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Chapter 7 Communication with External Systems Rev 10/18/06 Overview RBMview communicates with various external information/enterprise systems including Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS). Communications with these external systems is accomplished by using text file transfers. This automatic transfer of equipment condition information is a timesaving measure and helps link pertinent information about machine condition to work order requests. Only equipment condition information stored in the RBMview database is transferred to the CMMS system. No data from the RBMware database is transferred to the CMMS system. This means you can document, trend, and communicate all of the various details on machinery health to report accurate asset conditions, advise appropriate actions, and prioritize and plan daily maintenance operations. RBMWare’s critical communication capability supports your asset reliability measures, sharing knowledge with your entire facility. To setup RBMware to communicate with an External system requires the following steps:

I. Setting up the RBMview database to Interface with an External system II. Using the Asset Mapper to “map” RBMware machines to the External

system III. Submitting Work Requests to External System

Each of these steps is described later in this chapter. The complete specification for RBMware’s communication with External Systems is provided in section IV. External Information Interface Specification

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I. Setting up the RBMview Database to interface with an External System Setting up this information involves: 1. Opening the CMMS preferences tab in RBMview 2. Setting the default schedule interval 3. Setting the idle work request interval 4. Choosing the type of connection with the external system 5. Configuring the CMMS link To begin setting up RBMview to communicate with external systems, change the settings in the CMMS tab on the Preferences dialog box of the RBMview application. To access the RBMview preferences, select Preferences from the Tools menu. In this dialog box, you determine the way that the CMMS Link operates

Default Schedule interval (in days):. By default, a work request that is submitted to an external system is requested to be completed within two weeks. To change this, enter a value in the Default Schedule Interval field. Idle Work request Timeout interval (in days): RBMview is able to close out work requests that have not been acted upon by an external system. By default, after no activity for 28 days from the date the work request was submitted, the work request will be closed out. Change this value

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in the Idle Work Request Timeout field if you want outdated work requests to be cleaned up after a shorter or longer period of time. There are three ways to communicate between an external system and RBMview. The options are:

Manual Work Order and Cost Entry: With this method, RBMview does not communicate with external systems and the RBM analyst manages the work order information using paper work orders. The analyst manually enters the information into RBMview. Enable ASCII File CMMS Link: This method uses text files to communicate with an external system. The external system must parse the files and interpret the data. When the external system is sending work order information to RBMview, the external system outputs a text file that is parsed and interpreted. For details, see the External Information Interface Specification at the end of this chapter. CSI recommends using this method. Enable ASCII Fixed Format CMMS Link: This method uses text files to communicate with an external system. Each record is on a single line and space delimited. A Windows -style initialization file, CMMSLINK.INI, must be created to indicate each field to be sent and received and the length of each field.

Output All Fields – This option is only selectable when Enable ASCII File CMMS Link is selected. When this option is enabled, a POSTED.DAT file is created, all possible fields will be exported instead of only the fields that have data.

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For both of the ASCII File formats, you must configure the details of the CMMS Link by clicking on the Configure CMMS Link button. A dialog box with a path and a value is displayed.

Cycle Time (sec) – This cycle time value is the time in seconds between when RBMware looks for information to process. A value of 120 indicates RBMware will check for information to transfer to and from the external system every two minutes. Enforce field size limits - This check box tells the interface to use the specified field sizes defined in the specification when importing information back into RBMview. CSI’s CMMSLink Database - Click on the BROWSE button to select the CSIMXSQL.MDB file. This file is located in the RBMSUITE\CUSTDATA directory. All of the necessary information to make the CMMS interface work is stored in this file. Ensure these values are correct and select the OK button. NOTE: To activate the external file system connection in RBMview, you must fully exit RBMware and restart the RBMware application. After you restart RBMware, RBMview will begin looking for data to send and receive as long as RBMware is running.

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II. Using the Asset Mapper to “map” RBMware machines to an External System RBMview uses the Asset Mapper function to “map” or create a correspondence between assets (as labeled in the external system) and RBMware equipment and components. Typically the name of the asset in the CMMS system is different from the RBMware equipment ID. The RBMware equipment must be mapped to the correct Asset ID so that the work orders will be created on the correct Asset in the CMMS system. The Asset Mapper can be invoked in three ways:

- From Status at a glance – Asset Mapper tab - From the Case history manager – Select Tools – Assign CMMS names - By submitting a work request on a piece of equipment that does not have CMMS

names mapped

The CMMS Names can be assigned manually by selecting the Add New Name button.

Type in the CMMS name and click on OK.

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The new CMMS name is assigned as shown in the CMMS Assignment(s) for the Currently Selected Node window above. To remove the assignment, click on Remove Assignment or you can select Modify Name to modify the name of the assignment. NOTE: Multiple CMMS names can be mapped to the same RBMware piece of equipment. Typically in RBMware, the equipment is setup as a machine train with the “driver” and the “driven” component on one piece of equipment. However, in an external CMMS system, the components may be defined as individual assets. If multiple CMMS names are assigned to one piece of equipment, the user will be prompted to select the actual CMMS name that the problem is to be submitted on when a work request is created. For a large number of assets to be mapped, RBMview supports importing a tab-delimited text file to make the assignments. Each line of the text describes one mapping. The line must be formatted as:

EXTERNAL_NAME\tRBM_DB\tAREA_ID\tEQUIPMENT_ID Where: \t is a tab character

EXTERNAL_NAME is the asset name in the external CMMS system

RBM_DB is the RBMware database name

AREA_ID and EQUIPMENT_ID are the RBMware database Area ID and Equipment IDs that correspond to the same piece of equipment in the CMMS system.

An example is:

AS-1222-AB/tRollerA.RBM/tArea 1/tEquipment 1

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After this file as been created and saved (usually in the default CMMSDATA directory), the file can be imported into RBMview by using the Asset Mapper. Click on the Import CMMS Names to display the window shown below.

To import, select a database server from the list. CSI recommends you process the aliases against all database servers in the list. Localhost is the default entry for the database server running on a local user system. Click Pick File to select your tab delimited text file.

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Highlight the file and click on Open to return to the Import CMMS Names shown below

The selected file name will appear as shown above.

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Next, click Process to import the CMMS names. The names are imported into the correct RBMview database. The import results window shows the results from the import. If there are any errors, they will be listed in the import results window. Click on Close to see the results of the imported CMMS names.

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The current CMMS assignments will be shown in the window as seen above. NOTE: That it might be necessary to close the Asset mapper window and reopen to “refresh” the display of the new CMMS names. A third way to Assign CMMS names is to import the names from the external system and then assign the names manually from the available names shown.

As before, select the Import CMMS Names.

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Next, select the Pick File option to select the text file that contains a list of the Asset IDs from the external system. This text file can be created from the External System by exporting the Asset IDs to an ASCII Text file. NOTE: If the RBMware-MAXIMO interface is used and the interface has been configured to Query the MAXIMO equipment list, then a file called EQUIP.TXT will exist in the CMMSDATA directory by default. This EQUIP.TXT can be imported as described below. Then select Process to import the available Asset IDs. The IDs are imported and the results are shown in the Import results section of the window.

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Click on Close to return to the Asset mapper window shown below. The Imported CMMS names are shown in the Available CMMS Names section of the window. To make an assignment, highlight the CMMS name and select the corresponding RBMware equipment shown in the right hand pane and click on Assign. The resulting assignment will be shown in the CMMS Assignment(s) for the currently selected node window as shown below.

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III. Submitting Work Requests to External System

After a problem has been created in RBMview, click on the Work Request button as shown above. NOTE: Recommended Actions must be defined on the problem before the work request can be submitted. An error will occur if no Actions are defined.

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If the equipment has already been mapped with the Asset Mapper, the above screen appears. If the equipment has not been mapped to a CMMS name, the following window will appear:

Click on YES to invoke the Asset Mapper. (See II. Asset Mapper section for more details.) Notice that this example has two assets assigned to the RBMware equipment. Select the CMMS name that this problem is related to and click on Submit. A work request will be created and the necessary files generated for the External system to pick up the information. Details of this file format is explained in the External Information Interface Specification section at the end of this chapter.

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Shown above is a sample work order that was generated by an external CMMS system. Any changes that occur to this work order in the external system will be transmitted back to RBMview in the Work order area (ie. The Work order status will change, work done field may change, actual and estimated dollar values will appear, etc)

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IV. External Information Interface Specification

Overview

This section defines the text file data exchange between an external system and RBMview. This interface was designed by CSI, for its RBMware product line. External information/enterprise systems are for managing and controlling work, schedule, and maintenance tasks. These systems can work well with a Reliability-Based Maintenance (RBM) system when told what maintenance functions are to be performed, and when. CSI holds that an EIES system should not be responsible for equipment condition data (e.g., vibration, oil, thermographic data). These systems should only respond to an expert analysis of the data. The external system cannot replace the functionality and value of an expert analysis system.

Process

The process of data exchange starts with an RBM analyst diagnosing a problem with the equipment. The analyst then logs an entry indicating the problem, a schedule priority, and corrective actions. This entry is then sent to the external system as a work order request (or some other appropriate type of request for the system). When this request is acted upon in the external system, a response is sent back to the RBM system so the analyst will have current information regarding the problem and any actions taken. Data transfer is achieved by using standard ASCII text files. The POSTED.DAT file contains events generated by the RBM system for the external system. SCHEDULE.DAT contains events generated by the external system for the RBM system. A table of EIES equipment names and their corresponding RBM equipment names allows mass loading of aliasing information into an RBM system. Note: By default, RBMview places the POSTED.DAT file in the CMMSData directory and expects the SCHEDULE.DAT file to be in the same directory.

Accessing Rules and Formats

File Format Definitions

Data is transferred between systems by standard ASCII text files. All characters available to the currently running operating system language may be used in the data fields of the text files. The identifiers, however, cannot be different from what is detailed below. Each line is terminated by a carriage return (0x13) and line feed (0x10). Events are defined to be individual actions taken by a system. Each event will have a block of information stored in the appropriate interface file. Each block will begin with an identifier, contain specific information, and be terminated by a termination line.

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File Access Protocol

To ensure that data is transferred correctly, the following conditions are to be followed by the external system and RBMware.

· The external system is responsible for processing the POSTED.DAT file and for deleting any entries processed. Typically this means the external system processes all entries and deletes the POSTED.DAT file. If a POSTED.DAT file is found in the CMMSData directory, the new information RBMware is sending is appended to this file.

· RBMware is responsible for processing the SCHEDULE.DAT file and deleting any entries that it processes. The external system must place the SCHEDULE.DAT file into the CMMSData directory.

Note: If there are any errors in reading the SCHEDULE.DAT file, RBMware will create a SCHEDULE.ERR file with the entries that were not processed. Fix the errors in the text file, or external system, and rename the file to SCHEDULE.DAT. At the next interval, RBMware will process the file again.

To insure proper access to the data transfer files, the following protocol has been implemented. This involves steps to be followed by both the RBM and CMMS systems to help eliminate lockouts and to maintain prompt response by both systems. The RBM system processing of SCHEDULE.DAT is defined as follows. Rather than opening SCHEDULE.DAT, the RBM system will rename SCHEDULE.DAT to SCHEDULE.LOC and process SCHEDULE.LOC. This will make it very unlikely that the CMMS system will have a collision with the RBM system since the CMMS system always writes to SCHEDULE.DAT. Therefore, the steps to be taken by the RBM system are given below. 1. Check for SCHEDULE.ERR. If the file exists a previous critical problem has not been

resolved. Abort processing of schedule info. 2. Check for SCHEDULE.LOC. If the file exists, skip the next step. 3. Rename SCHEDULE.DAT to SCHEDULE.LOC. If this fails, wait and retry again. 4. Process SCHEDULE.LOC. If an error occurs, create a SCHEDULE.ERR file containing

details of the error and abort. 5. Delete SCHEDULE.LOC. The CMMS system processing of POSTED.DAT is defined as follows. Rather than opening POSTED.DAT, the CMMS system will rename POSTED.DAT to POSTED.LOC and process POSTED.LOC. This will make it very unlikely that the RBM system will have a collision with the CMMS system since the RBM system always writes to POSTED.DAT. Therefore, the steps to be taken by the CMMS system are given below. 1. Check for POSTED.ERR. If the file exists a previous critical problem has not been

resolved. Abort processing of posted info. 2. Check for POSTED.LOC. If the file exists, skip the next step. 3. Rename POSTED.DAT to POSTED.LOC. If this fails, wait and retry again. 4. Process POSTED.LOC. If an error occurs, create a POSTED.ERR file containing details

of the error and abort. 5. Delete POSTED.LOC.

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Currency Format Specification

Currency or cost values are an important part of Work Orders. Each currency value will be of the form:

xxxxx.xx with a maximum of 16 characters.

Date Format Specification

Dates are required and must be passed between RBMview and the external system. The format for passing dates is:

"DD-MMM-YYYY" where the DD is a 2 digit day of the month, the MMM is a 3 character abbreviation for the month, and the YYYY is the full representation of the year. The following is the list of acceptable month abbreviations:

JAN FEB MAR

APR MAY JUN

JUL AUG SEP

OCT NOV DEC

An example of a correctly formatted date is 22-AUG-2000.

External Systems and RBMview Communications

Equipment Aliasing See II – Asset Mapper for details of how to invoke the Asset Mapper in RBMview.

RBMview to EIES Protocol

RBMview generates Work Request events.

Work Requests

Work Requests provide a method for RBMview to send a request to the external system requesting work to be scheduled. When a RBM Analyst finds a problem, the analyst

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generates a work order request to be processed by the maintenance group. Work Requests are placed into the POSTED.DAT file. The following information is passed to the external system:

WorkRequest ID: Bad Equipment ID Case ID: B3CA Survey Date: 08-DEC-2005 WO Date: 12-DEC-2005 Analyst: Administrator Problem: Improper air flow Findings: Hot Findings: Abnormal thermal profile FindingIDs: 2019 FindingIDs: 2002 Actions: Check fan for proper operation Actions: Ensure mtr is not over lubricated ActionIDs: 5031 ActionIDs: 5110 Extend: IR Fault Image: \\RBMsuite\CustData\Example\IRImages\v4708007.jpg Priority: 0 Fault type: 120 Fault Text: Improper air flow End Each of these items is discussed in the table below. Not all of the items are required. The third column of the table indicates ‘req’ for required and ‘opt’ for optional.

Work Request

Literal String Req This is the block identification key.

ID 1-253 bytes Req The equipment ID as defined by the EIES or CMMS Case ID 1-4 bytes Req This is a unique Case identifier for the RBM system. This

value must be saved with the Work Order information and sent back to the RBM system to identify the proper Case to modify.

Survey Date Date Opt This date is when the equipment was last monitored. WO Date Date Opt This is the date that the EIES or CMMS should try to

schedule the work order for Analyst Text string Opt This is the ID, usually initials, of Analyst calling the

problem. Problem Text string Req This is a short description of the problem with this

equipment. Findings 0 or more lines

of text strings Opt This provides more information regarding the problem at

hand. It describes things that were observed that indicates the fault condition.

FindingIDs 0 or more lines of numeric values

Opt This is the ID number associated with the Findings string.

Actions 0 or more lines of text strings

Opt This describes the recommended actions to take to correct the problem.

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ActionIDs 0 or more lines of numeric values

Opt This is the ID number associated with the Actions string.

Extend 0 or more lines of text strings

Opt This provides more information regarding the problem at hand. It is where a more detailed description of the problem can be given.

Memo 0 or more lines of text strings

Opt This describes the memo field. This field is used to give more detailed information about the problem.

Image 0 or more lines of text strings

Opt Each line gives the UNC path to an image that supports the problem and/or the actions.

Priority 1 character Opt This is a code indicating urgency of problem. These codes are configurable in the RBM system and should be set to match what is defined in the external system. Note: Priority is a 1 character field therefore Priority 10 can not be sent as “10”. Priority 10 is sent as “A”

Fault Type numeric value Opt This indicates the type of problem found. This value might be used to indicate the type of corrective action in the external system.

Fault Text Text string Opt This is the text string associated with the Fault Type as defined above.

End Literal String Req This is the block termination key. Note: For double-byte languages (e.g. Chinese, Korean, Japanese) the lengths of the text fields are in bytes not in characters. It is possible that the trailing byte of a pair may be truncated. Note: As new fields may be added in the future, the external system should ignore field types that it does not recognize. A warning may be issued by the external system but the work request should still be processed. Work Order Information There is only one type of event that an external system sends to RBMview. Work Order entries detail what activities are being performed on a work request or whether the work request was cancelled or rejected.

Work Order

Literal String Req This is the block identification key.

ID 1-253 bytes Req The equipment ID as defined by the EIES or CMMS. This can be a specific field in the external system or a combination of fields to uniquely define a piece of equipment. It will be stored by the RBM system and used for comparison purposes. It should be descriptive as well. If it is a composite of many fields, the external system should know how to break it up (the RBM system will only display it).

Action One of: · “Posted” · “Update” · “Completed” · “Cancel”

req The action to be taken for the work order.

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· “Not Scheduled” Case ID 1-4 bytes req This is a unique Case identifier for the RBM system.

This value must be saved with the Work Order information and sent back to the RBM system to identify the proper Case to modify.

Survey Date

Date opt This date is when the equipment was last monitored. This value is no longer used. However, it is still included for backward compatibility and will be ignored by RBMview.

WO Date Date opt This is the date when the work order is assigned. This is not required but should be specified when the work order is first posted to the RBM system.

WO Number

1-32 bytes opt This is the work order number. It is not required but should be specified when a work order is first posted, and is recommended for follow-up work order information.

Status 1-35 bytes opt This is a status line describing the current state of the work order. This may be used with the "Update" action to tell the RBM system that a part has been ordered and we are waiting for delivery.

Audit One of: · “Acknowledge” · “Approve” · “Schedule” · “InProgress” · “Complete” · “Close” · “Cancel”

opt This allows more specific information about the action to be given. It signifies the state of the work order in the CMMS system. It may be used to indicate the tracking of the work order through its life cycles in the CMMS system.

Analyst 1-32 bytes opt This is the name or ID of the person that performed the audit type activity specified in this work order block.

Work Done

0 or more lines of text strings

opt This is usually used when a work order has been completed to inform the RBM system what work was actually done.

Extend 0 or more lines of text strings

opt This is free-form text to be used for any other textual information.

Labor Currency opt The actual labor cost to repair the equipment. Parts Currency opt The actual cost of parts to repair the equipment. Down Currency opt The actual cost of the down time for repair. F Labor Currency opt Estimated cost of labor to repair the equipment if it is

allowed to fail before it is repaired. Note – Space after “F”

F Parts Currency opt Estimated cost of parts to repair the equipment if it is allowed to fail before it is repaired. Note – Space after “F”

F Down Currency opt Estimated cost of down time during repair or the equipment if it is allowed to fail before it is repaired. Note – Space after “F”

Scrap Currency opt The actual cost of production material discarded due to outage.

Power Currency opt The actual power cost Other Currency opt The actual cost for other miscellaneous items Rental Currency opt The actual rental cost

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FScrap Currency opt Estimated cost of production material discarded due to outage. Note – No Space after “F”

FPower Currency opt Estimated cost of the power. Note – No Space after “F”

FOther Currency opt Estimated cost of other miscellaneous items. Note – No Space after “F”

FRental Currency opt Estimated cost of the rental. Note – No Space after “F”

End Literal String req This is the block termination key.

Note: Currently CSI is only able to import work order information which is in response to a work request created by RBMview. At this time, CSI is unable to accept unsolicited work order information. Contact CSI for more information. Note: For double-byte languages (e.g., Chinese, Korean, Japanese) the lengths of the text fields are in bytes not in characters. Information sent to RBMview must take this into account. Note: As new fields may be added in the future, the external system should ignore field types that it does not recognize. A warning may be issued by the external system but the work request should still be processed.

There are 5 work order actions defined above. When the external system receives a work order request which must be rejected for some reason, the external system must respond to the RBM system with a work order event of action, Not Scheduled. This will inform the RBM system that no action will be taken on that equipment. Comments can be sent to give the reasons for rejection. These comments will be displayed in the Case History of the equipment:

Work Order ID: Dummy Equipment ID Action: Not Scheduled Case ID: A98D Survey Date: 04-DEC-1992 Status: No Work Done Work Done: Train to be taken off-line in Work Done: 2 weeks for major overhaul. End

When the external system receives a work order request and creates a work order, a Posted work order event must be sent. The Posted action requires the WO Date and WO Number fields to be sent as well. Other comments can be sent via the Extend field.

Work Order ID: Bad Piece of Equipment Action: Posted Case ID: 12CF Survey Date: 04-DEC-1992 WO Date: 06-DEC-1992 WO Number: 123-01-372 Audit: Schedule Analyst: John Doe Status: Schedule for repair on 21-DEC-1992

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Extend: Replace Inboard Bearing; Extend: Examine Outboard Bearing; Extend: Examine Shaft End

After a work order has been posted, there may be a need to update the RBM system information. This is done using the Update action in a work order block.

Work Order ID: Equipment Running Rough Action: Update Case ID: 0BA4 Survey Date: 04-DEC-1992 WO Number: 123-12-254 Status: Waiting on Parts F Labor: 3999.00 F Parts: 4999.00 FScrap: 6999.00 FPower: 7999.00 FOther: 8999.00 End

When work has been completed, update the RBM system with a work order event of Completed action. With a completed event there should be Work Done fields and possibly cost fields. These are not required, but should be entered if available. The WO Date field has a special meaning in the event. It indicates the date the work order was completed. A completed work order event might look like this:

Work Order ID: Equipment to Fix Action: Completed Case ID: A123 Survey Date: 05-DEC-1992 WO Number: 123-21-011 Work Done: Replaced Inboard Bearing; Examined Shaft; Work Done: Precision Alignment Done. Labor: 523.65 Parts: 248.95 End

If a work order is posted to the RBM system, and later needs to be removed, the Cancel action is needed. An explanation for the cancellation is recommended, but is not required. Costs may have occurred even though the work order was cancelled. These costs may also be added.

Work Order ID: Equipment ID Action: Cancel Case ID: 450D Survey Date: 05-DEC-1992 Work Done: Equipment to be disposed of. Work Done: No repair necessary. Labor: 143.00 Parts: 1200.00 End

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All the information being passed to and stored by RBMview can be reviewed by opening the equipment case history and exploring the various fields of information in the case.