Configuring the Toplevel via Settings

The Toplevel section in the Settings menu shows the locations for the entire Site. Locations in IMS are organized in Site – Plant – Unit – FLOC. 

CMMS Hierarchy

If an asset is interfaced with CMMS/SAP, IMS “inherits” the SAP unit hierarchy. In IMS this is called the CMMS Hierarchy. The CMMS Hierarchy will be aligned with the SAP asset hierarch. 

This CMMS Hierarchy, which is mostly designed for maintenance and finance purposes, may not always fit the needs in terms of asset integrity management related activities. For this reason it is also possible set up an alternative asset hierarchy. This way areas can be created that match the responsibilities of the inspectors and provide an easier way of scoping lists and dashboards. How to creating alternative hierarchies is explained below.

Hierarchy Levels

The table below shows the structure of the operating company with the available tabs (and information registered) on each of the levels. Details for Sites, Plants and Units are registered and organized here in the Settings. Functional locations (FLOCs) are not available in the Toplevel menu. These are registered in the FLOC main menu.

The available information in the TopLevel for each level in the operating company structure:

The highest level in the tree view shows the Site(s) and can be expanded to see lower levels. Selecting a hierarchy item in the tree view will list the applicable tabs on the right side, depending on the hierarchy level of the selected item.

The below example shows the available information of the Unit level: Planned Events, Details, TA & Prod loss, Narratives, MEC Cost, and Geo Location.

At the bottom of the tree view, the available actions (New / Delete) are displayed. When a hierarchy level is selected, a new sublevel item can be created by clicking on New. In the example above, a new Plant can be created when you select a Site (e.g. "CEN") and then click New. When you click on New while the Plant (e.g. "CEN-PUL1") is selected, a new Unit can be created. When a Unit is selected, no sublevels can be created.

The Toplevel Tabs

Planned Events Tab

The Planned Event tab shows Planned Events Scheduled for the Unit, such as "Turnarounds", "Next Opportunities" and "RBI Re-Assessments". Each hierarchy location shows events Scheduled. Planned Events are displayed in a grid. By selecting a grid row, the details for the Planned Events are shown below. A Planned Event can only be created for / assigned to a Unit and NOT for a FLOC or Equipment. In the Planned Events subsection a combined list of all the Events scheduled or completed for all Plants and Units within the Site, can be viewed (see Reviewing Planned Events in Settings). Note: Planned Events require Approval, both for new events and modifying existing events (see Approving Planned Events).

Details Tab

The Details tab shows the information on the object, such as the Hierarchy Type (i.e. Site, Plant, Unit), the name and active state for the object. 

TA & Prod. loss Tab

The TA & Prod. Loss tab provides information on the turnaround and potential production loss. This is where the Production Loss Equations (PLEs) can be defined (see more detail of this below). For Units, the Company can also define a Maximum Remnant Life (RL) here (see more detail of this below).

Narratives Tab

In the Narratives tab, you can specify information required for the RBI with regards to the process, guidelines for start-up and shutdown, premises, and lessons learned. These narratives are provided as rich text fields.

MEC Cost Tab

Here the MEC Cost Index can be calculated and the Default Cost Rules can be configured here. For more information on MEC Costs for Schedules and the MEC Cost Index see MEC Cost.

Cost Configuration 

Here the MEC Cost Index is calculated for the current Location (Site, Plant or Unit), per defined Years, based on active Schedules for active and "IN SERVICE" Equipment. 

MEC Groups are defined on Site level. Multiple Locations can be combined in one MEC Group. On Site level, below the MEC Groups, you will also find an overview of all the Cost Configurations defined for the Site.

On lower levels (Site, Plant or Unit) the MEC Cost tab can then be used to calculate the MEC Cost Index for that Location.

First the MEC Cost Group must be selected.  

When the MEC Group is selected, the already defined Year(s), together with a Benchmark Factor and Index Type for each year will be shown. To add a year record click on the + button in the grid. Note: The Index Type indicates the nature of the Benchmark Factor but does not play a role in the MEC Cost Index calculation.

When ready, click the Calculate button in the upper right corner. IMS will then summarize the costs (from schedules and tasks), apply the default costs (if the Cost Rules changed - see below), and calculate the MEC Cost Index based on the summarized costs. The calculation takes in consideration all active Equipment, except the ones in status “IN CONSTRUCTION”, and active and Approved Schedules (Schedules in Final Approval state of type Inspection and Corrosion). For more information on the calculation and it's inputs see MEC Cost.

Default Cost Rules

To make it easier to define the Schedule MEC Costs, default Costs can be defined for Schedules, depending on their properties. Default costs can be defined with following properties:

• Location default,

• Equipment group,

• Equipment/SAP type,

• Schedule type,

• Schedule driver,

• TA candidate status, and

• Plan codes.

The following logic is used to determine the default costs for a specific Schedule:

• Use the location default checkbox to define a cost specific only for this part of the hierarchy. This is a “safety net” for when no other criteria are met.

• Define default cost by using equipment group, SAP type, schedule type, schedule driver, TA Candidate status and plan codes.

• In cases where a schedule meets multiple criteria, IMS PEI will suggest the higher cost as a default cost.

• In cases where a schedule meets multiple criteria that differs only in terms of plan codes, IMS PEI will sum the values and suggest their sum as a cost.

To help make this process easier, there is also an import for the default cost configuration, and an export button is visible on the grid.

Geo Location Tab

Here you can view the Geo locations.

Flexible RAM Tab

See Flexible Risk Assessment Matrix (RAM) in IMS SIS Settings.

Defining Production Loss Equations

The Production Loss Equation (PLE) defines the economic consequences of stopping a unit. IMS uses PLEs to calculate the costs of a production loss due to a failure (unplanned shutdown) due to both downtime (T_down) and reduced throughput (based on time (T_red) and percentage (P_red)). In PEI this is used in the RBI Analysis in Step 8 Rate Consequence of Failure. In RCM this is used in the RCM Analyses on the Economics Consequences tab.

Production losses are generally not a linear function of time, because short production interruptions may often be recovered by increasing production after restart. Longer disruptions may only be recovered at a higher penalty or result in failure to meet commitments. The PLE captures this information as a staggered equation. For practical reasons, a maximum of five time-intervals are considered. The PLE is usually considered to be the loss of gross margin, i.e., the price of the product minus the price of the feed, which is the net margin plus the fixed costs. These prices should come from historical data or, if possible, from an estimation of future costs and margins based on the Business Plan. 

Assigning PLEs 

To assign a new Production Loss Equation (PLE) for a Unit:

• Go to Settings \ Company \ Toplevel.

• Select the appropriate Unit.

• Click the TA & Prod. Loss tab.

• Click +.

• Enter the appropriate PLE values. 

• Use the note field to record the data source.

• When done, click Save.

Example:   

In this example a shutdown of up to 4 hours will cost 5000 $/hr. If the shutdown last between 4 and 12 hours, it will cost 7500 $/hr. Between 12 and 24 hours the costs will be 10000 $/hr. Longer than 24 hours it will cost 12500 $/hr. Imagine after a short shutdown, the unit have a warm restart, so costs are still low. A longer shutdown will force other plants/units to shutdown as well (e.g. no more feed to downstream plant), resulting in higher costs. An even longer shutdown will force multiple plants/units to shutdown, and the unit have to be pre-heated before start-up, resulting in even higher costs.

Notes: 

• The PLE is typically determined by the nominal capacity of the unit (ton/hour) and the margin of the unit (USD/ton) leading to a PLE in USD/hr. Off-spec production can cause the unit margin to be less, even zero. Multiple PLE’s can be defined under a unit - at least one should be defined. 

• Available tankage capacity can mean that there is a lag-time involved in the PLE value, until actual loss is incurred. By the time the tankage capacity is consumed, the loss will reach the nominal unit PLE value. In case the unit downtime will result in throughput limitations of upstream or downstream units, the PLE value may rise above the nominal unit PLE. In case the unit is equipped with suction- or discharge-tankage facilities and is able to make up for lost throughput, loss of some initial production volume may not result directly in a financial loss. Such a PLE might look like for instance: PLE = USD 0 for T< 8 hours.

• In many processes the financial margin of the unit can differ over time dependent of the supply and demand on the market. In cases where there is a wide dynamic range in margin, like in the margin picture below, one needs to decide in what range to choose: area M1, M2 or M3?

  

  It is recommended to follow the logic also used in capital projects, of the so called ‘long term steering values’ for economic project justification. In above picture the M3 margin would be preferred as a basis for the RCM PLE, most likely to provide a sound economical basis over time for the suggested maintenance strategies and avoiding a changing maintenance effort driven by the economic business environment.

PLE Application - PEI

A defined PLE can be used to calculate production losses, based on downtime and reduced throughput. IMS does this as follows:

Predefined inputs for the PLE are the upper limits of each time interval, t₁ - t₄ (t₀=0 and t₅= infinite), and the production loss rate in each time interval, R₁ - R₅. During the RBI Analysis, in Step 8 (Asset Consequence (Economic)), the user can input the downtime period, T_down, the period of reduced throughput, T_red, and the percentage of reduction in throughput, P_red. IMS assumes that reduced throughput starts at the end of the downtime period (or at t=0, if T_down=0) then the lost time, T_lost, can be expressed as: T_lost = T_down + T_red * P_red. The production losses, C_prod can then be calculated with the PLE:

The total production loss, C_TPL, can also include miscellaneous costs, C_misc, (reprocessing costs, efficiency losses etc.), i.e., C_TPL = C_prod + C_misc.

PLE Application - RCM

The amount and the duration of a reduced throughput from an Equipment failure in a Unit are registered in RCM Analyses under the Economics Consequences tabs. For more information on PLEs in RCM see RCM Analysis. Also refer to Updating PLEs in RCM.

Unit Maximum RL

For each Unit, the Company can define a Maximum Remnant Life. If in the RBI analysis the calculated RL is greater than the value defined by the Company, the Company value will be used for determining the Maximum Inspection Interval (MII) (see Step 11 Results – NID, MII, etc.). If a value is not set for the Max RL it will default to 50 years.

To review a Unit’s max RL:

• Go to Settings \ Company \ Toplevel.

• Select the appropriate Unit.

• Click the TA & Prod. Loss tab.

• You can now see the Max Remnant Life.

Creating Alternative Hierarchies

To create a new alternatives hierarchy, click the + button and specifying a name.

Defining Alternative Hierarchies

Once you have created your alternative top-level hierarchy, you can add (map) and remove (unmap) FLOCs to the Unit. This is done on the unit level of the alternative hierarchy. On the left is the list of available (Unmapped) FLOCs, together with the CMMS filter options. On the right are the FLOCs already added to the alternative Unit (Mapped). You can select one or multiple FLOCs and move them from the left to the right, or vice versa, by clicking on the arrows.

Alternative Hierarchies available on Main Screens

When an alternative hierarchy has been created, it will become available on all the Main Screens (grid lists) in IMS for the FLOC, as well as everything below the FLOC in the Hierarchy, e.g., Equipment, Component, Circuit and CML.