Asset Document Management is based on ISO Standards

ADM must rely on Asset Lifecycle Information Standards

Asset Document Management (ADM) Systems must at least incorporate the following three major aspects of Asset Lifecycle Information Management as defined by leading industry standards for the process industry.

  1. Asset information should be managed in predefined structures, in engineering projects as well as in the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase. This is the basis for seamless information handover between these two asset lifecycle phases.

  2. All actors in projects and in O&M should collaborate in a predefined way to provide, share, and change asset information and

  3. Reference data libraries should be used to define information objects and their metadata.

Introduction

My last article has described how to organize 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 have learned that there are ISO standards that give very good advice on how asset documentation should be organized.

This is the article about the main principles of ADM systems. Learn about their aims, scope, and concepts to comply with industry standards.

This article and the following are looking closer into the data models of industry standards for engineering and O&M documentation for an owner/operator in the process industry. It derives concepts for ADM Systems from these industry standards and their reference data models.

Standards for Asset Lifecycle Information Management in the Process Industry

The aim of ADM is to

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

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

The first aim is to facilitate finding and using asset information in O&M processes in the latest approved revision, whenever needed. The second aim is to accelerate engineering, operation, and maintenance processes, reduce cost and risk.

To achieve those aims, ADM should rely on 100 years of experience from process and maintenance engineers who have gathered in expert groups to state industry standards and best practice guides which have evolved over the years and are still actively updated.

It lies in the interest of owners and operators to facilitate the control of the design and build phase of their assets as well as the structured handover of built information to their operation and maintenance organization. For large assets, we are talking about thousands of documents, engineering data and models and a very complex data structure that is created by many actors in a capital project. It is obvious that owners/operators aim to standardize the information creation and handover in common information models which they can make part of their project contracts with contractors and suppliers.

Owners and operators from the Utilities, Oil&Gas, Chemical, Metals, Mining, and Build industries have been trying to establish information models in standards and norms. In this article, I would like to emphasize on those international norms and standards for ADM that are commonly used and most applicable. This article does not claim to give a complete overview because of the huge number of standards and industry organizations that aim to set standards for asset lifecycle information management. However, all standards for asset information management in the process industry are more or less in compliance with each other.

ISO 19650 (BIM Standard), ISO 15926 (Process Industry), and ISO 81346 (Utilities)

ISO 19650 series (the BIM standard) sets out the recommended concepts and principles for business processes across the built environment sector in support of the management and production of information during the life cycle of built assets when using building information modeling (BIM). These processes can deliver beneficial business outcomes to asset owners/operators, clients, their supply chains, and those involved in project funding.

ISO 19650 distinguishes between information management in Capital Projects (“delivery phase of the asset” ISO 19650 - Part 2) and information management in O&M (“operational phase of the asset” ISO 19650 – Part 3).

ISO 15926 is an International Standard for the representation of process plant life cycle information. It specifies a generic data model with reference data of information associated with engineering, construction, and operation of process plants. This representation supports the information requirements of the process industries in all phases of a plant's life cycle and the sharing and integration of information amongst all parties involved in the plant's life cycle.

I should mention that there are asset structuring standards for other industries which are closely related to the two mentioned above. ISO 81346 series (the KKS standard for utilities) has become the leading asset information reference model for power plants (see specifics on ISO 81346-10) and other process plants. It is very similar to ISO 19650 and ISO 15926 with regards to principles, processes, and data models but differs in metadata and objects managed in its reference data library. You can find similarities in standards for the chemical industry.

What does that mean for Asset Lifecycle DOCUMENTS?

ISO 15926, ISO 19650, as well as ISO 81346, apply to structured and unstructured information. ISO 19650-1, chapter 4 talks about “unstructured information” and means documents of all kinds. In general, we can say that these standards scope System structuring principles (engineering and O&M DATA) as well as Document structuring principles (engineering and O&M DOCUMENTS).

On top of those three standards, there are standards that purely focus on Engineering Documents Management for the process and energy industry. IEC/DIN EN 61355 – “Classification and designation of documents for plants, systems and equipment” is a system of Document Classification Codes (DCC) for the process industry and is based on the general document management principles in IEC 83045. It is providing a library of DCC main classes and subclasses.

It is important to note that all these standards don´t just bring concepts and principles but also come with reference data libraries that define information objects and their metadata. ADM systems should provide those libraries as document categories and classifications that give users the ability to add metadata from a library picklist to documents, assign them to document classes, and auto-generate document names from a combination of attributes and classes.

Conclusion on standards for ADM

In the previous chapters, I have introduced the main standards for Information Management throughout the asset lifecycle. I will have to elaborate on what we can derive from these standards for Asset Document Management. What can we expect from an ADM System?

  • We learn from these standards how engineering information should be structured in projects (e.g., in work packages, tasks, disciplines, or teams).

  • We also learn how information should be structured in the operation phase (e.g., tag, asset, or equipment related).

  • But most importantly, we learn how engineering and asset information should be handed over between these two lifecycle phases mentioned above.

  • And we are getting detailed definitions of the processes how all actors in projects and O&M should collaborate in providing, sharing, and changing information.

  • All these standards come with reference data libraries that define information objects and their metadata.

  • All these standards scope System structuring principles (engineering and O&M DATA) as well as Document structuring principles (engineering and O&M DOCUMENTS).

All standards are compatible with each other and scope very well the information management for an owner/operator of large facilities or plants across their lifecycle. Based on these standards, industry organizations like CFIHOS have been achieving very good results in developing a data model (Reference Data Library) for asset information management in the process industry.

We will have to look closer into the industry standards to derive best practices for setting up an ADM System based on these standards. Only if we understand the standards which have been developed over decades, we know how an ADM System should be configured, which functionality it should have, and which use cases it is supposed to cover. My next articles will address exactly that subject.

Summary

Asset Information Management spans across the whole lifecycle of an asset in the process industry like a plant, a facility, or a grid. This article identifies the main standards that specify the requirements for information management in design, construction, handover, operation, and change of facilities and plants. ADM is an important part of information management. As a result, these standards in combination can be taken to define the requirements for an ADM System to make sure it meets the goals of EDM in capital projects as well as the goals of ADM for O&M.

 

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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