4. THE INFORMATION FLOW
This brief chapter describes the flow of information within the company. They come from different source, using different supports, at different moments of the ILI process, and their path is not formalized in a unique document. The aim of this chapter is, thus, to clarify and to document this pathway to give a base to understand problems and on which work.
After the first exploration of the topic get by the information gathered, the candidate has created a concept map of it, writing down the related aspect in a free-flowing diagram. The map can help identifying potential approaches to the task or different viewpoints.
Figure 1 Concept map of the task at the stage 1
The first thing that emerges from this first phase, is that a clear map of the information flow does not exist, this means that there is not any paper or electronic format document that describes this process.
For this reason, the first action undertaken by the candidate has been to build a document that would illustrate the path followed by all the critical parameters. These information are, in part, contained in the Analysis procedure but the aim of this action is to create it as an independent process.
The first step in this direction is to better understand the path followed by the information all along the ILI process. This has be done talking and asking questions to, at least, one person for each function involved.
To all of them, the candidate has been asking general questions about his function and about the process of management of the parameters.
Doing this, it has been possible to see clearly when a parameter goes into the process and where it comes from. It has been also possible to identify the source of the parameter.
The main matter to deal with in this operation has been the limited knowledge for each phase about the work of the phase afterwards and backwards. Any person who has been interviewed has no general idea of the process but just a view about the part under his responsibility.
In the following are listed the questions inquired. They have the aim of understanding the flow of the information (first group) and finding out the main problem loaded on the process (second group).
• What information do you receive to do your work
• What information do you need to collect • What is the next step when you finish your
work
• Do you need eDelivery
• How can the process of getting parameters be improved?
• What do you do if there are missing information?
• What do you do if you identify a mistake in e-Delivery?
People interviews are from Sales, ComOps, Project Manager, Support tech, Field Crew, Data Control, Analyst Leader.
The outcome of this activity has been shown in the following graphs. Figure 18 presents the main actors involved in the process and the information exchanged between them.
The documents presented in the graph are the mains sources of information that people use in PII to store and find out information about the job.
In Figure 22, instead, the graph has been completed by adding information about the main problems highlighted during the discussion with the employee. These query are written down within the blue square and they will be briefly outlined below.
SALES
CLIENT
COMOPS
PROJECT MANAGER
WORK SHOP FIELD CREW
DATA CONTROL ANALYST HANDOVER MEETING BID KICKOFF MEETING IT O O T R PIPELINE QUESTIONNAIRE (PQ) PQ PQ PQ COMPLETED - SYSTEM SETTINGS - BUILT LIST REPORT
LOG BOOK -W O R K IN G F IL E -Q M S W O R K IN G F IL E C O M P L E T E D - LOG BOOK - TAPE
Pipeline Questionnaire is the first document whom the client gets in touch with. Thus, when the client asks for technical information or a quotation, it has to be filled in the whole form.
PQ is made up of several sections that fall into two categories: General information, where the client provides information about his contract, location of the pipeline and technical feature and PII service, where the client specifies what kind of service he is asking for and gives more technical information about the Pipeline. The areas inside the sections are displayed in figure 19.
The figure shows the Contact Details, Health Safety and Environment Details and Section Details contained in three main tabs namely Contacts, HSE and Sections.
The Contacts tab will Show Contact Information in its sub tabs – Client Contact Information, Pipeline Owner Information, Agent Information and Other Information.
HSE will show Health, Safety and Environment Information.
The “Health” tab shows Personal Projective Equipment, Water/Food/Medical test details and Information on weather, customs and restrictions.
The “Safety” tab shows Risk Assessment, Trainings, Permit, Access and Exposure details
The “Environmental” tab shows the Steam Cleaning Methods, Waste Disposal Procedure and Consents.
The “Sections” tab will show all the Pipeline sections, the pipeline information, services, subsections, pig trap details, Pipefitting details, History and General Information.
The “location” tab shows the pipeline number, the launch and receive location details. The “Services” Tab shows the list of Services that are offered for this pipeline section. The “Sub Section” tab shows pipeline sub-section details.
The “Product” tab shows the product details during inspection and operating details. The “Pig Trap” tab displays the pig trap details.
The Int. Fittings” displays the Launch and Receive details of internal fittings The Pipe Fittings” displays Pipe fitting details.
The “Fitting Details tab” has four blocks namely: Valve Details, Bend Details, Tee Details, Connection details.
The “History” tab shows previous pigging and previous history.
Figure 3 PQ screenshot
In total PQ comprehends 241 parameters.
All the information included inside the PQ are inserted in eDelivery, in the PQ section of eSales, by Commercial Operations (ComOps) who has also the task of looking for the missing parameters. The source that they can use are the client itself or information coming from previous contacts with him.
When all the information are collected, and the contract has been signed, it can be handed over to the Project Manager.
4.1.2 PIP
The Project Information Package (PIP) is the document that the PM filled in using all the technical information about the PIG. Using the data from PQ, he has to decide the configuration and the setting parameters of the tool, with the support of Maths and Physics. These functions, called Support Functions, establish some technical parameters as consequence of operating details and
several weeks depending on if people are at work, how busy they are and when the inspection vehicle needs to be ready by.
The PIP is the referred point for the Workshop to find all the information needs to build the tool. System setting and built list report are reports automatically produced by eDelivery using the information in the PIP. They are the only source of information in eDelivery about the settings and the composition of the tool.
4.1.3 LogBook
The LogBook is a document that records all the information about the composition of the tool. It is made up of several parts, any of them with its own settings and parameters. This information will be useful to the field crew in case that a maintenance action is needed on field and for the DC to establish the processing parameters.
The LogBook contains lots of information and it is transferred to the field crew on a electronic support like pen drive or memory stick. It contains different sections with different responsibilities: one for the PM, one for the workshop, splits in electronic part and mechanical part, and one for the field crew. Any part is filled in at different stage of the process and this is why the LogBook can be seen like an agenda of all the technical activity of preparation and run of the PIG.
4.1.4 Working File
Working file is a form built by DC when it receives a tape. It contains the parameters used to process the data and any other information useful for the analyst, received from the fields crew about the run, like photos or additional notes.
Working file records any action made on the data and follows the contract until the end of the analysis, when it comes back to the data control desk to be transferred in eDelivery and the paper copy to be destroyed. Any job can not be assigned to an analyst without its working file, so it contains very valuable information on the analysis purpose.
4.1.5 QMS
QMS is a document that sets out the criteria for assessing inspection data and is structured on carrying out a series of sequential checks to determine data quality with respect to providing deliverables in accordance with contractual requirements.
The checks should be carried out on at least three sections of the data: (some meters after the launch, some meters before the receive and in the centre of the pipeline. Additional checks can be made for any sections of the pipeline if there can be data quality problems.
Quality Metric System is an essential step in the analysis process and must be completed throughout the analysis process. The QMS must be updated at all stages during data analysis. The QMS calculates a Data Quality score based upon the information entered regarding the amount of data degradation. This ‘score’ gives an indication of the ‘quality’ of the data which must be analysed by the Analysis Team. Figure 10 shows the first page of the form.
The problems brought to light are:
• Point A: when a client asks for a quotation it is clear that the more information he gives, the more correct the answer will be by PII. On the other hand, the client probably will be in touch with more than one company and he will have to fill in more than one form like that. Furthermore, the information required are technical and specific and it takes a long time to investigate if the information is not known. The result is that the PII presents more than 60% missing parameters on the first contact with PII. To solve the lack of information, salesmen have to ask at least a set of parameters, that is indispensable to formulate a quotation. This list of parameters contains just critical parameters and depends on the stage where the bid phase is. At the first stage it includes just general information, just what is necessary to establish if the pipeline is unpiggable or not. Instead, before signing the contract, more information are required, in order to define the right amount to pay and to do the right risk assessment about the job. Making the wrong decision at this stage may cause large economic or not negative effects. This is why the parameters are critical and are missing, and why this phase requires more time than scheduled.
• Point B: Looking for the missing information requires a lot of time and to get in touch with the client isn’t very easy, sometimes they don’t understand the importance of the information to provide and takes a long time to give them to PII.
• Point C: Problems related with the logbook are that the document goes through three different functions without any timing. This means, for example, that workshop doesn’t know deadline or priority unless the PM tells that expressly. Moreover, the transmission of the document has not to been recorded, so that sometimes it gets lost. Finally, the logbook contains duplication of some data and often the automatic update doesn’t work properly so that it is necessary to insert twice the same value or at any rate, checks all the automatic updateable fields.
• Point D: The minimum amount of information that the Data Controller can receive from the Field Operations is, for each inspection run, a
o copy of the inspection data (inspection tape{s}),
o Project number and client’s name,
o Pipeline details – identification number, launch and receive locations, Inspection run number, date of run, vehicle configuration details, Maglogger location and trip time information (where applicable).
All these information are required for processing the data and they can be missing but often they are incorrect, and the Data Controller has to wait to process the data and give them to the analyst.
• Point E: Prior to commencing, the following information shall be in place for both the current inspection and previous inspections, as applicable:
o Metal loss features verified to ensure genuine features.
o Ensure wall thickness segments and sentencing parameters are correct in the data. When they are not in place, analyst have to contact PM and wait until the moment they are available. Moreover, if the job has already got delays because of the previous phases, analyst has to start an analysis with temporary parameters to make up with the delay, and to reanalyze part of the job once the parameters are available.
E: Analyst can not analyzed the data If critical parameters are missing D: Every incorrect of missing information Required to contact PM of Field Crew because with missing parameter DC Is unable to process the data
C: The logbook contains a lot a duplicated information. Looking for the missing information in the PIP takes
a long time
B:ComOps looks for al the Missing Information from the client and this takes lots of time A: PQ needs hundreds of parameters and usually the client doesn’t fill in all SALES CLIENT COMOPS PROJECT MANAGER
WORK SHOP FIELD CREW
DATA CONTROL ANALYST HANDOVER MEETING BID KICKOFF MEETING IT O O T R PIPELINE QUESTIONNAIRE (PQ) PQ PQ PQ COMPLETED - SYSTEM SETTINGS - BUILT LIST REPORT
LOG BOOK -W O R K IN G F IL E -Q M S W O R K IN G F IL E C O M P L E T E D - LOG BOOK - TAPE ComOps completes the
PQ with all the data gathered in the previous
phases
- PM check the information and add technical information with the support of SF - PIP contains all the tech information
DC checks LogBook against eDelivery, Process Data with technical parameters
Analist filled in Data Analysis Checklist and
QMS Q M S P R E L IM IN A R Y /F IN A L R E P O R T
