Piping Specification Maintenance and Management
Specification and Catalogues
Summary
This service offers our clients a complete and high-quality solution for managing specification and catalogue data over the longer term. Typically, an initial Piping Specification Writing project is initiated and completed delivering the specification and catalogue set required for a project or purpose, after which smaller changes and additions are required.
TecSurge applies tight quality, change and revision control processes over the specification data, ensuring changes are only made after appropriate approvals are obtained, and are delivered promptly according to a well-defined Service Level Agreement (SLA). The service can reduce project execution risks by ensuring all users of the data are working from the same controlled source information.
Differentiators
- Proficient in all 3D modelling environments such as AutoCAD Plant 3D, Bentley OpenPlant and AutoPLANT, Intergraph CADWorx, Smart 3D and PDS and AVEVA PDMS and Everything3D
- Centralised, dedicated, expert management of critical specification data that may be distributed to multiple, independent, distributed target systems and teams
- Thorough quality control and testing ensures deliverables are fit for use
- Guaranteed response and delivery times governed by SLA
- Deliverables available as full snapshots or incremental/delta as required
Deliverables
The primary deliverables from this service consist of data files which can be imported directly into the target plant design systems, such as:
- Excel bulk load sheets for Smart 3D
- PCD, PMC and description library text files for PDS
- SPECON load files for PDMS/E3D
- Pspx, pspc, pcat and dwg files for AutoCAD Plant 3D
- Microsoft Access database files for OpenPlant and AutoPLANT
As revisions of specifications are produced and issued, these deliverables may be generated in either full snapshot form, or in incremental/delta form as required.
Work Process
The central element of the work process for this service revolves around the approvals which must take place before any requested changes to specifications or catalogue data are implemented. Client approval contact points and requirements are identified at service initiation, after which change requests may be submitted by authorised users to the TecSurge service centre, using email, phone or our self-service portal.
Once a change request has been submitted, the approvers are notified via email that their approval is being sought, and can provide their feedback via email, self-service or verbally. Upon approval, the requested changes are implemented, quality checked and consolidated into change packages, from which specification revision files are generated and distributed to all recipients.
The impact of implemented changes can be assessed and analysed by reviewing the included reference data change report (or where applicable, other specific purpose reports such as a To-do List report).
Quality Assurance
Quality of specification change deliverables is ensured by utilising a combination of in-house automation, standard source and target system functionality, and special purpose specification testing tools.
As an example, TecSurge will often extract bulk load sheets from an updated S3D catalogue database, and use automation to compare with previously issued revisions of bulk load sheets to ensure all additions, modifications and deletions are identified and propagated to the end users.
TecSurge guarantees that the specification deliverables issued are 100% ready for use in 3D modelling systems, and accurate according to the source engineering and dimensional data provided by the customer.
Getting Started
There are two typical scenarios for which the Piping Specification Maintenance service is ideally suited:
- Where an engineering organisation (often a PMC) has a requirement to manage piping specifications for multiple sub-contractors and partners for a major project
- An owner-operator has a requirement to maintain and supply piping specifications for ongoing capital works, often distributed to different contractors across multiple facilities
In either case, the service is initiated with a handover of the existing piping specifications and a clarification of change control and approval procedures. In addition, a SLA is prepared governing the guaranteed delivery timeframes for each type of specification change. The recipients of the service deliverables (i.e. revisions of piping specifications) are also defined up front, but may change as new projects begin or are completed.
In many cases, the customer is using a materials management solution such as SmartPlant Materials, and specification revisions are implemented in the system directly. In other cases, no automated system is in place, and specification data is maintained more directly.
To understand the scope of the work, we typically ask a series of questions, such as:
- What is the estimated type and frequency of revisions expected?
Why: Allows TecSurge to estimate the resources required to deliver the service. - What is the target delivery time for revision issue?
Why: Faster delivery requirements may require increased service resources. - What software should be used for specification maintenance?
Why: Automated systems such as SmartPlant Reference data can increase efficiencies in some circumstances. - What are the target systems for the specification data?
Any combination of PDS, S3D, PDMS or other systems may be selected.
If this service describes your situation, and you’re able to provide the engineering inputs and answers to the questions listed here, contact us today for a Piping Specification Maintenance quotation.