central Repository which enables organizations to operate in compliance with internal policies, external regulations, and EHS principles.

  2. Consolidating other engineering document silos to establish one single source of truth with up-to-date information.

  3. Controlled access by providing role-based permissions and securing confidential information.

  4. Streamline O&M processes by integration into asset management, engineering data management, and geoinformation systems.

  5. Traceable documentation of changes from maintenance activities and change projects.

  6. And the last but foremost important goal is to organize a circular process of complete and efficient handover of relevant documentation from the engineering project to the owner/operator.

Please read my article “6 Goals of ADM for O&M” which explains all these goals in detail.

Asset Information Lifecycle Management

We are using the term Asset Lifecycle Information Management (AIM) to scope the traceability of changes and the organization of the plant documentation from design and construction throughout handover and operation to decommissioning.

It is subject of multiple ISO standards like (ISO 19650 – BIM standard, ISO 15926 – AIM in the Process Industry, ISO 81346 – AIM in Power Plants).

ISO Standards for Asset Lifecycle Information

Planning, building, operation, maintenance, and change of facilities and plants don´t happen by accident. We all want the production plants to be run safely and securely regarding health and environment. That´s the reason why there are principles of good practices that are described in standards and regulations.

ISO 55000 defines how assets are operated and maintained; ISO 21500 how capital projects are executed. But all these best practices processes are based on information. ISO 19650, ISO 15926, and ISO 81346 define the information governance in capital projects and O&M which addresses engineering/operation/maintenance documents as well as engineering/operation/maintenance data. For simplicity, you can remember ISO 19650 as the “BIM standard”, ISO 15926 as the “Asset lifecycle information standard for the process industry” and ISO 81346 as the “Information reference model for the utilities industry - KKS”.

We are looking at main ISO standards 19650, 15926, and 81346 from an owner/operator perspective to organize

·        Project information used and created in capital projects,

·        Handover of engineering and O&M information to O&M processes,

·        Management of Asset information in O&M processes and

·        Change requests which is the handover of information as input for engineering projects.

We learn from these standards how engineering information should be structured in projects (e.g., in work packages, tasks, disciplines, or teams) but we also learn how information should be structured in the operation phase (e.g., tag, asset, or equipment related). And we are getting detailed definitions of the processes how all actors in projects and operation/maintenance should collaborate in providing, sharing, and changing information.

Summary

Asset lifecycle information management is the essential concept to fulfill the goals of both: EDM for Capital Projects as well as ADM for Operation and Maintenance. In this article, we have listed these goals and briefly described the ISO standards which give the concepts to achieve the goals. Standardizing and structuring asset information has a significant impact not only on the cost of maintenance and operation excellence but also on health, safety, and environment. My next article will give a closer look into the ISO standards and what ADM systems must incorporate to comply with these standards.

 

Author: Jens Friehmelt is a Senior Manager in OpenText Professional Services EMEA leading an international team that combines multiple OpenText technologies to serve customers with best-practice solutions for Engineering, Construction, and Maintenance processes.

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