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Creating a Rule-based Indicator

A rule-based indicator is an indicator whose current state is determined by a rule rather than by a direct reading. The rule is made up of clauses based on the current state of other indicators that, when considered together, can indicate the existence of a problem. APM uses “and/or” logic to evaluate the rule clauses that make up each rule.

For example, consider an indicator on your vintage car called “Service Engine Soon.” The purpose of this indicator is to let you know that your car engine is due for a tune-up. The indicator comes on when a certain number of conditions that your car measures on a regular basis exist together. For instance, the indicator light might come on if all of the following conditions are true:

•	The car’s exhaust emissions are measured to be higher than normal

•	AND the suspended particles in the engine oil are over a specified amount

•	AND the car’s miles-per-gallon ratio is below normal

APM evaluates the indicator rule whenever a reading is entered for any of the indicators named in the rule. When the rule is logically true, the rule-based indicator goes from being in a normal state to being in an alarm state. The severity of the alarm that gets raised depends on what is defined for the indicator. For example, in the previous example, the alarm might be a simple warning to take the car in for service.

You can prevent APM from evaluating a triggering rule if one or more of the contributing indicator readings are outdated. For example, you can say that all of the indicator readings included in the rule must have been collected within one day of each other. This is called the “required proximity” of the indicator readings.

Whenever an indicator reading is entered for an indicator that is included in the rule, APM records a reading for the rule-based indicator. The reading includes the date and time, if the alarm was triggered, and information as to why it was triggered. This includes information about the states of all the indicators that were used in the rule. If the indicator readings that contributed to the rule were collected on a checksheet or on a work order task, the resulting rule-based indicator reading is also shown on the checksheet or work order task.

When you create a rule-based indicator, you must create the rule clauses that make up the triggering rule, and then select an alarm for when the rule is true.

To Create a Rule-based Indicator

1.	Open the asset that needs the indicator. Select the Inspection Management view, Indicators tab.

2.	Click New. The Create New Indicator dialog appears.

3.	Select From scratch and click OK.

4.	The Indicator window appears. For example:

5.	On the Properties view, General tab:

•	Enter a name for the indicator. The name should describe what is being measured, such as “Pump Failure.”

•	Select a rule-based indicator type from the Indicator type list. When you select a rule-based indicator type, the Type of value box says “rule-based.”

The window changes to reflect the rule-based value type:

The collection method is “Evaluated based on a rule”.

6.

On the Collection tab, you can enter values that determine how often readings are expected and the next collection date. You can also enter information to make it easier to select this indicator when adding indicators to a work order task or standard task, when copying indicators to another asset, when setting up dynamic inspection routes, or when implementing reliability programs.

If you are creating the indicator from a strategy development analysis (MTA2, RCM2, RBI, CPR), the searching values (frequency, regulatory frequency, trade, operating condition, maintenance group, and technology) are automatically copied from the associated action plan, if the analysis’ indicator settings allow it. In this case, you need only verify the values.

Note: Any changes that you make to the searching values are not copied to the indicator’s associated action plan.

Review and select values, as appropriate:

Setting Name

Description

Frequency

Select the expected frequency with which the readings should be collected. This information is used to select indicators in lists and as matching criteria on dynamic inspection routes for standard tasks. Note: A frequency must be selected if the indicator is to use a collection window based on a percentage of its frequency.

Regulatory frequency

Interval between inspections as mandated by the appropriate regulatory agency.

Trade

Select the trade that is normally responsible for collecting readings for the indicator. This information is used to filter lists of indicators.

Operating condition

Select the operating condition that the asset must have before readings can be collected for it. This information is used to filter lists of indicators.

Maintenance group

Select the maintenance group that is normally responsible for collecting readings for this indicator. This information is used to filter lists of indicators.

Technology

Select the PdM technology used to collect readings from the indicator. This information is used to filter lists of indicators.

Tip: If the technology is linked to an asset type that is used to collect indicator readings, you can identify the measurement device on indicator readings and checksheets.

Inspection type

The type of inspection to be performed on the asset, for example, “Intrusive” or “Out of service”.

Inspection effectiveness

This value provides a measurement of the thoroughness, sensitivity, and efficiency of the inspection strategy, which can then inform your assessments of confidence and probability of failure.

Collection sequence

Enter the sequence number to be given to the indicator when it is added to a standard task. The sequence number suggests the order in which the indicator reading is to be taken. This default sequence can be changed on the standard task.

Collection group

Collection group is one of the properties that can be assigned to a route asset on a standard task’s dynamic inspection route. Collection groups are typically used for large assets whose indicators are read at different points in the route. For example, indicators could be split into two groups: front and back indicators. The front and back of the asset might be visited at different times on the route or even on different routes (standard tasks).

Collection set

Collection set is one of the matching criteria that can be used to select indicators for a standard task’s dynamic inspection route. You can create collection sets as required by your organization to identify indicators for different routes.

Bar code

If your organization uses bar codes to identify employees, assets, indicators, or areas, enter the bar code here. The number must be unique for all objects that support bar codes. For example, an employee’s bar code might be his employee number with the prefix “E”.

External ID

The short name for the indicator. This is an optional value that does not need to be unique for the asset. The default value is copied from the indicator name.

Map coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates of the indicator. Note: By default, the map coordinates are automatically populated with the coordinates of the asset to work on. Note: Latitude can have values ranging from -090.000 to +090.000. Longitude values can be from -180.000 to +180.000. For values outside these ranges, APM will accept the values and adjust accordingly. For example, a longitude value of +200.0 will translate to -160.0 on the map.

7.	To specify the months during which readings should be taken, select the Seasonal tab. Click This indicator is collected seasonally and select the starting and ending dates. For example:

Reading due dates will reflect the seasonal settings.

8.	Select the Rule tab.

9.	On this tab, set up a triggering rule. A triggering rule consists of one or more clauses. To create a clause for the rule, click New. The New Clause dialog appears.

10.	Make sure that the asset in the On asset box is correct. If necessary, you can change it by clicking the browse icon.

11.	From the Indicator to use list, select an indicator to use for the clause.

12.	In the Trigger area, select whether the clause is evaluated based on the state or the value of the indicator. For a temperature indicator, for example, the rule clause might be triggered when the indicator has a value of 30º or when the indicator is in a “warning” state.

13.	In the Operator list, select how the clause is to be evaluated. There are six possible operators: Equal to, Not equal to, Greater than or equal to, Less than or equal to, Greater than, and Less than.

For example, for a temperature indicator, the rule clause might be true when the indicator value is “Greater than or equal to” 30º.

If the rule clause is based on indicator states, the rule clause might be true when the indicator has a state that is “Greater than or equal to Warning”. In this case, the clause is true when the indicator is in a Warning state or in any other state with a severity greater than the Warning state, such as an Alarm state.

14.	If you selected to trigger based on state, select the appropriate state from the list. If you selected to trigger based on value, enter the trigger value.

15.	If you are entering the second clause or a subsequent one, select the clause’s relationship to the previous clause. Select And if this and the previous clause must be true for the rule to be true. If you select OR, only one of the clauses must be true for the rule to be true.

Brackets are supported implicitly in APM. If you have more than two clauses, APM assumes that there are brackets around the parts of the rule on either side of the OR operators.

For example, if the rule says: Clause 1 AND Clause 2 OR Clause 3 AND Clause 4, APM evaluates it as (Clause 1 AND Clause 2) OR (Clause 3 AND Clause 4).

16.	To save the clause and close the dialog, click OK.

17.	To add another clause, repeat steps 9 to 16.

18.	Select an alarm for the rule in the Type of alarm to raise when this rule is true list.

19.	If necessary, you can change the Required Proximity of the rule inputs. By default, APM sets this to be 1.00 day. If any of the inputs are outside of the required proximity time, APM does not evaluate the rule.

Note: Required proximity is only applicable if two or more calculation inputs are based on indicator readings and use the most recent reading in the input.

Select the Candidates tab. On this tab, you can suggest standard jobs (APM), solution packages (AWEIS), standard tasks, and templates to users who are acknowledging alarms or warnings. When users acknowledge alarms or warnings for the indicator, APM prompts them with the list so that they can create work orders.

Note: If you are creating the indicator during a strategy development analysis (MTA2, RCM2, RBI, CPR), the action plan’s corrective tasks and jobs are automatically added to the indicator when the action plan is marked “Implementation Completed”.

20.	To add a corrective job (APM), solution package (AWEIS), or task to the list, click Browse. Select the item that you want to add, and then click OK.

21.

Select the Options tab and the Work Orders tab. On this tab you can have APM take “snapshots” of indicators for the asset that is being worked on for a work order task. This means that APM records the current state of the indicator at the time that the work order task is created, when it is closed, or both when it is created and closed. Select the appropriate options in the Snapshots and Snapshot timing areas.

22.	Select the Description tab to add more information about the indicator.

23.	When you are finished, close the Indicator window.