RCM Changes and Deferrals

Objective and Purpose of the Change and Deferral module

The objective of the Change and Deferral module in IMS-RCM is to support the Shell Asset Management System elements of the recommended practices (RP):

• Manage Equipment Care RCM process (Ref. AMS MEC_RP_01_v2)
• Manage Equipment Care Deferral Process (Ref. AMS MEC_RP_06_v1)
• Manage Equipment Care Continuous Improvement Process (Ref. AMS MEC_RP_07_v1)

The purpose of the Change and Deferral module in IMS-RCM is to efficiently enable the steps in the workflow.

Main CD workflow

The CD module enables the creation, approval and implementation of Change and Deferral requests. These steps in the workflow are linked to predefined users with authorization levels and are supported by informative e-mail messages to these users involved. There are 5 stages involved in the CD request workflow: Initiated, Awaiting Approval, Disapproved, Awaiting Implementation and Implemented.

Creation of CD Requests

The process starts with the creation of a CD request which is done by clicking the + button in the Change/ Deferral Main Screen grid. An initially pop-up is presented to register the main aspects of the CD request involved, including a short description. These main aspects characterize the request and steer that particular input fields are provided or hidden. The equipment Unit field is a mandatory field to help identify who the responsible personnel for approval.

The first characterization elements involve:

• Type Of Change
• Type Of Plan Action

The variables available in the fields of these two categories are based on, and can be configured by the site admin in:

• Settings/ Maintenance/ RCM Specific data/ Change & Deferral.

Regarding: Type Of Change and Deferral some alternatives to categorize RCM changes may be considered, in line with the aspects shown below in the ‘process on a page’:

• Review equipment RCM analyses regarding high maintenance cost
• Review equipment RCM analyses regarding high operational effort
• Review equipment RCM analyses regarding actual incident data available, update RCM analyses with degradation data/ failure effects data
• Causal Learning study done – review/update equipment RCM study with findings
• Corrective Maintenance done while Preventive Maintenance present, review equipment RCM analyses regarding actual FM’s and effectiveness of the maintenance strategy
• RCM Preventive Maintenance tasks of equipment are problematic for Maint and/or Ops: review maintenance strategy for improvement

Such variables can be added in the configuration to become available also.

Regarding: Type Of Action Plan some alternatives to categorize the activities may also cover the a review and evaluation of the equipment RCM analyses, like:

• No-Maintenance scenario,
• Criticality (Consequence and Probability)
• Maintenance Strategy
• Do-Maintenance scenario
• Task definitions
• ETBC, MEI and Residual Risk
• Task grouping and task scheduling
• Spare parts

History

When the user adds a change or deferral request this is registered in the event history of all the FLOC and Equipment selected in the CD request. Note that multiple FLOC and Equipment can be selected, even outside the Unit where CD request is registered under.

PM Plans

When the Type of Change is related to an SAP Maintenance Plan the Location and Equipment fields can be prefilled by entering the Maintenance Plan number. The following conditions should be met:

• Type of Request should be set to "Change".
• Type of Change should be set to "PMxxxxx".
• Type of Plan Action should be set to "Change Existing Plan" or "Delete Existing Plan".

By fulfilling these conditions, a Maintenance field will be shown in which the user can enter a Maintenance Plan Number. The Location and Equipment fields will then be prefilled with the tags to which the Maintenance Plan relates to.

For a new implementation of the CD Module on a site it is recommended to create supporting implementation documentation. This could involve ‘Quick Reference Cards’ that assist CD Requesters, CD Approvers and CD Implementers with the steps, data, sequence and roles involved.

It might be possible that a site has already well-established change and deferral procedures in place, where the learnings and experience can be of great value to be applied in the configuration of the IMS-RCM CD module.
Such implementation documents can give explanations and hints to the people involved regarding the variables and data to be entered in newly created CD requests.

The initial screen is kept intentionally small as it is anticipated that requests might be created on field locations with possibly weak internet connectivity.

When this initial screen is Saved the main CD screen becomes available in IMS-RCM where the Scope of change (What?) and Justification of change (Why) can be added.

Further Additional Information and Attachments can be added here.
The requester can indicate that the CD request involves Equipment that is a ‘Safety Critical Element’ (SCE) or relevant in the ‘Hazards and Effect Management Process’ (HEMP) as part of a barrier in a Bowtie. The Does the change invoke a SCE/HEMP Critical Item field will be automatically filled in with "Yes", if any of the FLOCs/Equipment in scope is SCE/HEMP critical. An information message will be available for the user (click the blue i button). When all items of this type are removed, the value will automatically be set to "No".

This can drive the CD approval process by pre-selecting particular Approvers. Next Approvers and Implementers can be selected.

Pre-defining people for the Approval process

Individuals in the roles of "Approver" and "Implementer" are registered via Auto Approval Selection.

It can be defined which Approvers will be prefilled on Change Requests and which Approvers will be prefilled on Deferral Requests (and which will be for both).

To support the selection of Approvers and Implementers of CD requests particular disciplines can be defined and assigned that enables further filtering out.

Weblink for users without RCM access

Creation of a CD request for users without RCM access is enabled through a weblink, allowing access to just the IMS RCM - CD main grid and the Dashboard:

To enable both this weblink functionality and the e-mail messages the users need to be registered in an Active Directory domain. Active Directory involves software services managing permissions and access to networked resources, like confirmation of valid e-mail address of a user in that domain.

This weblink to the RCM instance involves the instance link, extended with: /#ExecutionRequest.

Users not part of the domain need to login with a user name and password.

The main CD grid page shows a list of all non-implemented requests. Users can filter for requests they need to approve.

Approval of CD request

For an Approval, the system will now first look for the predefined people for the unit, then for the plant and then for the site. The unit’s predefined people have priority over the site - etcetera.

Approvers will receive an e-mail that a CD Request needs Approval.

The Approval process can include more than one Approver for a certain hierarchy level / Approval stage.

In the CD Approval Stage on the CD Details page Click Approve or Reject. If Rejected a reason can be added.

All included Approvers must Approve for the Request to be Approved. If any Approver Rejects, the Approval process is terminated. In this case, a notification mail is sent to all included Approvers.

After a CD request has been completed (all approvals in), an e-mail notification is sent to the user that initiated the change. An e-mail reminder will be sent to Approvers / Implementers on the weekly basis with the overview of their activity, pending requests, etc.

Implementation of CD requests

Implementers will receive an e-mail that a CD Request needs is approved and needs implementation.

In the CD Implementation Stage on CD Details page click Approve or Reject. If Rejected a reason can be added.

When a CD request has been implemented the creator is also notified by e-mail.

An e-mail reminder will be sent to Approvers / Implementers on the weekly basis with the overview of their activity, pending requests, etc.

Dashboard

An CD Request Dashboard have been added to list the following:

There is sections for:

• My Requests
• My Approvals
• New Requests This Month
• All Open Requests Per Discipline
• Requests Waiting For Approval Per Type
• Requests Waiting for Implementation Per Type
• Requests Waiting For Approval Per Approver
• Requests Waiting for Implementation Per Implementer

The My Requests section gives insight and direct links to requests in various states, issued by the current user. The covered statuses are:

• Initiated
• Awaiting Approval
• Awaiting Implementation
• Implemented
• Disapproved
• Total

The My Approvals section gives insight and direct links to requests in various states, waiting for Approval or Implementation by the current user. The covered statuses are:

• Awaiting Approval
• Awaiting Implementation
• Total