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Looking for specialized software
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Author:  Stathol [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Looking for specialized software
Ok, I'm looking for a particular type of software, and I don't really even know what you would call it (or if it exists).

What we need to be able to do is create an electronic information system that ties together graphical, schematic data with operations and maintenance manuals, maintenance logs, etc. This would be for a water or wastewater treatment plant. I.e., the user can browse through the various schematics and block diagrams and click on a part -- let's say a pump -- and have that link to the pump diagram, shop drawings, maintenance manual, maintenance logs, etc. for that particular pump. Operational data might also be connected to it.

The system I'm describing is similar to an "HMI system", which is frequently paired with SCADA systems. Ex. Wonderware, but the focus is more on the informational side than on actually controlling the plant operations. That is, something to replace an old-fashioned stack of O&M manuals.

It's also similar to some kind of customized GIS system, only the graphical portion tends to be schematic/diagrammatic more than geographical. Although some of it (yard piping, etc.) probably would be (or could be) geographical.

I believe that software of this sort is used for aviation maintenance techs, who can't very well carry around an entire book shelf when doing maintenance, but so far, it looks like all of the software for that purpose is very specific to aviation. The concept is basically the same, though.

Any ideas? This is one of those areas where civil engineering crosses over into industrial systems. Being not directly involved with either, I'm way out of my element here. But it "has to do with computers", so I've been ah... recruited into trying to find a solution ...
Author:  Corolinth [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Looking for specialized software
Let me see if I understand what you're looking for.

Building floorplan, maybe a copy of the blueprints. You click a room and it opens a list of equipment in that room. Each item entry hyperlinks to a copy of the operator's manual and the maintenance history. Perhaps also lists upcoming scheduled maintenance.

Am I missing anything?
Author:  Katas [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Looking for specialized software
I think I saw such software… in a copy of Iron Man.

Specifically, in this:

http://ironman.wikia.com/wiki/Iron_Manual_(1993)
Author:  Stathol [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:23 pm ]
Post subject: 
Corolinth wrote:
Let me see if I understand what you're looking for.

Building floorplan, maybe a copy of the blueprints. You click a room and it opens a list of equipment in that room. Each item entry hyperlinks to a copy of the operator's manual and the maintenance history. Perhaps also lists upcoming scheduled maintenance.

Am I missing anything?


That's more or less it.

Theoretically this could be done with DHTML, or even maybe just pure HTML/CSS if you're willing to use the <map> tag (blecccch). But the problem there is that the final product needs to be not only easy to use, but easy to modify and maintain by entirely non-technical people. Some kind of CMS would need to be in place, in other words. But I don't know of any CMS that's really designed to be used like this.
Author:  Corolinth [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'll ask my father.
Author:  Stathol [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks. I appreciate it.

I'm kind of hoping something like this already exists. It's the sort of thing that must pop up in all sorts of industrial scenarios, but several hours of searching hasn't yielded much fruit.

Merely assembling an electronic, hyperlinked O&M manual is nothing particularly difficult, but integrating it into a diagrammatic graphical information system is beyond my ken. Given enough time, I could probably jury-rig something with ArcGIS and its Python extensions, but it wouldn't be cost-effective, and I'd rather not "repurpose" software like that.
Author:  Corolinth [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
Have you determined that this type of software package definitely exists for aviation? It seems like a rather small stretch to tell the software you have a water treatment plant-shaped airplane, and put in different equipment.
Author:  Stathol [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've heard that this sort of things exists for aviation mechanics, but I haven't actually seen it myself.
Author:  Corolinth [ Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Looking for specialized software
There is a program called Revit that sounds like it does what you're asking for. Here is a website: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=3781831&siteID=123112. I'm told they already have a fairly sizable database of equipment and manuals from major equipment manufacturers like Carrier and such, and that you can just drag and drop the desired piece of equipment into the room. The 2011 release of AutoCAD is also supposed to support a database for building equipment.

If Revit does not suit your needs, do a Google search for BIM or Building Information Management.
Author:  Stathol [ Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:21 am ]
Post subject: 
Ah, so that's what Revit does. You'd think I'd be more familiar with Autodek's product line. That sounds pretty close to what I'm looking for. I'll mess around with a "demo" version and see if it does what we need .... Actually, being AutoCAD-centric would probably not be a bad thing in this case, either, since all of our design work is in CAD.

As for 2011 building equipment, I'm not sure what that refers to. When I get into the office Monday, I'll take a look around. I haven't seen anything like that, but I'm not intimately familiar with all of its aspects. Anything that's in vanilla AutoCAD ought to be in Civil3D too.
Author:  Corolinth [ Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Looking for specialized software
I should have used a different term than "building equipment," but I was in kind of a hurry. Boilers, chillers, air-handlers, fans, backup generators, transformers, water pumps, water heaters, etc. - all of the "stuff" that you put into your building to make it a building rather than a giant box. 2011 was meant to reference the upcoming build of AutoCAD. Their latest release or their upcoming release is supposed to incorporate a database for all of the equipment that goes into your project.

After talking to my father (designs and builds hospitals), I walked away with the impression that this type of software is a big deal in building construction. There is a major push to incorporate some type of building information modeling (I heard my father say management, but the Revit page says it's modeling) into construction projects. It sounded to me like the demand was mostly on the part of the customer, but I can see where a design firm would find it handy as well.
Author:  Stathol [ Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Looking for specialized software
Corolinth wrote:
It sounded to me like the demand was mostly on the part of the customer, but I can see where a design firm would find it handy as well.

This is more or less true. We don't need any of this for design purposes. But part of the service of designing a water or wastewater treatment plant is providing O&M manuals so that the customer can actually use it.

We're just trying to solve the problem that traditional manuals (even in electronic format) are a pretty clunky way of doing things when you get right down to it. This is particularly true over the entire life of the plant, which is designed to accommodate future expansion -- adding additional clarifiers, pumps, etc. Revising O&M manuals (and making sure that no old information is floating around out there somewhere) is a PITA.
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