The Path to Information Management: Data, Documents or Both?

By Joe Morray

One of the questions that we are increasingly being asked is whether more plant information should be stored as data, as opposed to files/documents? As power and process companies move forward to optimize getting business value from their Information Assets™, new opportunities are emerging. Companies are utilizing data-driven product data management (PDM) and enterprise integration systems, such as Intergraph’s Notia, for plant information. Technologically, the systems are proving to be able to handle the complexities of a plant environment. So the question arises, should information storage be based on data or documents/files? The answer from many of you is to handle both forms of information. If this is the case, the real question is “How?”, and maybe more importantly “Why?”

Most of our traditional work processes have been based on the creation and distribution of documents as the common medium. The use of data for plant applications first had an impact through process and structural simulation analyses and the creation of associated mathematical models. Today, with the use of data-centric 3D, schematic, and database applications, we have the ability to model, simulate, and “revise/repackage for information re-use” virtually all information associated with a plant.

What are the business drivers for maintaining information at the data level? The overarching reasons seem to fall into two general drivers:

Driver 1: One-time-data-entry: A company needs to be able to relate different types of information (spatial, procurement, specifications, etc.) to a plant item. This requires that data be related, at a minimum, to component name for which the data or document refers to, in order to associate various information pieces. Creating attributes about documents in an electronic document management system is an example of this, including associating tag numbers that appear on a drawing or capturing key words regarding a report.

Driver 2: Re-use of information with change: A data-centric approach is a more economical way to combine various systems, equipment, and configuration information efficiently and produce a new design, while taking advantage of existing information.

home » press room » articles » article 21

So let’s look at what types of information we might keep in data form:

Data As Models: This is the new challenge for both EPC’s and operating companies. The maintenance of process simulation models and data is a standard today, but the opportunity exists for expanding the data-centric format to

• 3d spatial and 2d schematic data: The models become the “intuitive, visual user interface” to plant data
• Database applications, such as instrumentation for greenfield and/or brownfield projects: The reporting process involves populating established report or drawing templates
• Any information for which the “cutting and pasting together” of various configurations will yield an improved plant or technology configuration.

Data As Attributes: This is the current state of practice. Modern document management systems allow the assigning of attributes (meta-data information) about a file. Typically, this is accomplished for the following three business drivers:

• Change management, revision control (critical for OSHA 1910 and ISO-9000 companies)
• Search, queries
• Integration of various information sources regarding a plant item.

Joe Morray is president of Trinity Technologies Corp., process industries consulting firm that helps owner/operators and EPC firms succeed in the use of information systems. The company specializes in methodologies and systems to align work processes, technology, and organizational change for plant life-cycle benefits.