Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/879866
Engineering data o ers beacons of light As the water and wastewater sectors' thirst for information throughout a project's lifecycle, leveraging digital engineering models has never been more critical. Bentley Systems' Cyndi Smith reveals all. management at the fore of this strategic process. Connecting IT, OT (operational technology), and ET (engineering technol- ogy) is now o ering a potential way of reaching this goal. A key driver enforcing a totex approach in water and wastewater utilities is the lack of complete and accurate engi- neering information captured during capital expenditure that serves as feed for the oper- ating expenditure cycle. This is important as owner-operators require information from all phases of the project lifecycle to be useful in the asset man- agement or maintenance man- agement systems when the asset reaches handover. To improve data quality and accuracy, an emergence of disruptive technologies is helping to deliver the right information to the right teams, at the right time over the entire project lifecycle. The advent of digital engineering models used during the capital phase of pro- jects have allowed for greater leverage of asset performance modelling, which has provided ways to reduce costs, improve collaboration, and enable asset optimisation for operations. These digital engineering mod- els have not had a prominent role in operations as of yet. There is a huge amount of information related to assets that can be leveraged at di er- ent phases of a project, such as asset speci€ cations, precise geo-coordination, con€ guration management, cost information, ONSITE ASSET MANAGEMENT An emergence of disruptive technologies is helping deliver the right information at the right time over the project lifecycle. detailed component informa- tion, and recommended mainte- nance and repair information. Engineering data is not the only potential for reducing totex. As OT leverages the Indus- trial Internet of Things (IIoT) with operating systems and sen- sors to produce huge quantities of data, the need to make this data usable and secure is fast becoming mainstream in its out- reach and adoption. OT data has initiated a convergence with IT systems, which has yet to yield signi€ cant gains. At Bentley, we see the critical importance of leveraging the engineering data in order to yield signi€ cant gains. Asset management systems that allow a convergence of IT, OT, and ET data will help bridge the gap between data formats to make infrastructure assets more powerful, eƒ cient, and reliable by exploiting the Big Data potential. Enhanced by the power of the cloud, digital engi- neering models are evolving toward an upgrade to the IIoT: digital engineering tools that go beyond observing and monitor- ing the asset's performance to modelling its desired behaviour to produce better outcomes. Water and wastewater utili- ties have been a step ahead of other industries in exploiting the potential for ET and OT data to be better utilised. IIoT and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) so‰ ware have had a harmonic conver- gence of their own in enriching the oversight value of data ana- lytics for treatment, distribu- tion, and collection facilities. Engineering departments E ngineering € rms and owner-operators in water and wastewater utilities are constantly looking for better ways to reduce the total cost of infrastructure projects. To meet this end, many are taking a total expenditure (totex) approach to managing and operating their water and wastewater infra- structure assets. As demand for new infra- structure grows, owner-opera- tors are looking to improve how they manage and mitigate the risk associated with large capi- tal projects. To do this, water and wastewater utilities need to converge the right technology, the right policies and a new, creative method of interaction in order to extend and enhance the life of an asset with asset A huge amount of information related to assets can be leveraged at di• erent phases of a project 10 WET NEWS OCTOBER 2017 "The advent of digital engineering models used during the capital phase of projects have allowed for greater leverage of asset performance modelling, which has provided ways to reduce costs, improve collaboration, and enable asset optimisation for operations" Cyndi Smith