FIATECH

Scope

Provides the standards, models, classifications and other mechanisms for both data management and information exchange for the industry. Includes the foundation for and programs to create and maintain shared or common knowledge-bases. Enables and motivates individual organizations to accelerate the process to create and deploy an Asset Lifecycle Information System: i.e. a fully integrated solution in which the standards, models, classifications and other mechanisms are implemented for a specific project or facility.

Founding Team

Arizona State University, Dr. Gerald Gannod and Craig Barnes
Atomic Energy Canada, Ltd., Stephen Kereliuk
Barton Consulting, Sally Barton
Bechtel, Robin Benjamins and Shrikant Dixit
Bentley Systems, Manoj Dharwadkar and Barney Jones
Coade, David Little
ConocoPhillips, Alan Tough, Bart Neighbors and Robert Trosper
Consolidated Contractors Company, Zuhair Haddad
Design Power, Tapio Karras
Dominion Power, Russell Adams
The Dow Chemical Company, Sylvia Rappenecker
DuPont, Ray Walker
ePlantData, Tom Teague
EPM Technology, Kjell Bengtsson
Fluor, Onno Paap
Ford, Bacon & Davis, John Fish
Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Chuck Eastman
Hanyang University Ansan, Saumya Swain
Hatch, Daryl Ofstie
Intergraph PPM, Mirko Stock and Ewan Botterill
Jacobs Engineering, Dennis Helliwell and Raju Hingorani
NIST, BFRL, Mark Palmer and Kent Reed
Noumenon Consulting, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Team Champion)
NRX Global, Scott Frazer and Jeff Bonnell
OntoConsult, Hans Teijgeler
OnTrack Engineering, Mike Milinusic
Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE), Andy Fuhrman
The Procter & Gamble Company, Gil Torres
Saudi Aramco, Louis Archuleta
Skire, Paul Verveniotis
Software Innovation, Ray Simonson, Scott O'Neill and Paul Sunderland
Tata Consultancy Services, Joseph Martin
Target, Manuel Robledo
Texas A&M University, Jorge Vanegas
Toshiba, Utah Manchu
University of Michigan, Vineet Kamat
VTT, Arto Kiviniemi, Kim Jansson and Iris Karvonen

Vision

The Vision statement describes what is wanted in the future.

The long term vision of Element 9 of the Capital Projects Technology Roadmap (the Roadmap) is that the execution of future capital projects and operation of capital facilities will be radically enhanced by seamless access to all data, information, and knowledge needed to make optimal decisions in every phase and function of the capital project/facility lifecycle. Element 9 (Lifecycle Data Management and Information Integration) provides a foundation layer for the highly automated project and facility management environment envisioned in the Roadmap.

Data (and information or knowledge) may be "structured", such as in tables or databases, or "unstructured", such as in the form of documents, graphical models or other "packages" containing snapshots-in-time of aggregated information. Data will be self-describing, making its content, the "container", the intended purpose or use, and its history all available to other systems, processes or equipment that may use it. Data will be managed by applying the concepts of aggregation, encapsulation, content, consolidation, and validation.

All data that drives and supports capital projects industry processes will be safely stored and instantly accessible and retrievable on demand, in user-specified form, with complete assurance of security for sensitive data. Data will be available to authorized users in accordance with rigorous standards for data security and integrity. Future capital projects and facility managers will have continuous access to the right data and information, at the right time, and in the right format.

Systems, processes and equipment will be enabled with a complete capability to capture pertinent data relative to their function and state within the lifecycle of the facility and construction processes and will provide requested data to the enterprise knowledge system in the form of accurate information delivered in transparently useable forms. Interoperable systems will operate seamlessly as components of the integrated enterprise. Developed based on agreed standards and protocols for data and information exchange, they will plug-and-play without intervention, and provide seamless access to knowledge-bases and legacy data. Legacy data concerns will be eliminated through knowledge-based systems that transparently extract data from existing systems.

The shared or common data on which the industry operates will be managed as a shared asset, validated by subject matter experts, assuring the provision of needed information (such as regulations, units of measure, expert rule bases, and metadata) and eliminating non-value-added information management tasks. Knowledge-bases spanning every relevant domain will be populated with validated reference data and managed in a secure yet easily accessible structure. The availability of such shared knowledge-bases will reduce the cost and time for accessing and organizing commonly used data.

Connectivity and interoperability of project/enterprise systems is key to the vision of the future. Different systems and applications will be able to exchange and share data without the need for manual translation or re-entry, enabling a true "enter once, use many times" information environment. Connectivity throughout the extended enterprise will enable rapid integration of partners and suppliers to form teams for new projects as well as seamless integration of long-term supply and support networks.

Techniques and tools such as model-based information management will enable complete integration of data, information, and knowledge with the products, processes, and systems with which they are associated. For example, all supplied products and equipment will come equipped with a high-fidelity virtual model embedded (or linked to) all relevant information about the product. This information will include geometry, performance specifications, analytical models, failure modes, usage instructions, and similar data that facilitate project planning, design, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, and lifecycle support. These "knowledge objects" will be able to be directly "plugged in" to the Asset Lifecycle Information System, while retaining linkages to external information sources to enable updates when the external information is modified.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System for a specific project or facility will be an electronic instance of a facility that evolves over time (i.e. as projects are conducted to modify the facility). It will contain all versions, decisions, deletions and results relating to that facility, including data required for private, internal use by domain experts, for example as they develop alternatives and what-if scenarios prior to a business or technical decision point. The Asset Lifecycle Information System will support a fully integrated facility planning, business modeling, simulation and project management environment. Information germane to the facility will be continuously refreshed through the use of trusted work processes designed to accurately update electronic data.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System will automatically ripple approved changes (i.e. "exposed" or external views of data) to affected project stakeholders and systems. A unified industry knowledge management framework and supporting applications will enable collection and integration of project experience and data in machine-readable form. This knowledge-base will be continuously updated and applied by expert systems to support all technical and business functions of the enterprise, assuring that decisions are optimized for best results.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System will support the rapid generation of procurement packages and supporting schedule and financial data when designs are approved, and the automatic dissemination of the design and quality assurance packages to project team members and qualified suppliers and vendors. Integration with financial reporting systems will provide project managers with one-click visibility into the status of any task or issue, and automatically variances for management action.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System will also include the total construction execution plan data, complete with specifications, bills of material, time-phased labor/material/equipment staging, and resource allocations. It will support the simulation of every task and step in the construction process with an accurate time component, turning the 3-D facility model into a complete, 4-D living simulation. This will enable planners to optimize construction sequencing to drastically reduce build time and cost, and assure safety and security of operations.

Integration of sensing and monitoring functions will enable the Asset Lifecycle Information System to be continuously updated with as-built information, providing complete visibility of progress against plans and budgets. It will also enable immediate identification of problems such as misrouted material/equipment, improper assembly, and safety and security incidents. During design and construction, and when the construction project is complete, the Asset Lifecycle Information System will be available to the facility operation and maintenance function for use as a facility control model, supporting routine operations and maintenance activities as well as planning and execution of facilities upgrades and other actions downstream in the lifecycle.

Current Problem

The Current Problem statement describes the existing situation.

The capital projects industry significantly lags in its ability to share and process information. One of the largest problems facing any capital project or capital facility operation is timely access to accurate and complete information. Companies spend millions of dollars each year searching for data that exists but is not readily accessible. The fluid nature of capital projects makes this problem especially difficult. Teams are formed for a project with multiple partners chosen from a myriad field. Each partner brings its own knowledge to bear on its segment of the work. However, data exchange is complicated by disparate business processes, lack of an accepted industry standard for data exchange, and oftentimes a reluctance to share business-sensitive information. The capital facilities industry is not only fragmented and based on relatively transient projects, but it also suffers because its information technology systems offerings aren't well aligned with what people do all day, so that the interfaces between the systems used aren't well aligned with the interfaces between work processes.

The sheer size of the industry and the diversity of its interests present huge barriers to the sharing of information. The ability to maximize information flow is further hampered by poor interoperability between systems, competing standards for managing data, and lack of a common methodology for managing a project's information assets. The same information is typically recreated at great expense from project to project, and useful knowledge captured by the experience of key individuals is lost over time. Archived legacy data can also outlive the systems that are able to render read/understand/ their content which prevents the reuse of the knowledge information. Deficiencies in data impose great penalties in time and cost and are a root cause of problems across the project/facility lifecycle.

Potential Benefits & Opportunities

The potential benefits are huge; a solid foundation for lifecycle data management and information integration in the capital projects industry are key to the creation and operation of integrated facility lifecycle systems, automated design, the intelligent job site, automated procurement, and other elements of the Capital Projects Technology Roadmap vision.

A study by NIST found that, in the automotive industry alone, with its handful of key players and tightly integrated supply chains, the cost of data interoperability problems is estimated at over $1 billion a year.

Similar and even more dramatic findings were reported by NIST in a study released in August 2004 (NIST GCR 04-867, Cost Analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry) in which the costs of data interoperability problems in the more diverse and fragmented capital projects industry were conservatively estimated at $15.8 billion a year. This study included design, engineering, facilities management and business processes software systems, and redundant paper records management across all facility life-cycle phases. The ability of systems to work with other systems and to access required data across the enterprise and its supply chains will pay great dividends in all project processes.

Ongoing advances in information technology offer the potential for all capital project stakeholders to have unfettered access to the information they need to perform their jobs more efficiently; to easily reuse knowledge from prior projects and external sources; and to capture current information in useful forms. The opportunity presented by this element of the Capital Projects Technology Roadmap is to address a compelling need to provide the foundation for lifecycle data management and information integration throughout and within the industry. This may include creating shared, industry-specific reference data, information, and knowledge that all organizations can access, and to which all organizations can contribute. Providing common reference data will drastically reduce individual organizations' costs of searching for information and recreating shared or common industry data that already exists, providing standard resources for any capital project. This will reduce the time and cost of planning and design functions while enabling the delivery of more capable and cost-effective solutions for every project.

The primary focus of this Roadmap element is to develop and deploy a foundation for lifecycle data management and information integration that supports the optimization of business processes in the capital projects industry.

This element provides the opportunity to achieve fundamental business-driven benefits of design and build cycle time compression, reduced costs in both the off-site and on-site functions, and highly increased workforce productivity in all aspects of the capital project. It will deliver a key enabler of the vision for capital project and facilities management: seamlessly integrated functions and processes, coupled to live data, with all desired functionality accessible and executable through a common interface shared by all project stakeholders. With this foundation in place, there are opportunities for project planning functions that today take hours, days, and weeks to be completed in seconds, minutes, and hours. Requirements will be automatically captured from customers to guide planning and engineering tasks. The evolving design will be immediately accessible with supporting specifications and analyses, through a 3-D virtual interface. The availability of the underlying data required for a simulation environment will enable rapid evaluation of different scenarios to support definition of the best combination of features, cost, and performance.

Specific benefits for each group of stakeholders are cited in the table below:

The benefits provided by the individual features envisioned in this Roadmap element are described in the following table:

The capability provided by this Roadmap element will reduce costs by significantly compressing design and build time. More efficient and effective facilities and structures will be designed and created with reduced business and technical risk. In the operations and maintenance phase the Asset Lifecycle Information System will assure optimized operation and support best decisions in every aspect of facility management.

Potential Barriers & Challenges

There are several significant barriers to be addressed and overcome if the benefits identified above are to be realized. These include the following business barriers:

There are also technology barriers or challenges. This table lists some of these technology barriers:

Goals

The Goal statement describes what is expected to be achieved.

The goal of this element of the Roadmap is to create the foundation for a lifecycle data management and information integration environment of the future that is adopted throughout the capital projects and facilities industry, centered on the need to deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right place.

Lifecycle Data Management and Information Integration (Element 9) goals are:

1. To provide the technical framework for both data management and information exchange that will be used by all business processes and applications developed in the other Roadmap elements.
2. To assist with the creation and maintenance of industry-wide shared or common reference data, as required for the other Roadmap elements.
3. To enable and motivate individual organizations to accelerate the process to create and deploy an instance of the technical framework for their specific project or facility (i.e. an Asset Lifecycle Information System for that project or facility).

Strategy for Achieving the Goal

The strategy statement describes how we see the goal being achieved.

The strategy includes the following components:

1. Develop clear, prioritized, requirements to support the other Roadmap elements. These requirements will then be used to provide clear performance goals for the infrastructure components. This is a customer-facing component, intended to clearly identify the business needs and the financing requirements for the strategy.
2. Based upon performance goals (see Key Terms), propose, get agreement on, and adopt a technical framework and its components, together with a step-wise, evolutionary plan of action.
3. Communicate with the working groups of the other elements to refine the needs and priorities for the industry-wide Shared or Common Reference Data, and support the population of such knowledge-bases.
4. Provide support to organizations that wish to deploy an Asset Lifecycle Information System. (Note that this support might extend to the point where it fulfils some sort of Compliance Certification role.)

Focus Areas and Projects are defined to execute this strategy.

Focus Areas & Projects

The focus area section describes what we are going to focus on, and specific projects are proposed within each focus area. Focus Areas are the broad description of what this Roadmap element is going to do. Each focus area will be addressed through several projects, conducted over time. The project titles are linked to the detailed project descriptions.

Project details can be viewed by downloading the PDF. The project template applied to each project includes: Project Title, Objectives / Deliverables (what result), Purpose / Business Driver(s) (why), Ties / Dependencies / Overlaps (with other projects or Elements) (constraints, boundaries), Urgency / Time line (when), Process / Activities (how), and Resources (who). Each project will be more fully defined as time progresses. At this point the project descriptions should indicate what the project will do in sufficient detail to get potential participants interested and to understand the timing and dependencies between projects. Timing or scheduling of these projects is presented in the section, the Seven-year Timeline.

E9-FA1: Requirements and Feasibility - In conjunction with the other Roadmap element working groups develop infrastructure requirements for shared data, common data definitions, types of software, and demand loads, as well as commercial considerations such as usage fees. These must be prioritized to assist in development of investment and timelines. Likewise, infrastructure cost recovery should be factored into probable usage and payback scenarios. Finally based on prioritized requirements of the other elements and a consensus defined timeline develop a seven-year schedule of infrastructure development and deployment and maintenance.

Project:

E9-FA1-P1 Identify Requirements

E9-FA2: Technical Framework for Lifecycle Data Management and Information Integration and Interoperability - Based on prioritized requirements of the other Roadmap elements and a consensus defined timeline develop a schedule for Technical Framework development and deployment and maintenance. Develop or adopt data management standards, structure, models, classification, language (an ontology or grammar), and automated information exchange standards as industry-wide standards for the capital projects and facilities industry. These must be applicable for all capital project functions and facility lifecycle phases, enabling different companies to seamlessly share information and data and interface as "modules" of an extended enterprise for any project and throughout the lifecycle of a plant, in support of the vision for interoperability.

A technical framework is currently in development, and will be further developed through the Projects below. Follow the link above to a preliminary Technical Framework description that, although conceptual, is intended to stimulate discussion and interest in this focus area of this Roadmap element and its projects.

Projects:

E9-FA2-P1 Definition and Plan for the Technical Framework
E9-FA2-P2 Define Smart Containers for Encapsulating Data/Information/Knowledge
E9-FA2-P3 Data Transport Method
E9-FA2-P4 Smart Container Security and Access Control
E9-FA2-P5 Ontology
E9-FA2-P6 Standards to Support Workflow Metadata and Rules
E9-FA2-P7 Tools and Interfaces
E9-FA2-P8 Validate the Technical Framework through Multi-party Software Deployment

E9-FA3: Shared or Common Knowledge-bases - Based on prioritized requirements of the other Roadmap elements and a consensus defined timeline develop a schedule for development, deployment and maintenance of Common Knowledge-bases. Different levels of security and access control will be applied to such shared or common knowledge bases: for example, public or industry-wide, lightly reserved, or completely proprietary. The differences are in content as well as security or access levels. In a 'public' example, the intent is to establish industry-wide or publicly shared or common knowledge-bases (i.e. instances of the E9-FA2 Technical Framework that are deployed to hold a variety of reference data and which are made available throughout the industry). In a 'completely proprietary' example, the common knowledge-base for a specific organization is established to contain knowledge that is common throughout that organization but that is proprietary and is therefore not shared publicly or with other industry members. Content of the organization-specific knowledge-bases provide the organization with a business advantage within the industry and therefore require a more restrictive level of security and access control than the public or industry-wide knowledge-bases.

Shared or common knowledge-bases are envisaged as a series of distributed, interconnected knowledge-bases of information where industry and organizations can capture, store, and make use of shared knowledge. This focus area will provide content while utilizing the technical framework and standards adopted in focus area E9-FA2 to ensure interoperability of various information types. The knowledge-bases will be developed to optimize usability while also addressing needs for data quality, integrity, access control and security.

Potential knowledge-base subject areas include:

• Regulatory Compliance (provides access to both national and regional information to reduce the complexity and uncertainties associated with regulatory compliance. Examples include the United States Environmental Protection Agency's air quality and filing requirements).
• Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) for Capital Projects (provides easy-to-understand information about Health, Safety and Environment issues such as major safety incident vectors, threat modes, trends (common root causes), training standards, best practices, and Material Safety Data Sheets).
• Homeland Security Design/Response (supports risk assessments, design for specific risk levels for different classes of facility, and best-practice design for security/safety and emergency response).
• Material Methods (provides access to standard material methods information).
• Project Information (provides a knowledge-base of relevant project scoping data to serve as a baseline for capital project planning and execution).
• Meta-data (e.g. the definitions of key terms).
• Design Rules (e.g. ASTM standards).
• Unit Conversions (e.g. meters to feet, hectares to acres, kilogram to pound).
• Public Facility Models (e.g. bus shelters, water treatment plants).
• Industry-wide Common Business Processes and Work Flows.
• Organization-specific Knowledge-bases (e.g. design data, 3D model 'cut-outs, 'most effective technology', and organization-specific business processes and work flows).
• A clearinghouse for public data definitions for use by all software vendors. This on-line resource would contain entries for the thousands of software products used in the lifecycle of a facility. Software vendors would be encouraged to post data formats and access mechanisms for each of their products. Coupled with an industry wide ontology this could substantially assist in automated data interchange between applications.

Since the task of identifying, recording and managing accurate knowledge-base content is large it is expected that this will be undertaken in phases and that specific knowledge-base topics of high industry-wide interest (such as material methods or regulations) are likely to be developed first.

Projects:

E9-FA3-P1 Conventions for Knowledge-base Management
E9-FA3-P2 Strategy for Knowledge-base Population and Upkeep
E9-FA3-P3 Deploy Knowledge-bases and Populate Content

E9-FA4: Asset Lifecycle Information System (ALIS) Deployment - The philosophy behind this focus area is that it would deliver use-cases and functional specifications that would eventually drive members of industry to building an actual Asset Lifecycle Information System. The building of a system is not within the current scope but we would seek to partner with other organization and technology vendors to get a deployment completed. FIATECH would be the catalyst to accelerate the delivery of a fully integrated solution. FIATCH might also act as the product manager between the customers and the technology developers.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System is the enabler for the integrated capital projects environment and the result of deploying the Technical Framework. It is the tool that ties the parts together - ensuring the interoperability of all systems and applications, and capturing the information developed in each step of the project to support downstream steps. It will enable companies to use best-in-class tools in a plug-and-play environment.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System will contain information that is used for control of all functions of the project. Planning and scheduling systems, financial systems, design system, job site management and control systems, and other functions will interact with the Asset Lifecycle Information System to acquire and provide the information they need to perform their functions. Links from the Asset Lifecycle Information System to external information sources will enable scheduling and design applications, procurement systems, etc. to quickly access the outside information they need to accomplish their tasks.

The Asset Lifecycle Information System will be enriched over the entire project lifecycle to capture the total design package created in the design effort; capture all material and vendor requirements, data, plans, and schedules in the procurement phase; interface with progress reporting functions and capture as-built information in the construction phase; and provide the operations and management team with data that can be used in a high-fidelity facility simulation model for control of operations, facility modifications, and other lifecycle actions.

Projects:

E9-FA4-P1 Determine Business Approach to Deployment
E9-FA4-P2 Deploy an Asset Lifecycle Information System Instance
E9-FA4-P3 Training and Technology Transfer

Focus Area Overview

The figure below identifies major attributes of each of the focus areas, any current projects or activities, the current "problem space", the technology enablers, and the organizational and process enablers for each focus area.

The focus area overview provides some indication of where efforts are already being made and where there are gaps that need to be addressed.

Seven-year Timeline

A timeline is proposed for the projects within this tactical plan.

Assumptions:

1. Preparation for each project will take about 3 months (1 quarter). Preparation includes identifying funding, resourcing and project set-up.
2. 3-6 months is the typical time-frame for the actual work on each project
3. Releases - 3 release cycles or phases during the 7 year duration. This is to ensure that what gets discovered during the previous release gets included in the next cycle.
4. Project teams will form and disband for each release (unless the team wished to continue).
5. Dependencies/links to other Roadmap elements - requirements identified by other elements will be input for this element. The release cycle will be used to manage change.

Organizations Working in Focus Areas

The following table contains names of organizations that are already working in a field that is related to the subject of this Element.

Existing Relevant Research Activities & Results

FIATECH AEX Project

Description

The Automating Equipment Information Exchange (AEX) project is developing eXtensible Markup Language (XML) data exchange specifications for automating the design, procurement, delivery, operation and maintenance of engineered equipment. The AEX project has delivered initial XML specifications for exchanging data sheet technical and commercial information for centrifugal pumps and shell and tube heat exchangers. Phase 2, now underway, developed improvements to the initial XML schemas, and is extending this work to support additional types of equipment (i.e., centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, air coolers, centrifugal fans, induction motors, storage tanks, pressure vessels, control and relief valves and transmitters). AEX project participants are currently developing software implementations to demonstrate interoperability using the AEX specifications.

AEX collaborates with multiple industry organizations to accelerate the delivery and use of the AEX specifications. In January 2004, the Hydraulic Institute (pump manufacturers and related equipment and software suppliers, www.pumps.org) established an Electronic Data Exchange Work Group to collaborate with the AEX project on the demonstration project and schema extensions for additional types of pumps. The material properties portions of the schemas were developed in cooperation with AIChE's Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR).

Project Participants

Autodesk, AVEVA, Bechtel, Burns & Roe, Citadon, DuPont, ePlantData, Impress, Intergraph, Jacobs, NIST, S&B, Smithsonian Institution

Equipment Suppliers

Flowserve, Goulds

Collaborating Organizations

aecXML, AIChE DIPPR, API, ASHRAE, Hydraulic Institute, PIP, PlantSTEP

Deliverables

• Version 1.0 cfiXML Schemas (July 2004)
• Example XML files
• Centrifugal Pump Data Description Spreadsheet
• "Schema Architecture" (Narrated PowerPoint Presentation)
• "Using the cfiXML Schemas for Facilities Equipment" (Document)
• "XML Schema Development Guidelines" (Document)

Relevance to FIATECH Roadmap Elements

The AEX project provides an XML-based interoperability technical framework that supports the life cycle of facilities equipment, including design, procurement, delivery, operation and maintenance. Consequently, the results of the project are relevant to the following Roadmap Elements:

1 - Scenario-based Business and Project Planning (equipment design requirements)
2 - Automated Design (equipment design) *
3 - Integrated Procurement and Supply Network (equipment procurement) *
4 - Intelligent and Automated Construction Site (equipment delivery)
5 - Intelligent Operational Facilities (equipment operation and maintenance)
6 - Real-time Project Management and Control (equipment delivery)
9 - Life-cycle Data Management and Information Integration (technical framework) *

* The current project focus on demonstrating the underlying core technical framework for the centrifugal pump design and procurement work process has the most immediate direct impact on these areas.

Relevance to FIATECH Element 9 Focus Areas

The AEX project, in collaboration with others, has produced an XML Schema Architecture that directly addresses FA-1 Technical Framework Focus Area and applies the framework to a specific business usage scenario - equipment procurement. AEX project results map onto the various sub-projects of the Element 9, FA-1 projects as follows: