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Using EAM to Avoid the

Consequences of Missing

Preventive Maintenance

in a Regulated Industry

Jacquelyn Chischillie, Projetech, Inc

James Casey, Aegis Insurance Services, Inc.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Expectations of Regional Transmission Organizations .................................................................. 5

Utilities Today ............................................................................................................................. 5

The function of the RTO ............................................................................................................. 5

Risks associated with missing PM work ......................................................................................... 6

Other penalties............................................................................................................................. 7

What is the Objective of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)? .................................................. 7

Know your Allies ........................................................................................................................ 8

Manage the Process/Measure the Process ................................................................................... 9

EAM for RCM .......................................................................................................................... 11

Streamlining work to attain PM schedule in EAM ....................................................................... 13

EAM System Start Center/Dashboard....................................................................................... 13

Planning vs. Scheduling ............................................................................................................ 14

Planning work ........................................................................................................................... 15

Using an EAM to manage work priority ................................................................................... 17

Condition Monitoring ................................................................................................................ 18

Materials Management .............................................................................................................. 19

Item Classification (Material specification) .......................................................................... 19

Inventory Management ............................................................................................................. 21

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Automated Purchase Requisitions ........................................................................................ 21

ABC Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 22

Kitting ................................................................................................................................... 23

Scheduling work ........................................................................................................................... 24

Forecasting Work ...................................................................................................................... 25

Improved methods for scheduling work ................................................................................... 26

Documenting Work/Reporting .................................................................................................. 27

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 28

About the Authors ......................................................................................................................... 30

References: .................................................................................................................................... 31

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Using EAM to Avoid the Consequences of Missing

Preventive Maintenance in a Regulated Industry

Abstract

This paper elicits some best practices and ways to utilize an Enterprise Asset

Management program to avoid the consequences of missing preventive maintenance work.

Through training, interviews and a lifetime of experience, the authors are able to present

suggestions for using commercial, off-the-shelf software to streamline work and improve

methods for scheduling and documenting work. First the article discusses some of the risks and

consequences of missing or skipping scheduled preventive work, especially in regulated

industries. This is followed by specific practices that can be employed, through a commercial

EAM system, to adhere to schedules with minimal interruptions due to vague procedures or

inaccurate inventory. The article concludes with examples of improved methods for scheduling

and documenting work to comply with industry regulations and requirements.

Note: IBM Maximo Asset Management program was used for screenshots. Maximo was

chosen because of its global use in the energy industry.

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Expectations of Regional Transmission Organizations

Utilities Today

Twenty five years ago electric utilities were vertically integrated. Various plants within a

system could plan with the in-house transmission group and schedule outages whenever they

were required. Regulators would guarantee that plants could recover operating and maintenance

costs plus some amount of profit. If the outage had to be extended the costs of the maintenance

were covered and any potential fuel costs associated with operating lower efficiency units would

be added to a fuel surcharge.

In 1996 FERC issued Order 888 which required open access to the electric markets. The

goal of this order was to create a competitive arena where individual companies or generating

stations would compete on a cost basis for customers. As a result, plant maintenance costs and

plant profitability were no longer guaranteed. The decision regarding outage duration and time of

year were transferred to an outside agency.

The function of the RTO

FERC issued Order 2000 in 1999, creating the Regional Transmission Organizations

(RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs). Outages are now reviewed by the RTOs and

depending on a myriad of factors, outages are approved or modified. This leaves the individual

plant with a defined outage. If the outage exceeds the time approved by the RTO this counts

against the plants availability. Generator Availability Data System (GADS) information is used

to determine the plants Effective Forced Outage Rate (EFORd).

As part of their structure RTOs require individual plants to take part in an auction to

determine which plants will operate and at what cost. There are two main components of this

auction, generation and capacity. If the plant has an attractive heat rate and low fuel cost they can

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be one of the first plants dispatched. If the plant is available they will receive payments for

capacity even though they may not generate. These capacity payments are largely based the

plants EFORd. If a plant has a high EFORd they may even lose their capacity payment. Planning

your outage to ensure all the required work is completed during your available time is now

crucial as it used as a scorecard to determine plant revenue. If required maintenance is not

completed during the planned outage a forced outage may be required.

Risks associated with missing PM work

Regular maintenance of critical equipment is required by numerous agencies that audit or

inspect the generating station. Federal regulatory bodies require testing protective relays and

other equipment that is designed to ensure grid reliability. State agencies mandate tests of

pressure vessels and safety devices that protect the people working within the station. Insurance

companies and other Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) specify functional tests of fire

protection systems that protect property and people.

One example of a FERC required test is functional relay testing. Relays need to be tested

and calibrated to ensure that the grid remains stable. In order to test many of these protective

features the unit needs to be disconnected from the system. If the calibration dates are exceeded

FERC can levy fines for failing to meet their requirements. The plant is then faced with the

decision to take a forced outage or pay a potential fine. With an effective EAM system these

situations can be avoided.

State required pressure vessel testing may include Non Destructive Testing (NDT) of

welds in seamed, high energy piping, dearator tanks, or other high pressure systems. Most

commonly these tests require the units to be offline. In some cases the regulatory agency can

withhold the operating certificate for the unit and force the plant to take an outage to complete

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the tests. Once again the plant is left with a difficult decision. EAM systems provide tools that

can avert this situation.

Fire protection systems are designed to protect the physical assets and the personnel at

electric utilities. Deluge systems for transformers are an example of a system that requires an

outrage for testing. Some AHJs may require that these systems are tested annually. Depending on

where the plant is located, and who insures the station the consequences can vary from

potentially higher insurance rates to fines from the local Fire Marshall. Once again, an effective

EAM system can help identify the parts, people and plans needed to accomplish this work during

the planned outage.

Other penalties

Public perception and the media can play a large role in determining a plants future. If the

failure to complete maintenance leads to an incident, the public image of the company will

change. A fire on the evening news will likely lead to residents complaining about every facet of

the plant operation. Auditors and inspectors from a wide variety of sources will look closely at

many areas consuming plant resources. Marketing efforts to encourage customers to select your

company may suffer as a result and users pick other suppliers.

What is the Objective of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)?

Enterprise Asset Management is the lifecycle management of all physical assets in the

organization in order to achieve maximum productivity. There are many solutions available and

a lot of good information about how to select and implement them. But how do we use them to

avert the consequences of unplanned downtime? Or, perhaps even more importantly, how do we

build the data in our EAM system to achieve maximum uptime? The answer is to utilize the

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Preventive Maintenance (PM) scheduling capabilities of the system, along with all the peripheral

data that supports it, to perpetrate optimum work schedules.

It is desirable to possess volumes

of historical data regarding downtime,

maintenance, costs, etc. to enable easy

reporting and trending. But all that is

irrelevant when production is halted

because we missed the annual Preventive

Maintenance work or we missed the

conditional meter reading that would

have alerted us to take action.

So how can we build a system

that is robust enough to encompass all of

the necessary resources and work plans, but flexible enough to let us move a forecast when we

are given a window to which we must adhere to? Following are some suggestions of key areas

to optimize in your EAM system in your efforts to “beat the devil”.

Know your Allies

If you are the person in your organization chosen to manage the EAM system, you know

you cannot do it alone. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to find out who you need

in your court to make your system effective. The table below is simple yet profound. If you

know who your allies are and which department has the information you need, it will be easier to

gather the data required to create a meaningful and attainable PM schedule. The relationships

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and responsibilities may be different in each organization, but once you figure out the networks,

you can complete the rest of the grid.

Each department will have accountability for specific aspects of the asset lifecycles.

There will be modules, applications, fields, and metrics in your EAM system that will be

distinctly important to each department.

Partner

PM

Optimization

Engineering

Planning

Scheduling

Operations

Inventory

Optimization

Materials

Tasks

� Failure Codes

� Failure

Criticality � Job Plans

� Assets

� Visual

Scheduler

� Priority � Escalations

� M-Spec

� Standardization

� Kitting

Metrics

PMs completed

Downtime

PM vs CM vs EM

Time to Close

Stock outs

Cycle Counts

Manage the Process/Measure the Process

The processes in the EAM system should follow the business processes established for

the organization. It’s not hard to see how all of the measurement points used to monitor

performance can roll up to the next level, or how poor performance in one area can ricochet

throughout the operation to impact a range of other measurements.

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Each department should determine their business processes and how they will measure

their performance prior to developing EAM system workflows and Key Performance Indicators

(KPI). Many EAM systems have a plethora of prepopulated KPI’s built into the reporting

function but will allow for custom KPI’s to be created as well. Below is an example of a

common KPI, Work past target start date, and what it looks like in the system. Other possible

KPI’s could include:

Maintenance Effectiveness KPI’s

• Mean time between failure (MTBF)

• Mean time between repair (MTBR)

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

• Time to complete EM work

• Budget compliance

Maintenance Efficiency and other KPI’s

• PM compliance

• % Corrective maintenance

• Maintenance overtime

• Inventory stock outs (Service level)

• Safety, i.e., Lost time

The list is limited only by the data in the system.

Example: KPI for work orders past target start date

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Example: KPI comparison

EAM for RCM

The data in your EAM

system is readily downloadable

for analysis. Use it to produce

meaningful reports and visual

reliability information to

facilitate good decision making

about where to focus efforts.

See the data analysis below for

examples.

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Example: Corrective and Emergency work decreases as Preventive work increases

Example: Corrective and Emergency work orders per location

116

239 237

277

399

324

194

310

819 22 24 20 14

2 420

5264

110

4025

1333

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL

Wo

rk O

rde

rs

Month

PM/EM/CM Work Reported

PM

EM

CM

Linear (PM)

Linear (EM)

Linear (CM)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

511

601

504

506

507

509

201

401

402

510

505

7531

211

411

182

501

503

204

202

235

122

234

7532

124

231

215

303

123

171

113

413

114

131

141

305

233

502

602

701

121

221

412

514

7541

115

212

224

307

128

166

181

518

7512

# o

f W

Os

Location

CM/EM Work Orders per Location Past (18 mos)

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Streamlining work to attain PM schedule in EAM

EAM System Start Center/Dashboard

A Start Center, or dashboard, is a home page that contains all of the tools and shortcuts a

user needs to enable quick and easy job performance.

A meaningful, usable start screen for each user is the first step to system efficiency. A

user can open the system and immediately see the work assigned to him/her; or a supervisor can

see all of the work the department must complete in the next several days. Maybe the Purchasing

department wants to see all of the new purchase requisitions that need to be approved. Each one

of these possibilities is a step towards making sure preventive maintenance is not missed.

An EAM system provides a Start Center that is configurable by user, user role, or

security group. Below is a list of some of the information and shortcuts that are valuable:

• Navigational shortcuts – links to frequently visited applications or frequently performed

tasks.

• Key Performance Indicators – as mentioned previously, KPI’s are tools to measure the

performance of your business processes

• Result set of frequently queried lists, such as scheduled or assigned work orders

o If a user runs the same query all the time, it should be included.

• An Inbox that lists the users specific workflow assignments of which they can route and

complete.

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Example: Start Center configured for user role

Planning vs. Scheduling

Planning - How something is performed: the act or process of making or carrying out

plans, including the tasks, resources, material and tool requirements necessary to accomplish the

maintenance work.

Scheduling – When something is performed: Scheduling the work for a particular time in

the future by converting a plan into a time-based list or graphic presentation: a written or printed

list: timetable: a procedural plan that indicates the time and sequence of each operation

Not all work needs to be planned. Routine or daily checks do not always need to be

planned, however they do need to be scheduled.

Companies need to identify and define the criteria that specify whether a job needs to be

planned or not. This could be the amount of time and/or cost to complete. In a regulated industry

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such as energy, the more important key factor that implicates planning is the risk of not

performing the work within the constraints set forth by, or as a result of, some regulatory statute.

A business process must be developed and instituted so that work can be approved prior

to and after each step in the progression of the task. The EAM system has the capability of

building work flows with approval nodes at predefined stops in the planning, scheduling, and

completion processes. You can use the EAM program to notify specific people or people groups

via email, as defined in the system security, that an approval is required, reducing the need for

external communication and, ultimately, the time between approvals.

Example: Workflow Process Map in EAM system

Planning work

Planning, whether for a PM work order that will be repeated on a time or condition basis

or a planned corrective/improvement work order, should be a defined process. Companies can

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utilize their EAM system to simplify the process. After the Planner visits the work site, reviews

the work order and determines the basic information, the software allows the user to build an

accurate plan to the granularity desired by the department. This includes:

• The correct tools by job or task

• The correct materials with accurate quantities designated at the job level or the task level

• The correct crafts with proper skills and qualifications assigned to the proper tasks

• Asset and location priority

• The correct duration for each task or the entire job

• Any Safety Plans

Example: Job Plan or SOP stored in EAM system

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Any documents, videos, and drawings that are relevant to the job plan should be “attached” to

the job plan. This puts all vital information in front of the user and will also associate the

information with any work orders that utilize this plan.

Safety Plans provide all necessary information for the user to safely perform a specific

task for a specific asset. The EAM system can be used to create comprehensive safety plans once

and then easily associate the plan with work or a specific asset or location. When you include a

safety plan on a work order, all the information about hazards, LOTO and precautions are copied

to the work order.

Using an EAM to manage work priority

An EAM will use a numerical value to indicate priority for Work Orders, Assets, and

Locations.

An algorithm built into the EAM software will calculate a work order priority to aid in

the scheduling of competing work orders. Note that a calculated priority will always be a larger

number so it is a good idea to limit the values assigned to assets, locations and work orders.

Work orders can inherit the priority of the PM, asset or location.

Priorities can be calculated via an assignment tool. This gives a visual look into the

prioritized work for assignment purposes.

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Example: Setting assignment priorities

Condition Monitoring

EAM systems have the capability of setting PM maintenance schedules based on time or

condition. Resource utilization can be much more efficient if we perform work only when

needed as determined by a continuous meter such as run hours, a gauge type meter such as

pressure, or a characteristic gauge such as thermography. The EAM system can simply alert

someone when a limit has been exceeded, or it can be designed to auto-generate a work order

with the job plan already applied.

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Example: Condition monitoring for gauge type meter

Example: Condition Monitoring for continuous meter

Materials Management

Item Classification (Material specification)

Often there is a general lack of understanding of the criticality of classifying items in our

storerooms. It is too easy to call an item by a name that means something to one person and

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assume everyone else will know what we are talking about. Following are several catalog entries

in one inventory system, all for the same item:

• ASCO Red Hat Solenoid valve 120/60

• 2 way pilot operated general service solenoid valve

• Asco 8210

One example of a proper classification for this item is:

• Valve, solenoid, 2/2, ¾ in., NC, 120V, Brass

It is easy to avoid item duplication and/or loss by following a common taxonomy for all

items in the company’s item master catalog. The best approach is to classify items by Noun,

adjective, attributes. In the example above, the noun is the valve, the adjective is solenoid, and

the attributes are 2/2 for 2 way/2 position, ¾ in for the pipe size, NC for normally closed, 120 V

for the current, and Brass for the body material.

Utilizing the classification feature in

the EAM system makes sense for everyone

who will need to purchase parts, stock them,

or use them. It will create a searchable and

sortable list of items for ease of access.

After the classification is selected, in

the case depicted below we have “Valve,

solenoid”, the EAM system will provide a

list of prescribed attributes to populate. Once

populated, the system will generate the item

description with the desired taxonomy.

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Example: System generated description from predetermined attributes

Inventory Management

Automated Purchase Requisitions

Your procurement department shouldn’t have to wait for someone to tell them they used

the last replacement part. Nor should the maintenance department be responsible for telling the

buyer they have a scheduled outage and will be needing the list of parts for the work order. All of

this is automated in an EAM system along with

• Suppliers and alternates

• Model numbers

• Reorder points

• Economic order quantity (EOQ)

• Alternate parts

• Everything else necessary to streamline purchasing and receiving.

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Example: Inventory details.

Example: Inventory reorder details

ABC Analysis

ABC analysis is a tool used to determine an item’s requirement based on cost and

demand. The EAM system determines the ranking for an item using the price and the number of

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issues per year, then analyzes them against the breakpoints in the system. A report will alert the

users as to which items to cycle count based on this information.

Example: ABC Analysis with breakpoints

Kitting

“Kitting” work, or assembling work kits greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of

the maintenance department. Below is an example of the cost savings realized by implementing a

kitting process and assigning a Material Coordinator. Your EAM system work management

application will enable the Storeroom Attendants to compile work kits so the Technician can

allocate more time to turning wrenches instead of transporting parts.

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Scheduling work

After a job is successfully planned and all parts and labor have been allocated, the work

can be scheduled. Schedule compliance is one of the most important Key Performance Indicators

(KPI) a company can use to measure system performance and work management.

Since maintenance scheduling is finite, the Scheduler is tasked with building a schedule

around available resources.

• Asset and location availability

• Part Availability

• Resource and crew availability

• Resource qualifications

The EAM system can tell the Planner/Scheduler which employees are available and meet

qualifications to be placed on a crew.

Example: Designating work crew

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Labor or crew qualifications are

stored in the EAM system to

protect the Scheduler from

assigning work to unqualified

personnel.

Forecasting Work

How can you maximize work when the production schedule stops now? Wouldn’t it be

great if you could look forward at all of the planned preventive work for the next month or year?

It would be even better if we didn’t have to generate the work orders just to see the projected

work load. This is where the EAM system’s forecasting application comes into play. This feature

allows a planner to accommodate forced outages, reorder the PM schedule, ensure labor, parts

and tool availability and retain the history of the changes.

Example: PM Forecast

The benefits of the forecast are obvious to anyone who has had to deal with a forced

outage or seasonal maintenance shut down period. It helps to manage the backlog and allows you

to pull forward any work that may need to be done in the near future. The added plus is that this

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can be done for both time-based and condition-based preventive maintenance. Subsequent PMs

can be reordered, or they can be left as is, depending on the need.

Improved methods for scheduling work

EAM visual tools allow Schedulers to see all queried work in one place so good decisions

can be made regarding constraints, resources, tools, costs, locations and more. Work can be seen

by task or simply by the parent work order and work dependencies can be managed, such as

predecessors or relationships like finish-to-start or start-to-start.

Example: Gantt view for scheduling

Resource availability can be visualized, including asset, tool and labor availability.

Schedulers can graphically drag and drop assignments to labor resources while validating skill

suitability.

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Esample: Labor availability for load balancing

Documenting Work/Reporting

Lastly, but critical to any EAM system, users must be able to document and report all

work performed and the results of that work

quickly and on demand. Many reports lend

themselves to specified periodic generation,

such as a nightly report of new purchase

requisitions for Procurement or weekly report

of upcoming work for scheduling.

Others will be needed on the spot, such

as PM compliance when an inspector shows

up wanting to see the data. The EAM system

is capable of producing both. Additionally,

reports can be emailed to anyone with an email address in multiple formats, PDF or Excel.

Until now most off-the-shelf maintenance programs came with a certain number of

canned reports. If anything else was desired the services of a Report Developer were needed.

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Now it is easy to create ad-hoc reports and incorporate specific data based on objects in the EAM

system. Below is a screenshot of the possible objects one could include in a report out of the

work management application. No special reporting tools are required, only that you have access

to the program.

Example: Ad-hoc reporting tool

Conclusion

Achieving preventive maintenance schedules with minimum disruption has become a

reality thanks in part to effective EAM systems. By adhering to some of the best practices, such

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as inventory item classifications or job plan accuracy, some of the consequences resulting from

missed work can be avoided. If you are fortunate enough to have an enterprise asset management

system, use it to the fullest extent to streamline work, procurement, scheduling and reporting.

Collaborate with all beneficiaries of the system, manage your business processes with the help of

the system, and, we cannot express enough the importance of using the key performance

indicators to measure the processes.

The End.

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About the Authors

Jacquelyn Chischillie is a Technical Sales Engineer for one of IBM’s

Premier Maximo Partners, Projetech, Inc. After playing the part of a

Maximo practitioner in the highly regulated pharmaceutical environment,

she decided she wanted to demonstrate the capability of the EAM software

to others. Jacquie brings to the table a lifetime of experience in manufacturing, chemical

management, logistics, and business practices. She has been trained in the techniques of Process

Excellence and has developed successful processes in various aspects of an asset management

system including work management and inventory management. Jacquie possesses a degree in

Chemical Engineering Technology from the University of Cincinnati and Business Management

coursework from Miami University, Oxford, OH.

Jim Casey is a Senior Property Engineer for AEGIS Insurance Services,

Loss control Division. He provides Property Risk Assessment and Loss

Control services for numerous Utilities and power plants. He has over 20

years of fire protection loss control experience in the utility and insurance

industries.

Historically, Jim’s responsibilities included providing account management, engineering

risk assessments and consulting for clients involved within the Waste to Energy and Steel

industry for foreign and domestic electric utilities and independent power producers at

generating stations ranging from 20 to 2000 MW.

Jim possesses an Electrical Engineering Degree from Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY.

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References:

Maximo v.7.5, IBM, http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/us/en/maximoassetmanagement/

Maintenance Excellence, Optimizing Equipment Life-Cycle Decisions, Campbell, John D., et al,

2001

Asset Data Integrity is Serious Business, DiStefano, Robert S., et al, 2011