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Performing Risk Assessment when Acknowledging an Alarm

When AssetWise Enterprise Interoperability (AWEIS) is active for the site and has been configured to integrate with an external Anomaly Assessment and Tracking (AA&T) system, you can perform a risk assessment of the problem when acknowledging an alarm.

Note: Support for anomaly assessment is generally available. However, you must first enable feature 108 to use the functionality in APM. In the Enterprise window, select the Features view and the Enabled Features tab. Click Browse, select “Anomaly risk assessment” and click OK. If APM is running as a smart client, click Refresh Enabled Features on the server. Then restart the client to use the functionality.

Note: The site’s risk assessment settings must require that risk be assessed for alarm acknowledgments. For related information about setting up anomaly risk assessment, see Anomaly Risk Assessment Settings.

The alarm acknowledgment and risk assessment process consists of these steps:

1.	An indicator reading is processed with an alarm. This places the indicator and its reading in a state of alarm.

2.	The alarm is acknowledged, and the user selects an acknowledgment method. If the method is “Request for work”, the user provides the information required to complete the request.

Note: Depending on settings in the anomaly risk assessment profile assigned to the site, some acknowledgment methods might not require risk assessment. For example, “Fixed during inspection” might not warrant a request for work, in which case, the Risk Assessment tab does not appear in the Acknowledge Indicator Alarm dialog.

3.	The user assesses the risk based on consequence severities and probability of failure. Once the risk has been analyzed, the user completes the acknowledgment, which can also include scheduling a follow-up reading or adding a new or existing failure record, for example.

4.	If the assessment result specifies it, a request for work and anomaly event are created when the acknowledgment is processed. The anomaly event is used to track information in the AA&T system and APM.

Note: Risk assessment result settings determine if an anomaly event is created for each of the acknowledgment methods. This means that an event can be created for a non-actionable result, for example, “Incorrect reading”.

5.	The anomaly event is published. It is processed by the middleware and sent to the AA&T system. The request for work is held in APM; the anomaly event represents the request in its interaction with the CMMS.

6.

The AA&T system creates the anomaly and notification (for example, if the CMMS is SAP Plant Maintenance), sends the notification to the CMMS (SAP), and sends messages to APM to update the anomaly event and request for work. The AA&T system continues to track the anomaly and communicate changes to APM.

When you acknowledge a warning or alarm, you can record your notes about the problem in Acknowledgment comments. Your name and the date and time when the acknowledgment took place are also recorded. Once the alarm is acknowledged, APM turns off the alarm notification on the indicator and on the asset (if applicable).

When you acknowledge an alarm with a request for work, the document’s description includes the collection note from the primary indicator reading and the acknowledgment notes.

Tip: After creating an acknowledgment, you can view information about it in the site’s Inspection Management view, Readings tab, Acknowledgments tab. This tab lists the acknowledgments by date and includes columns for asset, indicator, reading date, indicator state, acknowledgment method, and status. Double-click an acknowledgment to open its dialog.

This topic explains components of risk assessment, alarm acknowledgments, and requests for work, as well as how to create an acknowledgment and perform risk assessment. It explains:

•	Risk Assessment

•	Anomaly Events

•	Follow-up Readings

•	Failure Tracking

•	Escalation and Automatic Acknowledgment of Alarms

•	Most Recent Reading or Most Severe Unacknowledged Alarm

•	Solution Packages

•	Events or Failure Codes

•	Recommended Tasks

•	Labor Requirements

•	Work Document Characteristics

It explains how:

•	To Start the Acknowledgment

•	To Perform Risk Assessment

•	To Acknowledge the Alarm

•	To Add a Solution Package

•	To Enter Values for User Fields and Reference Numbers

•	To Select Failure Codes

•	To Add Events

•	To Select Secondary Statuses

•	To Add Tasks and Labor Requirements

•	To Request a Follow-up Reading

•	To Complete the Acknowledgment

Risk Assessment

To perform risk assessment, the severity of the consequences of failure must be determined. Consequences are categorized:

•	Economic effects – Financial effect of failure on assets and production. Labor and material costs associated with lost production and with repairing or replacing the damaged equipment are economic consequences

•	Health and safety effects – Equipment failure can cause hazards in the workplace. Examples are extreme temperatures or pressure or noxious fumes

•	Environmental effects – Environmental incidents are an important category to consider when determining overall consequence. Typically, two types of environmental incidents are considered:

•	Release of liquids that may cause soil and water pollution

•	Release of gases that may cause atmospheric pollution

•	Reputation effects – Consequences to reputation measure the impact that negative media attention has on an organization’s ability to operate in good faith. Typically, the severity of bad press is evaluated in terms of how far-reaching it is and how long it takes to mitigate

Each of these consequence categories is assigned a value. The sum of the values in all categories is used in the calculation of the criticality score, along with the result of the probability of failure evaluation.

For more information, see Overview of Risk Analysis.

Anomaly Events

APM creates an anomaly event when the risk assessment is complete, the result is actionable, and the acknowledgment method is “Create a request for work”. Information from the criticality evaluation is copied to the anomaly event.

If the risk assessment result is actionable, the anomaly event is sent to the AA&T system when the acknowledgment is processed. Information, such as event status, is sent from the CMMS to update the anomaly event in APM.

You can view anomaly events in the site’s or asset’s Performance Management view, Anomaly Events tab.

For more information, see Working with Anomaly Events.

Follow-up Readings

When you acknowledge an alarm or warning, you can specify that a follow-up reading is required and a time limit (for example, 10 days). If the indicator’s collection policy allows it, the indicator’s next reading due date is based on the acknowledgment date plus the follow-up time period.

Failure Tracking

If failure tracking is set up in your environment, a failure record can be created automatically when you acknowledge an alarm with a work document, by monitoring, or with the “fixed during inspection” flag. When acknowledging the alarm, you can provide information about the failure, for example, its severity and description.

Escalation and Automatic Acknowledgment of Alarms

Your site can use more than one alarm type with different levels of seriousness, such as warning, alarm, and critical. If this is the case, APM notifies users when an indicator has moved from a less serious alarm state (warning) to a more serious alarm state (alarm or critical).

When you acknowledge an alarm by creating a request for work, if another reading is then entered for the indicator that creates an alarm state, the system does the following:

•	APM checks the work status of the interop work document that was created or updated for the previous acknowledgment

•	If the document’s work status is Closed or Canceled, the alarm is triggered again

•	If the document’s work status is Open, APM checks if the current alarm is of the same severity as the previous alarm

•	If the severity on the new alarm is higher, a new alarm is created for the indicator

•	If the severity of the new alarm is the same or lower than the current alarm, the new alarm is automatically acknowledged (that is, the alarm is not turned on again). Anomaly events, requests for work, and failure records are not created for automatic acknowledgments

For example, a temperature indicator might have a warning flag that a user acknowledged by creating a request for work. As long as indicator readings come in that are within the warning range, APM does not ask users to re-acknowledge the warning. However, if the readings cross over into the alarm range, APM uses the alarm notification feature to warn users of the more serious alarm.

For all other acknowledgment methods, the alarm is turned on again when a new reading is entered that creates an alarm state.

Most Recent Reading or Most Severe Unacknowledged Alarm

The acknowledgment policies for the site determine whether the alarm state of an indicator reflects the alarm state of its most recent reading or that of its most severe unacknowledged alarm.

•

Most recent reading – Whenever a new reading is processed for an indicator that has an unacknowledged alarm, the alarm state of the indicator is re-evaluated and either raised or lowered depending on the value of the new reading. When this happens, the previous unacknowledged reading is marked as missed and the new reading, assuming it’s an alarm, becomes the reading that requires acknowledgment. In situations where the latest reading is a normal one, the indicator alarm is turned off altogether and no acknowledgment is required.

•

Most severe unacknowledged alarm – An indicator’s alarm level can only increase in severity as subsequent more severe readings are entered. It will not be turned off or reduced in severity by a subsequent normal or less severe reading. Instead, the alarm remains in effect until all of the unacknowledged alarm readings for the indicator have been explicitly acknowledged. When new readings are entered, previously entered unacknowledged readings are not marked as missed but remain with an acknowledgment status of either “waiting for acknowledgment” or “Re-acknowledgment required”, as the case may be.

For more information, see Setting Acknowledgment Policies.

Solution Packages

Requests for work can include preplanned tasks in the form of solution packages sent from the CMMS.

When you request a solution package trigger in a request for work, you are telling the CMMS to create a work order from the solution package. You can select one or more solution package levels, steps, and a cycle.

Or you can simply reference a solution package, rather than triggering one. This tells the CMMS that when the time comes to create the work order, it should be based on the solution package. You can add detailed information such as recommended tasks, labor requirements, and a description.

APM supports as many as four levels of solution packages, which you can name according to the requirements of your CMMS or organization. For example, solution package levels could be named Maintenance plan, Maintenance item, and Task list. Levels can be independent or subordinate to higher levels. For example, if Maintenance items (level 2) are subordinate, you must select a Maintenance plan (level 1) before Maintenance items are available for selection in a request for work.

Events or Failure Codes

The Failure code type setting in the site interoperability profile determines whether events or failure codes are available in the request for work. If it is set to Object part, damage and activity codes, the Events tab appears in the Acknowledge Indicator Alarm window.

You can add one or more events that identify the problem the requested work is meant to correct. An event consists of up to four catalog codes: object part group, object part, damage code, and activity code. When you add more than one event, APM calculates the highest priority event by comparing the events’ work priorities, durations, and sequence numbers.

If Failure codes is selected in the site interoperability profile, the Failure Codes tab appears in the Acknowledge Indicator Alarm window. You can select as many as five failure codes from those defined for your organization and enter a description.

Note: To use failure codes in APM, you must first enable feature 46. In the Enterprise window, select the Features view and the Enabled Features tab. Click Browse, select “Failure codes support with AssetWise Interoperability”, and click OK. If APM is running as a smart client, click Refresh Enabled Features. Then restart the client to use the functionality.

Recommended Tasks

You can add recommended tasks to requests for work. A task is identified by its task type, task type group, and title. You can include a description, assign an employee, and set start and end dates.

Recommended tasks are added to the interop work request or interop work order that results from the request for work.

Labor Requirements

You can add labor requirements to the request for work. APM automatically calculates the total duration of effort for resources of the same trade. For example, three electricians for two hours each results in a total requirement of six hours.

Labor requirements are added to the interop work request or interop work order that results from the request for work.

Work Document Characteristics

The reference numbers that you enter on the References tab can appear in the Characteristics tab when the request has been submitted. When the external CMMS is SAP, the reference numbers are added to the notification. To prepare for creating requests for work, be sure to set up classification classes and map sets for work documents.

In some cases, AWEIS returns characteristic values from the CMMS to the interop work request or interop work order. Characteristic mapping is optional for these values.

For more information, see Setting up Characteristic Mapping for Interop Work Documents.

To Start the Acknowledgment

1.	Locate the indicator in the site’s or asset’s Inspection Management view. Select the Indicators tab, By Asset Hierarchy tab. In the list of configurations, select “Indicators currently in alarm”. The indicator’s warning or alarm state is signaled with a flashing icon.

Tip: You can also acknowledge an alarm from these locations:

•	Indicator window – Select the Readings view and tab. Select the reading in the table and click Acknowledge Alarm

•	Indicator Reading or Measurement Point Reading dialog – Select the Acknowledgment tab and click Acknowledge

•	Inspection Report window – Select the Inspection Report view, Readings tab. Select the reading in the table and click Acknowledge

2.	Right-click the indicator and click Acknowledge Alarm. The Acknowledge Indicator Alarm dialog appears. For example:

3.	Select the acknowledgment method. If you select a method that does not support risk evaluation, the Risk Assessment tab is removed from the dialog. (The site’s risk assessment profile determines whether risk assessment is required, optional, or not performed for each acknowledgment method.)

To Perform Risk Assessment

1.	On the Acknowledge Indicator Alarm dialog, select the Risk Assessment tab. For example:

The Asset identification area shows the following:

•	Anomaly asset – The asset on which the indicator reading was recorded

•	Asset – The interop asset. Its counterpart in the CMMS is updated with information about the anomaly event. If the anomaly asset is an APM-only asset, APM searches up the asset hierarchy to find the nearest interop asset and displays it here.

If APM does not find a related interop asset, you must select an asset when the risk assessment is completed.

•	Safety critical equipment – Indicates if the asset’s use involves risk (there is a potential that a mishap could occur, with severe consequences). If this property was set on the anomaly asset, the value is displayed

2.	For each of the consequences, either select a value from the list or click to use the evaluation questionnaire. APM calculates and displays the result in the Consequences box.

For an example of using evaluation questionnaires, see Performing Risk Analysis for RBI Failure Modes.

3.	Evaluate the probability of failure by either selecting a value from the list or using the questionnaire.

APM then determines the criticality score and the risk assessment result. For example:

Note: The criticality value is highlighted with a color chosen by your organization. In this example, the value “High” is highlighted with red ().

Note: If the default risk assessment result can be overridden, a button is available to toggle between actionable and non-actionable:

The result of the assessment is shown in the risk matrix chart.

4.	Add more information in the Recommendations and Anomaly comment boxes.

5.	Select the Details tab:

6.	Provide additional information:

Setting Name

Description

Anomaly type

Failure or anomaly types, along with classifications, allow anomaly events and failure records to be grouped for easy identification. Useful types might be Electrical, Environmental, Mechanical, Operational, Safety, and so on. Examples of classifications are Lubrication, Operator Error, and Installation Defect.

Anomaly classification

Failure or anomaly classifications, along with types, allow anomaly events and failure records to be grouped for easy identification. Examples of classifications are Lubrication, Operator Error, and Installation Defect.

Anomaly severity

Indicates the seriousness of the problem. Three severity types are supported: • Potential: a condition that has been noticed that would result in an actual failure if the problem is not resolved. The actual failure has not yet occurred. Potential failures are normally reported as the result of an indicator reading that has raised a warning alarm against the asset. • Partial: the asset’s performance has decreased to a point where it is no longer performing one of its functions at the specified levels. The asset is still functioning. • Total: the asset’s performance has decreased to a point where the asset is no longer performing at its required level. The asset has completely failed. You can create severities as required for your organization.

Asset risk category

Asset risk categories are defined in Oil and Gas specifications.

Anomaly owner

APM employee associated with the anomaly.

Fitness for service date

Expected date on which the asset will be assessed for fitness for service.

Comment

Additional information about fitness for service.

Failure code

Your organization decides on the number and names for failure codes.

Damage code

Damage codes provide predefined categories to describe asset damage. For example, ARLK for Air Leak. Damage code can be optional when you are adding an event to a request for work. However, if a damage code and activity code are not selected, the event will not have a work priority.

Action

“Action” is an example of a failure code name. Your organization decides on the number, names, and values for failure codes.

To Acknowledge the Alarm

1.	Select the Acknowledgment tab. For example:

The risk assessment result determines the acknowledgment methods available. For example, a non-actionable result might not support request for work.

2.

The Indicator(s) to acknowledge table lists the alarm to be acknowledged. If your site uses the most “severe unacknowledged alarm” policy, the most severe alarm is shown in this table. Select the Readings to Acknowledge tab to view all unacknowledged alarms for the indicator. By default, all of the alarms are selected.

Tip: You can acknowledge an alarm individually by selecting it, returning to the Acknowledgment tab and continuing with the following steps. The alarms that you did not acknowledge remain in affect until they are acknowledged.

3.	Select an acknowledgment method. Possible methods are:

•	Request for Work: Create or link to an existing request for work

•	Monitoring: Indicates that the indicator will be monitored

•	Fixed during inspection: Stating that the problem that caused the alarm was fixed during inspection

•	Incorrect reading: Stating that the indicator reading was incorrect

•	Incorrect alarm: Stating that the alarm settings were incorrect and an inappropriate alarm was triggered

4.

The site’s indicator settings (acknowledgment policies) can specify that the default behavior is to create a failure when an alarm is acknowledged with the selected method. In this case, Create or link to a failure record is selected and the Failure tab appears in the Acknowledge Indicator Alarm dialog. If this option is not selected, you can click it to show the Failure tab and link the acknowledgment to a new or existing failure record. For more information, see Creating a Failure to Acknowledge an Alarm with AWEIS.

5.	If “Request for work” is the selected method, the default behavior is to add a new request for work when the acknowledgment is processed. To reference an existing work document instead, click Link to, select “Request for work”, and select the open document. Skip to To Request a Follow-up Reading.

Note: To acknowledge an alarm with an existing work document, you must first enable feature 49. In the Enterprise window, select the Features view and the Enabled Features tab. Click Browse, select “Ability to link an acknowledgment to an existing work document with AssetWise Interoperability”, and click OK. If APM is running as a smart client, click Refresh Enabled Features on the server. Then restart the client to use the functionality.

6.

In the Work identification area, the indicator asset is selected by default. You can browse for another asset, if appropriate. The asset must be (or be descended from) an interop asset, which means that there is a corresponding object in the CMMS. The asset can be the descendant of an interop asset in the site’s physical hierarchy.

1.	Work information values can be defaulted from a variety of sources, for example, the solution package, work type definition, or highest priority event. You can change these values if needed:

Setting Name

Description

Work title

Title used to identify the work document in lists and tables.

Requester

Employee who is requesting the work.

Create work order

If this option is selected, an interop work order is created in APM when the request is accepted. If this option is not selected, an interop work request is created.

Work type

Work types describe and control the work performed for the interop work document. For example, Inspection and Corrective types allow different activities and usage.

Work classification

Work classifications are used to categorize, sort, and filter work documents. Work types typically list classifications that are relevant to them. For example, the Corrective work type is associated with the classifications “based on inspections”, “modification”, “planned”, and “unplanned corrective”.

Maintenance group

Work planners specify which maintenance group will perform the work defined in a work document.

Work priority

Work priority indicates the urgency of work and the sequence in which it should be completed. For example, “Normal” and “Emergency” might be two priorities used by your organization.

Safety critical

Indicates whether or not the asset or procedure needs to be fail-safe for safety purposes. Possible values are blank, “Yes”, or “No”.

Planner group

Group of employees responsible for planning, processing, and maintenance tasks in a plant.

Operating condition

The operating condition that the asset must be in when the work is performed. For example, if the asset must be shut down to perform the work, you might select an operating condition called “shut down”.

Estimated cost

Approximation of the cost involved in performing the work.

2.	Select start and end dates as appropriate. If the End before date is displayed, it is calculated using the request’s creation date plus the duration of the work priority’s “work to be completed within” setting.

To Add a Solution Package

1.	If you wish to trigger the solution package following the successful submission of the request for work, select Request solution package trigger on the General tab. The Trigger tab is added and the Solution Package tab is removed from the window.

This example is from an organization that uses three solution package levels named “Maintenance plan”, “Maintenance item”, and “Operation”. Maintenance item and operation are subordinate to the levels above them, so they are not available for selection until the level above is selected.

Select the solution package level(s) and cycle, as needed. The lists can be limited to solution packages linked to the current indicator.

2.	If you do not wish to trigger the solution package, select the Solution Package tab and select the solution package level(s) and cycle, as needed.

To Enter Values for User Fields and Reference Numbers

1.	If your organization has defined user fields, the Details tab is available, where you can select the appropriate strings, dates, and options.

2.	If your organization has defined reference numbers, select the References tab to enter values. The tab can contain up to five text boxes where you can enter numbers specific to this request and your organization’s requirements.

To Select Failure Codes

1.	If the site interoperability profile specifies failure codes, the Failure Codes tab appears in the window. This tab lists the failure codes that have been defined for your organization. For example:

2.	Select a value for each failure code.

3.	Enter the failure description.

To Add Events

1.	If the site interoperability profile specifies object part, damage code, and activity code, the Events tab appears in the window. For example:

2.	For each event you wish to add, select the following:

Setting Name

Description

Part group

Part group codes identify categories of assets, for example, pumps or motors.

Part	Part codes identify components for a part group, for example, parts of a pump.

Damage code

Damage codes provide predefined categories to describe asset damage. For example, ARLK for Air Leak. Damage code can be optional when you are adding an event to a request for work. However, if a damage code and activity code are not selected, the event will not have a work priority.

Activity code

Code that identifies the work required. Activity code can be optional when you are adding an event to a request for work. However, if a damage code and activity code are not selected, the event will not have a work priority.

3.	When you have selected the codes, click Add Event. APM adds the event to the “Recommendations from event” table and calculates the highest priority event.

Tip: You can open the Event Properties dialog for an event by double-clicking it in the table. You can also click New to create an event. For example:

To Select Secondary Statuses

1.	Select the Statuses tab. For example:

This tab displays the available secondary status codes.

2.	Select the appropriate statuses for this request for work. Note that if a group’s definition allows it, you can select two or more codes from that group.

To Add Tasks and Labor Requirements

1.	Select the Recommended Tasks tab to add one or more recommended work steps to the request. Click New. The Recommended Task Properties dialog appears:

2.	Define the task by selecting a task type, entering a title, selecting an employee, entering start and end dates, and providing a description.

When the request is submitted to the CMMS, recommended tasks are displayed in the resulting interop work request or interop work order.

3.	To record labor requirements, select the Labor tab.

4.	Select the trade from the list.

5.	Enter the number of tradespeople required. The number might default from the trade definition.

6.	Enter the amount of time needed for each tradesperson.

7.	Click Add. The requirement is added to the table.

Tip: You can edit a labor requirement by double-clicking it in the table to open its dialog. Click Edit and make your changes. Click OK when you have finished.

To Request a Follow-up Reading

1.	If you wish to request a follow-up reading, select the Follow Up tab and select Schedule a follow-up reading.

Select a time period from the Follow up reading is required in list. The indicator’s collection due date changes to the date of the acknowledgment plus the follow-up time.

Tip: To view the next collection due date in the Indicator window, select the Readings view and the Next Reading tab.

To Complete the Acknowledgment

1.	Enter your notes in the Acknowledgment comments box.

2.	Click OK. APM closes the dialog, creates the required objects, and turns off the warning or alarm on the indicator.

Tip: The request for work is listed in the Indicator Reading and Acknowledgment windows, as well as in the asset’s and site’s Work Management view.

3.	Open the Request for Work Properties window to review it. You can select the Source tab to view the acknowledgment and indicator reading.

Tip: You can click Submit from the Request for Work Properties dialog to release the document to AWEIS. Or you can select one or more requests in the Requests for Work tab and click Submit.

When the request has been submitted, you can return to the Request for Work Properties dialog and select the Characteristics tab. Information about the request is displayed in the Source and History tabs. Select the Work tab to view the linked interop work request or interop work order.