{"id":166951,"date":"2010-03-04T17:48:01","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T17:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=166951"},"modified":"2022-01-20T15:16:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T23:16:14","slug":"gis-and-enterprise-asset-management","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/product\/water\/gis-and-enterprise-asset-management","title":{"rendered":"GIS and Enterprise Asset Management"},"author":4661,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23051],"tags":[24491,35861,28881,23101,32421],"industry":[],"product":[],"class_list":["post-166951","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water","tag-asset","tag-sewer","tag-stormwater","tag-water-utilities","tag-work-orders"],"acf":{"short_description":"Relationship between GIS and enterprise asset management and in particular Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Systems","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

One of my favorite topics of discussion is the relationship between GIS and enterprise asset management<\/a> and in particular Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Systems.\u00a0 This discussion happens with increasing regularity as most water\u00a0utilities now have multiple computerized systems that store information about their assets and GIS is part of their system of record for asset information.<\/p>\n

Breaking down silos of information<\/b><\/p>\n

If you think about it, for years utilities have had pieces of information about their assets in multiple places.\u00a0 For example paper as-builts (or perhaps even linens or mylars) describing what was constructed (or should have been constructed), maybe old project records with financial information that describe what it cost to put assets into operation, in other places paper work orders that described the level of effort to keep assets functioning.\u00a0 You could rightfully call these silos of information \u2013 they all may be describing the same asset, with different primary pieces of information (and most likely some overlapping and contradictory information) and perhaps at different times in\u00a0an asset\u2019s life-cycle.\u00a0 There was no interconnection between these information sources and often no senses of which was one was more correct or authoritative.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve now moved into an era where most utilities have taken advantage of information technology (in some form) to store and maintain their information.\u00a0 Instead of manual drafted paper maps utilities use GIS, instead of handwritten ledgers to track payments utilities use billing systems, etc.\u00a0 Common IT systems used at water utilities are billing, financial, workorder (CMMS), GIS, SCADA, CIS,\u00a0LIMS, etc.<\/p>\n

Utilities still have pieces of information about their assets in multiple systems, but now\u00a0they are computerized systems.\u00a0 This means it\u2019s still possible to have different descriptive information about an assets, costs associated with an asset, performance of an asset (perhaps describe by SCADA data or indicated by customer complaints) in multiple systems and that data may conflict.\u00a0 So it continues to be a struggle for many utilities\u00a0that still have to go to multiple systems to get a complete understand of\u00a0their assets and it may\u00a0also be a struggle to know what is authoritative information when data in multiple systems conflict.<\/p>\n

Some utilities are overcoming these challenges by specifying how their\u00a0enterprise IT\u00a0systems must work together.\u00a0 This often takes the form of identifying where data is at a utility, how it\u2019s maintained and then determining how systems should integrate with each other to\u00a0share information and what systems are the \u201csystem of record\u201d meaning they own the data.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to note that you may have multiple systems working together (properly integrated) that form your system of record.\u00a0 So the \u201csystem of record\u201d determination may happen on a field by field basis.<\/p>\n

Enterprise Asset Management<\/b><\/p>\n

The\u00a0interesting thing about enterprise asset management is that it\u2019s both a concept and now the name of a class of software commonly\u00a0used at utilities and facilities.\u00a0 A few years ago a trend started in the utility and facility industry where vendors of workorder and CMMS (computerized maintenance management systems) began to refer to themselves as \u201cEnterprise Asset Management Systems\u201d, reflecting that the systems that create workorders and manage maintenance tasks (both planned and unplanned) rightfully should participate in the enterprise IT environment.\u00a0 But this has also added to a lot of confusion about how assets are really stored and managed in the enterprise IT environment at most utilities.\u00a0 While now called EAM systems, workorders and maintenance tasks are only part of what a utility needs to truly manage their assets.<\/p>\n

From our experience with large water and sewer utilizes, enterprise asset management is something that is only achievable with multiple systems at a utility that are properly integrated.\u00a0 After speaking with many utilities big and small, it seems like what utilities want for enterprise asset management is the use of integrated information from multiple systems to enable a utility to best manage their assets.\u00a0 It\u2019s the best data from each system to describe what an asset is, how it affects others related things (customers, service levels, other assets in your network), what its condition is, maintenance history, cost to build, cost to maintain, criticality, etc.\u00a0 That data should be maintained in a way that it\u2019s created or maintained one time and then stored in the appropriate system in a way that\u2019s transparent to users.\u00a0 So enterprise asset management as a concept is really the ability to access and use the right pieces of information (and that information needs to be descriptively and temporally accurate and authoritative) from enterprise IT systems at a water utility.<\/p>\n

GIS, Enterprise Asset Management and EAM Systems<\/b><\/p>\n

So how does GIS play a role in enterprise asset management?\u00a0 Spatial location is typically the one common aspect among all of the data at a water utility.\u00a0 We can understand the relationship between customers and distribution or collection system assets by their spatial location and interconnection.\u00a0\u00a0 A map is often the easiest way for humans to aggregate many sources of data together to visualize them all and understand how they affect each other.\u00a0\u00a0 When we spatially enable our utility data we can then use the analytical power of GIS to gain a better understanding of how our assets are performing and how they affect our level of service and our customers.\u00a0 From years of working with utilities, we\u2019ve seen GIS consistently be the gateway where large amounts of asset data enter a utility and where its basic characteristics (location, size, installation date, material, etc) is maintained.\u00a0 So maps from GIS are the place to visualize, analyze and explore many pieces of asset related data and also enable you to propose ways to manage your assets better (maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement) and understand the impact.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, when you look at how modern EAM systems (workorder & CMMS) are implemented at water utilities, they almost\u00a0always have a GIS integration component that includes a toolbar in desktop GIS to keep assets in sync between the GIS and the\u00a0EAM and also uses server based GIS to give a spatial view of assets and workorders to utility staff that are dispatching and managing workorders.\u00a0 So the way EAM systems are integrated with GIS underscores the concept that enterprise asset management is about utilizing the best information from each system that stores data about assets.<\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":4661,"user_firstname":"Howard","user_lastname":"Crothers","nickname":"Howard Crothers","user_nicename":"hcrothers","display_name":"Howard Crothers","user_email":"hcrothers@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/solutions.arcgis.com","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:16:15","user_description":"Howard leads the Esri team developing ArcGIS Solutions for electric, gas, water, 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