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Indicators, Types, and Value Categories

An indicator is an APM object that lets you record data that you can measure on your equipment. Using indicators, you can monitor equipment performance or condition. For example, typical indicators on a car include the engine temperature gauge, the odometer, the brake system warning light, and tire condition.

An indicator type is an APM object that defines basic settings for groups of indicators. When you create an individual indicator or indicator template, you must select its indicator type. The indicator’s value type and unit of measure categories always come from the indicator type.

Each indicator type has one of four value categories that describe how an indicator reading is obtained or represented:

•	Descriptive – Asset condition is described using a qualitative value, for example, New, Slightly worn, and Worn

•	Numeric – Asset condition is represented by a number with a unit of measure. Examples are pressure and flow. Calculated and performance indicators are also numeric indicators

•	Cumulative – Readings track a value that changes over time, such as an odometer. Examples are operating hours, mileage, and fuel consumption

•	Rule-based – Indicator readings are either “true” or “not true”, based on a combination of factors, usually readings from other indicators

Indicator types ensure that the correct value and unit of measure categories are used for individual indicators. For example, if you create a “mileage” indicator type and select “miles” as the unit of measure, users can only create mileage indicators with length measurements. APM prevents users from creating a “mileage” indicator that has readings in gallons. However, a user could create a “mileage” indicator that collects readings in kilometers. In addition, because mileage is a cumulative value type, users cannot change the value type in mileage indicators to descriptive.

More specific indicator information, such as the list of possible values for descriptive indicators, is defined on the indicator template or on the indicator itself. This is so that you can use the same indicator type for different kinds of equipment. Rules for rule-based indicators and calculations for calculated indicators are also defined on the indicator template or on the indicator itself. To create an indicator type for calculated or performance indicators, select the numeric value type.

Descriptive Indicators

An indicator is descriptive if it has a distinct set of qualitative values that can be detected but cannot be measured in numbers. For example, if you have an indicator that measures tire condition, a list of possible values for the condition of the tires could be “Good Condition,” “Slightly Worn,” or “Threadbare.” You can select an alarm type (such as “Warning” or “Critical”) for possible values.

Descriptive indicators can be collected manually, using online data collection, or using a formula. Measurement points are available for manually-entered descriptive indicators.

When you create a descriptive indicator, you must enter the possible values that it can have. You can assign any of these values to alarm states. If you have more than one non-alarm state, you can specify which state is the default normal state for indicator readings. If you wish, you can suggest standard jobs to be performed when the indicator is in an alarm state.

For more information, see Creating a Descriptive Indicator.

Numeric Indicators

An indicator is numeric if it records any value within a finite or infinite interval. For example, an indicator that measures temperature or pressure is numeric. Numeric values can go up and down over time. Today’s reading might be either higher or lower than yesterday’s reading. You can count, order, and measure numeric data.

You can set up states and alarms for numeric indicators. Indicator states and alarms can provide additional information to maintenance staff about the meaning of the current value of the indicator.

Numeric indicators can be collected manually or by an online data collection device. You can also create indicators that generate calculated readings based on the readings of other numeric indicators.

Measurement points are supported for manually-entered numeric indicators. Measuring the condition of certain assets such as piping requires taking two or more measurements to arrive at a reliable reading for the indicator. In the case of an indicator that measures the wall thickness of a pipe, four to eight measurements are commonly needed at different locations around the circumference of the pipe. The location on the asset at which measurements are taken is referred to as the Measurement Location, while the points around the asset where the individual readings are taken are called Measurement Points. Once the values for each of the points is recorded, they can be aggregated to derive a value for the Measurement Location. For example, the lowest value might be selected or the average value.

Numeric indicators can also be used to track degradation rates on assets. The degradation rate is used to determine the remaining life (time), remaining degradation allowance (for example, thickness), end-of-life date, and next inspection date for the asset.

Calculated Indicators

A calculated indicator is an indicator that has its readings calculated using a formula, rather than entered manually by a person or electronically by an on-line system.

You can set up a calculated indicator to record information about an asset condition that is not directly available from a measuring device on the asset. For example, you could set up a calculated indicator to measure the efficiency of a pump. Because this is difficult to measure directly, you can create a formula that uses other indicators on the pump that you can measure. You can set up numeric, cumulative, and descriptive indicators as calculated indicators. You can use data from other asset indicators or from APM objects as part of the calculation.

For more information, see Introduction to Calculated Indicators.

Key Performance Indicators

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of indicator used to measure and communicate the performance of an organization, an individual, or an asset. For example, a KPI could be used to measure the percentage of work orders that are completed for a particular maintenance group or planner or for a particular asset.

APM comes with a comprehensive set of KPI templates that you can use to create performance indicators relevant to your organization. You can also create performance indicators from scratch.

For more information, see Introduction to Performance Indicators.

Cumulative Indicators

An indicator is cumulative if it tracks a value that increases over time, such as an odometer. The current reading on a cumulative indicator is normally either the same as, or higher than, the previous reading.

You can collect readings for a cumulative indicator in one of two ways: as an accumulated value (the value over the lifetime of the indicator) or as a consumed value (the increase since the last reading).

For example, an odometer tracks the total number of miles that a vehicle has traveled over its lifetime. This is an accumulated value. When you enter a reading for an accumulated indicator, APM updates the indicator with the new reading. If the old life-to-date value was 40,000 miles and the new reading is 45,000 miles, the current life-to-date value is 45,000 miles.

On the other hand, you could have an indicator that keeps track of the total number of gallons of gas consumed over a period of time. In this case, you would enter the number of gallons that have been used since the last entry. This is a consumed value. When you enter a consumed value, APM adds the new entry to the previous life-to-date. For example, if the old life-to-date value is 445 gallons and the new reading is 22 gallons, the current life-to-date value is 467 gallons.

If you use cumulative indicators in triggering rules, you can set up early warning states for them. For example, you could create a triggering rule that says “trigger every 5000 miles, with early warning 500 miles in advance.” To do this, you must add a daily average calculation to the indicator setup.

Cumulative indicators can be collected manually or by an online data collection device. You can also set up cumulative indicators to “cascade,” or send their readings to indicators on other assets.

For more information, see Cascading Cumulative Indicator Readings.

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Resetting Meters

You can reset the value of an accumulated, cumulative-type indicator, such as an odometer that measures the total number of miles traveled over the vehicle’s lifetime.

If the indicator is on a component location, you might want to reset its value whenever a new component is installed.

For more information, see Resetting an Indicator.

Daily Averages for Cumulative Indicators

You can add a daily average calculation to any cumulative indicator. APM uses the daily average to evaluate the early warning clauses in standard job triggering rules and to predict when the next standard job will be triggered. In the calculation, APM only counts days that the asset had an “operational” asset status.

You can also choose to have the system trigger standard jobs based on projected indicator readings when the PM Generation method is run. The system uses the daily average for cumulative indicators to make the indicator reading projections.

APM can record either one daily average for the indicator or a separate daily average for each standard job that has a triggering rule that uses the indicator. For the second option, this means that every time an indicator reading is entered, APM calculates the average units per day since the last work order for the standard job was closed. Calculating the daily average in this way takes into account any large increase or decrease in usage since the work order was closed.

If you choose to have a daily average for the indicator, you can either enter the daily average for the indicator or you can have APM calculate it for you. If you have not yet entered very many readings for this indicator, you might want to first enter an estimate of the daily average and then switch to a calculated average later.

For more information, see Creating a Cumulative Indicator.

Initial Values

When you create a cumulative indicator, you might need to enter its initial values (for example, the current odometer reading). Once you begin collecting readings, they are added to this initial value. The initial values that you enter here do not affect the triggering of standard jobs. Initial values can only be entered once. You can also enter the initial values after you have created the indicator. However, once a reading is entered for the indicator, you cannot enter initial values.

For more information, see Creating a Cumulative Indicator.

Primary Cumulative Indicator for an Asset

A primary indicator is the cumulative indicator that APM uses to show statistical information about the asset where it isn’t possible to show the values for all of the asset’s cumulative indicators.

For example, on the site’s Assets view, the Life-to-date tab shows the life-to-date value of the primary indicator for each asset.

If an asset has cumulative indicators, APM automatically selects the first cumulative indicator that was created to be the “primary” indicator. You can also select an asset’s primary cumulative indicator.

For more information, see Selecting a Primary Cumulative Indicator for an Asset.

Rule-based Indicators

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.

For more information, see Creating a Rule-based Indicator.