PEI Civil Hierarchy

The IMS Hierarchy is set up to implement the Degradation Management work process. In general, IMS PEI is about identifying when and what Equipment to inspect and to have an audit trail of the results of these inspections. In IMS, the “when” is defined in an Equipment Inspection Schedule event. The results of the inspection are captured in the Equipment Condition History (ECH). The user checks which Schedules are due (having a Scheduled date close to Today), then performs the inspection, captures the inspection results and credit the Schedule(s) in the ECH. In case of recurring Schedule(s), a new Schedule will automatically be created with a new due date.

The figures below show the important objects and illustrates how the flow between the different objects occur.

Locations

Locations are organized in Site – Plant – Unit – Functional Location (FLOC). These are the highest hierarchy levels in IMS. The FLOC typically have specific operating parameters. FLOC IDs never change, at least until the Unit or the FLOC is retired.

Generally, each FLOC has one child, which is a piece of Equipment (with an Equipment ID). Some FLOCs cover more than one Equipment group, e.g. For Exchangers-FLOCs two separate pieces of Equipment can be assigned: a Bundle and an Exchanger. The Equipment in turn might contain Components. Some data will or can be inherited from a higher level (e.g. Inspection Reason is inherited from the FLOC down to Equipment and Components).

Details for Sites, Plants and Units are registered and organized in Settings\Company\Toplevel. See Configuring the Toplevel via Settings.

FLOCs

The Functional Locations (FLOCs) are registered in the FLOC Main Screen. See PEI - Functional Locations (FLOCs). See also Step 1 Define the Civil Asset in IMS

Equipment

An Equipment object represents a physical pieces of Equipment, which can be measured, having specific materials, coatings, dimensions, weld joints, etc. An Equipment is designated to a FLOC and contains both Circuits and/or Components. An Equipment ID is valid until the Equipment is replaced. When replaced, a new Equipment ID will be assigned. For sites using the GSAP interface, the FLOCs and Equipment cannot be entered directly to IMS. The hierarchy information for these sites is determined by GSAP.

Various types of Schedules can be registered for an Equipment and are shown in the Schedules section. Default Schedules are automatically created when a new piece of Equipment is added and act as a “safety net” for which the minimal time interval should be set (12 months).

For more information see PEI - Equipment. See also Step 1 Define the Civil Asset in IMS

Schedules

Schedules can be assigned to both Equipment and Circuits. On Equipment level, there are Inspection, CAIR or RBI Re-assessment Schedules, while for Circuits only Corrosion Schedules are assigned. All inspection Schedules can be credited by adding and approving ECHs, which includes detailed information about the inspection performed. The Corrosion Schedules are credited by calculating and Approving the Calc Summary.

For more information see IMS Schedules (across Disciplines).

Condition Histories (ECHs)

Equipment Condition Histories (ECHs) are registered for a piece of Equipment and capture the inspection findings, using Checklists and a narrative. Approving the ECH will credit possible Inspection Schedules and create new Schedules for the Equipment when the credited Schedule is recurring. The user can fill out Checklists that will show the inspection condition and repairs performed, depending on the Schedules scope or Inspection Strategy (IS) (i.e. looking for certain Degradation Mechanism).

For more information see IMS Condition Histories (ECHs) across Discipline.

Components

Components are created in IMS in order to perform the RBI risk analysis on Equipment. A piece of Equipment can have one or more Components.

Components are the separate parts of an Equipment that have the Barriers against the Threats of the Degradation Mechanisms (DMs). Thus, they need verification through inspection. The RBI risk analysis therefore takes place on this level, i.e. each Component – DM combination is assessed. This helps to determine the Next Inspection Date (NID). The figure below shows where the RBI Criticality and Confidence comes in.