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AWB interfaces seamlessly with external databases and applications through its sophisticated import/export facility and
dynamic link library. AWB integrates the functionality of Isographs RCMCost and AvSim products that have been serving
the Reliability and Maintenance Community since 1988.
Each module may be licensed separately depending on the user's needs. For example, the RCMCost and Weibull
modules provide the data management, reporting and analytical facilities for developing and maintaining a RCM
programme. The Avsim module will enable you to analyze the availability and reliability of both complex and simple
systems and optimize spares holdings, design configurations, opportunistic maintenance policies and much more. The
LCC module will allow you to create a cost node structure and integrate predicted maintenance and operational costs with
other user-defined cost equations. The Weibull module analyzes incoming historical data to provide the prediction
distributions required by the RCMCost and AvSim modules.
Through its sophisticated simulation and modelling capabilities Availability Workbench can answer questions such as:
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Is planned maintenance cost effective, and if so, how often should it be performed?
What design improvements (adding redundancy or upgrading equipment) are cost and safety effective?
What is the likely spares usage profile?
What is the optimum level of spares to be held on site and at a depot?
How can labor and equipment usage be improved?
How can buffers best be employed to maintain capacity?
How can risk be reduced?
What are the likely life cycle costs?
What is the best frequency for performing major overhauls?
Is predictive maintenance worth doing?
Would combinations of predictive methods be effective?
Is inspection for hidden failures cost effective?
What is the effect on availability of rotating equipment?
How do ageing assets affect life cycle costs?
How do operational phases affect system availability?
Is opportunistic maintenance worthwhile?
Minimize Costs
Meet Safety and Environmental Goals
Meet Operational Goals
The RCM process begins with a failure mode and effects analysis that identifies the critical plant failure modes in a
systematic and structured manner. The process then requires the examination of each critical failure mode or cause to
determine the optimum maintenance policy to reduce the severity of each failure. The chosen maintenance strategy must
take into account cost, safety, environmental and operational consequences. The effects of redundancy, spares costs,
maintenance labor costs, equipment ageing and repair times must also be taken into account along with many other
parameters.
Once optimal maintenance policies have been recorded the RCM process provides system performance predictions and
costs, expected spares requirements and labor manning levels. The RCM process may be used to develop a living
strategy with the plant model being updated when new data is available or design changes take place.
The RCMCost Module provides interactive graphical facilities for constructing a location hierarchy diagram representing
the logical connection between the sub-systems and equipments constituting the overall plant or system. This diagram
may be extended to represent critical functions, their functional failures and their causes (engineering failure modes).
System effects are identified which contribute to outage and operational costs as well as safety and environmental risks.
The relative severity of different effects is specified by the user. This structured method for identifying failure modes and
linking them with their effects on the system is known as Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) and is a
powerful analysis process in its own right. RCMCost allows flexible user-defined reports to be produced highlighting the
most important contributors to operational costs and safety and environmental risks.
Failure data, maintenance parameters, spares information and maintenance labor details are all stored in an AWB project.
This data is used to provide advisory information based on simulation models incorporated in the program. For example,
different maintenance intervals may be compared for their effect on maintenance and operational costs. The user may
then record the decision on which maintenance policy (if any) to adopt. This decision may include combinations of:
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The RCMCost module will automatically advise the user on the overall cost, safety and environmental benefits of adopting
a particular maintenance policy based on the data provided by the user. The programs flexible report facility allows RCM
worksheets to be produced identifying the users decisions.
Once the maintenance policy has been decided for all the critical system components the RCMCost module will provide
predicted spares requirements, maintenance labor manning levels, system costs and operational performance data.
As new data is gathered during the plant lifetime, or system design changes are made, RCM related data may be easily
modified and maintenance procedures may be adjusted to reflect the living status of the plant.
AWB may be used to produce reports complying to the SAE JA1011, MSG-3 and MIL-STD-2173(AS) standards. Reports
may contain FMECA data, maintainability data and RCM decision data.
In order to simulate the availability performance of a system the program needs to know how individual equipment failures
combine with other failures to reduce throughput, create hazards and affect system operational capabilities. This is done
by constructing a RBD or fault tree diagram that represents how combinations of events (usually failures) interact to affect
the system. The AvSim module of AWB allows you to quickly construct these diagrams through any number of indenture
levels. These diagrams can represent standby and voting arrangements, phase-dependent configuration changes,
switching logic and buffer facilities.
Failure and maintenance models may then be defined and attached to historical data using Weibull sets. Also,
consequences may be defined indicating the financial, safety, environmental and operational effects of loss of availability
or throughput.
Once this has been done, AWB can produce a full system availability simulation building a picture of how the system will
perform though its lifetime. Special optimization facilities are provided for optimizing spare holdings and users can try out
different design and operational models to reduce life cycle costs.
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Simulation Watch facility for checking your system and spares echelon models
Multiple-system spares tracking for fleet modelling
Simulation of production capacity levels with target cost penalties
Standby sub-systems modelled
Modelling of spares dependencies and stock levels
Models recycling of spares via a repair shop
Spares optimization facilities provided
Batch ordering of spares with discounting
Modelling of maintenance queuing
Switching delays modelled
Buffers modelled with depletion rates dependent on capacity requirement
Opportunistic maintenance and 'hold for repair' modelling
Models ageing and effectiveness of planned maintenance
Extended outage penalty costs modelled
Models financial, safety, operational and environmental consequences
Models changing RBD and fault tree configurations during different phases
Allows the modelling of different phase groups
Phased time profiles
NOT logic capability
Importance rankings for spares
Spare volume and weight calculations
Statistical error indicators
Record simulation details to file for external data processing
High level costs are determined either by summating the cost values for child nodes in the CBS or by applying a user-
defined cost equation. The syntax of cost equations is easy to understand and the construction of cost equations is
assisted by an intelligent code-recognition utility that automatically reveals global variable lists as the user types in an
equation.
Phase-dependent cost equations may also be defined. Phases are shared between the LCC and AvSim modules.
In summary the LCC module allows users to define life cycle costs other than those predicted by the RCMCost and AvSim
modules. These costs may be integrated with predicted costs in the LCC cost breakdown structure to provide a time-
dependent analysis of a systems whole life cycle cost process.
Weibull sets may also represent collections of actual historical repair times for a given task. The Weibull module can
assign distributions that represent possible fluctuations in repair times. Repair Weibull sets can be assigned to tasks
associated with causes in the RCMCost module or failure models in the AvSim module.
The historical times in a failure Weibull set will represent the age of an equipment at the point of its first failure. Times in a
repair Weibull set represent the time it takes to repair an equipment.
In summary, the Weibull module of AWB analyzes sets of historical data and assigns appropriate distributions for use in
simulations by the RCMCost and AvSim modules.
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The Weibull Analysis Module analyzes historical data using the following distributions:
Exponential Distribution
1-Parameter Weibull Distribution
2-Parameter Weibull Distribution
3-Parameter Weibull Distribution
Bi-Weibull
Tri-Weibull
Lognormal Distribution
Normal Distribution
Weibayes
Phased Bi-Weibull
Phased Tri-Weibull
AWB automatically fits the selected distribution to the data provided and displays the results graphically in the form of
cumulative probability plots, failure rate plots and probability density function plots.
Data may be entered manually by the user or imported from other packages or transferred via the Windows clipboard.
The Process Reliability module allows production data to be compared from different plants or different time periods.
Production data may also be transferred from simulated production profiles created from within the AvSim module. This
allows production data from potential plant improvements to be compared with existing production data.
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restored to service. By performing many simulation runs, the computer program can build up a statistical picture of the
system performance by recording the results of each run.
Monte Carlo Simulation must emulate the chance variations that will affect system performance in real life. To do this, the
computer program must generate random numbers, which form a uniform distribution. AWB uses the Microsoft run-time
library to generate pseudo random numbers.
As an example of how simulation works, consider the following example. Suppose we wish to determine the unreliability
of a complex system over a period of 1 year. A simulation model of the system could be developed which emulates the
random failures and repair times of the components in the system. The model might be run over the system lifetime of 1
year 1000 times and each time a component fails the model determines whether the system has failed. If the system
does not survive on 65 of the lifetime simulations then the system unreliability, F(1) , could be estimated as
Simulation methods are generally employed in reliability studies when deterministic methods are not capable of modelling
strong dependencies between failures. In addition, simulation can readily handle the reliability behavior of repairable
components with non-constant failure or repair rates.
This expression assumes that the failure and repair of the component is independent of the state of any other component
in the system. This may not be the case if the component is in standby to another component (where the standby failure
rate is less than the operating failure rate). In addition, the component may be influenced by other external factors such
as the availability of spares and labor to perform scheduled and corrective maintenance. The components reliability
behavior may also change during different operational phases. In addition, if it is a mechanical component, its failure rate
may increase with time (ageing) and therefore the simple expression above inaccurately represents the behavior of the
component.
By using simulation methods, AWB is not restricted to handling only independent component failures and repairs and can
easily model dependencies on spares, labor and operational phases. In addition, the Weibull failure distribution may be
used to handle ageing components.
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New Features for Version 3.0 Overview Page 1 of 1
SAP Portal
The SAP Portal is now fully integrated into AWB as a module. This allows greater flexibility in analyzing SAP data using
the project tree control, grid control, plots and reports. SAP data is now stored as part of a project. The standard library
facility allows maintenance data from an existing SAP system to be compared with proposed optimizations before upload
to SAP.
The SAP Portal facility now contains many additional tables originating from SAP such as technical object types, classes,
units etc.
Spares Optimization
RCMCost spares optimization calculations have been improved to include predictive maintenance modelling. RCMCost
spares optimizations may now be performed for multiple identical sites.
Export to Excel
Users may now export to Excel (no match mode) in xlsx format. Excel Export now formats newly created number cells so
that they contain a number style
Comparison Plots
RCMCost and AvSim Project Comparison Cost plots may now be used to show cumulative cost profiles
Plugins
Plugins may now use indices for foreign keys when writing data to a dataset
Exception Messages
Exception dialog messages now include a stack trace
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Overview of Licensing Page 1 of 5
Overview of Licensing
If you have purchased a copy of Availability Workbench (or are evaluating Availability Workbench) you will receive an
Entitlement Certificate by email containing your Activation ID. Depending on the license type you have requested, this
Activation ID will either activate a standalone Availability Workbench license or activate a 'floating' license on a license
server. The 'floating' license option allows one or more users (depending on how many copies you have purchased) on
one or more client machines to obtain an Availability Workbench license from the license server.
The Activation ID is entered in either the Availability Workbench program itself (for a standalone license) or in the
License Server Activation program (for a license server license). The license is activated by connecting via the Internet
to the Isograph License Activation Service. If an Internet connection is not available the license is activated by sending
a request file to Isograph by email and then processing a response file received by a return email.
Note that activation over the Internet requires port 80 to be open in your firewall.
The license information is held on the local file system of the standalone or license server machine. The location where
this is held is called Trusted Storage. This term is not normally of interest to the user, but you may see it displayed in
status information.
Availability Workbench may also be licensed using a hardware key. Hardware keys can only license the program in
standalone mode. If you have purchased a hardware key then you simply need to plug the key into a USB port on your
computer and set the license type to Hardware key in the License Configuration dialog within the Availability
Workbench program.
Demonstration Mode
Availability Workbench will run in demonstration mode unless you are licensed to run an unrestricted version of the
software.
When running in demonstration mode the user is strictly limited in the number of objects that may be analyzed in a project
(limits are displayed in the About Availability Workbench dialog). Each session is limited to 4 hours and users are
prevented from saving or exporting data.
However, if you have purchased an Availability Workbench license you should proceed to the License Configuration
dialog by selecting the Tools, License Configuration pull-down menu option. If the Demonstration dialog is currently
displayed you may proceed directly to this dialog by selecting the License button. Once you are licensed for a particular
module, the restrictions for that module will be removed.
If the demonstration mode is too restrictive for you to evaluate the software sufficiently, you may apply for a time-limited
evaluation license by contacting Isograph at license@isograph.com (USA) or licence@isograph.com (Rest of the world).
License Configuration
You may set your license configuration using the License Configuration dialog. This dialog is accessed by selecting the
Tools, License Configuration pull-down menu option or by selecting the License button in the Demonstration dialog.
License Type
There are three license types available. These types are:
Standalone
Server
Hardware key
Server (No trusted storage service)
The Standalone and Server license types use software protection methods to restrict the number of users of any
Availability Workbench (AWB) module according to the license you have purchased. The Hardware key type uses a USB
hardware device (commonly known as a dongle) to provide protection. Select the license type you have purchased. Then
follow the instructions below according to your license type.
Select the Server (No trusted storage service) option if you have installed the Availability Workbench client using the no
trusted storage service installation. This installation does not install the service that supports standalone licenses stored
in local trusted storage. Selecting this mode prevents the checks for Availability Workbench standalone licenses from
running. Note also that when operating in this mode the borrowing functionality is disabled.
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Note that activation over the Internet requires port 80 to be open in your firewall.
To connect to a license server first select the Server license type. Then type in the host name or IP address of the server
into the appropriate field in the License Configuration dialog. If the default port is not being used for the connection un-
check the Use default port check box and specify the port number in the appropriate field.
Then select OK to exit the license dialog. You will need to exit and re-start AWB for the existing restrictions to be
removed.
Note: Your license agreement restricts the number of times you can return a license in a year.
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when you activated the license. Select the Generate button to generate the Short Code in the Short code text box. Send
this Short Code by e-mail to license@isograph.com. You will receive a Response Code by return e-mail. Copy this code to
the Response code text box. Select the Process button to de-activate the license. The status of the de-activation
process will be displayed in the lower status area.
You may borrow licenses if you have a server license and your license agreement permits borrowing. A borrowed license
acts like a standalone license and allows users to run Availability Workbench whilst disconnected from the network.
Licenses are borrowed for a period of time. Once the borrowing period expires the borrowed license will be automatically
returned to the license server. Borrowed licenses may be returned to the license server before the automatic expiration
date if required.
To borrow a license you must first ensure that you are connected to an existing license server. Instructions on how to do
this are given above. Then select the Borrow button in the License Configuration dialog. The License Borrowing
dialog will then appear. To borrow a license enter your server license Activation ID in the appropriate field, specify the
borrowing expiration date and then select the Borrow button. If you wish to return a borrowed license before the
expiration date select the Return button in the Server license location area of the License Configuration dialog. Then
select the license you wish to return from the list followed by selection of the Return button.
After borrowing a license you will need to exit and restart the program for the license to become effective.
When using borrowed licenses you should not change the license type or the license server settings. Availability
Workbench will automatically recognize the borrowed license even if your computer is not connected to the license server.
<applicationSettings>
<AvailabilityWorkbench.Properties.Settings>
<setting name="LicenseDisableUserSettings" serializeAs="String">
<value>True</value>
</setting>
<setting name="LicenseServerHostNameOrIPAddress" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
<setting name="LicenseServerPortNumber" serializeAs="String">
<value />
</setting>
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Licenses
You can check-out the licenses you wish to use by selecting the appropriate licenses in the Licenses list. Once you have
checked-out a license it will not be available for use by another user. Licenses will be automatically returned to the license
server on program termination.
Licenses may be selected on a module basis. For example, let us suppose you have purchased 5 RCMCost module
licenses, 3 AvSim module licenses and 3 Life Cycle Cost module licenses. If you check-out 1 RCMCost license and 1
AvSim license then 4 RCMCost, 2 AvSim and 3 Life Cycle Cost licenses will remain available to other users.
Users
Selection of the Users button in the License Check-Out dialog will reveal the User Information dialog. This dialog
displays information on which users have checked-out licenses from the license server.
License Information
Selection of the License Info button in the License Check-Out dialog will reveal the License Information dialog. This
dialog displays information about the available licenses on the license server.
Note that activation over the Internet requires port 80 to be open in your firewall.
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You may return a server license and reactivate the license (using the same Activation ID) on a different machine so long
as your license agreement permits you to do this.
Note: Your license agreement restricts the number of times you can return a license in a year.
Before returning a license you must first stop the license server if it is running. To stop the license server select
Availability Workbench, License Manager from the Windows Start menu. The LMTOOLS dialog will appear. Navigate
to the Start/Stop/Reread tab and select the Stop Server button. You will then need to access the License Server
Activation dialog by selecting Availability Workbench, License Server Activation from the Windows Start menu.
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Getting Started - The User Interface Page 1 of 11
The principal pull-down menu options are positioned along the top of the main window in the menu bar strip. Pull-down menus and their options may be selected using the left mouse button.
Alternatively, menu options may be selected using the keyboard. This is achieved by pressing the Alt key and then pressing the underlined character in the required visible menu option.
Accelerator keys are also provided for selected menu options. For example, tapping the Delete key will delete selected objects in the tree control or a diagram.
Immediately below these menu options, reside a group of controls that form a toolbar allowing the user to access directly some of the more frequently used menu options.
A pull-down menu directly above the project tree allows the user to switch between modules. Another pull-down menu directly above the window to the right of the tree control allows the user
to switch between the different display modes.
The contents of the menus on the menu bar, the toolbar and the right window toolbar change according to the current module (AvSim, RCMCost, Life Cycle Cost or Weibull). The purpose of
each button in the toolbar can be displayed in the form of a tool tip that appears when the cursor is placed over the button.
To the right of the toolbar in the AvSim module is a combo-box that allows the user to select the diagram page to be displayed from the current project when in the RBD or Fault Tree display
modes.
Below the toolbar is a split screen arrangement. The division between the left and right windows can be moved by placing the cursor over the divider, at which point the cursor will change
form, and holding the left button down whilst dragging the cursor to the desired position.
The left window contains the project tree control. The tree concept will be familiar to users of Microsoft Windows Explorer. The contents of the project tree change according to the current
module. The right window contains the current page of the RBD or fault tree diagram when using the AvSim module with the diagram display mode selected. Grid, library, plot and report
display modes are available for each of the AWB modules.
A message strip at the bottom of the AWB window displays the status of the program. During a simulation the message strip displays the progress in terms of the number of simulations
performed.
The current project file name is displayed at the top of the AWB window.
Selection of many of the menu options will result in standard Windows dialog boxes being displayed (such as those for file or font selection). These dialog boxes contain Windows controls.
Controls include buttons, combo-boxes (allowing the user to choose one option from a selection in a pull-down list), check-boxes (allowing the user to set a facility on or off) and edit controls
(allowing the user to enter text). The AWB controls behave in a similar manner to controls in other Windows applications.
Getting Started - Building a Project
An Availability Workbench (AWB) project contains the data necessary to simulate the real-life performance characteristics of your system. Whether you intend to perform a Reliability-
Centered Maintenance study using the RCMCost module, a full system availability simulation using the AvSim module, an extended life cycle cost analysis using the LCC module or a
combination of all of these methods, you will need to define or import the appropriate data into an AWB project.
The following topics provide an overview of how to build the various elements of an AWB project. Some data elements apply to a single module (for example consequences apply to the AvSim
module only) whereas other data elements are shared between modules (for example labor resources are shared between the RCMCost and AvSim modules).
To start a new project simply select the File, New Project pull-down menu option.
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Alternatively, right click on the required resource in the project tree and select Add Resource from the pop-up menu.
Alternatively, right click on the required resource type in the project tree and select Add Resource Type from the pop-up menu.
Resources may be added beneath a resource type in the project tree by highlighting the resource type in the tree and using the methods of adding resources described above.
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The data will now be displayed in the grid pane and the corresponding data points in the plot above. To fit the distribution parameters click on the red eta symbol in the toolbar. To set the
parameters manually click on the green eta symbol. The type distribution used may be selected from the drop down menu labeled f().
In the context of the RCMCost module of Availability Workbench (AWB) the term location is used to represent both the location of sub-systems and equipments. Intermediate locations in the
location hierarchy (those which have other locations underneath them) represent sub-systems, whereas locations that form the roots of the hierarchy diagram represent a distinct item of
equipment such as a pump or a valve, which are the smallest items of equipment considered from an operational point of view. These equipment locations will have one or more functions,
functional failures and causes. Each cause will be associated with a maintenance policy.
Each distinct equipment location will have one or more functions. Usually an equipment will have a primary function (such as stopping flow in the case of a valve) and one or more secondary
functions (such as containment) that may be safety related.
Each equipment function will have one or more functional failure. A functional failure may be defined as the inability of the equipment to perform a function to the required standard. More than
one functional failure mode may be associated with the same function. For example total loss of function and partial loss of function may be considered as 2 distinct functional failures.
Each functional failure may have one or more root cause. These causes are referred to as engineering failure modes in some standards and constitute the actual physical causes of failure.
Some examples of causes (engineering failure modes) are:
seal leakage
piping cracked
motor burnt out
insulation breakdown
corrosion
The system locations, equipment locations, functions, functional failures and causes are all defined and connected in the location hierarchy which is displayed in the project tree when the
RCMCost module is selected. We will now examine a location hierarchy that has been constructed as part of the Example1 project that is provided with the installation.
Start up AWB by selecting Availability Workbench from the Windows Start menu. The AWB Main Window should now appear occupying the whole screen.
A drop down menu is located directly above the project tree in the left-hand window. Click on it and select RCMCost.
Select the File, Open Project pull-down menu option. A standard Open File dialog will appear allowing you to select AWB project files. Select the Example1 project from the default project
directory. On selecting this file the project tree will display the location hierarchy corresponding to the selected project.
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The right-hand window may be used to display data in a grid control. Select the Grid option in the Right Window Mode menu just above the right window if the grid is not already displayed.
Then select the Causes option in the Current Grid Table menu. The grid control should contain causes associated with the current selection in the project tree control (some default grid
layouts show data in the grid control relating to the current tree control selection). The location hierarchy consists of locations, functions, functional failures and causes connected in a
hierarchical manner. Locations are displayed by default in blue, functions in turquoise, functional failures in brown and causes in red. You will see that some locations represent sub-systems
(the ones with other locations underneath them) whereas others represent distinct equipments (the ones with functions defined beneath them). Remember the root locations are associated
with causes for which distinct maintenance actions may be defined.
Now try clicking the left mouse button with the cursor positioned over the '+' or '-' boxes appearing alongside the diagram symbols. This action has the effect of opening and closing diagram
symbols. This effectively displays or hides symbols connected below the selected symbol.
Now try a single left button click over any of the symbols. You will see that the selected block or component becomes highlighted. In certain cases the associated data will be displayed in the
grid control. Many menu options are performed on selected symbols.
New objects may be defined in the hierarchy diagram by selecting the parent object and then selecting the appropriate option from the Add pull-down menu or equivalent toolbar button. Note
that locations may only be created below the project symbol or other locations. Functions may only be created below locations. Functional failures may only be created underneath functions
and causes may only be created below functional failures. You may not mix functions and locations underneath the same parent location. For the moment we will not create any new data.
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These quantities indicate how important the effect is in terms of cost, safety, operational and environmental considerations. The severity values are arbitrary positive numbers that indicate the
relative severity of different effects. Now remove the dialog by pressing the Cancel button.
One of the restrictions of using standard FMECA techniques to predict the frequency and duration of system effects is the difficulty in modelling the effects of redundancy. Other techniques,
such as RBD and fault tree analysis, are more adapted to analyzing redundancy and the associated complications such as common cause failures. However, the RCMCost module has a
powerful feature that allows the effects of redundancy to be modelled via the use of redundancy factors. The ability of a RCM program to model redundancy satisfactorily is essential as
maintenance and monitoring decisions may be strongly influenced by the level of standby equipment and parallel systems.
When assigning effects to a cause AWB allows the user to specify a redundancy factor for each effect. The redundancy factor indicates whether a cause will produce the assigned effect on its
own or whether other concurrent failures will need to occur for the effect to take place. A redundancy factor often needs to be determined if the effect is a hazardous effect as there will almost
certainly be protective systems in place to mitigate against failures that would lead to a hazard.
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If the cause will produce the assigned effect without other concurrent failures taking place then the default value of 1 should be assigned to the redundancy factor. If the cause will only
produce the assigned effect when other concurrent failures occur (e.g. protective equipment is unavailable) then a factor of between 0 and 1 should be applied.
A redundancy factor represents the probability that the failure cause will produce the assigned effect. For example, suppose we were analyzing the failure cause valve stuck closed in a
chemical production system. This failure might lead to a hazardous event unless the system was shut down until the repair could be effected. The protection system provided to protect against
the hazardous event might consist of sensors and alarms and require the intervention of automatic shutdown systems and operator actions. If the protection system were to fail then the
hazardous effect would occur. In such a case the unavailability redundancy factor should be set to the estimated probability that the protection system would not work on demand.
So, if the probability of failure of the protection system was estimated at 0.0001, the redundancy factor should be set to 0.0001.
This dialog is used to record maintenance strategies and design decisions. Before these decisions are made you may obtain advisory information by selecting the Evaluate button.
On selecting this button AWB will perform a lifetime simulation to determine the cost, safety, operational and environmental consequences directly associated with the cause. These costs and
consequences take into account the current strategy specified by the enabled check boxes and failure and maintenance parameters associated with the cause. You may therefore experiment
with various options to determine the associated costs and consequences.
Cost
Cost Benefit Ratio (CBR)
Safety Criticality
Safety Benefit Ratio (SBR)
Operational Criticality
Operational Benefit Ratio (OBR)
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Environmental Criticality
Environmental Benefit Ratio (EBR)
Corrective hours
No. Lifetime Failures
Planned hours
No. Lifetime PMs
Inspection hours
No. Lifetime Inspections
Statistical Error in TDT
Statistical Error in Cost
Unavailability
Failure Frequency
Criticality values represent the severity of the effects associated with the cause combined with its frequency of occurrence. The cost, safety, environmental and operational benefit ratios are
defined as follows:
A cost benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from a cost point of view.
A safety benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from a safety point of view.
An operational benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an operational point of view.
An environmental benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an environmental point of view.
See Also
Optimizing Maintenance Intervals
Safety, environmental and operational criticality targets will also be displayed on the plot. By examining the plot it may be determined whether planned maintenance is worthwhile at all, and if
so, the optimum interval to adopt to minimize cost and meet safety, environmental and operational targets. The accuracy of the simulation results may be increased by increasing the number
of simulations performed. This may be done via the Simulation tab which is accessed via the Tools, Options, Project pull-down menu option. The user may modify the trial intervals used
during the optimization process by selecting the Interval Range toolbar button.
A similar review procedure is available for inspection tasks. Now quit the Cause Properties dialog.
Select the Simulation, Start pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option. AWB will now calculate system-related profiles that may be displayed in plots and reports in the right-hand
window.
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RBDs consist of blocks and nodes connected together in parallel and series arrangements. The blocks in a RBD usually represent component or sub-system failures, although they may also
be used to represent other events, such as operator actions, which may affect the reliability of the system under study. The nodes in a RBD are used to position connecting lines (either
horizontal/vertical or diagonal), indicate voting arrangements, set operational capacity targets and apply NOT logic where appropriate. A complete system RBD will consist of either a single
node or block on the left-hand side of the diagram (input node or block) connected via intermediate nodes and blocks to a single node or block on the right-hand side of the diagram (output
node or block). Note that a complete system RBD can only have one input node or block and one output node or block. In addition, all the intermediate nodes and blocks must be connected.
The entire system RBD represents the ways in which component and sub-system failures will interact to cause the system to fail. AWB allows more than one system RBD to be defined in the
same project.
The facilities to add elements to a RBD are accessed either through Add, To Diagram pull-down menu options or the equivalent buttons on the toolbar.
Each AWB project can contain one or more systems. The Add, New System pull-down menu option can be used to create new systems when Diagram and RBD are selected from the pull-
down menus above the right-hand window.
Once the system logic has been entered for the system, consequences may be assigned to blocks in the diagram. Consequences are usually assigned to system level blocks and represent
the effects of failure (financial, safety, operational and environmental) on the system.
See Also
Adding Blocks
Adding Connections
Adding Labels, Notes and Hyperlinks
Using Pages
Assigning Consequences
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A new fault tree can be constructed during an AWB session by selecting the Add, New Top Gate pull-down menu option when Diagram and Fault Tree are selected from the pull-down
menus above the right-hand window.
Once the system logic has been entered for the system consequences may be assigned to gates in the diagram. Consequences are usually assigned to system level gates (Top gates) and
represent the effects of failure (financial, safety, operational and environmental) on the system.
See Also
Adding Gates
Adding Events
Adding Labels, Notes and Hyperlinks
Using Pages
Assigning Consequences
The Simulation pull-down menu also contains options for performing importance and optimization analyses.
To perform a full simulation run in the AvSim module of Availability Workbench (AWB) select the Simulation, Start pull-down menu option or the equivalent toolbar button. If you have made
any fatal errors when constructing the project (for example, not connecting blocks in a page), AWB will display the error messages and halt the simulation. Otherwise, the simulation will
proceed. A message will also be displayed at the bottom of the AWB window, indicating the progress (i.e. how many lifetime simulations have been completed).
If you wish to halt the simulation run before the program has reached the number of simulations requested then select the Simulation, Stop pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. A dialog will appear asking if you wish to complete the current simulation in order to retain results. The user may select Yes to finish the current simulation and obtain a set of results
for the partially completed run, No to terminate the simulation run without retaining any results, or Cancel to resume the simulation run and continue until it is complete.
Life Costs
Systems
Components
Consequences
Phases
Spares
Labor
Equipment
Summary information for each of these categories may be obtained by selecting the appropriate tab in the dialog. Results may also be displayed in the form of plots and reports in the right
window.
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Users may construct a hierarchical cost breakdown structure and assign cost equations to nodes in that structure. Parent nodes in the structure may simply summate the costs of child nodes
or apply a user-defined equation. Nodes with no children of their own may be assigned a simple numerical cost or a time-dependent cost equation. Equations associated with cost nodes may
be linked to predicted cost data originating from simulations performed in the RCMCost or AvSim modules.
Life cycle cost calculations are based on the time profile defined in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog. The time profile (the time span to be analyzed and interval length) is
common to all modules in AWB.
To access the LCC Module in AWB select the Life Cycle Cost pull-down option at the top of the left-hand window.
The tree control in the left-hand window will display the data categories relevant to this module. These categories are Cost Nodes (these define the cost breakdown structure), Global
Variables (these define variables to be used in more than one cost node) and Phases (phases may be used to refine cost equations).
The right-hand window will display a grid control, plot, library structure or report depending on the mode of display chosen by the user (by selecting the Current right window mode option
above the window).
New cost nodes, global variables and phases may be added to the current project by selecting the appropriate node in the project tree control and selecting one of the Add options from the
right button pop-up menu.
Once data has been added to a project a calculation may be performed by selecting the Analysis, Perform pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. Results may then be viewed in
the Cost Profile plot in the right-hand window.
To build a cost breakdown structure you need to add cost nodes to the tree control in the left-hand window. To add a new cost node select an existing node or the top node (labelled Cost
Nodes) and click the right mouse button. From the pop-up menu that appears select the Add Cost Node option. The Cost Node Properties dialog will appear allowing you define the cost
equation for that node and specify a description and add notes. Select the OK button to add the node and continue this process to build the structure.
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AWB restricts the user to opening a single project at a time. However, there is no restriction on the number of libraries that
may be attached during an AWB session. In fact, project and library files are effectively interchangeable so you can attach
a project as a library and open a library as a project.
Project data is displayed in the project tree in the left-hand window. If you attach one or more libraries during an AWB
session then the library data will appear in the right-hand window when the Current right window mode is set to Library.
The majority of the editing functions available in the AWB menus will apply to project data. However, you may drag and
drop and copy and paste data between projects and libraries. The primary function of libraries is to allow users to copy
single items of data or whole structures (for example a location hierarchy or RBD structure) from a library to a project.
When transferring RBD or fault tree structures from a library to a project AWB will respond to renaming conventions
specified by the user in the Project Options dialog.
You can create, open and save project and libraries using the options on the File pull-down menu. Project and library data
is saved to file in compressed or XML format. You can set your format preference in the Files tab of the Application
Options dialog. Compressed files are created with the extension '.awb' whereas XML files are created with the extension
'.awbx'.
File Extension
Both project and library files are given the default extension '.awb' for compressed file formats or '.awbx' for XML file
formats..
Backup Projects
AWB provides an automatic project backup system. This system regularly saves your current project data to a backup file.
The frequency of project backups may be set in the Application Options dialog.
Validation is also performed during the import of external data using the AWB Import facility.
If you are licensed to use the Enterprise System the Files pull-down menu will contain an Enterprise sub-menu allowing
you to access the following functions.
Administration
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View Project
The View Project option allows users to open enterprise projects but it does not allow the modified project to be checked-
in to the Enterprise System. This option can be used to simply view data or to save the data as a non-enterprise project
file.
Attach Library
The Attach Library option allows users to attach libraries for transferring data into the current AWB project. Enterprise
libraries behave just like non-enterprise libraries once they are attached but cannot be modified and checked-back into the
Enterprise System. An enterprise library may be modified by opening it as a project using the Check-Out Project option.
Project Backups
If you select the Enable project backup flag in the Backup tab of the Application Options dialog then Availability
Workbench will automatically create a local backup of your current project at the specified interval. If you are working on a
checked-out enterprise project then a local backup will be saved in a sub-folder named Backups alongside the Drafts
folder used to save local projects. These sub-folders appear below the higher-level folder specified for local projects in the
Enterprise tab of the Application Options dialog. You may use the enterprise Administrator facility to restore
enterprise backup projects. Restoring the enterprise project effectively copies the backup project into the Drafts folder so
that you may open it using the Open Local Project option. The project may then be checked-in to the enterprise system
in the normal way.
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Task Library
The task library facility allows users to build libraries of common tasks and search, filter and copy these tasks into
RCMCost causes and AvSim failure models. Library tasks may be filtered using the RCMCost location and AvSim failure
model hierarchy structures. Alternatively they may be filtered using the task group and task group type hierarchical
structure.
A task library is similar in concept to any other Availability Workbench library. You may build a task library simply by
adding tasks to RCMCost causes or AvSim failure models in the normal way (by adding tasks using the Maintenance tab
of the Cause Properties or Failure Model Properties dialogs). Existing projects may also be attached as libraries and all
the defined tasks will be available to copy into the current project.
Library tasks may be copied to an existing project by selecting the Copy Tasks From Library button in the Maintenance
tab of the Cause Properties or Failure Model Properties dialogs. You may also copy tasks from within the current
project rather than from an attached library. When tasks are copied from an attached library the associated resources
(labor, equipment and spares) are also copied across if they do not already exist in the project.
The task library facility may therefore be used to provide generic task definitions (including the required resources and
other properties such as the task duration) that may be copied into a working project. It may also be used to quickly locate
and copy a task from within the same or different project. When building generic task libraries first create a new project
and then use the location hierarchical structure (RCMCost) or failure model hierarchical structure (AvSim) to organize the
generic tasks. Then add the tasks to the appropriate cause in the location structure (RCMCost) or failure model (AvSim).
For generic task libraries it doesn't matter whether you use the location structure or failure model structure as all tasks will
be available when using the task library facility. You may also use the task group hierarchy structure as an alternative
scheme to organize tasks. Tasks in a generic task library may be assigned to a task group. Task groups may be
organized at a higher level into task group types. As an example you might use the RCMCost location structure to
organize tasks by equipment class such as 'Motor' or 'Valve' tasks. The task group structure might be used to organize
tasks by operation such as 'Lubrication' tasks or 'Replacement' tasks.
Once the appropriate task has been located and selected in the grid control, the task may be copied into the project by
selecting the OK button.
Opening Reliability Workbench Projects
Reliability Workbench (RWB) is a sister application to Availability Workbench that provides FMECA, RBD and Fault Tree
analysis functionality for safety and reliability studies. Analysis functions are based on analytical models rather than
simulation, however there are many common elements between the two applications. Organizations that employ both
applications may wish to effectively convert the data from a RWB project into AWB format.
Conversion may result in the loss of model properties that are not compatible between the two applications. For example,
some fault tree gate types that are used in analytical models are not used in AWB fault tree models. Some failure models
may not have a direct equivalent. The conversion algorithms will find the closest match when making a conversion if no
direct match exists.
Select the Read RWB V11 Project File option on the File pull-down menu to select the file you wish to convert. The
specified RWB file will be converted and converted data displayed as the current AWB project.
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Some project options are specific to a single Availability Workbench module. The Project Options dialog only displays data
relevant to the current module. To access the Project Options dialog select the Tools, Options, Project pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button.
Project General Options - All Modules
These options are accessed from the General tab of the Project Options dialog.
ID
An identifier for the project of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the project of no more than 255 characters.
Compiled by
The details of the engineers who constructed the project. A maximum of 255 characters is permitted.
Approved by
The details of the approval authority. A maximum of 255 characters is permitted.
Notes
Project notes of up to 2000 characters.
Lifetime
The lifetime value indicates the period of time over which simulations will be performed. The lifetime should be expressed in units
consistent with all other project data. For example, if time to failure and repair times have been recorded in hours then the lifetime
must also be recorded in hours.
Time profiles
Time profiles specify how time-dependent data is to be recorded during a simulation or life cycle cost analysis. All profile data
viewed after a simulation or life cycle cost analysis will be displayed according to the time profile specified by the user. If the Map to
lifetime option is selected then the user need only specify the number of intervals over the system lifetime. AWB will split the
lifetime into equal intervals over the lifetime specified.
If the Map to lifetime option is not selected then the user must also specify the start time and interval length.
Interval optimization
The interval optimization mode determines the criteria for optimizing scheduled maintenance interval (planned maintenance and
inspections) in the RCMCost and AvSim modules. Intervals may be optimized by cost or by availability. If the cost option is chosen
then maintenance recommendations will be based on minimum cost. If the availability option is chosen then optimizations will be
based on maximum availability.
The Monte Carlo simulation process must be repeated a sufficient number of times to produce accurate statistical results. The user
should set the number of simulations such that a significant number of system failures are generated. This may involve a certain
amount of trial and error for a new project. One way to estimate how many simulations are required is to repeat the simulation run
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with different values for the number of simulations. As more simulations are performed, the system unavailability and other
parameters should begin to converge. When they have converged sufficiently, use this value for future runs.
Rules
Project rules allow the user to change the failure and maintenance characteristics of a system during different phases. These rules
apply to all equipments defined in the project RBD or fault tree structure. Project rules allow the user to change the load on all
equipments (effectively increasing their failure rate) and set all equipments to non-operational or non-maintainable during certain
phases.
The Rules list shows the currently defined rules that govern the project. Items can be added to the list by choosing the Add button
beneath the list. This action will reveal the Rule Properties Dialog. Rules are then created by selecting the rule type and phase. If
the Set load by phase rule type is selected then the load factor to be applied must be entered. In each case, a description of the
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rule is generated automatically from the data input by the user. Clicking on the OK button will dismiss the dialog and place the
information in the Rules List. There is no limit to the number of rules that may be applied to a project.
Existing rules may be modified by selecting the rule in the list and then selecting the Edit button. Existing rules may be removed by
selecting the rule in the list and then selecting the Remove button.
Project Net Present Value Options RCMCost, AvSim Modules
The NPV tab of the Project Options dialog allows the user to specify parameters for Net Present Value (NPV) calculations. NPV
and escalation costs are calculated per time profile interval. Time profile intervals are set in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options
dialog. AWB will only perform NPV calculations if the Map to lifetime option is selected for time profiles in the Lifetime tab of the
Project Options dialog.
Where escalation costs are zero the net cost of each time interval is discounted to produce a present value. The Net Present Value
cost is the sum of each intervals present value over the whole lifetime of the project.
where
the number of time intervals
NPV Yield % per time interval
For example, the NPV lifetime cost when two intervals are specified would be calculated as
So if the NPV Yield was 10% and the Total Lifetime cost was 6050 evenly spread over the 2 intervals, the present value for interval
1 would be 2750 and the present value for interval 2 would be 2500, giving a NPV Total Lifetime cost of 5250.
Escalation costs increase the cost of the item per time interval, so the NPV for non-zero escalation costs is calculated as
where
the number of time intervals
NPV Yield % per time interval
Escalation cost %
For example over one time interval, if the miscellaneous costs were 1000, the NPV Yield % was zero but the Miscellaneous
escalation cost was 5%, the NPV miscellaneous cost would be 1050. Whereas, if both NPV and Escalation costs were 5%, they
would cancel out and the NPV Miscellaneous cost would be 1000.
Labor escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all labor costs (per profile time interval)
Equipment escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all equipment costs (per profile time interval)
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Operational escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all operational costs (per profile time interval)
Outage escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all outage costs (per profile time interval)
Alarm escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all alarm costs (per profile time interval)
Commissioning escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all commissioning costs (per profile time interval)
Redesign escalation %
Escalation percentage to be used for all redesign costs (per profile time interval)
Project Spares Options RCMCost, AvSim Modules
The Spares tab of the Project Options Dialog enables the user to set various options that affect the way spares are modelled
during the simulation process in the RCMCost and AvSim modules. Note that some options are only applicable to simulations in the
AvSim module.
AWB will split spares at echelon level 1 into 3 sites for the 3 systems above if the Multiple sites check-box is selected.
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Storage costs
Spare storage costs may be assigned by weight or volume. Select whether storage costs should be set individually (as per details
in the individual Spare Properties dialog), by weight or by volume. If weight is chosen, enter the Level 1 storage cost per unit
weight and the Level 2 storage cost per unit weight. If volume is chosen, enter the Level 1 storage cost per unit volume and the
Level 2 storage cost per unit volume.
Logistic Delays
Spare logistic delays may be assigned to all spares globally for echelon levels 1, 2 and 3. Tick one or more check-boxes as
appropriate to your system and specify the logistic delay time for the appropriate levels.
Project Importance Options AvSim Module
The Importance tab of the Project Options Dialog enables the user to set various options that affect the importance calculations
results produced by the AvSim module.
Consequence
The consequence that will be used when calculating importance rankings.
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For example, if the capacity exceeds 40% throughout the duration of the time interval, but only exceeds 70% capacity for a quarter
of the duration of the time interval, the capacity availability graph will show 1 for 40%, and 0.25 for 70%.
The Capacity Availability tab of the Project Options Dialog enables the user to set various options that affect the capacity
availability results produced by the AvSim module.
System
The system used to determine the probability that a capacity value will be met or exceeded for a given time interval.
Number of intervals
The number of intervals to be used in the capacity availability calculation.
Map to lifetime
If the Map to lifetime option is checked the program will automatically set the start time to zero and the interval length will be set to
the project lifetime divided by the specified number of intervals.
Start time
The start of the period to be used in the capacity availability calculation.
Interval length
The interval length to be used in the capacity availability calculation.
View options are specified in the View tab of the Project Options dialog.
Project Precision Options
Precision options are specified in the Precision tab of the Project Options dialog.
The user may specify a floating point precision value of 2, 3, 4, 6 or 9 and a floating point format type of automatic or exponent.
The precision value determines the number of significant figures displayed in calculated floating point values. Selection of the
automatic format will result in floating point numbers being displayed either in standard numerical format or as a number followed
by an exponent. The format chosen by the program will depend on the absolute value of the individual floating point number. If the
exponent option is chosen then floating point numbers will be followed by an exponent, unless the exponent value is zero.
Consider the floating-point number
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0.123456789
The table below illustrates how the number will be displayed for a variety of format and precision combinations.
Many of the tables in an AWB project have Notes columns associated with them. For example four different notes may be applied
to each labor category defined, each spare and each RBD block. Note headers are used to label note fields in dialogs and note
columns in the grid control.
AWB allows users to customize the headers applied to these note columns. Note header customization is performed in the Notes
tab of the Project Options dialog.
To modify a note header click on the current header text in the tree control. The text should become highlighted. Click again over
the highlighted text. You should now be able to edit the text to specify the header you require.
Project Fonts Options AvSim Module
Fonts options are specified in the Fonts tab of the Project Options dialog.
The fonts associated with RBD and fault tree diagrams may be modified by selecting the current font setting in the tree control and
then selecting the Change selected font button. A Font dialog will appear allowing you to set the new font name, style, size and
color.
Fonts may be reset to their default values using the Reset selection to default or Reset all to default buttons.
Project Colors Options RCMCost, AvSim Modules
Color options are specified in the Colors tab of the Project Options dialog.
The colors associated with strategy labels, RBD and fault tree diagrams may be modified by selecting the current color label in the
tree control and then selecting the Change selected color button. A Color dialog will appear allowing you to set the new color.
Colors may be reset to their default values using the Reset selection to default or Reset all to default buttons.
Project RBD/FT Drag Options AvSim Module
AvSim RBD and fault tree drag and drop options may be set in the RBD/FT Drag tab of the Project Options dialog.
The options selected in this tab will affect how dependent objects are transferred between a library and a project when copying a
RBD or fault tree structure.
A group of check boxes enable the user to specify which dependent objects are to be renamed when a transfer takes place
between a project and a library. Renaming will only take place if a transferred object has a matching ID to an existing object in the
target project or library.
For example, if Rename failure models with matching IDs is checked Availability Workbench will rename all dependent failure
models transferred with the RBD or fault tree structure that encounter a matching failure model in the target project or library.
Note that RBD blocks, nodes and labels are always renamed when they encounter a matching object in the target project or library.
Similarly matching fault tree gates and primary events are also renamed.
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Labor - Overview
Labor categories are a shared resource between the RCMCost and AvSim modules and are used to determine the
contribution of labor to life cycle costs. Labor categories are assigned to both corrective and scheduled tasks and may
cause logistic delays in performing corrective actions.
See Also
General Properties
Notes
ID
A unique identifier for the labor category of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the labor category. Labor types are used to organize labor categories into groups. If a project
contains many labor categories then this will greatly assist in locating a labor category in the tree control structure.
Description
A description for the labor category of no more than 255 characters.
Cost rate
The cost per unit time incurred when employing one member of the labor category to perform a maintenance task.
See Also
Overview
Notes
Labor - Notes
Labor notes properties may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Labor Properties dialog.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each labor category. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to
identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
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Overview
General Properties
Equipment - Overview
Equipment categories are a shared resource between the RCMCost and AvSim modules and are used to determine the
contribution of equipment to life cycle costs. Equipment categories are assigned to both corrective and scheduled tasks
and may cause logistic delays in performing corrective actions.
See Also
General Properties
Notes
ID
A unique identifier for the equipment of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the equipment. Equipment types are used to organize equipments into groups. If a project contains
many equipments then this will greatly assist in locating an equipment in the tree control structure.
Description
A description for the equipment of no more than 255 characters.
Number available
The number of this equipment available at any time to perform maintenance operations. This value will affect the
likelihood of a delay in repairing a component due to other tasks being undertaken at the same time on other components.
This value only affects the results of an AvSim simulation. RCM module results are not affected.
Cost rate
The cost per unit time incurred when using the equipment to perform a maintenance task.
See Also
Overview
Notes
Equipment - Notes
Equipment note properties may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Equipment Properties dialog.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each equipment category. Users may customize note headers (the labels
used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
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See Also
Overview
General Properties
Tasks - Overview
Maintenance tasks are a shared resource used by both the RCMCost and AvSim modules. Tasks defined in Availability
Workbench are categorized into one of three possible types corrective tasks, planned maintenance tasks and inspection
tasks.
Corrective tasks are performed when a random failure takes place or when an inspection reveals a hidden failure.
Planned maintenance tasks may be performed at fixed intervals, when the age of an equipment reaches a given value or
when an opportunity arises. Planned maintenance may involve the replacement of ageing equipment or minor tasks such
as lubrication. Planned maintenance may also be performed when an inspection predicts that a failure is about to occur
(predictive maintenance).
Inspection tasks may be performed at fixed intervals, when the age of an equipment reaches a given value or when an
opportunity arises. Inspection tasks are performed to detect an imminent failure (and hence allow a planned maintenance
task to be scheduled to prevent the failure) or to detect a dormant (hidden) failure. Hidden failures are normally associated
with standby equipment.
See Also
Corrective Maintenance Tasks - General Properties
Corrective Maintenance Tasks - Advanced Properties
Corrective Maintenance Tasks - Rules
Planned Maintenance Tasks - General Properties
Planned Maintenance Tasks - Advanced Properties
Planned Maintenance Tasks - Rules
Planned Maintenance Tasks - Optimization
Inspection Tasks - General Properties
Inspection Tasks - Advanced Properties
Inspection Tasks - Predictive Data
Inspection Tasks - Rules
Inspection Tasks - Optimization
Description
A description for the corrective maintenance task of no more than 255 characters.
Task ID
An identifier for the task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Task duration
The task duration is the time taken to repair a component. It does not include any logistic delays in procuring spares, labor
and equipment or any equipment start-up delays in bringing the equipment back on-line. If individual labor and equipment
resources are required for shorter or longer periods than the task duration then the Active time field may be specified
when assigning the resource.
Operational cost
The operational cost field provides a method of specifying any costs incurred in the repair other than the labor, equipment
and spare costs assigned to the task.
Ramp time
The ramp time is the time required to bring the equipment back 'on-line' over and above the specified task duration.
Resources
The Resources list shows the labor categories, equipment and spares required to perform the corrective maintenance
task. The quantity of each resource is also displayed in the list. The user can add items to the list by choosing the
appropriate Add button beneath the list. The user may modify existing resource assignments in the list by selecting the
Edit button. These actions will reveal the Assigned Resource Properties dialog. For example, a resource may be
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selected from the list extracted from the labor, equipment or spares table and the number of the resource can be entered
into the Quantity text box. In addition, an active time may be entered for labor and equipment resources. The Active
time field indicates the time period for which the resource is required. If the Set to task duration option is not checked,
the active time will be displayed in brackets to the right of the resource if it differs from the task duration. If the resource is
not already defined in the project then the New button may be used to create a new labor category, equipment or spare.
Clicking on the OK button will dismiss the dialog and place the information in the Resources list.
Note that when adding or editing a spare resource, if a BOM is attached to a parent cause (RCMCost module) or a parent
block or gate (AvSim module), then the spares list displayed in the Assigned Resource Properties dialog will only
contain spares assigned to the appropriate BOM. If the spare is not already defined in the project then the New button
may be used to create a new spare. The New button will only be enabled if Disable Bom filter is checked or there is no
BOM associated with the task.
See Also
Advanced Properties
Rules
Notes
Weibull set
The task duration can be obtained directly from historical data analyzed in a Weibull set. A maintenance task that is linked
to a Weibull set will obtain the distribution type and parameters directly from the Weibull set. As historical data is updated,
Availability Workbench (AWB) will automatically update the distribution parameters for associated maintenance tasks.
Distribution
AWB samples the task duration from the distribution chosen in the Distribution pull-down menu. The four options are
exponential, lognormal, normal and Weibull.
Operation No
An operation number for the task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
See Also
General Properties
Rules
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Notes
The Rules list shows the rules that govern the corrective maintenance task. Items can be added to the list by choosing
the Add button beneath the list. This action will reveal the Rule Properties dialog. A rule can be selected from the list of
four possible types - Trigger task by phase, Trigger task by state, Inhibit task by phase and Inhibit task by state. For
example, if Trigger task by phase is selected a phase can be chosen from the Phase list to act as a trigger for the
corrective maintenance task. If Trigger task by state is selected, a state dependency type may be chosen of RBD block
or Fault tree gate and the identity of the block or gate selected. The state of the block or gate required to trigger the task
must also be selected. In each case a description of the rule is generated automatically from the data input by the user.
For rules that inhibit a task by phase or state the input data is the same. Clicking on the OK button will dismiss the dialog
and place the information in the Rules list. There is no limit to the number of rules that may be applied to a task.
Trigger task rules will have no effect if the component is non-maintainable during the phase of operation during which the
trigger event takes place. Also, for corrective tasks, trigger rules will not affect a dormant failure. Trigger tasks are used
with corrective tasks to override an inhibit rule associated with the same task.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Notes
Up to 24 descriptive notes may be assigned to each task. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a
note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Rules
Task enabled
If checked the planned maintenance task is enabled. Enabling a task indicates that the task will be performed as part of a
routine maintenance schedule at regular intervals. Disabled tasks will only be performed as a secondary action task or as
a result of a trigger rule initiating the task.
Interval
The time interval between each planned maintenance task. If a fixed maintenance interval has been specified the planned
maintenance task will be performed at regular intervals irrespective of the age of the equipment. Otherwise maintenance
will be performed when the age of the equipment matches the interval value.
Offset
The time offset for the first application of the task during a simulation run. The first task will be performed at T + To where
T is the task interval and To is the interval offset.
Fixed interval
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If checked the planned maintenance task will be performed at regular intervals irrespective of the age of the equipment. If
not checked then maintenance will be performed when the age of the equipment matches the interval value.
Description
A description for the planned maintenance task of no more than 255 characters.
Task ID
An identifier for the planned maintenance task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Task duration
The task duration is the time taken to repair a component. It does not include any logistic delays in procuring spares, labor
and equipment or any equipment start-up delays in bringing the equipment back on-line. If individual labor and equipment
resources are required for shorter or longer periods than the task duration then the Active time field may be specified
when assigning the resource.
Operational cost
The operational cost field provides a method of specifying any costs incurred in the repair other than the labor, equipment
and spare costs assigned to the task.
Ramp time
The ramp time is the time required to bring the equipment back 'on-line' over and above the specified task duration.
Minimum age
The minimum age at which the task will be performed for fixed interval tasks. For example, specifying an interval of 2000
hours for a task with minimum age of 8000 hours will indicate the task is not to be performed until the associated
component has aged to 8000 hours. If the task does not result in a reduction in the age of the associated component then
subsequent tasks will be performed at the specified interval of 2000 hours.
Task group
The task group to which the planned maintenance task is assigned. If a task group is assigned to the task some data
fields may be populated from the properties of the task group.
Resources
The Resources list shows the labor categories, equipment and spares required to perform the planned maintenance task.
The quantity of each resource is also displayed in the list. The user can add items to the list by choosing the appropriate
Add button beneath the list. The user may modify existing resource assignments in the list by selecting the Edit button.
These actions will reveal the Assigned Resource Properties dialog. For example, a resource may be selected from the
list extracted from the labor, equipment or spares table and the number of the resource can be entered into the Quantity
text box. In addition, an active time may be entered for labor and equipment resources. The Active time field indicates
the time period for which the resource is required. If the Set to task duration option is not checked, the active time will be
displayed in brackets to the right of the resource if it differs from the task duration. If the resource is not already defined in
the project then the New button may be used to create a new labor category, equipment or spare. Clicking on the OK
button will dismiss the dialog and place the information in the Resources list.
Note that when adding or editing a spare resource, if a BOM is attached to a parent cause (RCMCost module) or a parent
block or gate (AvSim module), then the spares list displayed in the Assigned Resource Properties dialog will only
contain spares assigned to the appropriate BOM. If the spare is not already defined in the project then the New button
may be used to create a new spare. The New button will only be enabled if Disable Bom filter is checked or there is no
BOM associated with the task.
See Also
Advanced Properties
Rules
Notes
Optimization
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The condition after maintenance may be specified As good as new, Intermediate or As good as old. If Intermediate is
chosen, the user must specify the associated age reduction factor. Choose As good as new if the equipment will be
replaced by new equipment. Choose As good as old if, for example, a lubrication task is to be performed that has no
effect on the equipment age.
Weibull set
The task duration can be obtained directly from historical data analyzed in a Weibull set. A maintenance task that is linked
to a Weibull set will obtain the distribution type and parameters directly from the Weibull set. As historical data is updated,
Availability Workbench (AWB) will automatically update the distribution parameters for associated maintenance tasks.
Distribution
AWB samples the task duration from the distribution chosen in the Distribution pull-down menu. The four options are
exponential, lognormal, normal and Weibull.
Operation No
An operation number for the task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Mandatory task
If checked indicates that the task is mandatory. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is provided for
identification purposes only.
See Also
General Properties
Rules
Notes
Optimization
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Alternatively you may wish to perform opportunistic maintenance when a particular system fails.
The Rules list shows the rules that govern the planned maintenance task. Items can be added to the list by choosing the
Add button beneath the list. This action will reveal the Rule Properties dialog. A rule can be selected from the list of four
possible types - Trigger task by phase, Trigger task by state, Inhibit task by phase and Inhibit task by state. For
example, if Trigger task by phase is selected a phase can be chosen from the Phase list to act as a trigger for the
planned maintenance task and a value can be entered for the minimum elapsed time since the task was last performed
(or minimum age of the component if it is not a fixed interval task). If Trigger task by state is selected, a state
dependency type may be chosen of RBD block or Fault tree gate and the identity of the block or gate selected. The
state of the block or gate required to trigger the task must also be selected. In each case a description of the rule is
generated automatically from the data input by the user. For rules that inhibit a task by phase or state the input data is the
same except that no minimum elapsed time need be specified. Clicking on the OK button will dismiss the dialog and place
the information in the Rules list. There is no limit to the number of rules that may be applied to a task.
Trigger task rules will have no effect if the component is non-maintainable during the phase of operation during which the
trigger event takes place.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Notes
Optimization
Up to 24 descriptive notes may be assigned to each task. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a
note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Rules
Optimization
Number of intervals
The total number of trial intervals during an optimization run.
First interval
The minimum interval to be used in the interval optimization calculation.
Interval increment
The interval increment to be used in the interval optimization calculation.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Rules
Notes
Task enabled
If checked the inspection task is enabled. Enabling a task indicates that the task will be performed as part of a routine
maintenance schedule at regular intervals. Disabled inspection tasks will only be performed if a trigger rule initiates the
task.
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Interval
The time interval between each inspection task. If a fixed maintenance interval has been specified the inspection task will
be performed at regular intervals irrespective of the age of the equipment. Otherwise maintenance will be performed when
the age of the equipment matches the interval value.
Offset
The time offset for the first application of the task during a simulation run. The first inspection will be performed at T + To
where T is the inspection interval and To is the interval offset.
Fixed interval
If checked the inspection task will be performed at regular intervals irrespective of the age of the equipment. If not
checked then maintenance will be performed when the age of the equipment matches the interval value.
Description
A description for the inspection task of no more than 255 characters.
Task ID
An identifier for the inspection task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Task duration
The task duration is the time taken to perform the inspection task. It does not include any equipment start-up delays in
bringing the equipment back on-line. If individual labor and equipment resources are required for shorter or longer
periods than the task duration then the Active time field may be specified when assigning the resource.
Operational cost
The operational cost field provides a method of specifying any costs incurred other than the labor and equipment costs
assigned to the task.
Ramp time
The ramp time is the time required to bring the equipment back 'on-line' over and above the specified task duration.
Minimum age
The minimum age at which the task will be performed for fixed interval tasks. For example, specifying an interval of 2000
hours for a task with minimum age of 8000 hours will indicate the task is not to be performed until the associated
component has aged to 8000 hours. If the task does not result in a reduction in the age of the associated component then
subsequent tasks will be performed at the specified interval of 2000 hours.
Task group
The task group to which the inspection task is assigned. If a task group is assigned to the task some data fields may be
populated from the properties of the task group.
Resources
The Resources list shows the labor categories and equipment required to perform the inspection task. The quantity of
each resource is also displayed in the list. The user can add items to the list by choosing the appropriate Add button
beneath the list. The user may modify existing resource assignments in the list by selecting the Edit button. These
actions will reveal the Assigned Resource Properties dialog. For example, a resource may be selected from the list
extracted from the labor or equipment table and the number of the resource can be entered into the Quantity text box.
In addition, an active time may be entered for both labor and equipment resources. The Active time field indicates the
time period for which the resource is required. If the Set to task duration option is not checked, the active time will be
displayed in brackets to the right of the resource if it differs from the task duration. If the resource is not already defined in
the project then the New button may be used to create a new labor category or equipment. Clicking on the OK button will
dismiss the dialog and place the information in the Resources list.
See Also
Advanced Properties
Predictive Data
Rules
Notes
Optimization
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Task parameters may be accessed from the Advanced tab of the Task Properties dialog.
Weibull set
The task duration can be obtained directly from historical data analyzed in a Weibull Set. A maintenance task that is linked
to a Weibull set will obtain the distribution type and parameters directly from the Weibull set. As historical data is updated,
Availability Workbench (AWB) will automatically update the distribution parameters for associated maintenance tasks.
Distribution
AWB samples the task duration from the distribution chosen in the Distribution pull-down menu. The four options are
exponential, lognormal, normal and Weibull.
Operation No
An operation number for the task of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Mandatory task
If checked indicates that the task is mandatory. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is provided for
identification purposes only.
See Also
General Properties
Predictive Data
Rules
Notes
Optimization
P-F curve
The P-F curve, in combination with the P-F interval and detection probability, determines whether the inspection task will
predict a future failure. Specifying the time difference between the potential failure and inspection point as t and the P-F
interval as tPF , the probability of detecting the potential failure, P, is given by:
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Step Distribution:
Exponential Distribution:
Linear Distribution:
for
for
Normal Distribution:
for
for and
Otherwise
P-F interval
If a non-zero P-F interval is specified then potential failures may be identified before they actually occur. If a failure is
recognized as about to occur during the simulation process then the program will assume that a planned maintenance
task is to be employed rather than corrective maintenance. If the time difference between the potential failure point and
inspection point is greater than the P-F interval then potential failure will not be recognized. If the time difference is less
than the P-F interval, the failure may be recognized, depending on the P-F detection probability and P-F curve selection
specified by the user.
Detection probability
The probability that the failure will be detected.
P-F std
The standard deviation for a normal distribution P-F curve.
Baseline
The physical baseline value for a test. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is provided for identification
purposes only.
Trigger
The physical value that will trigger a planned maintenance action. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is
provided for identification purposes only.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Rules
Notes
Optimization
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The Rules list shows the rules that govern the inspection task. Items can be added to the list by choosing the Add button
beneath the list. This action will reveal the Rule Properties dialog. A rule can be selected from the list of four possible
types - Trigger task by phase, Trigger task by state, Inhibit task by phase and Inhibit task by state. For example, if
Trigger task by phase is selected a phase can be chosen from the Phase list to act as a trigger for the inspection task
and a value can be entered for the minimum elapsed time since the task was last performed (or minimum age of the
component if it is not a fixed interval task). If Trigger task by state is selected, a state dependency type may be chosen of
RBD block or Fault tree gate and the identity of the block or gate selected. The state of the block or gate required to
trigger the task must also be selected. In each case a description of the rule is generated automatically from the data input
by the user. For rules that inhibit a task by phase or state the input data is the same except that no minimum elapsed time
need be specified. Clicking on the OK button will dismiss the dialog and place the information in the Rules List. There is
no limit to the number of rules that may be applied to a task.
Trigger task rules will have no effect if the component is non-maintainable during the phase of operation during which the
trigger event takes place.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Predictive Data
Notes
Optimization
Up to 24 descriptive notes may be assigned to each task. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a
note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Predictive Data
Rules
Optimization
Number of intervals
The total number of trial intervals during an optimization run.
First Interval
The minimum interval to be used in the interval optimization calculation.
Interval Increment
The interval increment to be used in the interval optimization calculation.
See Also
General Properties
Advanced Properties
Predictive Data
Rules
Notes
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Task group intervals may be optimized by selecting the Apply & optimize interval button. The Optimization Plot dialog
will be revealed allowing the user to perform an interval optimization run.
Task groups contain a sub-set of the properties associated with individual tasks. The user may select whether to assign
interval data, predictive data and rules (Avsim module only) to the associated tasks. For example, a predictive task might
involve the inspection of all pumps of a specific kind for excessive vibration using specialized monitoring equipment. The
predictive task parameters could be entered just once as a task group and then the task group could be assigned to the
individual pumps. Any change in the task group parameters would then be reflected in the individual tasks for each pump.
See Also
General Properties
Predictive Data Properties
Rules
Notes
Tasks
Optimizing Scheduled Task Intervals (RCMCost Module)
Optimizing Scheduled Task Intervals (AvSim Module)
ID
A unique identifier for the task group category of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the task group category. Task Group types are used to organize task groups into groups. If a project
contains many task groups then this will greatly assist in locating a task group in the tree control structure.
Description
A description for the task group category of no more than 255 characters.
Assign description
If checked the program will transfer the task group description to each individual task associated with the task group.
Interval
The task group interval.
Fixed interval
When checked indicates that tasks associated with the task group will be performed at a fixed time interval after the
previous application of the scheduled task. If not checked indicates that the interval is age-related, i.e. the task will be
performed when the age of the equipment reaches the value specified as the interval.
Interval offset
The interval offset specifies the time of the first task during a simulation. The first task will be performed at T + To where
T is the task interval and To is the task offset.
Efficiency factor
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The efficiency factor indicates the reduction in individual task durations achieved by performing associated tasks as part of
a task group. During a simulation, associated task durations will be modified by multiplying the specified individual task
duration by the task group efficiency factor. Efficiency factors may be determined using the Task Group Efficiency dialog.
Operational cost
The operational cost associated with the task group. This group cost is apportioned amongst all the associated tasks. The
apportioned value is added to operational costs specified to any individual tasks.
See Also
Overview
Predictive Data Properties
Rules
Notes
Tasks
P-F curve
The P-F curve, in combination with the P-F interval and detection probability, determines whether the inspection task will
predict a future failure. If we specify the time difference between the potential failure and inspection point as t and the
P-F interval as t then the probability of detecting the potential failure, P , is given by:
PF
Step Distribution:
Exponential Distribution:
Linear Distribution:
Normal Distribution:
P-F interval
If a non-zero P-F interval is specified then potential failures may be identified before they actually occur. If a failure is
recognized as about to occur during the simulation process then the program will assume that a planned maintenance is
to be employed rather than corrective maintenance. If the time difference between the potential failure point and
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inspection point is greater than the P-F interval then potential failure will not be recognized. If the time difference is less
than the P-F interval, the failure may be recognized, depending on the P-F detection probability and P-F curve selection
specified by the user.
Detection probability
Indicates the probability that the failure will be detected.
P-F std
The standard deviation for the P-F Normal Distribution.
Baseline
The physical baseline value for a test. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is provided for identification
purposes only.
Trigger
The physical value that will trigger a planned maintenance action. This setting will not affect the results of a simulation. It is
provided for identification purposes only.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Rules
Notes
Tasks
Rules are only applied in the AvSim module. Task group rules are identical to the rule types permitted for planned
maintenance and inspection tasks in the AvSim module. These rules are described in the topics
Add
Used to add a rule.
Edit
Used to edit a rule.
Remove
Used to remove a rule.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Predictive Data Properties
Notes
Tasks
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each task group category. Users may customize note headers (the labels
used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
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See Also
Overview
General Properties
Predictive Data Properties
Rules
Tasks
Each associated task is displayed along with the location (RCMCost module) or failure model (AvSim module) ID.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Predictive Data Properties
Rules
Notes
Spares - Overview
Spare parts are a shared resource between the RCMCost and AvSim modules and are used to determine the contribution
of spares to life cycle costs. Spares may be assigned to both corrective and planned maintenance tasks and may cause
logistic delays in performing corrective actions.
The AvSim module contains a powerful spare part tracking algorithm that allows spare parts to be traced through three
echelon levels. Echelon level 1 is nearest to the system and may represent spares stored on site for a process plant, or
on board for a ship etc. Level 2 is the next available level and may represent spares stored at a depot, for example.
Level 3 is used to represent the source of the spare (e.g. factory) from which the other echelon levels and system are re-
supplied. The repair shop may be used to re-cycle spares into the echelon hierarchy.
The RCMCost module uses a simpler spare algorithm that assumes that spare allocation delays due to close successive
failures of similar equipments are negligible.
See Also
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop Properties
Notes
Optimization
ID
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A unique identifier for the spares category of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the spare. Spare types are used to organize spares into groups. If a project contains many spares
then this will greatly assist in locating a spare in the tree control structure.
Description
A description for the spare of no more than 255 characters.
Unit cost
The unit cost represents the capital cost of a spare part. Each time a new spare is used as part of a corrective or planned
maintenance action, the program will add the capital cost of the part to the lifetime purchase cost for spares.
If the Include initial spare purchase costs check-box is selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab) then the
initial purchase cost of spare parts held at levels 1 and 2 will be included in the lifetime costs calculated by the program.
Unit volume
The volume taken up by the spare. The volumes associated with spares are summated for the first two echelon levels
during a simulation run.
Unit weight
The weight of the spare. The weights associated with spares are summated for the first two echelon levels during a
simulation run.
See Also
Overview
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop
Notes
Optimization
Capacity
The Capacity field indicates the number of the current spare parts that are held at level 1.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop
Notes
Optimization
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Capacity
The Capacity field indicates the number of the current spare parts that are held at level 2.
Transportation cost
The spare transport cost for unscheduled demands on level 2 spares.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop
Notes
Optimization
Standard deviation
The standard deviation for normal and lognormal logistic delay distributions.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
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Repair Shop
Notes
Optimization
Repair level
Specifies the level at which repaired parts will be returned to the echelon hierarchy. If a level is selected then, during
simulations, Availability Workbench will return spare parts that have been replaced to the repair shop. Repaired parts will
then either be discarded (if they are beyond repair) or returned to the specified echelon level after a repair has been
completed. They are assumed to be as good as new once repaired. Specifying repair shop repairs allows the spares
usage costs for new parts to be reduced during the lifetime of the system.
Cost of repair
The Cost of repair is the cost of repairing a single part.
Discard %
The Discard % is the percentage of parts that are non-repairable and are therefore discarded.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Notes
Optimization
Spares - Notes
Spare notes may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Spare Properties dialog.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each spare. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify
a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop
Optimization
Availability Workbench (AWB) will only compare capacity levels within the specified limits during optimization.
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See Also
Overview
General Properties
Level 1 Properties
Level 2 Properties
Level 3 Properties
Repair Shop
Notes
BOMs - Overview
A Bill of Materials (BOM) is simply a list of parts. The parts assigned to a BOM must first be defined in the project Spares
table. BOMs may be assigned to locations in the RCM module and blocks or gates in the AvSim module. Their
functionality is to assist users in selecting the required spares for a corrective or planned maintenance task in the
Resources tab of the Task dialog. For example, if a BOM is assigned to a location in the RCM module, then tasks
attached to causes appearing below the location in the hierarchy will show spares associated with the BOM. If no BOM is
associated with any of the locations above a cause in the location hierarchy, then the program will show all spares
currently defined in the project when selecting resources for maintenance.
See Also
General Properties
Spares
Notes
ID
A unique identifier for the BOM category of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the BOM category. BOM types are used to organize BOMs into groups. If a project contains many
BOM categories then this will greatly assist in locating a BOM category in the tree control structure.
Description
A description for the BOM category of no more than 255 characters.
See Also
Overview
Spares
Notes
BOMs - Spares
BOM spares may be accessed from the Spares tab of the Bom Properties dialog.
Add
The user may associate spares with a BOM by selecting the Add button in the Spares Properties tab of the Bom
Properties dialog. On selecting the Add button the Assigned Resource Properties dialog will appear allowing the user
to specify the spare and quantity to be added to the list. The quantity property determines the number of spares to be
assigned to a maintenance task when selecting from lists in the Resources tab of the Task Properties dialog.
Edit
Used to modify the assigned spare.
Delete
Used to delete the assigned spare.
See Also
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Overview
General Properties
Notes
BOMs - Notes
BOM notes may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Bom Properties dialog.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each BOM category. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to
identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Spares
Using Types
Many of the objects that constitute an Availability Workbench project may be organized into types. Object types are
provided to allow the user to build an object hierarchy based on type IDs. There is no limit to the number of levels in the
type hierarchy. Organizing objects into types allows the user to easily navigate to an individual object in the project tree
control. AWB provides facilities for creating the following object types:
Effect Type
Spare Type
Labor Type
Equipment Type
Task Group Type
Bom Type
Weibull Set Type
Failure Model Type
Consequence Type
Bitmap Type
Global Variable Type
The example tree structure below shows two spare types ('Mechanical' and 'Assemblies') defined below the Spares node
in the tree control. Two spares are then defined below the 'Assemblies' type.
ID
A unique identifier for the object type of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Parent
The parent assigned to the type. The parent is also a type.
Description
A description for the type of no more than 255 characters.
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The Failure Distribution Wizard allows the user to specify a series of parameters relating to the infant mortality (wear-
in), random failure (mid-life) and wear-out (ageing) phases for a failure. These three phases define the well-known failure
rate bath tub curve.
The first tab of the Failure Distribution Wizard dialog requests the user to specify whether the failure exhibits random
failure, wear-out and infant mortality characteristics. One or more of these categories may be selected. Depending on the
selections made new tabs will appear in the dialog. The new tabs will relate to random failures, wear-out or infant mortality
depending on which of these phases were selected in the first tab. Each tab is described in turn below.
Random Failures
The user is requested to enter the failure rate for random failures.
Random failures exhibit constant failure rate characteristics. That is a random failure is just as likely to occur in the first
year of operation as it is in the second or third years of operation. Random failures exhibit no infant mortality or wear-out
characteristics. The failure rate value is simply the inverse of the mean time to failure:
If the user has specified that there are no wear-out or infant mortality characteristics then the program uses the
exponential distribution and sets the failure rate to the rate specified by the user. Otherwise the Failure Distribution
Wizard sets the Weibull distribution parameters according to the following expression:
where are the Weibull eta, beta and gamma parameters respectively.
Wear-out
The user is requested to enter the operating age at which wear-out begins and how long after wear-out begins that the
majority of components of this type will have failed. The Failure Distribution Wizard assumes the rate at which the failure
rate increases is linear. The Failure Distribution Wizard sets the Weibull distribution parameters according to the
following expressions.
= time after wear-out begins that the majority of components of this type are expected to have failed due to wear-out
Infant Mortality
The user is requested to enter the infant mortality period and the mean failure rate during that period. The mean failure
rate must be greater than the random failure rate if one was specified. The Failure Distribution Wizard sets the Weibull
distribution parameters according to the following expressions.
where = difference between the infant mortality rate and random failure rate
= infant mortality period
Example
Consider the following example. Suppose that you consider that there is a 10% probability that a random (non-age-
related) failure of the component will occur during each year of operation. After two years of operation, however, the
component begins to age and from your previous experience most components of this type will fail by the end of the third
year of operation due to ageing. Using the Wizard you should select the Random failure and Wear-out phases in the
Characteristics tab. For the random failure phase you would specify a failure rate of 0.1 failures per year in the Random
Failures tab. For the wear-out phase you would set At what operating age does wear-out begin to 2 years and How
long after the start of wear-out will the majority of components of this type have failed to 1 year in the Wear-out
tab.
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Converting Location, RBD and Fault Tree Structures Page 1 of 1
Conversion facilities are accessed via the Tools, Convert pull-down menu.
During a conversion between the RCMCost and AvSim modules the program will automatically link cause data to failure
models. For example, after converting the RCMCost location hierarchy to RBD format, the newly created block failure
models will be linked to the associated cause in the location hierarchy.
Links may be accessed via the Edit, Data Links pull-down menu option.
See Also
Linking Causes to Failure Models
Linking Causes To Failure Models
Data links provide a method to link certain parameters in a RCMCost location hierarchy to the equivalent parameters in an
AvSim RBD or fault tree model. More specifically, data links connect data between RCMCost causes and AvSim failure
models.
Once a data link is created between a failure model and a cause any changes in matching parameters (parameters that
exist for the failure model and the cause) can be automatically updated via the link. For example, if a new planned
maintenance task is added to a failure model, this new task will also be added to the linked cause when the data links are
next updated.
Data links may be created and updated by selecting the Edit, Data Links pull-down menu option. Note that when you
convert between a RCMCost hierarchy and a RBD or fault tree structure using the AWB conversion facilities, data links
will automatically be created.
Failure model
In this drop-down menu the AvSim failure model to be linked is selected.
Cause
In this drop-down menu the RCMCost cause to be linked is selected.
Create link
When selected a link is created between the failure model and cause specified in the adjacent drop-down menus.
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Building the Location Hierarchy Page 1 of 27
In the context of the RCMCost module of Availability Workbench (AWB) the term location is used to represent both the
location of sub-systems and equipments. Intermediate locations in the location hierarchy (those which have other
locations underneath them) represent sub-systems, whereas locations that form the roots of the hierarchy diagram
represent a distinct item of equipment such as a pump or a valve, which are the smallest items of equipment considered
from an operational point of view. These equipment locations will have one or more functions, functional failures and
causes. Each cause will be associated with a maintenance policy.
Each distinct equipment location will have one or more functions. Usually an equipment will have a primary function (such
as stopping flow in the case of a valve) and one or more secondary functions (such as containment) that may be safety
related.
Each equipment function will have one or more functional failure. A functional failure may be defined as the inability of the
equipment to perform a function to the required standard. More than one functional failure mode may be associated with
the same function. For example total loss of function and partial loss of function may be considered as 2 distinct functional
failures.
Each functional failure may have one or more root cause. These causes are referred to as engineering failure modes in
some standards and constitute the actual physical causes of failure. Some examples of causes (engineering failure
modes) are:
seal leakage
piping cracked
motor burnt out
insulation breakdown
corrosion
The system locations, equipment locations, functions, functional failures and causes are all defined and connected in the
location hierarchy which is displayed in the project tree when the RCMCost module is selected.
Adding Locations
A location may be added to the hierarchy by selecting the Add, Resource, Location pull-down menu option or by using
the equivalent toolbar button. A location may also be added by copying and pasting or dragging and dropping a location
from elsewhere in the hierarchy or from a library.
The Location Properties dialog will be displayed allowing the following properties to be modified.
ID
A unique identifier for the location of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the location of no more than 255 characters.
Quantity
The quantity of the equipment associated with the location. Quantity values will affect simulated project costs and
availability values.
Bom
The Bom with which the location is associated.
Location type
Users may specify a location type for the location. Location types can be assigned different symbols so the different
location types may be easily identified in the location hierarchy.
Equipment type
The type or class of equipment associated with the location. Equipment types will normally only be assigned at the lowest
level in the location hierarchy. In RCMCost equipment types are used to identify a class of equipment tool used for repair
(e.g. cranes) or a class of operating or standby equipment contained within the location hierarchy (e.g. centrifugal pumps).
Identifying equipment types in the location hierarchy is often useful when uploading data to ERP systems using one of the
ERP portals.
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Criticality ranking
The criticality ranking assigned to the location.
Notes Fields
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Note field headers are defined by the user in the
Project Options dialog.
Adding Functions
A function may be added to the hierarchy by selecting the Add, Resource, Function pull-down menu option or by using
the equivalent toolbar button. A function may also be added by copying and pasting or dragging and dropping a function
from elsewhere in the hierarchy or from a library.
The Function Properties dialog will be displayed allowing the following properties to be modified.
ID
A unique identifier for the function of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the function of no more than 255 characters.
The Functional Failure Properties dialog will be displayed allowing the following properties to be modified.
ID
A unique identifier for the functional failure of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the functional failure of no more than 255 characters.
Adding Causes
A cause may be added to the hierarchy by selecting the Add, Resource, Cause pull-down menu option or by using the
equivalent toolbar button. A cause may also be added by copying and pasting or dragging and dropping a cause from
elsewhere in the hierarchy or from a library.
For further information regarding causes see the section entitled Assigning Causes.
Location Types
Location types are used to identify different types of location in the location hierarchy diagram. The location hierarchy
diagram is part of the tree control displayed in the left-hand window. Location types may be assigned to a location in the
Location Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the location type of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the location type of no more than 255 characters.
Image
The image to display in the tree control for locations associated with the location type.
Criticality rankings may be assigned manually to locations and equipments or they may be assigned automatically based
on the results of a system simulation. They may also be downloaded from the user's ERP system using one of the ERP
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Portals (using direct criticality assignments in the ERP system or by analyzing maintenance notifications in the ERP
system). Ideally the RCM process will include the following steps:
Download location, equipment and resource data from the ERP system
Analyze maintenance work order data in the ERP system to identify critical equipments
Refine the RCMCost system model and perform optimization studies on critical equipments
Upload new maintenance plans
Re-assign criticality rankings based on RCMCost simulations where appropriate
Criticality rankings must be created in a project before assigning them to locations. You can create them manually or
assign default rankings from the Criticality Rankings dialog. This dialog is revealed when the Edit, Criticality Rankings
pull-down menu option is selected in the RCMCost module. Alternatively, you can download existing criticality rankings
from your ERP system using one of the ERP portals.
Criticality rankings may then be assigned to locations at any level from within the Location Properties dialog. They may
also be assigned automatically from within one of the ERP portals or after a full system simulation has been performed (if
the Automatically assign criticality rankings option is set on in the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog).
See Also
Properties
New criticality rankings may be added to a project by selecting the Add New Ranking button. The Add Defaults button
will automatically create a default set of rankings. Rankings are removed from a project by selecting the Delete Selected
Ranking(s) button. Rankings should be ordered with the most severe ranking in the first row of the grid and the least
severe ranking on the last row of the grid. The order of criticality rankings may be changed by selecting a single ranking
and then selecting the Move Up or Move Down buttons.
The properties of existing criticality rankings may be changed by selecting the appropriate grid cell and typing the new
property value. A highlight font may be assigned to each ranking. The highlight font will be used to identify the criticality of
locations in the project tree control. To modify a highlight font select the appropriate criticality ranking in the grid and then
select the Change Highlight Font button. To revert to the default font select the Set Font to Default button.
See Also
Overview
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Causes - Overview
The properties of each cause (a cause is often referred to as the failure mode of an equipment) define the likelihood that
the cause will occur and the resources and costs associated with maintaining the equipment in relation to the cause.
Cause properties also indicate the effects associated with a functional failure when initiated by the specified cause.
Typical examples of causes of an equipment failure might be seal leakage, worn brushes, and valve stuck open.
Causes are attached to functional failures in the location hierarchy. To assign a cause select a functional failure symbol
from the tree control followed by selection of the Add, Resource, Cause pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
option. Alternatively, right click on a functional failure in the tree control and select Add Cause from the pop-up menu. A
dialog will appear allowing the user to edit the cause properties. Note that the program will only allow causes to be created
underneath functional failure symbols in the location hierarchy of the project tree control.
See Also
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
ID
A unique identifier for the cause of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Description
A description for the cause of no more than 255 characters.
Detection method
This field describes the method used to detect the failure. Up to 2000 characters of text are allowed.
Compensating provisions
This field describes the compensating provisions for the failure. Up to 2000 characters of text are allowed.
Remarks
This is a descriptive field of up to 2000 characters.
Highlight text
Setting the Highlight text check box will result in the highlight font being used for the text appearing alongside the cause
in the location hierarchy in the tree control. The highlight font may be set in the Fonts tab of the Application Options
dialog.
See Also
Overview
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Causes - Failure
Cause failure properties may be accessed from the Failure tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
Weibull set
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Users may link a failure model to a Weibull set created in the Weibull Analysis Module of Availability Workbench (AWB). A
cause that is linked to a Weibull set will obtain the distribution type and parameters directly from the Weibull set. This
allows users to analyze historical failure data and directly connect this data to the cause failure model. As historical data is
updated, AWB will automatically update the distribution parameters for the associated causes.
Distribution
The Distribution combo-box specifies the failure distribution to be associated with the cause. Options are
Exponential
Weibull
Bi-Weibull
Tri-Weibull
Fixed
Lognormal
Normal
Buffer [should not be used in RCMCost module included for AvSim module compatibility only]
Phased Bi-Weibull
Phased Tri-Weibull
These distributions are used in the Monte Carlo simulation to sample times to failure of the component.
The exponential distribution represents the case where the failure rate is constant over time. The user inputs the inverse
of the failure rate in the Mean time to failure text box. The cumulative failure distribution at time t is given by
The Weibull options relate to the number of three-parameter Weibull distributions to be used to sample the time to failure
of the component. The user can choose to have one, two or three distributions that are then combined to represent the
three failure modes in the well-known bathtub curve for the failure rate of a component. The first mode represents early
failures during the 'burn-in' period, the second mode is the 'useful-life' period when the failures are random and the final
mode is the 'wear-out' mode for which the failure rate rises. In the RCMCost module the user has the option of choosing to
model one, two or three of the bathtub periods. The user can input the values for the three-parameter Weibull distribution
for the chosen modes. The cumulative failure distribution at time t for the three-parameter Weibull distribution is given by
The fixed distribution is intended for use when the time to failure is definitely known. The user is required to enter a fixed
time to failure if this distribution is selected.
If the user chooses the lognormal or normal distributions then the user will be expected to enter a mean time to failure and
standard deviation.
The buffer distribution model is included for data transfer compatibility with the AvSim module. It should not be used in the
RCMCost module.
For the exponential, lognormal and normal distributions the user must supply the value of the mean time to failure.
Standard deviation
If either a lognormal or normal distribution is selected then the standard deviation must be entered.
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Initial age
The initial age indicates the age of the equipment at the beginning of the simulation life cycle. If the RCMCost project
represents a system that is currently in operation, then items which show ageing characteristics should have their initial
age (at the beginning of the simulation life cycle) specified.
Dormant failure
If the Dormant failure check box is selected, failed equipments will not be repaired until after an inspection or planned
maintenance task takes place. This flag should be set for standby components that are only required to operate on
demand and whose failures remain hidden until an inspection takes place.
Demand frequency
This parameter is only used if the Dormant failure check box is selected. Hidden failures will only produce the specified
effects when a demand is placed upon the associated component. In order to determine the frequency of these effects the
program needs to know the demand frequency.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Causes - Maintenance
Cause maintenance properties may be accessed from the Maintenance tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
The maintenance tasks assigned to a cause are categorized into one of three possible types corrective tasks, planned
maintenance tasks and inspection tasks.
Corrective tasks are performed when a random failure takes place or when an inspection reveals a hidden failure.
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Planned maintenance tasks may be performed at fixed intervals or when the age of an equipment reaches a given value.
Planned maintenance may involve the replacement of ageing equipment or minor tasks such as lubrication. Planned
maintenance may also be performed when an inspection predicts that a failure is about to occur (predictive maintenance).
Inspection tasks may be performed at fixed intervals or when the age of an equipment reaches a given value. Inspection
tasks are performed to detect an imminent failure (and hence allow a planned maintenance task to be scheduled to
prevent the failure) or to detect a dormant (hidden) failure. Hidden failures are normally associated with standby
equipment.
For more information on how to create task libraries see the Task Library section.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Causes - Alarm
Cause alarm properties may be accessed from the Alarm tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
Monitoring equipment may be installed to automatically indicate a failure is about to occur without relying on an inspection
by a maintenance crew.
P-F curve
The P-F curve, in combination with the P-F interval and detection probability, determines whether the condition alarm will
predict a future failure, and if so, when. The P-F curve determines the warning time provided by the alarm before the
actual failure. The probability density function for the detection warning time is given by:
Exponential Distribution:
Linear Distribution:
for
for
Step Distribution:
for
for
P-F interval
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The P-F interval for the alarm. The P-F interval provides a measure of the warning time given by the alarm for a future
random failure of the component.
Detection probability
Indicates the probability that the alarm will detect the failure.
Capital cost
The capital cost of the alarm for the system lifetime.
Cost rate
The cost rate associated with the alarm over the system lifetime.
Description
A description of the alarm of up to 2000 characters may be entered.
SCADA tag ID
A SCADA tag identifier of up to 40 alpha-numeric characters.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Causes - Commission
Cause commission properties may be accessed from the Commission tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
Commissioning a component eliminates wear-in failures and is appropriate where the Weibull distribution indicates high
failure rates during the early life of a component. Commissioning effectively sets the age of the component to the
commissioning interval when it is installed in the system.
Commission
Indicates that commissioning will be performed.
Period
Indicates the length of the commissioning interval.
Cost rate
The cost rate associated with the commissioning interval.
Description
A description of the commissioning details of up to 2000 characters may be entered.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
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Causes - Redesign
Cause redesign properties may be accessed from the Redesign tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
Redesign
Indicates that redesign is required.
Cost Rate
The cost rate associated with redesign over the system lifetime.
Description
A description of the redesign details of up to 2000 characters may be entered.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Notes
Strategy
Causes - Notes
Cause notes may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Users may customize note headers (the labels
used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Strategy
Causes - Strategy
Cause strategy properties may be accessed from the Strategy tab of the Cause Properties dialog.
The Strategy tab is used to record maintenance strategies and design decisions. Before these decisions are made you
may obtain advisory information by selecting the Evaluate button.
On selecting this button Availability Workbench will perform a lifetime simulation to determine the cost, safety, operational
and environmental consequences directly associated with the cause. These costs and consequences take into account
the current strategy specified by the Enabled check boxes and failure and maintenance parameters associated with the
cause. You may therefore experiment with various options to determine the associated costs and consequences.
Cost
Cost Benefit Ratio (CBR)
Safety Criticality
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Criticality values represent the severity of the effects associated with the cause combined with its frequency of occurrence.
The cost, safety, environmental and operational benefit ratios are defined as follows:
A cost benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from a cost point of view.
A safety benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from a safety point of view.
An operational benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an operational point
of view.
An environmental benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an environmental
point of view.
You may abort a simulation at any time by selecting the Stop button.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Effects - Overview
In RCM terminology an effect specifies the consequences of a failure. Typical examples of effects might be
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Effects are assigned to the causes (failure modes) defined in an RCMCost project. Some effects (usually hazardous
effects) will require more than one failure to occur before the effect will take place as protective systems will usually be
provided in the system design. Where this is the case redundancy factors may be associated with the effect when
assigning the effect to a cause.
One of the powerful features of the RCMCost module is its ability to evaluate the collective effects of a cause when
providing advisory information to the user. These effects may have cost, safety, environmental or operational
consequences and the same effect may be repeated for many of the different causes defined in the location hierarchy
diagram.
Effects may be assigned within the Cause Properties dialog (Effects tab). The Cause Properties dialog is revealed
when adding a new cause to the location hierarchy or by selecting the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option for an
existing cause. This dialog contains a list of effects already assigned to the cause. Effects may be assigned by selecting
the Add button. A list of available effects will be revealed in a second dialog. These effects may be selected and
assigned to the cause.
See Also
Effects Properties
Assigning Effects to Causes
Effects Properties
Effect properties may be accessed from the Effect Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the effect of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the effect. Effect types are used to organize effects into groups. If a project contains many effects
then this will greatly assist in locating an effect in the tree control structure.
Description
A text description of up to 255 characters
Operational consequences do not include direct cost consequences which are covered by the cost rate and cost per
occurrence parameters but may be used to represent product quality consequences in a manufacturing plant or loss of a
weapons system on a military aircraft or passenger discomfort due to the unavailability of an air-conditioning system etc.
Cost rate
The cost rate indicates the estimated cost per unit time due to the occurrence of the effect.
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The safety severity rate is represented by a positive number that indicates the relative severity weighting of different
effects per unit time. A value of zero may be entered to indicate that the effect has no safety consequences.
Operational consequences do not include direct cost consequences which are covered by the cost rate and cost per
occurrence parameters but may be used to represent product quality consequences in a manufacturing plant or loss of a
weapons system on a military aircraft or passenger discomfort due to the unavailability of an air-conditioning system etc.
Notes Fields
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Note field headers are defined by the user in the
Project Options dialog.
See Also
Overview
Assigning Effects to Causes
Applies to failures
Select this check-box if the effect will apply when a failure takes place.
Applies to inspections
Select this check-box if the effect will apply when an inspection task takes place.
Redundancy factor
One of the restrictions of using standard FMECA techniques to predict the frequency and duration of system effects is the
difficulty in modelling the effects of redundancy. Other techniques, such as RBD and fault tree analysis, are more adapted
to analyzing redundancy and the associated complications such as common cause failures. However, the RCMCost
module has a powerful feature that allows the effects of redundancy to be modelled via the use of redundancy factors.
When assigning effects to a cause the RCMCost module allows the user to specify a redundancy factor for each effect.
The redundancy factor indicates whether a cause will produce the assigned effect on its own or whether other concurrent
failures will need to occur for the effect to take place. A redundancy factor often needs to be determined if the effect is a
hazardous effect as there will almost certainly be protective systems in place to mitigate against failures which would lead
to a hazard.
If the cause will produce the assigned effect without other concurrent failures taking place then the default value of 1
should be assigned to the redundancy factor. If the cause will only produce the assigned effect when other concurrent
failures occur (e.g. a protective component is unavailable) then a factor of between 0 and 1 should be applied.
A redundancy factor represents the probability that the cause will produce the assigned effect. For example, suppose we
were analyzing the failure cause pump failure in a production system. This failure might lead to a system outage. There
may be standby pumps available to perform the same function as the failed pump. Only if the standby pumps were to fail
would there be a system outage. In such a case the unavailability redundancy factor should be set to the estimated
probability that the standby pumps would not work on demand. So, if the probability of failure of the standby pumps was
estimated to be 0.0001, the redundancy factor should be set to 0.0001.
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Not that the Redundancy Factor Wizard only provides the redundancy factor for components with the same failure
probability.
To illustrate the use of the Redundancy Factor Wizard consider the example sub-system illustrated by the block diagram
above. The sub-system consists of three identical pumps. For the sub-system to be available two out of the three pumps
must be working. Each pump fails on average every 10000 hours and remains out of service for 10 hours. The fractional
down-time for each pump is therefore 10/10000 = 0.001. Therefore the Number of additional components in parallel
value should be set to 2, the Number required to be operating should be set to 1 (only one of the additional pumps
needs to be working) and the Fractional down-time of each additional component should be set to 0.001.
See Also
Overview
Effects Properties
Once a system simulation is completed you may view cost, labor, equipment, spare and effect profiles by selecting the
Plot option in the Right window mode selector list above the right-hand window
A summary of life cycle costs and other parameters may be viewed by selecting the Simulation, Results Summary pull-
down menu option.
If any fatal errors are encountered then AWB will display the Model Integrity Verification dialog which lists the errors.
Objects directly associated with an error may be edited by selecting the error message in the list and then selecting the
Edit button.
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To view a summary of life costs select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Life Costs tab from within this dialog.
If net present value (NPV) cost calculations have been applied during the simulation (users may request a NPV
calculation in the NPV tab of the Project Options dialog) then NPV life cost values will be displayed.
By default life cost totals are displayed in the Results Summary dialog. To obtain more detailed cost information select
the Detailed life costs check-box.
Detailed life costs also include calculated criticality values summated over all causes. Criticality values represent the
severity of the effects associated with the cause combined with its frequency of occurrence.
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides the following summary lifetime cost parameters:
Parameters at the first level above appear in the life costs summary regardless of whether the Detailed life costs box is
checked. Those listed at the second level only appear when the box is checked.
Each of the above parameters are mean values calculated from repeated lifetime simulations.
Labor and equipment costs are determined from the call-out cost and cost rate parameters specified by the user for each
labor category and equipment type.
Spares purchase costs are determined by applying the capital cost of each spare type to the number of spares required
during corrective and planned maintenance tasks. In addition, this will include the initial purchase cost of the spares held
in storage if the Include initial spare purchase costs check-box is selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab).
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Spares storage costs are determined by applying the storage costs of spares to the storage capacity values entered by
the user at site and at depot.
Operational costs are determined by applying the operational costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks to the
number of tasks performed during the simulation.
Effect costs are computed by summating the costs originating from all effects. Effects costs are determined from the
following expressions:
Total costs are a simple summation of all the costs described above.
Spares volumes and weights represent the total volume and weight of all spares stored at the appropriate echelon level.
See Also
Performing a Simulation - Overview
To view a summary of predicted cause data select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Causes tab from within this dialog.
Then select one of the causes in the top list to view results for that cause.
Mean unavailability
The mean unavailability is defined as the expected fractional time the component will be out-of-service over its lifetime
(the total time it is out-of-service divided by the total system lifetime).
Number of failures
This is the total number of failures of the component over the system lifetime.
Number of PMs
This is the total number of planned maintenance tasks performed on the component over the system lifetime.
Number of inspections
This is the total number of inspection tasks performed on the component over the system lifetime.
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A cost benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified for the cause are worthwhile from a cost point of
view.
Safety criticality
Safety and other criticality values are determined from the frequency and duration of the effects of the cause. They are
calculated from the expression below.
where
= criticality
=severity rate
= severity per occurrence
= mean duration of effect over lifetime
= number of effect occurrences over lifetime
A safety benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from a safety point of view.
Operational criticality
Operational and other criticality values are determined from the frequency and duration of the effects of the cause. See
the expression described above for Safety criticality.
An operational benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an operational point
of view.
Environmental criticality
Environmental and other criticality values are determined from the frequency and duration of the effects of the cause. See
the expression described above for Safety criticality.
An environmental benefit ratio less than 1 indicates that the tasks/alarms specified are worthwhile from an environmental
point of view.
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See Also
Performing a Simulation - Overview
To view a summary of predicted effect data select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Effects tab from within this dialog.
Then select one of the effects in the list to view results for that effect.
Total cost
The total cost over the lifetime for effects is given by:
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Criticality
The above expression applies to safety, operational and environmental criticality values.
See Also
Performing a Simulation - Overview
To view a summary of predicted spare data select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Spares tab from within this dialog.
Selection of a spare part in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
Total cost
This is the total cost incurred by the system due to spare usage and storage.
Storage cost
The cost of storing the spare at echelon levels 1 and 2 during the lifetime of the system.
See Also
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To view a summary of predicted labor data select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Labor tab from within this dialog.
Selection of a labor category in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
Total no of tasks
The estimated number of tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of corrective tasks
The estimated number of corrective tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of planned tasks
The estimated number of planned tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of inspection tasks
The estimated number of inspection tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
Total cost
The total cost associated with calling out the selected labor category over the system lifetime.
Corrective cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for corrective tasks over the system lifetime.
Planned cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for planned tasks over the system lifetime.
Inspection cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for inspection tasks over the system lifetime.
See Also
Performing a Simulation - Overview
To view a summary of predicted equipment data select the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Results Summary dialog will be displayed. Select the Equipment tab from within this
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dialog. Selection of an equipment in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
Total no of tasks
The estimated number of tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of corrective tasks
The estimated number of corrective tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of planned tasks
The estimated number of planned tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of inspection tasks
The estimated number of inspection tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
Total cost
The total cost associated with calling out the selected equipment over the system lifetime.
Corrective cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for corrective tasks over the system lifetime.
Planned cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for planned tasks over the system lifetime.
Inspection cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for inspection tasks over the system lifetime.
See Also
Performing a Simulation - Overview
Comparison plots will reveal whether planned and inspection tasks are worthwhile. In addition the plots allow the user to
compare costs and criticality values at the same time. The decision on which interval to employ can therefore be based on
minimum cost whilst also meeting safety or operational requirements.
The accuracy of the simulation results may be increased by increasing the number of simulations performed. This may be
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Note that the optimization curves for planned maintenance tasks take into consideration any additional strategies currently
specified in the Strategy tab of the Cause Properties dialog. For example, if an inspection task is defined and enabled in
the Maintenance and design strategy list it will be assumed that the inspection task will be performed in addition to the
planned task. Similarly, optimization curves for inspection tasks will also take into account the current strategy settings for
other scheduled tasks.
The initial interval will determine the first task interval that the program will trial. The interval increment determines
subsequent trial task intervals. For example suppose an initial interval of 8000 is specified with an increment of 1000 and
the number of intervals equal to 5. AWB will then trial the following task intervals:
The chosen maintenance strategy for the selected cause or task group may be viewed in the grid control by selecting Grid
from the Right window mode selector pull-down menu and then selecting Tasks, Scheduled Tasks from the Current
grid table pull-down menu.
The corresponding plot and grid displays may be viewed simultaneously by selecting Plot & Grid from the Right window
mode selector pull-down menu.
See Also
Interval Optimization Plots
Optimizing Spares Holdings in the RCMCost Module
The RCMCost module of Availability Workbench (AWB) may be used to simulate the effects of different spares holding
levels on lifetime costs and therefore optimize the spare holding policy.
During a spare optimization run, AWB will use the simulated demand frequency on different spares to emulate the flow of
spares between stocking locations at level 1 and level 2. When a demand on a spare is made, and the spare is
unavailable, the mean effect of any delay will be determined from the cost rates of effects assigned to the appropriate
causes in the RCMCost location hierarchy. Optimization is achieved by considering the cost of spare logistical delays and
the cost of storing spares at level 1 and level 2. If the Include initial spare purchase costs flag is set on in the Project
Options dialog (Spares tab) then the initial spare purchases will be included in the storage costs.
RCMCost allows spares optimization to take account of demands on level 2 spares from external systems similar to the
system modeled in the current project. Set the No. of sites served by level 2 spares option in the Project Options
dialog (Spares tab) to indicate how many sites are to be considered.
This facility may be accessed via the Simulation, Optimize Spares pull-down menu option. This option will only be
enabled if the system simulation results are up to date (select the Simulation, Start pull-down menu option if your system
results are not up to date). After selecting this option, the Spare Optimization dialog will appear. The functionality of the
dialog is described below.
The top left area of the dialog displays the spare types defined in the project. If there are no spare types defined you will
just see the Spares node. Selecting a spare type will just show the spares belonging to that spare type at the bottom of
the dialog if the Toggle Spare Filter by Tree Control button is selected (below the spare type tree). Selecting the Spares
node will display all the spares in the project.
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A further filter facility is available so that you can identify the spares you wish to optimize. The first row of the grid that
displays the spares at the bottom of the dialog is reserved for entering filter text. You may filter on spare ID or Description
by entering text in the appropriate grid cell and then selecting the Filter Spares Using Text button above the grid.
You may select the spares you wish to optimize individually in the grid control or you can select them all using the Select
all button.
Optimization is performed for an individual spare by determining the summated cost of storage and demand unavailability
for every combination of spares holdings within a specified range. You may set the range of holdings by selecting the Set
range for selected spare(s) button. A dialog will be displayed allowing you to set the range for all the currently selected
spares.
When spare optimization is performed, AWB will simulate the cost associated with each combination of levels within the
range. For example, if a range of 0 to 2 is specified for level 1, and 1 to 2 for level 2, then the following combinations will
be simulated:
Select the Optimize Selected Spares button to start the optimization process. Once optimization is complete the
recommended optimum levels will be displayed in the grid. You may view a plot of the simulated costs for an individual
spare in the top right area of the dialog by selecting an individual spare. The Plot Options button may be selected to
change the appearance of the plot.
The recommended optimum spares holding will be the combination of level 1 and 2 capacity levels that produces the
lowest simulated cost unless the user specifies an unavailability target which is not met by that combination. The
calculated unavailability represents the mean fractional downtime due to spare logistic delays. The unavailability target is
set at the project level in the Project Options dialog, Simulation tab.
Once an optimization run has been completed you may opt to accept the recommended spares holdings by selecting the
Accept recommendations for selected spare(s) button. The recommended levels will then be transferred to the level 1
and level 2 capacity fields for the spare(s).
Note that if the demand frequency on the spare changes significantly after accepting the recommendation it may be
necessary to perform the optimization run again based on the new demand frequency. This is most likely to occur if the
original capacity at level 1 is set to zero and there is a significant delay in acquiring spares from level 2.
Cost Profile Plots
Cost profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-
hand window. Then select the Cost Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Cost profiles display the costs incurred over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog.
Users may select different cost categories to display in the plot by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu
option or equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different cost options to be selected
as well as allowing the user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Cost tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Cost types
The various cost types that are to be displayed in the plot.
Plot style
The style of plot.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Cost min
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If the Automatic cost scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the cost axis.
Cost max
If the Automatic cost scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the cost axis.
Labor profiles display the active time spent over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options
dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent
toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the
user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Labor tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Labor
The labor category to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all labor
categories.
Plot style
The style of plot.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Equipment profiles display the active equipment usage over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project
Options dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as
allowing the user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Equipment tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Equipment
The equipment to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all equipments.
Plot style
The style of plot.
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Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Spares profiles display the number of spares used over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project
Options dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as
allowing the user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Spares tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Spare
The spare to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all spares.
Plot style
The style of plot.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Effects profiles display the number of effect occurrences over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project
Options dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as
allowing the user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Effect tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Effect
The effect to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all effects.
Plot style
The style of plot.
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If the Automatic number of occurrences axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for
the 'number of occurrences' axis.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Interval optimization plots display cost or availability values for different task or task group intervals. In addition they
display a recommendation for a suitable interval to employ based on these interval values. These plots also display
criticality values for these same intervals.
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the user to
modify the plot type and appearance.
The Maintenance tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Individual task
Selection of this radio button indicates that the plot will display optimization data for an individual task.
Task group
Selection of this radio button indicates that the plot will display optimization data for a task group.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
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target value is set in the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog.
Automatic
If checked the program will set the associated axis scale automatically.
See Also
Optimizing Scheduled Task Intervals
Contribution Plots
Contribution plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the
right-hand window. Then select the Contributions option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Contribution plots display the contribution made by individual causes to system cost, failure and criticality parameters.
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Contributions tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Automatic
If checked the program will automatically set the minimum and maximum values of the contribution axis.
Minimum/Maximum
If Automatic is not checked then the user must enter the minimum and maximum contribution axis values.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Spares optimization plots display the cost and unavailability values for different spare holdings at level 1 and level 2. In
addition they display a recommendation for a suitable optimum holding policy based on minimum cost (that optionally
meets an unavailability target).
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the user to
modify the plot appearance.
The Spares Optimization tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
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Spare
The spare for which optimization results are to be displayed
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
Automatic
If checked the program will set the associated axis scale automatically.
Show legend
If checked a legend will be shown to the right of the plot identifying the cost bars and unavailability line plots.
Project Comparison
Project comparison plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above
the right-hand window. Then select the Project Comparison option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand
window.
Project comparison plots display the simulated lifetime costs or task data from two or more projects. The results for all the
projects must be up-to-date for plots based on simulated results. Users must attach the projects to be compared with the
current project as libraries. The data compared in each plot is the system cost or task data for the current project and all
attached libraries.
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Project Comparison tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Plot Type
The plot type to be displayed. Options are Cost, Tasks Assigned, Tasks Performed and Cumulative Cost Profile.
Cost plots show simulated lifetime costs. Tasks Assigned plots show the number of tasks assigned to causes in the
project. Tasks Performed plots show the simulated number of tasks performed during the lifetime of the system.
Cumulative Cost Profile plots show the accumulation of costs over the lifetime of the system.
Stack plot
If checked the values for different cost or task categories will be stacked in the plot.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
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Availability Workbench (AWB) recognizes the system failure logic from the reliability block diagram (RBD) or fault tree diagram
entered by the user. In either case, the diagram represents how different components within the system interact to produce system
failures. This topic examines the use of the RBD approach.
RBDs consist of blocks and nodes connected together in parallel and series arrangements. The blocks in a RBD usually represent
component or sub-system failures, although they may also be used to represent other events, such as operator actions, which may
affect the reliability of the system under study. The nodes in a RBD are used to position connecting lines (either horizontal/vertical
or diagonal), indicate voting arrangements, set operational capacity targets and apply NOT logic where appropriate. A complete
system RBD will consist of either a single node or block on the left-hand side of the diagram (input node or block) connected via
intermediate nodes and blocks to a single node or block on the right-hand side of the diagram (output node or block). Note that a
complete system RBD can only have one input node or block and one output node or block. In addition, all the intermediate nodes
and blocks must be connected. The entire system RBD represents the ways in which component and sub-system failures will
interact to cause the system to fail. AWB allows more than one system RBD to be defined in the same project.
During the simulation process, AWB will be able to determine whether the system is failed or not by examining the RBD entered
by the user. The program does this by determining whether there are any open paths from the input node or block to the output
node or block. An open path is a path that does not cross any failed component or sub-system blocks. This logic has to be
extended slightly for voting arrangements and NOT logic. Voting arrangements and the application of NOT logic are defined
within the Node Properties dialog and are described in more detail below.
Let us first consider the simplest possible RBD - a single block connected between the input and output nodes. Clearly, in this
simple case, the system will fail if the single component represented by block A were to fail. If this block fails, there is no path
open between the input and output nodes.
Now let us extend our system RBD to contain three blocks in series. In this example diagram if any of the components represented
by blocks A, B or C were to fail, or if all components failed together, or if two out of three components failed, then the system
would fail as there would be no open path between the input and output nodes. A truth table can be constructed to illustrate the
different failure combinations that will cause the system to fail.
Now let us modify our system RBD to contain three blocks in parallel. Now if any of the components represented by blocks A, B
or C were to fail individually, the system would not fail, as a path would still be left open between the input and output nodes.
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Similarly, if only two of the three components were to fail, a path would still be left open. It would require all three components to
fail at the same time for the system to fail. This type of parallel arrangement of blocks represents redundancy in a system.
Now let us look at a slightly more complicated example. In this system RBD, we have both parallel and series arrangements. The
truth table for the system indicates the ways in which the system can fail.
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RBDs may also be used to represent voting arrangements. Nodes to the right of a parallel arrangement may be given a vote
number to indicate how many success paths must be available through the parallel arrangement (if a vote number is not specified
only one path need be available). A simple parallel arrangement of 4 blocks A, B, C and D with a vote number (number of
available paths required for success) of 2 would result in the following truth table:
For some systems, it is necessary to apply NOT logic in part of the RBD. NOT logic is applied by placing a node in the diagram
and then setting the Apply not logic flag in the Node Properties dialog. NOT logic nodes will be drawn as a circle in the diagram.
A NOT logic node reverses the logic of the path passing through it. If a path is available through to the NOT node then the path
will be cut at the NOT node. If there is no path through to the NOT node then the path will be opened at the NOT node.
It would be possible to construct all system RBDs using blocks that only represent component failures. However, for large and
complex systems this may lead to RBDs which are difficult for the user to understand and which could not be easily printed on a
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single page of a report. For these reasons, AWB provides a powerful paging facility which allows the user to define blocks which
represent sub-systems. Each sub-system block may itself be defined in terms of a complete RBD which is drawn on a different
page. It is highly recommended that users decide on how to break up larger systems into sub-systems before constructing the
RBD. An example of a very simple system and sub-system RBD is given below, together with the truth table.
In addition to modelling the ways in which component failures may lead to system failures, a reliability block diagrams (RBD)
may also be used to model intermediate production levels. That is, rather than just model failure or success, we may use a RBD to
model 70% production, 50% production, 800 bpm etc. Modelling loss of production is particularly applicable to certain types of
systems (e.g. manufacturing, oil and gas production). Note that NOT nodes (nodes with the Apply not logic flag set on) have no
effect on capacity calculations.
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows loss of production to be modelled, as well as simply failure or success (i.e. whether the
system is available or not at any time). Production flow is modelled by specifying maximum capacity values for component blocks
in the RBD. To illustrate the simulation of production flow, we will consider the following series and parallel RBD arrangements.
Series Arrangements
For a series arrangement where all the constituent blocks are in service, the production flow is determined by comparing the
maximum capacity value of the constituent blocks with the input flow into the series arrangement. The smallest value is taken as
the production flow out of the series arrangement. If any of the constituent blocks are out-of-service then the production flow
through the series arrangement is zero.
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Parallel Arrangements
The production flow out of a parallel arrangement is determined by summating the production flow through each parallel line. If
this sum exceeds 100%, the flow is reduced to 100%. If this sum exceeds the input production flow to the parallel arrangement
then the output flow is set equal to the input flow.
If you specify a vote arrangement at the output node of a parallel arrangement, AWB will apply a special logic when performing
production flow calculations. If the number of lines operating in the parallel arrangement equals or exceeds the vote number,
AWB will apply normal parallel logic when calculating the output flow from the parallel arrangement. If the number of lines
operating is less than the vote number then output flow will be set to zero. This allows users to model the effect of control system
failures, which are based on a logical voting arrangement.
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In addition, nodes have a property Operational capacity target. In conjunction with the vote number, this parameter determines
when standby equipment (buffers and cold or warm standby blocks) will be made operational. If the required capacity is not
achieved (due to direct or indirect failures etc.) then standby components will be switched on in top to bottom order.
Availability Workbench (AWB) recognizes the system failure logic from the reliability block diagram (RBD) or fault tree diagram
entered by the user. In either case, the diagram represents how different components within the system interact to produce system
failures. This topic examines the use of the fault tree approach.
Fault trees graphically represent the interaction of failures and other events within a system. Basic events at the bottom of the fault
tree are linked via logic symbols (known as gates) to one or more TOP events. These TOP events represent identified hazards or
system failure modes for which predicted reliability or availability data is required. Typical TOP events might be:
Explosion
Loss of mission
Toxic emission
Basic events at the bottom of the fault tree generally represent component failures, although they may also represent other events
such as operator actions. Typical basic events are:
Pump failure
Fault trees may be used to analyze large and complex systems. They are particularly adept at representing and analyzing
redundancy arrangements. In addition, common cause events are easily handled.
The small fault tree below illustrates how gate and event symbols are connected together to represent the logical interaction of
faults in a system. The TOP event of this arrangement represents the LOSS OF BOARD A SUPPLY. This event is broken down
into its causes via logic gate symbols. The immediate causes are NO SUPPLY FROM GRID and NO SUPPLY FROM
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DIESEL. These two causes must occur together for the TOP event to occur (as indicated by the AND gate symbol). These two
system events are broken down into their immediate causes. In this example, these causes are basic events (for which failure and
repair data is available), which are linked to the system events above with OR gate logic.
Fault tree gate types are listed below, together with their causal relations. Note that the NULL gate type is not included in this list.
NULL gates (which have a single input only) have no effect on the logic of the fault tree. They are used to allow additional
descriptions to be added within the fault tree structure.
Other standard symbols are used to represent events in the fault trees. These symbols are illustrated below, together with their
meanings.
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AWB does not differentiate between basic, undeveloped, conditional and dormant events during a simulation. These different
symbols are used to provide visual impact in the fault tree diagram only. For example, a user may wish to use the dormant event
symbol to highlight that a particular failure remains hidden until an inspection takes place. AWB, however, treats house events
differently to the other events. The program will insist that all house events are set to a logic mode of 'False' or True. If you are
unsure which event symbol to use in your fault tree diagrams, simply select the standard Basic event symbol type which is the
most commonly used symbol for representing component failures.
The component and system events that constitute a fault tree are described in rectangular boxes above the gate and event symbols
which link the fault tree together. System (or state-of-system) events are events for which we cannot specify a particular
component which is the entire cause of the event. System events will generally represent system or sub-system failure modes.
Component (or state-of-component) events represent failures which are entirely caused by a given component and are represented
by a component OR gate as illustrated below.
Primary component failures represent failures under normal conditions of operation for which the component was designed to
operate.
Command faults are events which will cause the component to be unavailable due to incorrect command signals or the
unavailability of another component or sub-system. For example, the command fault LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER could
cause the failure of an electric pump.
Secondary component failures may also be represented as a separate event under the COMPONENT FAILURE OR gate.
Secondary component failures represent failures under conditions of operation for which the component was not designed. For
example, a component may be placed under an increased stress due to failures of other components in the system. Note that
secondary failures are often not explicitly included in fault trees, due to either the lack of data relating to this type of failure or their
negligible effect compared to primary component failures.
Construction Rules
Define the bounds of the system to be analyzed and the level of complexity to which failures will be resolved.
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Identify the TOP event of the system to be analyzed. The TOP events of the system represent those events for which
reliability and availability predictions are required.
Using a top-down approach, identify all the immediate causes of the TOP events.
Now define the immediate causes of the new system events. It is important that intermediate system events are not missed
out when defining the immediate causes. In this way, the levels of the fault tree progress systematically from major system
events, through intermediate levels of complexity, to the basic events representing component failures at the roots of the fault
tree.
Continue this process of defining the immediate causes of system events until all the roots of the fault tree are terminated by
basic, conditional, undeveloped, dormant and transfer events. Remember the definitions of system and component events
when constructing the tree. Resolve system events into their immediate causes. Resolve component events into primary
component failures and command faults (and secondary failures if data is available).
Resolve an event into more elementary events. For example, resolve TANK EXPLOSION' into EXPLOSION DUE TO
OVERHEATING OR EXPLOSION DUE TO OVER-PRESSURIZATION.
Always provide a complete description of the system or component event in the rectangular boxes above each fault tree
symbol.
To illustrate the fault tree construction process, consider the following example. The schematic diagram below illustrates a simple
cooling system consisting of pumps, valves, control and instrumentation equipment and a heat exchanger. The function of the
system is simply to provide continuous cooling to another system.
The cooling system operates in the following manner. Under normal conditions of operation, coolant will be provided via leg 1
(containing pump EP1). If this leg is unavailable for any reason, the flow sensor FS1 is designed to detect the decreased flow rate
and the controller will close valve EV1, open valve EV2, shut down pump EP1 and start pump EP2.
The pumps and valves EP1, EP2, EV1 and EV2 are all electrically operated and so we must also consider the electrical supply
system, which is illustrated below.
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These two schematic diagrams effectively define the bounds of the fault tree study. The overall TOP event for the fault tree is
TOTAL LOSS OF COOLING. For convenience, we will paginate the fault tree so that individual pages will have local TOP
events such as LOSS OF BOARD A SUPPLY. The fault tree below illustrates the overall system TOP event and its immediate
causes. The system events LOSS OF COOLING LEG 1 and LOSS OF COOLING LEG 2 are represented by transfer symbols
as they are developed on separate pages for convenience.
The two fault tree pages below develop the overall fault tree further. Note that the local TOP events for the two pages are given
the same identification code as the transfer symbols in the fault tree page above (SYS2 and SYS3). Basic events such as PUMP 1
PRIMARY FAILURE are now beginning to appear in the fault tree. The system event CONTROL SIGNAL FAULT' will cause
the electrical valves and electrical pumps to be unavailable. This common cause failure is a command fault for the pumps and
valves.
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We may now construct the fault trees representing failures in the electrical systems:
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In addition to modelling the ways in which component failures may lead to system failures, fault tree diagrams may also be used to
model intermediate production levels. That is, rather than just model failure or success, we may use fault tree diagrams to model
70% production, 50% production, 800 bpm etc. Modelling loss of production is particularly applicable to certain types of systems
(e.g. manufacturing, oil and gas production).
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows loss of production to be modelled, as well as simply failure or success (i.e. whether the
system is available or not at any time). Production flow is modelled by specifying maximum capacity values for basic events in the
fault tree diagram. To illustrate the simulation of production flow, we will consider the following OR gate and AND gate fault tree
arrangements.
For an OR gate where all the input basic events are in service, the production flow is determined by comparing the maximum
capacity value of the input basic events with the input flow for any gate inputs. The smallest value is taken as the production flow
out of the OR gate. If any of the constituent basic events are out-of-service then the production flow out of the OR gate is zero.
The production flow out of an AND gate arrangement is determined by summating the production flow values for each input basic
event and input gate respectively. If a basic event input is operational then the production flow associated with the basic event is
its maximum capacity. If it is out-of-service then the production flow value for the basic event is zero. If the sum of all inputs
exceeds 100%, the flow is reduced to 100%.
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If you include a VOTE gate within a fault tree diagram AWB will apply a special logic when performing production flow
calculations. If fewer than 'm' of the inputs to the VOTE gate are out-of-service, or have zero production flow, then AWB will
apply normal AND logic when calculating the output flow from the VOTE gate. If 'm' or more of the inputs are out-of-service or
have zero production flow, then the output flow from the VOTE gate will be set to zero. This allows users to model the effect of
control system failures, which are based on a logical voting arrangement.
In addition, gates have a property Operational capacity target. In conjunction with the vote number, this parameter determines
when standby equipment (buffers and cold or warm standby events) will be made operational. If the required capacity is not
achieved (due to direct or indirect failures etc.) then standby components will be switched on in left to right order.
Both RBD and fault tree diagrams are widely used to represent the interaction of failures within systems. For this reason, the
AvSim module of Availability Workbench (AWB) provides both formats. Although AWB allows a user to create both RBD
systems and independent fault tree systems in the same project, it is recommended that users choose one or other of the two
formats.
If you are familiar with only one of the two formats then you may wish to choose that format for defining the failure logic. Both
formats may be used to create identical logical arrangements. That is, for every RBD there is a logically equivalent fault tree
diagram. RBDs often resemble the schematic diagrams that represent the system and that may be a good reason for choosing
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RBDs to represent the failure logic of smaller systems. However, if the system under study is large or complex, constructing the
RBD might become difficult. In comparison, constructing fault tree diagrams to represent the failures of complex systems
(particularly system failures which may be caused by combinations of mechanical, power supply and control system faults) is
relatively easy.
As an illustration of the logical equivalence of RBD and fault tree diagrams, consider the following pairs of equivalent diagrams.
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Availability Workbench (AWB) recognizes the system failure logic from the Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) entered by the
user. The diagram represents how different components within the system interact to produce system failures.
RBDs consist of blocks and nodes connected together in parallel and series arrangements. The blocks in a RBD usually represent
component or sub-system failures, although they may also be used to represent other events, such as operator actions, which may
affect the reliability of the system under study. The nodes in a RBD are used to position connecting lines (either horizontal/vertical
or diagonal), indicate voting arrangements, set operational capacity targets and apply NOT logic where appropriate. A complete
system RBD will consist of either a single node or block on the left-hand side of the diagram (input node or block) connected via
intermediate nodes and blocks to a single node or block on the right-hand side of the diagram (output node or block). Note that a
complete system RBD can only have one input node or block and one output node or block. In addition, all the intermediate nodes
and blocks must be connected. The entire system RBD represents the ways in which component and sub-system failures will
interact to cause the system to fail. AWB allows more than one system RBD to be defined in the same project.
The facilities to add elements to a RBD are accessed either through Add, To Diagram pull-down menu options or the equivalent
buttons on the toolbar.
Each AWB project can contain one or more systems. The Add, New System pull-down menu option can be used to create new
systems when Diagram and RBD are selected from the pull-down menus above the right-hand window.
Once the system logic has been entered for the system, consequences may be assigned to blocks in the diagram. Consequences are
usually assigned to system level blocks and represent the effects of failure (financial, safety, operational and environmental) on the
system.
See Also
Adding Blocks
Adding Connections
Using Pages
Assigning Consequences
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Adding Blocks
New blocks may be added in the diagram area by selecting the Add, To Diagram, Block pull-down menu option or the equivalent
toolbar button. The cursor will change to a block symbol and should be positioned where the top left corner of the new block is to
appear. When the left mouse button is clicked, the new block will be created. Each block will be named automatically by the
program. This name may be changed later by the user. The program default is to name the blocks 1.1, 1.2, etc. Block IDs may
be reset at any time by selecting the appropriate option on the Tools, Rename pull-down menu. All blocks will be placed at the
nearest grid position, even if the grid is not visible. Each block will initially be given some default attributes that can be edited at a
later stage. Whilst the program is in new block placement mode, further blocks can be added. This mode can be terminated by
selecting the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button or by selecting another
menu option.
Existing blocks may be repeated in the RBD by selecting the block to be repeated and then using the copy and paste facilities. The
selected block can be copied by choosing the Edit, Copy pull-down menu option. The repeated block is created by choosing the
Edit, Paste pull-down menu option. Repeat blocks represent repeat occurrences of the same component failure in the RBD logic
are given identical IDs to the original block.
The properties of existing blocks may be copied to create a new block by first selecting the block to be copied and then selecting
the Edit, Copy pull-down menu option. The copy can then be created by choosing the Edit, Paste Special pull-down menu option.
Copied blocks are given unique block names and therefore do not represent the same event as the original block but are given the
same properties.
To edit the properties of a block either double-click on the block in the diagram, or select the block in the diagram and choose the
Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a block, the user will be presented with the Block Properties dialog, allowing block attributes to be modified.
General Tab
ID
The block ID is a unique name identifying the block. A block will usually represent a component or sub-system failure. The
block ID consists of up to 40 alphanumeric characters. Block IDs are automatically assigned when creating new blocks using a
hierarchical scheme. However, users may subsequently change the block ID. Block IDs may be reset at any time by selecting one
of the options under the Tools, Rename pull-down menu option.
Description
The block description appears within the block in the diagram if there is no bitmap associated with the block. If a bitmap is
associated with the block, the description appears below the block in the diagram if the Show RBD descriptions with bitmaps
option is selected in the View tab of the Project Options dialog. Up to 255 characters are permitted for the block description.
Failure Model
The failure model associated with the block provides all the quantitative failure and maintenance data for the block. Users may
create a new failure model or edit the currently assigned failure model by selecting the New and Edit buttons respectively.
Consequence
Users may select a single outage or capacity consequence to be associated with any system or sub-system block. During a
simulation, if the block is out-of-service (or running at reduced capacity) due to failure or scheduled maintenance, the consequence
will apply. Users may create a new consequence or edit the currently assigned consequence by selecting the New and Edit buttons
respectively.
Bom
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A Bom may optionally be assigned to a block. Assigned Boms will affect the choice of spares presented to the user when assigning
spare resources to tasks associated with the block.
Initial Age
Switching Delay
If a non-zero switching delay time is specified then Availability Workbench (AWB) will simulate the specified delay whenever
the component is required to switch from a standby condition to an operating condition. In effect, the component will be
unavailable for the specified delay time.
Rules Tab
Logic mode
The Logic Mode combo-box indicates one of three modes for the block:
Probabilistic
False
True
If the logic mode is set to Probabilistic (the default), block failures will be randomly sampled using the specified failure model. If
the logic mode is set to False, the block will remain in service throughout the lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides the
logic mode during a given phase of operation. If the logic mode is set to True, the block will remain out-of-service throughout the
lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides the logic mode during a given phase of operation.
Standby mode
The Standby mode setting indicates whether the standby mode for the block is Hot, Cold or Warm Standby. This setting only
affects the reliability performance of the block if it is not required to be operating during a simulation.
If Hot standby is specified, the failure characteristics do not change when the block is non-operational. If Cold standby is specified
then the block cannot fail when it is non-operational and no ageing takes place. If Warm standby is specified then the failure rate
of the block is reduced by the Non-operating failure apportionment % for the failure model associated with the block whilst it is
non-operational. In addition, the rate of ageing is reduced according to the Non-operating ageing apportionment % associated with
the block whilst it is non-operational.
Maximum capacity
Maximum capacity values are only applicable if you are interested in production flow as well as standard unavailability
calculations. These values are used to determine the production flow through a system when 'loss of capacity' consequences have
been defined. The maximum capacity indicates the maximum production flow through the block and is usually defined as a
percentage. The user may equate 100% capacity with a quantity and unit, such as 80 bpm. This alternative capacity value can be
set in the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog.
Load factor
Load factors may be assigned to individual blocks. The load factor allows users to model additional or reduced stress conditions
during different operational phases. For example, during launch a satellite might experience additional stresses due to high
vibration and high temperature, which might affect the components associated with the failure model during this period. A load
factor of 2 will increase the failure rate by 2 for the exponential distribution. This is equivalent to halving the MTTF. This is
described by the general expression
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If checked the default setting will be for all maintenance tasks associated with the component will be disabled unless a rule
overrides the inhibit condition.
Non-operational
If checked the component will be non-operational throughout the lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides this
condition.
Rules
AWB allows the user to define rules that can be used to set the logic, standby mode, maximum capacity, load factor, non-
maintainable and non-operational status of a component by phase. The load factor, non-maintainable and non-operational status
may also be set by the state of another block in the project. Clicking the Add button will open the Rule Properties dialog. Here the
user may select the type of phase or state dependency required using the Type drop-down menu. If it is a phase-related rule then
the phase may be selected using the Phase drop-down menu. If phase dependency is selected for the logic, standby mode,
maximum capacity or load factor then a further field or drop-down menu will appear where the user may enter an appropriate
parameter. If it is a state-related rule then the user will be able to select the reference block and the required state of the reference
block.
Rules that have been defined will appear in the Rules list. Each rule is identified by an ID and description that are automatically
generated by AWB. The properties of an existing rule may be edited by selecting the rule from the list and clicking the Edit button.
The Rule Properties dialog will appear allowing the user to edit the data entered when the rule was created.
A rule may be deleted by selecting it from the list and clicking the Remove button.
Appearance Tab
Background color
RBD blocks may be color coded. Select the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you can choose the new color for
the block. Select the Set to default button to return the block color to the default setting.
Bitmap
If a bitmap is associated with the block then the bitmap will be drawn inside the block rectangle in the RBD. Text, which would
normally appear within the block, will be drawn below the block.
Description font
To modify the font used for descriptive text select the Change font button to open the Font dialog. Select the Set to default button
to return the description font to the default setting.
Width
The width of the block in diagram coordinates. The default width is 100.
Height
The height of the block in diagram coordinates. The default height is 60.
Notes Tab
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Note field headers are defined by the user in the Project
Options dialog.
Adding Nodes
Nodes have four purposes. Firstly, they are used to position connection lines if the default connection line positions are not
acceptable to the user. Secondly, they are used to indicate vote logic at the output of a parallel block arrangement. Thirdly, they
are used to indicate a local standby flag, to control when a standby block is required to start-up to replace the functionality of a
failed block in the RBD. Finally, they are used to set an operational capacity target. In conjunction with the vote number, this
parameter determines when standby equipment (buffers etc.) will be made operational. If the required capacity is not achieved
(due to direct or indirect failures etc.) then standby components will be switched on in top to bottom order.
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New nodes may be added in the RBD drawing area by selecting the Add, To Diagram, Node pull-down menu option or the
equivalent toolbar button and then clicking the left mouse button at the top left of the required position of the node. All nodes will
be placed at the nearest grid position, even if the grid is not visible. Whilst the program is in new node placement mode, the mouse
cursor will appear with a node icon. This mode can be terminated by selecting the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down
menu option or the equivalent toolbar button, or by selecting another menu option.
Nodes may be color coded. To color code a node, modify the Background color in the Node Properties dialog.
To edit the properties of a node either double-click on the node in the diagram, or select the node in the diagram and choose the
Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a node, the user will be presented with the Node Properties dialog, allowing node attributes to be modified.
ID
The node ID uniquely identifies a node in the RBD. It has a maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters.
Vote number
The node vote number indicates the number of connected inputs required to be available to ensure availability of the sub-system
defined to the left of the node in the RBD.
In conjunction with the vote number, this parameter determines when standby equipment (buffers and cold or warm standby
blocks) will be made operational. If the required capacity is not achieved (due to direct or indirect failures or scheduled
maintenance activities) then standby blocks will be switched on in top to bottom order.
Local standby
Local standby flags are used to control when a standby block is required to start-up to replace the functionality of a failed block
in the RBD. Local standby flags are normally only needed when modelling throughput capacity. Consider the small system
below. Unless the user sets a local standby flag, Availability Workbench (AWB) will assume that block C will be in standby when
Block A is working and block B is failed. This is because, from a traditional availability point of view, the system is UP with just
A working. However, if we were modelling throughput, this behavior would result in the system operating at 60% capacity only.
If we set the local standby flag on for node X, the program will treat the lower parallel arrangement (block B and block C) as if it
was independent from block A from the point of view of determining the standby status of C. Now when block B fails, block C
will start-up to replace the lost capacity.
In RBDs NOT logic is assigned by selecting the Apply not logic check-box for a node. During a simulation, if no success path can
be found through to a given node, the equipment represented by the node is deemed to be unavailable. However, if NOT logic
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Background color
Nodes may be color coded. Click the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you can choose the new color for the
node. Click the Set to default button to return the node color to the default setting.
Rules
AWB allows the user to define rules which can be used to set the vote number and rotate the inputs to a node by phase or by the
trigger of an out-of-service event for one of the inputs to the node. Selecting the Add button will open the Rule Properties dialog.
Here the user may select the type of dependency required using the Type drop-down menu and the phase (for a phase-dependent
rule) using the Phase drop-down menu. If phase dependency is selected for the vote number then a further field will appear where
the user may enter the vote number.
Rules that have been defined will appear in the Rules list. Each rule is identified by an ID and description that are automatically
generated by AWB. The properties of an existing rule may be edited by selecting the rule from the list and clicking the Edit button.
The Rule Properties dialog will appear allowing the user to edit the data entered when the rule was created.
A rule may be deleted by selecting it from the list and clicking the Remove button.
Adding Connections
Selection of the Add, To Diagram, Horizontal/Vertical Connection or Add, To Diagram, Diagonal Connection pull-down menu
option allows the user to connect nodes and blocks in a RBD. The user will be asked to first select the input node or block,
followed by the output node or block, by clicking the left mouse button when the cursor is over the node or block.
RBDs must be constructed such that flow from input to output is maintained in a left to right direction.
Diagonal connections will be a single line between the right-hand side of the input node or block to the left-hand side of the output
node or block. The shape of horizontal/vertical connecting lines depends on the position of the input node or block relative to the
output node or block. Where connecting lines join two objects in a different horizontal plane with horizontal/vertical connections,
the first corner of the jagged connection line is positioned at the first grid line (or mid-way between the connected objects if they
are only one grid line apart).
Whilst the program is in connection placement mode, the mouse cursor will appear with a connection icon. The operation may be
aborted at any time by selecting the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button or by
selecting another menu option.
To edit the properties of a connection either double-click on the connection in the diagram, or select the connection in the diagram
and choose the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a connection, the user will be presented with the Connection Properties dialog, allowing connection attributes to be
modified.
Horizontal/vertical
When selected the connection lines between blocks and nodes will only follow horizontal and vertical trajectories.
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Diagonal
When selected the connection lines between blocks and nodes will follow the shortest possible trajectory between the source and
target.
Background color
Connections may be color coded. Click the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you can choose the new color for
the connection. Click the Set to default button to return the connection color to the default setting.
New labels can be added to a RBD by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Label pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button.
The cursor will change to a label symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the diagram before clicking on the left
mouse button to create the label. The user can continue to add labels whilst in this mode. To terminate this mode, select the Add,
To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option, or select another menu option.
New notes can be added to a RBD by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Note pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button.
The cursor will change to a note symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the diagram before clicking on the left
mouse button to create the note. The user can continue to add notes whilst in this mode. To terminate this mode, select the Add, To
Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option, or select another menu option.
New hyperlinks can be added to a RBD by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Hyperlink pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The cursor will change to a hyperlink symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the diagram before
clicking on the left mouse button to create the hyperlink. The user can continue to add hyperlinks whilst in this mode. To terminate
this mode, select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option, or select another
menu option.
To edit the properties of a label either double-click on the label in the diagram, or select the label in the diagram and choose the
Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a label, the user will be presented with the Label Properties dialog, allowing label attributes to be modified.
Type
Horizontal alignment
The Horizontal alignment option allows the user to choose how text will be aligned within the label frame in the RBD. Options are
left, center and right alignment.
Border
Width
The width of the label in diagram coordinates. The default width is 100.
Height
The height of the label in diagram coordinates. The default height is 60.
Bitmap label
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If the Bitmap label check-box is selected then the specified bitmap will be displayed within the label frame in the RBD.
Bitmap
The Bitmap combo-box will only be enabled if the Bitmap label option is checked. The combo-box allows the user to select the
bitmap to appear in the label.
Label text
Label text will appear inside the label frame in the RBD. If a bitmap label is specified then the text will be replaced by the bitmap.
Change font
Selection of the Change font button will prompt Availability Workbench (AWB) to display a standard Windows Font dialog,
allowing the user to choose the required font for the label. Select the Set font to default button to return the label font to the default
setting.
Background color
The background color of a label may be customized by a user. Select the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you
can choose the new color for the label background. Select the Set to default button to return the label color to the default setting.
To edit the properties of a note either double-click on the note in the diagram, or select the note in the diagram and choose the Edit,
Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a note, the user will be presented with the Note Properties dialog, allowing note attributes to be modified.
Type
Note
Note text that will appear when you hover the mouse cursor over the note in the RBD.
To edit the properties of a hyperlink either double-click on the hyperlink in the diagram, or select the hyperlink in the diagram and
choose the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a hyperlink, the user will be presented with the Hyperlink Properties dialog, allowing hyperlink attributes to be
modified.
Type
Hyperlink
Browse
Click either the Browse file or Browse web page button to browse for the link you require.
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows the user to divide a RBD into pages. This facility is particularly useful for large RBDs,
which may be split up into hierarchical levels.
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For very simple block diagrams, the user need not be concerned with paging but may construct the full RBD within the top-level
page.
The Page Down pull-down menu option and a sub system block
For larger RBDs, the user may wish to specify certain blocks as sub-system blocks. Sub-system blocks are simply blocks that are
represented by reliability block diagrams on different pages. A sub-system block may be created by selecting a block in the top
page and selecting the Diagram, Page Down pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. A new RBD may be
constructed in the new page. The user must ensure that each page of the RBD has only one input and one output. Selection of the
Diagram, Page Up pull-down menu option will return the user to the page at the next level up. The RBD page selector combo-box
above the right-hand diagram window allows users to navigate directly to a new page.
The position of blocks, nodes and labels in a RBD can be modified after the initial positioning during their creation. Any
connections in the diagram will be modified to account for the changing position of end point blocks or nodes.
The first method of moving the objects is to select an object or group of objects and then use the mouse to drag the object to a new
position. When an object is selected it is highlighted in red and may be dragged around the diagram area. When the cursor is
moved over the 'drag' icon at the top left corner of the selected objects it changes to the familiar 'drag' cursor. If the left button is
kept pressed down, the objects will move around with the cursor. When the left button is released, the objects will remain in their
new position.
The second method of moving objects is to use the options on the Shift pull-down menu or their equivalent keyboard combinations.
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A selected group of blocks showing the drag icon at the top left of the selections
The cut and copy facilities transfer the selected objects to the clipboard. The cut facility also removes the selections from the
diagram.
There are two distinct paste facilities. The standard paste facility makes an exact copy of the clipboard contents, whilst 'paste
special' copies the structure below system blocks and creates unique names for the copied objects.
These features can be accessed from the Edit pull-down menu or the equivalent keyboard combinations.
Selected objects can be deleted by choosing the Edit, Delete pull-down menu option or its equivalent keystroke.
The undo facility allows the user to override the last edit action. The maximum number of undos that may be performed can be set
in the Undo tab of the Application Options dialog.
You can locate a particular block or node in the RBD by selecting the appropriate option on the Find pull-down menu.
On selection of the Find option AWB will display the Find dialog. This dialog contains a list of the blocks or nodes in the current
project. Blocks may be filtered by their failure model associations by selecting a failure model from the list at the top of the dialog.
Select the block or node in the displayed list and then select one of the following options.
Show First
On selection of this option AWB will display the first occurrence of the selected block or node in the diagram. If necessary, AWB
will automatically change the displayed RBD page.
Show Next
On selection of this option AWB will display the next occurrence of the selected block in the diagram. If necessary, AWB will
automatically change the displayed RBD page.
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A fault tree diagram consists of gates and basic events. Availability Workbench (AWB) also allows the user to add labels, notes
and hyperlinks to the diagram for purely illustrative purposes. More than one fault tree can be constructed in a single AWB
project. The facilities for adding fault tree elements to an AWB project are on the Add pull-down menu or the equivalent buttons
on the toolbar.
A new fault tree can be constructed during an AWB session by selecting the Add, New Top Gate pull-down menu option when
Diagram and Fault Tree are selected from the pull-down menus above the right-hand window.
Once the system logic has been entered for the system consequences may be assigned to gates in the diagram. Consequences are
usually assigned to system level gates (Top gates) and represent the effects of failure (financial, safety, operational and
environmental) on the system.
See Also
Adding Gates
Adding Events
Using Pages
Assigning Consequences
Adding Gates
New gates can be added to a fault tree by choosing the Add, Gate pull-down menu option or the equivalent toolbar button when
Diagram and Fault Tree are selected from the pull-down menus above the diagram area. The cursor will change to a gate symbol
and it should be positioned over an existing gate before clicking on the left mouse button to create the gate at the next lower
position in the tree. The program will automatically name each gate. This name can be edited at a later stage. In a similar way,
each gate will be assigned some default attributes, which can be modified by the user, if required. The user can continue to add
gates whilst in this mode. To terminate this mode select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or the
equivalent toolbar button.
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Existing gates can be repeated in a fault tree by first copying the gate to the clipboard and then pasting it to the required position in
the tree. The copy operation can be carried out by first selecting the gate and then using the Edit, Copy pull-down menu option, or
pressing Ctrl+C. The paste operation can be carried out by first selecting the gate below which the copied gate is to be inserted and
then choosing the Edit, Paste pull-down menu option or pressing Ctrl+V.
Existing gates can be copied without retaining the original gate name but retaining other properties. This is accomplished by using
the Edit, Paste Special pull-down menu option for the paste operation. The fault tree structure below the copied gate will be
retained, although any gates or basic events below the copied gate will be given unique names.
To edit the properties of a gate either double-click on the gate in the diagram, or select the gate in the diagram and choose the Edit,
Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a gate, the user will be presented with the Gate Properties dialog, allowing gate attributes to be modified.
General Tab
ID
The gate ID uniquely identifies a gate in the fault tree. If the same gate ID is repeated in the fault tree structure, this represents the
same gate in the fault tree logic. A maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters are permitted for the gate ID.
Description
The description appears in the rectangle above the gate in the fault tree diagram. Descriptions may be up to 255 characters in
length.
Type
Valid gate types are OR, AND, VOTE, TRANSFER, NULL and NOT. OR gates indicate that the gate event will occur if any of
the inputs occur. AND gates indicate that the gate event will occur if all the inputs occur together. VOTE gates indicate that the
gate event will occur if 'm' (vote number) out of the inputs occur. If a VOTE gate type is specified then the user will be required to
enter a vote number. TRANSFER gates are used to represent a gate that has not been defined in terms of its inputs. NULL gates
have a single input and do not affect the failure logic of the system in any way. NOT gates indicate that the gate event will occur if
the input event does not occur.
Tag
The user may set one of three tag options: Auto, On or Off. If the Auto option is selected, a transfer tag is drawn just below the
gate description rectangle if the gate is at the top of a page and feeds into another page in the project. Selecting On or Off will
override the automatic setting.
Consequence
Users may select a single outage or capacity consequence to be associated with any gate. During a simulation, if the gate is out-of-
service (or running at reduced capacity) due to failure or scheduled maintenance, the consequence will apply. Users may create a
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new consequence or edit the currently assigned consequence by selecting the New and Edit buttons respectively.
Bom
A Bom may optionally be assigned to a gate. Assigned Boms will affect the choice of spares presented to the user when assigning
spare resources to tasks associated with primary events below the gate.
Page
Setting the Page flag will result in the gate appearing at the top of a new page. A transfer symbol surrounded by a rectangle will be
drawn in the diagram where the gate feeds into other pages.
In conjunction with the vote number, this parameter determines when standby equipment (buffers and cold or warm standby
blocks) will be made operational. If the required capacity is not achieved (due to direct or indirect failures or scheduled
maintenance activities) then standby primary events below the gate will be switched on in left to right order.
Extend label
Setting the Extend label flag on will increase the width of the gate name label in the fault tree diagram. This feature is useful if you
are using long gate names (say more than 20 characters in length).
Rules Tab
Vote number
The vote number is only required for VOTE gates and specifies the number of input failures required for the VOTE gate event to
occur.
Rules
AWB allows the user to define rules that can be used to set the vote number and rotate the inputs to a gate by phase or by the
trigger of an out-of-service event for one of the inputs to the gate. Selecting the Add button will open the Rule Properties dialog.
Here the user may select the type of phase dependency required using the Type drop-down menu and the phase using the Phase
drop-down menu. If phase dependency is selected for the vote number then a further field will appear where the user may enter the
vote number.
Rules that have been defined will appear in the Rules list. Each rule is identified by an ID and description that are automatically
generated by Availability Workbench. The properties of an existing rule may be edited by selecting the rule from the list and
clicking the Edit button. The Rule Properties dialog will appear allowing the user to edit the data entered when the rule was
created.
A rule may be deleted by selecting it from the list and clicking the Remove button.
Appearance Tab
Background color
Gates may be color coded. Select the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you can choose the new color for the
gate. Select the Set to default button to return the gate color to the default setting.
Description font
To modify the font used for descriptive text select the Change font button to open the Font dialog. Select the Set to default button
to return the description font to the default setting.
Notes Tab
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Note field headers are defined by the user in the Project
Options dialog.
Hyperlink Tab
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Hyperlink
Browse
Select either the Browse for file or Browse for web page button to browse for the link you require.
Adding Events
New primary events may be added to a fault tree by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Event pull-down menu option or the
equivalent toolbar button when Diagram and Fault Tree are selected in the pull-down menus above the diagram area. The cursor
will change to an event symbol and it should be positioned over a gate before clicking on the left mouse button to create the event
at the next lower position in the tree. Each event will be automatically named by the program. This name can be edited at a later
stage. In a similar way, each event will be assigned some default attributes, which can be modified by the user, if required. The
user can continue to add events whilst in this mode. To terminate this mode select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-
down menu option or the equivalent toolbar button.
Existing events can be repeated in a fault tree by first copying the event to the clipboard and then pasting it to the required position
in the tree. The copy operation can be carried out by first selecting the event and then using the Edit, Copy pull-down menu option,
or pressing Ctrl+C. The paste operation can be carried out by first selecting a gate below which the copied event is to be inserted
and then choosing the Edit, Paste pull-down menu option or pressing Ctrl+V. Note that events copied in this way will be given the
same event name and will be treated as common failures.
An existing event can be copied without retaining the original event name but retaining other properties. This is accomplished by
using the Edit, Paste Special pull-down menu option for the paste operation.
To edit the properties of a primary event either double-click on the event in the diagram, or select the event in the diagram and
choose the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing an event, the user will be presented with the Primary Event Properties dialog, allowing event attributes to be
modified.
General Tab
ID
The event ID is a unique name identifying the event. An event will usually represent a component or sub-system failure. A given
event, with the same ID, may be repeated more than once within the fault tree diagram. The event ID consists of up to 40
alphanumeric characters. Event IDs are automatically assigned using a hierarchical scheme when they are first created. Event IDs
may be reset at any time in the Primary Event Properties dialog or by selecting one of the options under the Tools, Rename pull-
down menu option.
Description
The description appears in the rectangle above the event in the fault tree diagram. Descriptions may be up to 255 characters in
length.
Failure model
The failure model associated with the event provides all the quantitative failure and maintenance data for the event. Users may
create a new failure model or edit the currently assigned failure model by selecting the New and Edit buttons respectively.
Consequence
Users may select a single outage or capacity consequence to be associated with the event. During a simulation, if the component
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represented by the event is out-of-service (or running at reduced capacity) due to failure or scheduled maintenance, the
consequence will apply. Users may create a new consequence or edit the currently assigned consequence by selecting the New and
Edit buttons respectively.
Initial age
The age of the component associated with the event at the beginning of the simulation.
Switching delay
If a non-zero switching delay time is specified then Availability Workbench (AWB) will simulate the specified delay whenever
the component is required to switch from a standby condition to an operating condition. In effect, the component will be
unavailable for the specified delay time.
Type
The type of primary event symbol to display in the diagram. Valid types are Basic, Undeveloped, Conditional, House and
Dormant. These symbol types, except for the House type, only affect the appearance of the symbols in the fault tree diagram. The
House type requires that the user sets the Logic Mode to True or False in the Rules tab
Rules Tab
Logic mode
The Logic Mode combo-box indicates one of three modes for the event:
Probabilistic
False
True
If the logic mode is set to Probabilistic (the default), event failures will be randomly sampled using the specified failure model. If
the logic mode is set to False, the event will remain in service throughout the lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides the logic
mode during a given phase of operation. If the logic mode is set to True, the event will remain out-of-service throughout the
lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides the logic mode during a given phase of operation.
Standby mode
The Standby mode setting indicates whether the standby mode for the event is Hot, Cold or Warm Standby. This setting only
affects the reliability performance of the event if it is not required to be operating during a simulation.
If Hot standby is specified, the failure characteristics do not change when the event is non-operational. If Cold standby is specified
then the event cannot fail when it is non-operational and no ageing takes place. If Warm standby is specified then the failure rate
of the event is reduced by the Non-operating failure apportionment % for the failure model associated with the event whilst it is
non-operational. In addition, the rate of ageing is reduced according to the Non-operating ageing apportionment % associated with
the event whilst it is non-operational.
Maximum capacity
Maximum capacity values are only applicable if you are interested in production flow as well as standard unavailability
calculations. These values are used to determine the production flow through a system when 'loss of capacity' consequences have
been defined. The maximum capacity indicates the maximum production flow through the event and is usually defined as a
percentage. The user may equate 100% capacity with a quantity and unit, such as 80 bpm. This alternative capacity value can be
set in the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog.
Load factor
Load factors may be assigned to individual events. The load factor allows users to model additional or reduced stress conditions
during different operational phases. For example, during launch a satellite might experience additional stresses due to high
vibration and high temperature, which might affect the components associated with the failure model during this period. A load
factor of 2 will increase the failure rate by 2 for the exponential distribution. This is equivalent to halving the MTTF. This is
described by the general expression
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If checked the default setting will be for all maintenance tasks associated with the component to be disabled.
Non-operational
If checked the component will be non-operational throughout the lifetime of the system unless a rule overrides this
condition.
Rules
AWB allows the user to define rules that can be used to set the logic, standby mode, maximum capacity, load factor, non-
maintainable and non-operational status of a component by phase. The load factor, non-maintainable and non-operational status
may also be set by the state of a gate in the project. Clicking the Add button will open the Rule Properties dialog. Here the user
may select the type of phase or state dependency required using the Type drop-down menu. If it is a phase-related rule then the
phase may be selected using the Phase drop-down menu. If phase dependency is selected for the logic, standby mode, maximum
capacity or load factor then a further field or drop-down menu will appear where the user may enter an appropriate parameter. If it
is a state-related rule then the user will be able to select the reference gate and the required state of the reference gate.
Rules that have been defined will appear in the Rules list. Each rule is identified by an ID and description that are automatically
generated by AWB. The properties of an existing rule may be edited by selecting the rule from the list and clicking the Edit button.
The Rule Properties dialog will appear allowing the user to edit the data entered when the rule was created.
A rule may be deleted by selecting it from the list and clicking the Remove button.
Appearance Tab
Background color
Events may be color coded. Select the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you can choose the new color for the
event. Select the Set to default button to return the event color to the default setting.
Description font
To modify the font used for descriptive text select the Change font button to open the Font dialog. Select the Set to default button
to return the description font to the default setting.
Notes Tab
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Note field headers are defined by the user in the Project
Options dialog.
Hyperlink Tab
Hyperlink
Browse
Select either the Browse for file or Browse for web page button to browse for the link you require.
New labels can be added to the fault tree diagram by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Label pull-down menu option or equivalent
toolbar button. The cursor will change to a label symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the diagram before
clicking on the left mouse button to create the label. The user can continue to add labels whilst in this mode. To terminate this
mode, select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option, or select another menu
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option.
New notes can be added to the fault tree diagram by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Note pull-down menu option or equivalent
toolbar button. The cursor will change to a note symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the diagram before
clicking on the left mouse button to create the note. The user can continue to add notes whilst in this mode. To terminate this
mode, select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option, or select another menu
option.
New hyperlinks can be added to the fault tree diagram by choosing the Add, To Diagram, Hyperlink pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The cursor will change to a hyperlink symbol and it should be positioned at the required point in the
diagram before clicking on the left mouse button to create the hyperlink. The user can continue to add hyperlinks whilst in this
mode. To terminate this mode, select the Add, To Diagram, Clear Add Mode pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar option,
or select another menu option.
Hyperlinks may also be directly assigned to gates and primary events in the diagram using the Gate Properties and Primary Event
Properties dialogs. To view directly assigned hyperlinks in the diagram users must set the FT Pop-up mode to Hyperlink in the
View tab of the Project Options dialog.
To edit the properties of a label either double-click on the label in the diagram, or select the label in the diagram and choose the
Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a label, the user will be presented with the Label Properties dialog, allowing label attributes to be modified.
Type
Horizontal alignment
The Horizontal alignment option allows the user to choose how text will be aligned within the label frame in the RBD. Options are
Left, Center and Right alignment.
Border
Width
The width of the label in diagram coordinates. The default width is 100.
Height
The height of the label in diagram coordinates. The default height is 60.
Bitmap label
If the Bitmap label check-box is selected then the specified bitmap will be displayed within the label frame in the RBD.
Bitmap
The Bitmap combo-box will only be enabled if the Bitmap label option is checked. The combo-box allows the user to select the
bitmap to appear in the label.
Label text
Label text will appear inside the label frame in the RBD. If a bitmap label is specified then the text will be replaced by the bitmap.
Change font
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Selection of the Change font button will prompt Availability Workbench (AWB) to display a standard Windows Font dialog,
allowing the user to choose the required font for the label. Select the Set font to default button to return the label font to the default
setting.
Background color
The background color of a label may be customized by a user. Select the << button to open the Windows Color dialog where you
can choose the new color for the label background. Select the Set to default button to return the label color to the default setting.
To edit the properties of a note either double-click on the note in the diagram, or select the note in the diagram and choose the Edit,
Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a note, the user will be presented with the Note Properties dialog, allowing note attributes to be modified.
Type
Note
Note text that will appear when you hover the mouse cursor over the note in the RBD.
To edit the properties of a hyperlink either double-click on the hyperlink in the diagram, or select the hyperlink in the diagram and
choose the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option.
When editing a hyperlink, the user will be presented with the Hyperlink Properties dialog, allowing hyperlink attributes to be
modified.
Type
Hyperlink
Browse
Click either the Browse file or Browse web page button to browse for the link you require.
Large fault trees can become difficult to view and understand and therefore a paging facility is available in the AvSim module of
Availability Workbench (AWB). This facility allows the user to split the tree into manageable parts and to place each part on a
separate page.
To create a new page, the user should select a gate in the diagram below which any lower parts of the diagram are required to
appear on a new page. Use the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option or double-click on the gate to access the Gate Properties
dialog.
The Page check-box should then be set on and, when the OK button is selected, the dialog will be dismissed and the new page will
be created. The name of the gate at the top of the new page will be added to the list in the Fault tree page selector above the right-
hand window. The new page will also be added below the Fault Tree Pages node in the project tree control.
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The position of gates, events and labels in a fault tree diagram can be modified after the initial positioning during their creation.
Any connections in the diagram will be modified to account for the changing position of gates and events.
The first method of moving the objects is to select an object and then use the mouse to drag the object to a new position. When an
object is selected, a 'drag' cursor icon appears at the top left corner of the object. This icon may be used to drag the object around
the diagram. When the cursor is moved over the icon, it too changes to the familiar 'drag' cursor. If the left button is then pressed
down, the object will move around with the cursor. When the left button is released, the object will remain in its current position.
The second method of moving objects is to use the options on the Shift pull-down menu, or their equivalent keyboard
combinations.
These options move the selected object or group of objects by a fixed amount.
It is possible to restore any offsets that have been manually incorporated into the diagram by choosing either the Clear Visible
Offsets or Clear All Offsets options. The former will remove any offsets currently visible on the screen, whilst the latter removes
all offsets in the diagram. The Auto Compress with Offsets option will reduce the offsets to fit as much of the fault tree into the
visible diagram area as possible, without allowing objects to overlap.
A selected gate showing the drag icon at the top left of the selection
The cut and copy facilities transfer the selected objects to the clipboard. The cut facility also removes the selections from the
diagram.
There are two distinct paste facilities. The standard paste facility makes an exact copy of the clipboard contents, whilst 'paste
special' copies the structure below gates and creates unique names for the copied objects.
These features can be accessed from the Edit pull-down menu or the equivalent keyboard combinations.
Selected objects can be deleted by choosing the Edit, Delete pull-down menu option or its equivalent keystroke.
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The undo facility allows the user to override the last edit action. The maximum number of undos that may be performed can be set
in the Undo tab of the Application Options dialog.
You can locate a particular gate or event in the fault tree diagram by selecting the appropriate option on the Find pull-down menu.
On selection of the Find option Availability Workbench (AWB) will display the Find dialog. This dialog contains a list of the gates
or events in the current project. Events may be filtered by their failure model associations by selecting a failure model from the list
at the top of the dialog.
Select the gate or event in the displayed list and then select one of the following options.
Show First
On selection of this option AWB will display the first occurrence of the selected gate or event in the diagram. If necessary, AWB
will automatically change the displayed fault tree page.
Show Next
On selection of this option AWB will display the next occurrence of the selected gate or event in the diagram. If necessary, AWB
will automatically change the displayed fault tree page.
A common cause failure is the failure of more than one component, sub-system or system due to the same common cause.
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows users to specify common cause failures in RBD and fault tree diagrams simply by copying
and pasting the appropriate RBD block or fault tree gate or event to the affected part of the diagram. RBD blocks and fault tree
gates and events with the same name will be treated as the same failure event during the simulation.
It is important to represent common cause failures correctly in the RBD or fault tree diagram as they often make a substantial
contribution to the unavailability of systems that contain redundancy. For example, suppose that a common electrical supply is
used to power 2 pumps in a standby arrangement. Failure of the common electrical supply would render both pumps unavailable at
the same time. If the reliability of the electrical supply were comparable to the reliability of each pump then the beneficial effects
of employing a redundant configuration would be almost completely negated.
To illustrate how AWB may be used to model common cause failures of this type, let us consider the 2-pump example described
above. In order to represent the correct logical behavior of the common cause failure, we could use the following RBD or fault tree
diagrams:
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In the diagrams above, the common cause failure is given the same block or event ID (use copy and paste to achieve this result).
AWB recognizes that the two blocks or events labelled POWER represent the same failure event, simply because they have the
same ID. Alternatively, we could model the same logical behavior in the following way.
There is no logical difference between the two sets of diagrams as they both indicate that failure of the power supply on its own
will render the two-pump sub-system unavailable. However, in more complicated examples, say where the power supply affects
many diverse systems, it is more convenient to repeat the common cause event.
Standby Arrangements
Parallel RBD arrangements or fault tree AND gates may be used to represent standby systems of components. Availability
Workbench (AWB) also allows the user to specify hot, cold or warm standby parameters that permit the modelling of increased
mean time to failures for components that are not operating at any given time.
For example, consider a 2-pump sub-system where the secondary pump remains in standby if the primary pump is operating. The
failure logic of this sub-system may be represented by a RBD or a fault tree diagram:
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Both the RBD and fault tree diagrams indicate that both pumps must fail for the sub-system to fail.
If the mean time to failure (MTTF) of the secondary pump (pump B) is increased when it is in standby to pump A then there is a
dependency between the failure characteristics of the two pumps which must be taken into account when calculating the
unavailability of the sub-system. The simulation process automatically takes this dependency into account by increasing the
MTTF (and hence reducing the failure rate) of the secondary pump when it is not required to operate.
In order for AWB to take account of cold (non-operating infinite MTTF which is equivalent to a failure rate of zero) and warm
(non-operating MTTF greater than operating MTTF) standby arrangements, the program must first know which of the two pumps
is the primary (normally operating) pump and which pump is the secondary (normally in standby) pump. This is done simply by
placing the primary pump above the secondary pump in a RBD. In a fault tree diagram, the event representing the primary pump
failure must appear to the left of the event representing the secondary pump failure.
AWB also needs to know whether a component will be in hot, cold or warm standby and the MTTF to apply in warm standby
situations. For RBDs, this may be done by first selecting the appropriate option from the Standby mode option list in the Rules tab
of the Block Properties dialog representing the secondary component. The Block Properties dialog is revealed by double-clicking
the left mouse button with the cursor over the block representing the secondary component failure. For fault trees, this may be
done by first selecting the appropriate option, from the Standby mode option list in the Rules tab of the Event Properties dialog,
representing the secondary component. The Primary Event Properties dialog is revealed by double-clicking the left mouse button
with the cursor over the event representing the secondary component failure. If the warm standby option is selected for a
secondary standby component, the standby MTTF must also be specified. This is done by modifying the Non-operating failure
apportionment property for the failure model associated with the secondary component. This parameter may be accessed in the
Failure Model Properties dialog (Failure tab). This parameter is expressed as a percentage value. For example, indicating a value
of 20% will result in AWB applying a failure rate that is 20% of the normal failure rate when the component is not operating. This
increases the mean time to failure by a factor of 5. This may be expressed as a general expression:
AWB models more complicated standby arrangements using the same methods. For example, the following 2 out of 3 voting
arrangement indicates that the lower line of blocks (C1 and C2) will be in standby if the components represented by the first two
lines of blocks (A1, A2, B1, B2) are all operating. If C1 and C2 have different MTTFs when they are not operating then the user
should modify their standby types and apply the appropriate warm standby failure apportionment to the failure models associated
with the two blocks.
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In addition to specifying a different mean time to failure for a component when it is in standby, it may also be appropriate to reduce
the speed at which it ages when it is in standby. This would only be appropriate if the component exhibits ageing characteristics,
i.e. the Weibull model has been chosen to represent its failure characteristics. AWB allows this to be done by allowing the user to
specify a Non-operating ageing apportionment value for a given failure model. This parameter may be accessed in the Failure
Model Properties dialog (Failure tab). This value is expressed as a percentage value and reduces the age of a component when it is
in standby. For example, if a value of 60% is specified, the age of the component will only be increased by 60% of the actual
elapsed time during a simulation when it is in standby.
Local Standby
Local standby flags are used to control when a standby block is required to start-up to replace the functionality of a failed block
in the RBD. Local standby flags are normally only needed when modelling throughput capacity. Consider the small system
below. Unless the user sets a local standby flag, AWB will assume that block C will be in standby when Block A is working and
block B is failed. This is because, from a traditional availability point of view, the system is in service with just A working.
However, if we were modelling throughput, this behavior would result in the system operating at 60% capacity only. If we set the
local standby flag on for node X, the program will treat the lower parallel arrangement (block B and block C) as if it was
independent from block A from the point of view of determining the standby status of C. Now when block B fails, block C will
start-up to replace the lost capacity.
Alternatively, if a specific operational capacity has been set for a node or gate, the standby blocks or events will be switched on in
order to reach the specified capacity level. The standby components will be switched on in top to bottom order for RBD blocks
and left to right order for fault tree gates.
Failure models describe the basic failure and maintenance characteristics of components. They are assigned to individual
component blocks in a RBD or primary events in a fault tree diagram.
Failure models may be added to a project using the Add, Resources, Failure Model pull-down menu option. Alternatively they
may be created in the Block Properties dialog (for RBDs) or the Primary Event Properties dialog (for fault trees).
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Selected failure models in the project tree may be modified via the Edit, Properties pull-down menu or in the Block Properties
dialog or the Primary Event Properties dialog.
See Also
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Failure model general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the failure model of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the failure model. Failure model types are used to organize failure models into groups. If a project contains
many failure models then this will greatly assist in locating a failure model in the project tree.
Description
Detection method
This field describes the method used to detect the failure. Up to 2000 characters of text are allowed.
Compensating provisions
This field describes the compensating provisions for the failure. Up to 2000 characters of text are allowed.
Remarks
See Also
Overview
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
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Notes
Strategy
Failure model failure properties may be accessed from the Failure tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Weibull set
Users may link a failure model to a Weibull set created in the Weibull module of Availability Workbench (AWB). A failure model
that is linked to a Weibull set will obtain the distribution type and parameters directly from the Weibull set. This allows users to
analyze historical failure data and directly connect this data to the failure model. As historical data is updated, AWB will
automatically update the distribution parameters for the associated failure models.
Distribution
The Distribution combo-box specifies the failure distribution to be associated with the failure model. Options are
Exponential
Weibull
Bi-Weibull
Tri-Weibull
Fixed
Lognormal
Normal
Buffer
Phased Bi-Weibull
Phased Tri-Weibull
These distributions are used in the Monte Carlo simulation to sample times to failure of the component.
The exponential distribution represents the case where the failure rate is constant over time. The user inputs the inverse of the
failure rate in the Mean time to failure field. The cumulative failure distribution at time t is given by
The Weibull options relate to the number of three-parameter Weibull distributions to be used to sample the time to failure of the
component. The user can choose to have one, two or three distributions that are then combined to represent the three failure modes
in the well-known bathtub curve for the failure rate of a component. The first mode represents early failures during the 'burn-in'
period, the second mode is the 'useful-life' period when the failures are random and the final mode is the 'wear-out' mode for which
the failure rate rises. In the AvSim module the user has the option of choosing to model one, two or three of the bathtub periods.
The user can input the values for the three-parameter Weibull distribution for the chosen modes. The cumulative failure
distribution at time t for the three-parameter Weibull distribution is given by
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The fixed distribution is intended for use when the time to failure is definitely known. The user is required to enter a fixed time to
failure if this distribution is selected.
If the user chooses the lognormal or normal distributions then the user will be expected to enter a mean time to failure and standard
deviation.
The buffer distribution model has been added to allow users to model stored capacity during a simulation. For example, a tank
may hold enough liquid to supply flow in a process plant when the normal pumped supply is unavailable due to a fault in the
system. The tank can only supply liquid for a limited period of time. In the AvSim module, you may add a block in parallel to the
normal supply route to represent the tank in the RBD. The new block would be associated with the buffer failure distribution.
When the buffer option is selected, two fields will appear. One will allow the user to enter the Time to empty buffer. Another will
allow the user to specify the Time to fill buffer. By setting the Base buffer depletion rate on capacity requirement check-box on in
the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog, the program will determine the required capacity from the buffer, based on the
node or gate operational capacity target. The required capacity will be taken as a proportion of the buffers maximum capacity to
determine how quickly the buffer should empty. The Time to empty buffer entered by the user for a buffer therefore refers to the
time to empty the buffer when the maximum buffer capacity is required.
For the exponential, lognormal and normal distributions the user must supply the value of the mean time to failure.
This combo-box will be displayed if the buffer distribution is selected. If the Buffer fill rate independent of system state option is
selected the buffer fill rate will not be affected by the system state. If the Buffer fill prohibited if system out-of-service option is
selected the buffer will not fill when the immediate system that contains the block or event is out-of-service. If the Buffer fill rate
dependent on system capacity option is selected the buffer will fill at a reduced rate proportional to the capacity of the immediate
system that contains the block or event. If the Buffer fill rate dependent on reverse system capacity option is selected the buffer
will fill at a reduced rate inversely proportional to the capacity of the immediate system that contains the block or event.
Standard deviation
If either a lognormal or normal distribution is selected then the standard deviation must be entered.
The characteristic lifetime (eta), shape (beta) and the time shift (gamma) parameters need to be entered if a Weibull distribution has
been chosen for the task.
The non-operating failure apportionment indicates how the failure rates of components associated with the failure model will be
adjusted when they are not operational. An apportionment value of 50% indicates that the failure rate should be halved or mean
time to failure doubled when it is non-operational.
The non-operating ageing apportionment indicates how the age of components associated with the failure model will be adjusted
when they are not operational. An apportionment value of 50% indicates that the component ages at only half the normal rate when
it is non-operational.
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Dormant failure
If the dormant failure check box is selected, failed equipments will not be repaired until after an inspection or planned maintenance
task takes place. This flag should be set for standby components that are only required to operate on demand and whose failures
remain hidden until an inspection takes place.
The probability that a failure will occur when the component is switching from a non-operational to an operational state.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Failure model maintenance properties may be accessed from the Maintenance tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
The maintenance tasks assigned to a failure model are categorized into one of three possible types corrective tasks, planned
maintenance tasks and inspection tasks.
Corrective tasks are performed when a random failure takes place or when an inspection reveals a hidden failure.
Planned maintenance tasks may be performed at fixed intervals, when the age of an equipment reaches a given value or when an
opportunity arises. Planned maintenance may involve the replacement of ageing equipment or minor tasks such as lubrication.
Planned maintenance may also be performed when an inspection predicts that a failure is about to occur (predictive maintenance).
Inspection tasks may be performed at fixed intervals, when the age of an equipment reaches a given value or when an opportunity
arises. Inspection tasks are performed to detect an imminent failure (and hence allow a planned maintenance task to be scheduled
to prevent the failure) or to detect a dormant (hidden) failure. Hidden failures are normally associated with standby equipment.
You may copy tasks from an attached library by selecting the Copy Task From Library button. If you wish to copy a task from
elsewhere in the current project select the Use current project option and then select the Copy Task From Project button. If you
prefer to filter tasks using the task group hierarchy then first select the Use task group hierarchy button. If you have multiple
libraries attached you will also need to select the appropriate library from the Task library combo-box.
For more information on how to create task libraries see the Task Library section.
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See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Failure model alarm properties may be accessed from the Alarm tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Monitoring equipment may be installed to automatically indicate a failure is about to occur without an inspection by a maintenance
crew.
The following parameters constitute the data for condition monitoring equipment.
P-F curve
The P-F curve, in combination with the P-F interval and detection probability, determines whether the condition alarm will predict
a future failure, and if so, when. The P-F curve determines the warning time provided by the alarm before the actual failure. The
probability density function for the detection warning time is given by:
Exponential Distribution:
Linear Distribution:
for
for
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Step Distribution:
for
for
P-F interval
The P-F interval for the alarm. The P-F interval provides a measure of the warning time given by the alarm for a future random
failure of the component.
Detection probability
Indicates the probability that the alarm will detect the failure.
Capital cost
Cost rate
The cost rate associated with the alarm over the system lifetime.
Description
SCADA tag ID
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Failure model commission properties may be accessed from the Commission tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Commissioning a component eliminates wear-in failures and is appropriate where the Weibull distribution indicates high failure
rates during the early life of a component. Commissioning effectively sets the age of the component to the commissioning interval
when it is installed in the system.
Commission
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Period
Cost rate
Description
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Redesign
Notes
Strategy
Failure model redesign properties may be accessed from the Redesign tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Redesign
Cost rate
The cost rate associated with redesign over the system lifetime.
Description
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
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Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Notes
Strategy
Failure model notes may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to
identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Strategy
Failure model strategy properties may be accessed from the Strategy tab of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
The Maintenance and design strategy list allows users to view and modify the current strategy associated with the failure model.
Scheduled maintenance tasks associated with the failure model are listed together with the status of the alarm, commission and
redesign strategies. The list allows users to quickly set the enabled status and specify intervals for tasks. More detailed information
must be specified in the appropriate tabs of the Failure Model Properties dialog.
Edit task
Users may quickly navigate to the Task Properties dialog for an existing task by selecting the task in the list and then selecting the
Edit task button.
See Also
Overview
General Properties
Failure
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Maintenance
Alarm
Commission
Redesign
Notes
Phases - Overview
Availability Workbench (AWB) does not require the user to define any phases unless special conditions need to be applied for
different time intervals during the simulation process. However, by defining phases the user may
Change the RBD or fault tree diagram logic during certain time periods
For example, maintenance activities may need to be prohibited if the system becomes non-repairable and non-maintainable during
different phases of its lifetime. Take the case of aircraft systems, which will generally not be repairable during a flight. As a
further example, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance crews for a manufacturing plant safety system may only be available
during certain shifts.
Note that if a given phase is specified as being non-maintainable at project level (rules may be assigned under the Simulation tab of
the Project Options dialog), AWB will prohibit all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance activities during that phase (corrective
and planned maintenance and inspections) for every component in the project.
During certain phases of a systems lifetime, components or even an entire system might be considered to be non-operational. For
example, during winter months the air conditioning system in a car might not be required to operate. During such periods, the
components are effectively in standby. If the standby mean times to failure (MTTF) for the system components differ significantly
from the normal operational MTTFs, the overall reliability predictions for the air conditioning system would need to take these
phase differences into account. AWB allows the user to specify that either individual components or the entire system is
operational (the default) or non-operational during a given phase. If a component is specified to be non-operational during a given
phase then AWB takes note of the Standby type setting for the associated RBD block or fault tree event. If cold standby is
specified, the component will not fail during non-operational phases. If warm standby is specified, the MTTF for the component is
increased using the Non-operating failure apportionment property for the failure model associated with the component. This
property may be accessed in the Failure Model Properties dialog (Failure tab). This parameter is expressed as a percentage value.
Indicating a value of 20% will result in AWB applying a failure rate that is 20% of the normal failure rate when the component is
not operating. This increases the mean time to failure by a factor of 5. This may be expressed as a general expression:
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Project rules (set in the Simulation tab of the Project Options dialog) allow users to specify an overall load factor that will be
applied to all failure rates in the project during a specified phase. This factor is used to effectively reduce or extend the mean time
to failures (MTTFs) for all components in the project during that phase. This load factor allows users to model additional or
reduced stress conditions during different operational phases. For example, during launch, a satellite might experience additional
stresses, due to high vibration and high temperature, that might affect the MTTFs of certain components during this period. This
may be modelled by defining a phase representing the launch period and applying a load factor greater than 1 using the project
rules. An adjustment factor of 2 will increase the failure rate by 2 for the exponential distribution. This is equivalent to halving the
MTTF. This is described by the general expression:
Phases may be defined as belonging to different phase groups. Phase groups run concurrently. For example, let us assume we
define two phase groups, named A and B, and assign 3 phases to group A and 2 phases to Group B. The 3 phases in group A are
mutually exclusive of one another and will be traversed cyclically during the simulation. Group A phases will be totally
independent from the 2 group B phases that will also be traversed cyclically during the simulation.
Phase groups appear underneath the Phases node in the project tree. You may change the description of a phase group by double-
clicking the mouse over the phase group in the project tree, or highlighting the phase group and choosing Edit Properties from the
right click pop-up menu.
See Also
Phase Properties
Phase Groups
Phase Properties
ID
The phase ID uniquely identifies the phase. Up to 40 alphanumeric characters are permitted.
Group
Phase group to which the phase belongs. Phase groups may run concurrently with one another.
Description
Descriptive text may be entered for the phase. Up to 255 characters are allowed.
Duration
The Duration is the time length of the phase. If the sum of the duration of all phases is less than the system lifetime then phases
will be repeated cyclically. Take as an example a project with two phases each with duration of 1000 time units and a system
lifetime of 5000 time units. The simulation would start in the first phase, switch to second phase after 1000 time units and then
switch back to the first phase after 1000 time units, after which the cycle would be repeated until the system lifetime was reached.
Notes
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to
identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
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See Also
Overview
Phase Groups
Phase Groups
Phase group properties may be accessed from the Phase Group Properties dialog.
Phase groups are used to group together mutually exclusive phases that run cyclically over the system lifetime. A phase that
belongs to a phase group may run concurrently with a phase from a different phase group.
ID
The phase group ID uniquely identifies the phase group. Up to 40 alphanumeric characters are permitted.
Description
Descriptive text may be entered for the phase group. Up to 255 characters are allowed.
See Also
Overview
Phase Properties
Consequences - Overview
In addition to predicting system failure parameters such as unavailability, unreliability, number of expected failures etc.,
Availability Workbench (AWB) also allows the user to define consequences that quantify the impact of system failures on safety,
costs, operations and the environment.
Consequences may be defined and assigned to system failures in a RBD or a fault tree. If you are using a RBD to represent the
failure logic of your system, you will be able to assign consequences to system and component failures by double-clicking on a
block in the RBD. This will reveal the Block Properties dialog that contains a Consequence selection list. If you are using a fault
tree diagram to represent the failure logic of your system, you can assign consequences to any of the gates or events in the fault tree
by selecting the appropriate consequence in the Gate Properties or Event Properties dialog.
Total outage consequences should be used when performing a traditional availability study using RBD or fault tree diagrams.
Events in the RBDs represent failure or success (out-of-service or in-service).
Loss of capacity consequences are appropriate where the RBD or fault tree diagram is being used to model production flow at
intermediate levels (e.g. 10%, 20%, 40%, 70% etc.). This is a special use of RBD and fault tree diagrams.
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When defining a total outage consequence, the user must specify the financial cost of the consequence, together with severity
values for safety, operational and environmental impact. Severity values are weighting values whose precise meaning will depend
on the type of system being analyzed. It is up to the user to decide what these weightings should actually represent. For example,
the safety weighting might represent probable number of deaths or probable number of injuries. The environmental weighting
might represent amount of toxic material released. The operational weighting might represent total loss of mission or partial
loss of mission. Many consequences will not have any safety, operational or environmental implications. Where this is the case,
the severity values should be given the default value of zero.
As the same total outage consequence may be assigned to more than one RBD system failure or more than one fault tree gate, the
results provided for each consequence after a simulation is performed represent the accumulation of the data for all failures
resulting in that consequence.
Relevant results for outage consequences are presented in the form of the following parameters:
where
= total down time over lifetime of the ith system associated with the consequence
Note that the total duration may be greater than the system lifetime if a single consequence is assigned to more than one system
failure.
where
= expected number of occurrences over lifetime of the ith system associated with consequence
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where
where
The above expression applies to safety, operational and environmental criticality values.
Loss of capacity consequences respond to the production flow through the RBD block or fault tree gate associated with the
consequence. If a consequence is assigned to a sub-system block then the mean capacity values calculated for the consequence
will represent the mean production capacity output from the sub-system block. The mean production capacity flow into the sub-
system block will therefore influence the flow out of the sub-system block.
if
if
Where
= Additional cost rate per % loss of capacity below target production level
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Relevant results for capacity consequences are presented in the form of the following parameters:
In certain practical situations, the cost penalty rate associated with a consequence may vary with the duration of an individual
outage. AWB allows you to specify up to 4 step rate changes for a consequence. For total outage consequences you may specify
the change in cost rate directly at different time points. For capacity consequences, the rate per % loss is specified at different time
points. Note that the time values specified relate to the duration of an individual outage or capacity loss occurrence during a
simulation.
Consequences can be added to a project by selecting the Add, Resource, Consequence pull-down menu option. Selected
consequences can be modified by highlighting them in the project tree and choosing the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option, or
removed by choosing the Edit, Delete pull-down menu option. The Add and Edit options result in the Consequence Properties
dialog being displayed. This dialog allows the user to specify the attributes associated with a consequence and specify rules to
modify these parameters during different phases.
Consequence general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Consequence Properties dialog.
ID
Type
The type assigned to the consequence. Consequence types are used to organize consequences into groups. If a project contains
many consequences then this will greatly assist in locating a consequence in the project tree.
Description
Total outage consequences should be used when performing a traditional availability study using RBD or fault tree diagrams.
Events in the RBD represent failure or success (out-of-service or in-service).
Loss of capacity consequences are appropriate where the RBD or fault tree diagram is being used to model production flow at
intermediate levels (e.g. 10%, 20%, 40%, 70% etc.). This is a special use of RBD and fault tree diagrams.
Consequences - Cost
Consequence cost properties may be accessed from the Cost tab of the Consequence Properties dialog.
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The cost per unit time incurred over the duration of the consequence
The cost incurred on each occurrence of an event that results in the consequence.
The cost per unit time for each unit loss of capacity.
Additional cost rate per unit loss below target (Loss of capacity consequences)
The cost per unit time for each unit loss below the value specified in the Target production level field.
The target production level below which the additional cost rate will be applied.
In certain practical situations, the cost penalty associated with a consequence may vary with the duration of an individual outage.
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows you to specify up to 4 step rate changes for a consequence. For total outage consequences
you may specify the change in cost rate directly at different time points. For capacity consequences, the rate per % loss is specified
at different time points. Note that the time values specified relate to the duration of an individual outage or capacity loss
occurrence during a simulation.
Consequences - Severity
Consequence severity properties may be accessed from the Severity tab of the Consequence Properties dialog.
Safety severity
The safety severity rate and severity per occurrence for the consequence.
Operational severity
The operational severity rate and severity per occurrence for the consequence.
Environmental severity
The environmental severity rate and severity per occurrence for the consequence.
Consequences - Rules
Consequence rule properties may be accessed from the Rules tab of the Consequence Properties dialog.
Consequence rules are used to modify consequence parameters during different phases. Currently defined rules for the
consequence are displayed in the Rules list.
Add
Used to add a rule. Selecting the Add button will open the Rule Properties dialog.
Edit
Used to edit a rule. By selecting an existing rule in the list and clicking the Edit button users may open the Rule Properties dialog.
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Remove
Consequence Rules
Consequence rules may be defined in the Rule Properties dialog accessed by selecting the Add or Edit buttons in the Rules tab of
the Consequence Properties dialog. Consequence rules modify consequence properties during different phases. To define a new
rule in the Rule Properties dialog select the rule type, phase and modified property value followed by selection of the OK button.
The rule will then be displayed in the Rules list of the Consequence Properties dialog.
Consequences - Notes
Consequence notes may be accessed from the Notes tab of the Consequence Properties dialog.
Each notes field allows the user to enter up to 2000 characters of text. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to
identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
Bitmaps - Overview
Bitmaps are used to enhance the display in RBD and fault tree diagrams. They may be assigned to labels and then moved or
resized. They may also be assigned to individual blocks in a RBD.
The bitmap image must reside in a bitmap file. Availability Workbench does not store the actual bitmaps in a project. It stores a
reference to the bitmap file.
Bitmap Properties
ID
Bitmaps are identified by a unique name consisting of up to 40 characters. New bitmaps are created with a default name that can
be changed by the user.
Type
The type assigned to the bitmap. Bitmap types are used to organize bitmaps into groups. If a project contains many bitmaps then
this will greatly assist in locating a bitmap in the project tree.
Description
File
The full path of the bitmap file. The file name is specified by selecting the Browse button.
Resize Frame
When selected the block or label in which the bitmap is displayed will be automatically resized to accommodate the image.
Stretch to Frame
When selected the bitmap will be automatically resized to fit the label or block in which it is to be displayed.
Clip to Frame
When selected the bitmap will be automatically cropped to fit the label or block in which it is to be displayed.
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Before performing a system simulation run in the AvSim module, Availability Workbench (AWB) will validate data to ensure that
the model data specified by the user is valid.
If any fatal errors are encountered then AWB will display the Model Integrity Verification dialog which lists the errors. Users may
also request a validation by selecting the Simulation, Verify Model Integrity pull-down menu option. Objects directly associated
with an error may be edited by selecting the error message in the list and then selecting the Edit button.
Circular logic errors are produced when the user constructs an invalid logical arrangement in the RBD or fault tree diagram under
construction.
For RBDs, circular logic errors will occur if a block is copied within itself. For example, if a block named XYZ is copied to the
clipboard and the Page Down facility is then selected to define the blocks that constitute the sub-system XYZ followed by selection
of the paste facility to draw block XYZ on its own sub-system page, the verification process would flag a circular logic error.
For fault tree diagrams, a circular logic error will occur if a gate is repeated in the tree structure so that it feeds into itself. For
example, if a gate G1 has 2 inputs G2 and G3, and in turn G2 has 2 inputs G1 and G4, G1 is effectively feeding into itself in the
diagram.
Each page of the RBD must have a single input node or block and a single output node or block.
Check for component blocks and primary events with failure models not set
A warning message is produced if no failure model is associated with a component block or primary event.
A warning message is given if top-level systems exist in the RBD with no constituent blocks.
Invalid vote numbers are not permitted. For example a node in the RBD might be assigned a vote number greater than the number
of input connections feeding into the node.
A warning message is given if transfer gates are located in a fault tree with no logical inputs.
Gates with an invalid number of inputs for the gate type are not permitted
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To perform a full simulation run in the AvSim module of Availability Workbench (AWB) select the Simulation, Start pull-down
menu option or the equivalent toolbar button. If you have made any fatal errors when constructing the project (for example, not
connecting blocks in a page), AWB will display the error messages and halt the simulation. Otherwise, the simulation will
proceed. A message will also be displayed at the bottom of the AWB window, indicating the progress of the simulation run.
If you wish to halt the simulation run before the program has reached the number of simulations requested then select the
Simulation, Stop pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. A dialog will appear asking if you wish to complete the
current simulation in order to retain results. The user may select Yes to finish the current simulation and obtain a set of results for
the partially completed run, No to terminate the simulation run without retaining any results, or Cancel to resume the simulation
run and continue until it is complete.
See Also
Simulation Parameters
Simulation Watch
The simulation watch facility may be accessed by selecting the Simulation, Start & Watch pull-down menu option or equivalent
toolbar button. A dialog will be displayed, allowing you to specify the type of simulation watch you wish to perform and various
other parameters.
The simulation watch facility is designed to allow you to check the logic of your system model. For example, you may have
included a parallel arrangement in your RBD diagram with warm standby components and switching delays. You may want to
check that the standby components begin to operate when you would expect them to and that the switching delays are implemented
at the correct time.
During a simulation watch, the program proceeds with the simulation on a step by step basis and lets you view the status of the
system at each step. The simulation process moves forward in time but halts when there is a change of event. Information
regarding the event change is displayed in the Simulation Watch dialog (Events tab). In addition, the RBD or fault tree diagram is
modified to reflect the change of component and system status. The Spares tab of the Simulation Watch dialog shows changes in
selected spare levels through the echelon hierarchy.
Once the simulation watch process has been initiated, you may step to the next event by selecting the Next button in the Simulation
Watch dialog.
Criteria
Selection of the Total Outage criterion will prompt the program to display availability information for the selected system.
Selection of the Capacity criterion will prompt the program to display throughput levels for the selected system.
Mode
Selection of the RBD mode will prompt the program to watch the status of the RBD system. Selection of the Fault Tree mode will
prompt the program to watch the status of the fault tree system.
System to watch
Spare to watch
Start time
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You may request the watch profile to skip events other than failure events by selecting this check-box.
You may request the watch profile to skip events other than those relating to the specified system by selecting this check-box.
You may choose this option to track events by changing the visible diagram. In addition, the diagram will reflect the current
simulation phase.
Simulation Record
In some circumstances, you may wish to perform special calculations based on the simulated events produced by the AvSim
module of Availability Workbench (AWB). These special calculations could be performed by an external application such as
Microsoft Excel. AWB provides a special simulation recording facility to enable users to do this. By selecting the Start & Record
option from the Simulation pull-down menu, you can specify a file to receive event data as a simulation progresses. The ASCII
data file that is then produced by AWB may be analyzed by an external application.
Use the Browse button to select the directory and filename that you wish the information to be stored in.
Criteria
Selection of the Total Outage criterion will prompt the program to record availability information for the selected system. Selection
of the Capacity criterion will prompt the program to record throughput levels for the selected system.
Mode
Selection of the RBD mode will prompt the program to record the status of the RBD system. Selection of the Fault Tree mode will
prompt the program to record the status of the fault tree system.
System to record
Start time
End time
You may request the record profile to skip events other than failure events by selecting this check-box.
Select the System-related events only check-box to record only events affecting the chosen system.
Select the System status change events only check-box, to only record events affecting the status of the chosen system.
Performance Simulation
Availability Workbench (AWB) includes a performance facility that allows users to monitor which simulation functions are the
dominant contributors to the overall simulation time. This feature is accessed via the Simulation, Performance Run and
Simulation, Performance Summary pull-down menu options. Performance results will not be retained if the program is closed or a
new project is opened. A performance run will take longer than a normal simulation run.
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Batch Run
The AvSim module of Availability Workbench (AWB) includes a batch run facility that allows users to define a group of project
files that will be opened and analyzed in succession. This feature is accessed via the Simulation, Batch Run menu option. On
selecting this option the Batch Analysis dialog will be displayed.
Users may add projects to the batch list by selecting the Add Project button. Once the projects to be analyzed have been defined
selection of the Start Simulations button will prompt the program to open each project in turn, perform a simulation and then save
the project together with the results of the simulation.
Results Summary
Availability Workbench (AWB) computes a wide range of useful parameters during the simulation process. These parameters may
be reviewed, once a simulation is completed, by selecting the Simulation, Results Summary pull-down menu option. Selection of
this menu option will result in the Results Summary dialog being displayed.
Life Costs
Systems
Components
Consequences
Phases
Spares
Labor
Equipment
Summary information for each of these categories may be obtained by selecting the appropriate tab in the Results Summary dialog.
Profiles
Results may also be viewed in the form of profiles by selecting the Plot option from the Current right window mode menu above
the right-hand window.
You may choose to view calculated results for system blocks in a RBD diagram and gates in a fault tree diagram. Various view
options relating to calculated results may be accessed in the View tab of the Project Options dialog.
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides the following summary lifetime cost parameters:
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Alarm costs
Commission costs
Redesign costs
Total costs
Safety criticality
Operational criticality
Environmental criticality
Parameters at the first level above appear in the life costs summary regardless of whether the Detailed life costs box is checked.
Those listed at the second level only appear when the box is checked.
Each of the above parameters are mean values calculated from repeated lifetime simulations.
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Labor and equipment costs are determined from the call-out cost and cost rate parameters specified by the user for each labor
category and equipment type.
Spares purchase and repair costs are determined by applying the capital cost of each spare type to the number of spares required
during corrective and planned maintenance tasks. In addition, this will include the initial purchase cost of the spares held in
storage if the Include initial spare purchase costs check-box is selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab). It also includes
the transportation cost.
Spares storage costs are determined by applying the storage costs of spares to the storage capacity values entered by the user at site
and at depot.
Miscellaneous costs are determined by applying the miscellaneous costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks to the number
of tasks performed during the simulation.
Consequence costs are only applicable where the user has associated consequences with system failures in the RBD or fault tree
model. Consequence costs are computed by summating the costs originating from all consequences. Consequence costs are
determined from the following expressions:
if
if
CB = additional cost rate per % loss of capacity below target production level
Note that cost rates are adjusted if extended outage cost penalties have been specified.
Total costs are a simple summation of all the costs described above.
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NPV Costs
If net present value (NPV) cost calculations have been applied during the simulation (users may request a NPV calculation in the
NPV tab of the Project Options dialog) then NPV life cost values will be displayed.
Spares volumes and weights represent the total volume and weight of all spares stored at the appropriate echelon level. If Multiple
sites has been checked in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab) then the volume and weight at echelon 1 will represent the total
volume and weight per site.
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides system data for any of the systems or sub-systems defined in the current project. RBD
sub-systems are RBD pages that constitute a super-block at a higher level. Fault tree sub-systems are gates that appear at the top of
fault tree diagram pages. Selection of the Systems tab of the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all systems and sub-
systems. Selection of a system or sub-system in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
The Availability/reliability preference setting in the View tab of the Project Options dialog determines whether availability and
reliability values are displayed instead of unavailability and unreliability values.
Definitions for each of the system parameters are given below. Note that AWB uses the term 'outage' rather than failure in many
instances. This is due to the fact that the system may be out-of-service due to scheduled maintenance actions (if specified in the
input parameters for failure models by the user) as well as failures. If you specify that scheduled maintenance tasks do not cause
an outage then you can read 'failure' for 'outage'.
The total down time is defined as the expected total time that the system will be out-of-service during its lifetime.
This is the standard deviation of total down time values computed for different simulations.
This is the estimated error in the system total down time value due to statistical variance. It is calculated from the expression
Mean capacity
The mean capacity is defined as the expected throughput that the system will be able to accommodate over its lifetime. This may
be presented as a percentage of the total input to the RBD system or in terms of a unit defined by the user in the 'Project Options'
dialog (Analysis tab).
This is the standard deviation of mean capacity values computed for different simulations.
This is the estimated error in the mean capacity value due to statistical variance. It is calculated from the expression
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= mean capacity
Mean unavailability
The mean unavailability is defined as the expected fractional time the system will be out-of-service over its lifetime (the total time
it is out-of-service divided by the total system lifetime).
Mean availability
The mean availability is defined as the expected fractional time the system will be in service during its lifetime (the total time it is
in service divided by the total system lifetime).
Unavailability at lifetime
The unavailability at lifetime is defined as the probability that the system will be out-of-service at the end of its lifetime.
Availability at lifetime
The availability at lifetime is defined as the probability that the system will be in service at the end of its lifetime.
No of outages
The number of outages is defined as the expected total number of system outages that will occur throughout the life of the system.
Std no of outages
This is the standard deviation of expected number of outages values computed for different simulations.
Error % no of outages
This is the estimated error in the number of outages value due to statistical variance. It is calculated from the expression
= number of outages
The probability of 1 or more outages over the lifetime (F) is defined as the probability that the system will have been out-of-service
at least once during its lifetime. If outages can only be caused by failure then this value represents the unreliability of the system.
The probability of zero outages over the lifetime (R) is defined as the probability that the system will not have been out-of-service
at anytime during its lifetime. If outages can only be caused by failure then this value represents the reliability of the system.
MTTO
This is the mean time between initial system start-up and the first system outage.
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MTBO
MTTR
This is the mean time it takes to restore the system to service after an outage has occurred.
Accuracy
The accuracy of simulation results is very much dependent on the number of simulations performed. As the number of simulations
is increased then the results converge in accuracy. Users may find that, for very reliable systems, the unavailability at lifetime
value may be inaccurate unless a very large number of simulations are performed. This is not a failing in the computer program,
merely a fact of life for calculations based on simulation methods. To illustrate the problem, consider that we are modelling a
system whose exact point unavailability at lifetime is 0.0001. Another way of expressing this is to say that at the end of the system
lifetime there is a one in ten thousand chance that the system is failed (not that it has failed before then but that it is actually failed
at that time this is the definition of point unavailability). We would need to perform many more than ten thousand simulations,
therefore, to get enough system lifetime failures to provide a good statistical estimate for this parameter. Fortunately, for most
analyses, the point unavailability at system lifetime is of far less interest to the end-user than the other system parameters, such as
the mean unavailability over the system lifetime. The mean unavailability represents the fractional down-time of the system over
its lifetime. During the lifetime simulation of a repairable system there may be many system failures, even if the mean
unavailability is as low as 0.0001. Hence the statistical accuracy of this parameter would be far greater than the accuracy of the
point unavailability.
To summarize, it is important to note that the statistical accuracy of the point unavailability value for reliable systems may be much
less than the accuracy for the other predicted system parameters, unless an extremely large number of simulations are performed.
However, this parameter is generally far less useful than the other parameters, including the mean unavailability over the system
lifetime.
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides component data for all the non-system blocks in a RBD or all the events in a fault tree.
Selection of the Components tab of the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the components in the current project.
Selection of a component in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
The total down time is defined as the expected total time that the component will be out-of-service during its lifetime.
Mean unavailability
The mean unavailability is defined as the expected fractional time the component will be out-of-service over its lifetime (the total
time it is out-of-service divided by the total system lifetime).
Mean availability
The mean availability is defined as the expected fractional time the component will be in service during its lifetime (the total time
it is in service divided by the total system lifetime).
Unavailability at lifetime
The unavailability at lifetime is defined as the probability that the component will be out-of-service at the end of its lifetime.
Availability at lifetime
The availability at lifetime is defined as the probability that the component will be in service at the end of its lifetime.
No of outages
The number of outages is defined as the expected total number of component outages that will occur throughout the life of the
system.
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The probability of 1 or more outages over the lifetime (F) is defined as the probability that the component will have been out-of-
service at least once during its lifetime. If outages can only be caused by failure then this value represents the unreliability of the
component.
The probability of zero outages over the lifetime (R) is defined as the probability that the component will not have been out-of-
service at anytime during its lifetime. If outages can only be caused by failure then this value represents the reliability of the
component.
MTTO
This is the mean time between initial component start-up and the first component outage.
MTBO
MTTR
This is the mean time it takes to restore the component to service after an outage has occurred.
The total time queuing for spares is defined as the expected total time that the component will be unavailable purely due to the fact
it is waiting for one or more spares to be delivered. The total time queuing for spares will always be less than or equal to the total
down time for the component.
The total time queuing for labor or equipment is defined as the expected total time that the component will be unavailable purely
due to the fact it is awaiting for labor or equipment to perform a corrective maintenance task. The total time queuing for labor or
equipment will always be less than or equal to the total down time for the component.
The total PM down time for a component is defined as the portion of the total down time for that component caused by planned
maintenance actions.
The total inspection down time for a component is defined as the portion of the total down time for that component caused by
inspection tasks.
Number of PMs
This is the total number of planned maintenance tasks performed on the component over the system lifetime.
Number of inspections
This is the total number of inspection tasks performed on the component over the system lifetime.
No of failures
This is the total number of failures of the component over the system lifetime.
The spare purchase costs for a component are defined as the total capital costs of spares used for both corrective and planned
maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
Labor costs
The labor costs for a component are defined as the total call-out and man-time costs associated with performing corrective, planned
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Equipment costs
The equipment costs for a component are defined as the total equipment costs associated with performing corrective, planned and
inspection maintenance tasks.
Operational costs
The operational costs for a component are defined as the total operational costs associated with performing corrective, planned and
inspection maintenance tasks.
Alarm costs
The alarm costs for a component are defined as the total costs associated with installing an alarm.
Commission costs
The commission costs for a component are defined as the total costs associated with commissioning.
Redesign costs
The redesign costs for a component are defined as the total costs associated with performing a redesign.
Accuracy
The accuracy of simulation results is very much dependent on the number of simulations performed. As the number of simulations
is increased then the results converge in accuracy. Users may find that, for very reliable components, the Point unavailability at
lifetime value may be inaccurate unless a very large number of simulations are performed. This is not a failing in the computer
program, merely a fact of life for calculations based on simulation methods. To illustrate the problem, consider that we are
modelling a component whose exact point unavailability at lifetime is 0.0001. Another way of expressing this is to say that at the
end of the system lifetime there is a one in ten thousand chance that the component is failed (not that it has failed before then but
that it is actually failed at that time this is the definition of point unavailability). We would need to perform many more than ten
thousand simulations, therefore, to get enough component lifetime failures to provide a good statistical estimate for this parameter.
Fortunately, for most analyses, the point unavailability at system lifetime is of far less interest to the end-user than the other
component parameters, such as the mean unavailability over the system lifetime. The mean unavailability represents the fractional
down-time of the component over the system lifetime. During the lifetime simulation of a repairable component there may be
many component failures, even if the mean unavailability is as low as 0.0001. Hence the statistical accuracy of this parameter
would be far greater than the accuracy of the point unavailability.
To summarize, it is important to note that the statistical accuracy of the point unavailability value for reliable components may be
much less than the accuracy for the other predicted component parameters, unless an extremely large number of simulations are
performed. However, this parameter is generally far less useful than the other parameters, including the mean unavailability over
the system lifetime.
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides data for the consequences defined in the current project. Selection of the Consequences
tab in the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the currently defined project consequences. Selection of a consequence
in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
Total duration
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TDTi = total down time over lifetime of the ith block associated with the consequence
Note that T may be greater than the system lifetime if more than a single consequence is assigned to more than one system failure.
The estimated total duration error provides an indicator of the accuracy of total consequence duration due to the number of
simulations performed. It is calculated from the expression
= total duration
Mean capacity
This parameter only applies to loss of capacity consequences. Loss of capacity consequences are attached to a system or sub-
system RBD block or fault tree gate. The mean capacity over lifetime represents the mean capacity for the associated system or
sub-system.
This parameter only applies to loss of capacity consequences. Loss of capacity consequences are attached to a system or sub-
system RBD block or fault tree gate. The capacity standard deviation over lifetime represents the likely variation of production
capacity over the system lifetime.
This parameter only applies to loss of capacity consequences. Loss of capacity consequences are attached to a system or sub-
system RBD block or fault tree gate. The estimated mean capacity error provides an indicator of the accuracy of mean production
capacity due to the number of simulations performed. It is calculated from the expression
= mean capacity
This is the consequence duration over the lifetime due to corrective task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks
and gates always record durations under the corrective category.
This is the consequence duration over the lifetime due to planned task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks
and gates always record durations under the corrective category.
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This is the consequence duration over the lifetime due to inspection task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks
and gates always record durations under the corrective category.
Total no of occurrences
Wi = total number of occurrences over lifetime of the ith block associated with consequence
This is the standard deviation of the total number of occurrences over lifetime.
The estimated total number of occurrences error provides an indicator of the accuracy of the total number of occurrences due to the
number of simulations performed. It is calculated from the expression
= number of occurrences
This is the number of occurrences due to corrective task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks and gates
always record occurrences under the corrective category.
This is the number of occurrences due to planned task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks and gates always
record occurrences under the corrective category.
This is the number of occurrences due to inspection task outages. Note that consequences attached to system blocks and gates
always record occurrences under the corrective category.
Total cost
The total cost over lifetime for total outage consequences is given by:
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For loss of capacity consequences, a different calculation is performed. Loss of capacity consequences respond to the production
flow through the RBD block or fault tree gate associated with the consequence. The cost of lost production is determined from the
following expressions:
if
if
CB = additional cost rate per % loss of capacity below target production level
Criticality
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides phase data for all the phases defined by the user. Selection of the Phases tab of the
Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the phases in the current project. Selection of a phase in the list will result in the
appropriate summary information being displayed.
Total cost
This is the total cost incurred by the system during the phase.
Labor cost
The labor cost for a phase is defined as the total call-out and man-time costs associated with performing corrective, planned and
inspection tasks during the phase.
Equipment cost
The equipment cost for a phase is defined as the total call-out and equipment costs associated with performing corrective, planned
and inspection tasks during the phase.
The mean capital purchase and repair cost of all spare part types during the phase. In addition, for the first phase in each phase
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group, this will include the initial purchase cost of the spares held in storage if the Include initial spare purchase costs check-box is
selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab).
The total cost, for the chosen phase, to store all spares at echelon levels 1 and 2.
Operational cost
The total of the operational costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks undertaken during the specified phase.
Alarm cost
The total of the alarm costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks undertaken during the specified phase.
Commissioning cost
The total of the commissioning costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks undertaken during the specified phase.
Redesign cost
The total of the redesign costs specified by the user for maintenance tasks undertaken during the specified phase.
Consequence cost
Consequence costs are only applicable where the user has associated consequences with system failures in the RBD or fault tree
model. Consequence costs for the specified phase are calculated by summating all consequence costs for that phase.
where
if
if
where
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CB = additional cost rate per % loss of capacity below target production level
Note that cost rates are adjusted if extended outage cost penalties have been specified.
Total costs are a simple summation of all the costs described above.
Selection of the Spares tab in the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the spares in the current project. Selection of a
spare in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
The mean number of the spare used during the lifetime of the system.
The mean number of the spare used for corrective maintenance tasks during the lifetime of the system.
The mean number of the spare used for planned maintenance tasks during the lifetime of the system.
Total cost
This is the total cost incurred by the system due to spare usage and storage.
The mean capital purchase cost of the spare during the lifetime of the system. This value is obtained by multiplying the mean
number used by the capital cost of the spare. In addition, this will include the transportation cost and the initial purchase cost of
the spares held in storage if the Include initial spare purchase costs check-box is selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab).
The mean capital purchase cost of the spare for corrective maintenance tasks during the lifetime of the system. This value is
obtained by multiplying the mean number used for corrective tasks by the capital cost of the spare. In addition, this will include
the transportation cost and the initial purchase cost of the spares held in storage if the Include initial spare purchase costs check-
box is selected in the Project Options dialog (Spares tab).
The mean capital purchase cost of the spare for planned maintenance tasks during the lifetime of the system. This value is obtained
by multiplying the mean number used for planned tasks by the capital cost of the spare.
Repair cost
The cost of repairing the specified proportion of failed units of the spare for return to storage at echelon levels 1 and 2. The
proportion of failed units that are discarded is set in the Spare Properties dialog (Repair Shop tab).
Storage cost
The cost of storing the spare at echelon levels 1 and 2 during the lifetime of the system.
Number recycled
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The mean number of the spare recycled through the repair shop facility during the system lifetime.
The probability that the required number of spares were unavailable at echelon level 1 when required for a corrective maintenance
task.
Selection of the Labor tab in the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the labor categories in the current project.
Selection of a labor category in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
The estimated total time the labor category will be active during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the labor category will be active for corrective maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the labor category will be active for planned maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the labor category will be active for inspection maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
Total no of tasks
The estimated number of tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of corrective tasks
The estimated number of corrective tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of planned tasks
The estimated number of planned tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
No of inspection tasks
The estimated number of inspection tasks for which the labor category is called out over the system lifetime.
Total cost
The total cost associated with calling out the selected labor category over the system lifetime.
Corrective cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for corrective tasks over the system lifetime.
Planned cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for planned tasks over the system lifetime.
Inspection cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected labor category for inspection tasks over the system lifetime.
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Selection of the Equipment tab in the Simulation Results dialog will reveal a list of all the equipments in the current project.
Selection of an equipment in the list will result in the appropriate summary information being displayed.
The estimated total time the equipment will be active during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the equipment will be active for corrective maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the equipment will be active for planned maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
The estimated time the equipment will be active for inspection maintenance tasks during the system lifetime.
Total no of tasks
The estimated number of tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of corrective tasks
The estimated number of corrective tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of planned tasks
The estimated number of planned tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
No of inspection tasks
The estimated number of inspection tasks for which the equipment is called out over the system lifetime.
Total cost
The total cost associated with calling out the selected equipment over the system lifetime.
Corrective cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for corrective tasks over the system lifetime.
Planned cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for planned tasks over the system lifetime.
Inspection cost
The cost associated with calling out the selected equipment for inspection tasks over the system lifetime.
Performing a component importance analysis enables us to identify the components in our system that are the main contributors to
the following parameters:
Cost
No of expected outages
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Safety severity
Operational severity
Environmental severity
PM down time
Capacity
Inherent capacity
PM capacity
Inspection capacity
Spare capacity
Labor/equipment capacity
Importance rankings will indicate where we might make design changes or modify maintenance policies to reduce lifetime costs
and improve availability. Importance rankings are performed on a per consequence basis, chosen in the Project Options dialog
(Importance tab). For example, this means that the cost importance ranking will indicate the main contributors to a given
consequence cost. Component Importance rankings are calculated during the simulation process.
Component importance rankings are expressed as an absolute contribution to the appropriate parameter. For example, the capacity
importance value represents the contribution to loss of capacity from the component and the TDT importance is the contribution to
TDT from the component. Events that occur at exactly the same time for different components (e.g. outages due to regular
inspections) are randomly ordered to ensure importance values are shared between the components.
To access the component importance ranking facility, select the Simulation, Component Importance Ranking pull-down menu
option. This dialog displays the importance rankings in a list. You may determine the importance categories to be displayed in the
list by selecting the appropriate check boxes in the Importance categories area.
Spare importance rankings provide an indication of how improving the availability of spares can affect the following system
parameters:
Cost
Safety criticality
Operational criticality
Environmental criticality
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Capacity
Improving the availability of spares by storing more spares at the first echelon level may have a significant effect on system
availability and throughputs. Increasing the number of spares stored at echelon level 1 for those spares with high importance
rankings provides a method of optimizing the sparing strategy for the appropriate system parameter (cost, total down time, etc.).
Availability Workbench (AWB) determines spare importance rankings by evaluating the effect of increasing the number of spares
at echelon level 1. For example, if we obtain a TDT (total down time) importance ranking of 0.1 for spare Y, this indicates that a
reduction in system TDT (the system attached to the specified consequence) of 10% may be achieved by increasing the number of
spare Y stored at echelon level 1.
To access the spare importance ranking facility, select the Simulation, Spare Importance Ranking pull-down menu option.
Importance rankings are performed on a per consequence basis, chosen in the Project Options dialog (Importance tab). To run a
spare importance ranking, select the Rank button. AWB will now perform simulation runs for each spare (the progress is
indicated in the message area at the bottom of the AWB window). When the importance ranking is complete, the results will be
displayed in the dialog. If you wish to abort the simulation process then simply select the Abort button in the dialog.
The AvSim module of Availability Workbench (AWB) may be used to simulate the effects of different spares holding levels on
lifetime costs. This facility may be accessed via the Simulation, Spare Cost Optimization pull-down menu option. After selecting
this option, the Spare Cost Optimization dialog will appear. The functionality of the dialog is described below.
You may set minimum and maximum range values for optimization runs by selecting the Set range for selected spare(s) button. A
dialog will appear, allowing you to set Level 1 and Level 2 minimum and maximum values for all selected spares in the list.
Minimum and maximum range values may also be set in the Spare Properties dialog. When performing a spares optimization run
AWB will try spares holding values within the specified range only.
When the Optimize selected spare(s) button is selected in the dialog, the program will perform simulation runs for each
combination of spare part holdings (between the range values) for each spare selected in the list. Progress will be indicated in the
message box at the bottom of the screen. Once all the simulation runs have been completed, AWB will display the optimum spare
holdings from a cost viewpoint at site and depot.
Sensitivity
After spares optimization has been performed, AWB will display sensitivity values alongside each spare. Sensitivity values are
calculated by applying the expression
where
The sensitivity value gives an indication of the sensitivity in lifetime costs by applying different spares holdings.
If you wish to assign the recommended spares holdings (Level 1 Opt and Level 2 Opt values in the dialog) then select the
appropriate spares in the list, followed by selection of the Accept recommendations for selected spare(s) button.
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Availability Workbench (AWB) may be used to determine whether it is worthwhile performing planned maintenance or
inspections on components, and if so, what the optimum maintenance interval should be. If a component exhibits ageing
characteristics then planned maintenance may be effective in reducing the probability of a system outage and hence reduce outage
costs. However, the planned maintenance task may have labor, spares and other costs associated with it. Planned maintenance
costs must be balanced against reduced outage costs. Similarly, performing inspections for hidden or potential failures will often
reduce costs due to unscheduled outages. However, the benefits of reducing the costs of unscheduled maintenance need to be
weighed against the additional costs of performing more frequent inspections. AWB locates the optimum interval for planned
maintenance and inspection tasks by varying the maintenance interval and repeatedly simulating the lifetime costs.
Note that during the optimization process, AWB will temporarily enable a disabled task purely for the purpose of determining
whether the task might be of benefit. Users must ensure that maintenance data (such as the spare parts needed and miscellaneous
costs) are all defined for tasks that are to be optimized. The only parameter that need not be entered is the planned maintenance or
inspection interval (as this is being automatically varied by the program during optimization).
To access this facility, select the Simulation, Interval Optimization pull-down menu option. The Interval Optimization dialog will
appear. The functionality of this dialog is described below.
Optimization mode
The drop-down list at the top of the dialog allows the user to select the optimization mode. Three options are available. You may
optimize intervals for planned maintenance, inspections or task groups. If the Task groups option is selected then currently defined
task groups will be displayed in the list. Otherwise, a list of currently defined tasks will be displayed. If the Task groups option is
selected the program will vary the intervals of all tasks associated with a task group together.
ID
Task
Task worthwhile
After an interval optimization run is completed, AWB will indicate in the dialog whether a maintenance task is worthwhile. A
worthwhile task is considered to be one where there will be a cost benefit in performing maintenance.
Interval
If the optimization run indicates that a task is worthwhile, AWB will display the optimum maintenance interval from a cost
viewpoint.
Cost benefit
The cost benefit value is the estimated reduction in lifetime costs by applying the maintenance task.
A cost benefit ratio less than one indicates that the task is worthwhile.
Selection of this option will result in the Interval Range Specification dialog being displayed. This dialog allows the user to specify
the number of intervals, minimum interval and interval increment to be used during the optimization process.
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If the Planned maintenance or Inspections optimization mode is selected this option prompts the program to optimize the scheduled
maintenance policy for all selected tasks in the list. Tasks are optimized individually. Each task is taken in turn and the program
simulates lifetime costs for a variety of task intervals. If the failure model associated with an individual task is assigned to more
than one RBD block or fault tree event then this has the effect of changing the interval for a group of components.
If the Task groups optimization mode is selected this option prompts the program to optimize the scheduled maintenance policy for
all selected task groups in the list. Each task group will normally be assigned to more than one maintenance task. During
optimization therefore, varying the interval for a task group will vary the interval of all associated tasks.
Once a simulation run has been performed, you may select tasks or task groups from the list and request AWB to assign the
recommended maintenance policy.
Select all
The Select all button in the dialog allows users to select all the tasks or task groups in the list.
Abort
Selection of the Abort button will terminate the optimization simulation that is currently running.
Cost profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand
window. Then select the Cost Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Cost profiles display the costs incurred over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog. Users
may select different cost categories to display in the plot by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent
toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different cost options to be selected as well as allowing the user
to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Cost tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Cost types
Plot style
Show grid
If checked the cost axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
Cost min
If the Automatic cost scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the cost axis.
Cost max
If the Automatic cost scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the cost axis.
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Labor profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand
window. Then select the Labor Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Labor profiles display the active time spent over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog. Users
may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The Plot
Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the user to modify the plot type and
appearance.
The Labor tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Labor
The labor category to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all labor categories.
Plot style
If checked the active time axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
If the Automatic 'active time' axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the active time axis.
If the Automatic 'active time' axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the active time axis.
Show grid
Equipment profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-
hand window. Then select the Equipment Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Equipment profiles display the active equipment usage over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options
dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar
button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the user to modify
the plot type and appearance.
The Equipment tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Equipment
The equipment to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all equipments.
Plot style
If checked the active time axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
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If the Automatic 'active time' axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the active time axis.
If the Automatic 'active time' axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the active time axis.
Show grid
Spare profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand
window. Then select the Spares Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Spares profiles display the number of spares used over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog.
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The
Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing the user to modify the plot type
and appearance.
The Spares tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Spare
The spare to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all spares.
Plot style
If checked the 'number used' axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
If the Automatic number used axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the 'number used' axis.
If the Automatic number used axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the 'number used' axis.
Show grid
Consequence profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-
hand window. Then select the Consequence Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Consequences profiles display the number of consequence occurrences over the time intervals specified in the Lifetime tab of the
Project Options dialog. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected as well as allowing
the user to modify the plot type and appearance.
The Consequences tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
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Consequence
The consequence to which the plot data will apply. Users may select All to display summated data for all consequences.
Plot style
If checked the 'number of occurrences' axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
If the Automatic number of occurrences axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the 'number
of occurrences' axis.
If the Automatic number of occurrences axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the 'number
of occurrences' axis.
Show grid
Contributions Plots
Contributions plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand
window. Then select the Contributions option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Contribution plots display the contribution made by individual components to system cost, failure and criticality parameters. Users
may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The Plot
Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Contributions tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
These radio buttons allow the user to select the type of contribution to be displayed.
Automatic
If checked the program will automatically set the minimum and maximum values of the contribution axis.
Minimum/Maximum
If Automatic is not checked then the user must enter the minimum and maximum contribution axis values.
Show grid
The maximum number of components to display in the plot. Components will be ordered to show those with the highest
contributions.
If checked the program will only display components that are connected to the current selection in the project tree location
hierarchy.
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System profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand
window. Then select the System Profile option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
System profile plots display unavailability, outage frequency, unreliability or capacity values for systems over the time profile
specified by the user. Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Systems tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Inclusion lists
The inclusion lists allow you to specify which systems you wish to be included in the system profile plot. Move systems between
the Included and Not included lists by selecting the appropriate systems and clicking the arrow buttons in between the lists.
Variable
The variable list allows you to select the variable to be displayed in the system profile. Uses may choose between Mean
unavailability, Mean outage frequency, F (unreliability) and Mean capacity, Mean availability and R (reliability).
Plot style
Bars
This drop-down list allows you to choose whether you wish to display error or standard deviation bars in the plot. If the Std option
is selected the profile will display vertical bars through every plot point representing the standard deviation of the variable value
for each profile interval. This standard deviation provides a measure of the likely variance of the actual variable compared to the
mean during the profile interval for a single system. If the Error % option is selected the profile will display vertical bars through
every plot point representing the potential error for the variable value for each profile interval. The error indicator value is
calculated from
It represents the likely error in the profile values due to the limited number of simulations performed.
Show grid
Automatic
If checked the program will automatically set the minimum and maximum values of the variable axis.
Minimum/Maximum
If Automatic is not checked then the user must enter the minimum and maximum variable axis values.
Capacity availability plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-
hand window. Then select the Capacity Availability option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
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Capacity availability plots display the probability that a capacity value will be met or exceeded for a given time interval. Users may
set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The Plot
Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Capacity Availability tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Interval index
The index of the interval to be displayed in the plot. Capacity availability intervals must be defined before performing a simulation
in the Capacity Availability tab of the Project Options dialog.
Plot style
Show grid
Automatic
If checked the 'availability' axis minimum and maximum values will be automatically set by the program.
Availability min
If the Automatic availability axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the minimum value for the 'availability' axis.
Availability max
If the Automatic availability axis scaling box is un-checked the user must specify the maximum value for the 'availability' axis.
Project Comparison
Project comparison plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-
hand window. Then select the Project Comparison option on the Plot type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Project comparison plots display the simulated lifetime costs or task data from two or more projects. The results for all the projects
must be up-to-date for plots based on simulated results. Users must attach the projects to be compared with the current project as
libraries. The data compared in each plot is the system cost or task data for the current project and all attached libraries.
Users may set different plot options by selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The
Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Project Comparison tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Plot Type
The plot type to be displayed. Options are Cost, Tasks Assigned, Tasks Performed and Cumulative Cost Profile. Cost plots show
simulated lifetime costs. Tasks Assigned plots show the number of tasks assigned to causes in the project. Tasks Performed plots
show the simulated number of tasks performed during the lifetime of the system. Cumulative Cost Profile plots show the
accumulation of costs over the lifetime of the system.
Stack plot
If checked the values for different cost or task categories will be stacked in the plot.
Show grid
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Weibull Module - Overview Page 1 of 7
Weibull sets may also represent collections of actual historical repair times for a given task. The Weibull module can assign distributions that represent possible fluctuations in
repair times. Repair Weibull sets can be assigned to tasks associated with causes in the RCMCost module or failure models in the AvSim module.
The historical times in a failure Weibull set will represent the age of an equipment at the point of its first failure. Times in a repair Weibull set represent the time it takes to repair an
equipment.
In summary, the Weibull module of AWB analyzes sets of historical data and assigns appropriate distributions for use in simulations by the RCMCost and AvSim modules.
The Weibull module analyzes times-to-failure data using the following distributions:
Exponential Distribution
1-Parameter Weibull Distribution
2-Parameter Weibull Distribution
3-Parameter Weibull Distribution
Bi-Weibull
Tri-Weibull
Lognormal Distribution
Normal Distribution
Weibayes
Phased Bi-Weibull
Phased Tri-Weibull
AWB automatically fits the selected distribution to the data provided and displays the results graphically in the form of cumulative probability plots, failure rate plots and probability
density function plots.
Data may be entered manually by the user or imported from other packages or transferred via the Windows clipboard.
If you have already defined one or more Weibull sets in your project you can display the associated data (Weibull set items) by selecting the appropriate Weibull set node in the tree
control. Ensure that either the Plot, Grid or Plot & Grid option is selected above the right-hand window. To add a new Weibull set select the Weibull Sets node in the tree control
and use the right-button pop-up menu to add a new set.
The grid in the right-hand window is used to display historical data. Data may be imported using the Windows clipboard (copy and paste) or may be typed into the grid by hand. The
grid representing Weibull set items has several columns. One column is used to specify the time value (the time to failure or time to suspension for a Weibull set representing
historical failure data or the repair time for a Weibull set representing a repair task). Other columns indicate whether the data is a failure or suspension (censored), whether the data
item is currently disabled and how many components were failed or suspended at this time. Two further columns are optional fields that may contain the installation and
failure/suspension dates of the component. If the date fields are populated, and the user selects the Life Calculation Method 2 option for the Weibull set (in the Weibull Set
Properties dialog), AWB will calculate the time value based on these dates. Another column optionally records a reference ID for the data (this will often be a work order number).
As data items are entered into the grid, points will be plotted in the cumulative probability graph. These points represent the estimated cumulative probability values at each time
point for failed data.
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A typical Weibull module screen display. The left window displays Weibull sets in the project tree control. The top right window displays a Weibull plot with calculated Weibull
parameters. The bottom right window displays times to failure and other input parameters.
To modify existing data simply type the new data into the grid control or select the appropriate check boxes. If you wish to enter installation and failure or suspension dates, rather
than directly enter times to first failure, then you will need to first set the Life Calculation Method 2 property for the Weibull set (in the Weibull Set Properties dialog). Availability
Workbench will then calculate the time value based on these dates.
To add a new item you will need to access the Items tab of the Weibull Set Properties dialog. One way of accessing this tab is to click the right mouse button over the grid area to
reveal the grid pop-up menu. Then select the Add Record option. Alternatively, press the Ins key when the grid is displaying Weibull set items. The Items tab of the Weibull Set
Properties dialog displays a grid control and a Delete button. To delete existing items select them in the grid control and then select the Delete button. To add new items type in
the new data into the empty last row of the grid control. After selecting the OK button of the Weibull Set Properties dialog new points will be plotted in the cumulative probability
graph. These points represent the estimated cumulative probability values at each time specified by a Weibull set item.
Importing Data
Weibull set data may be imported directly from external databases or the Windows clipboard. To import data you will need to use the AWB import facility. The import facility may be
accessed from the File, Import pull-down menu option. If you are importing data from the Windows clipboard you can quickly access the import facility by selecting the Paste from
Clipboard option from the grid control right-button pop-up menu. The import facility will then enable you to match data on the clipboard to the appropriate columns in the Weibull
set items table.
See Also
Import
Weibull Sets - General Properties
Weibull set general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Weibull Set Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the Weibull set of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the Weibull set. Weibull set types are used to organize Weibull sets into groups. If a project contains many Weibull sets then this will greatly assist in locating
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Description
A description for the Weibull set of no more than 255 characters.
B Life
When a Weibull Analysis is performed Availability Workbench (AWB) calculates the time for the specified 'B' life. If a B life of 10 is specified by the user (the default) then the
program calculates the time by which 10% of component failures would have occurred. Another way of expressing this is that the program will calculate the time at which the
unreliability of the component is 0.1. A B life of 30% would prompt the program to determine the time by which 30% of component failures are likely to have occurred or the time at
which the unreliability is 0.3. Times calculated for B values are shown to the right of the cumulative probability graph. Note that this parameter does not affect RBD or fault tree
simulations in any way. It is merely provided as information for the Weibull set. AWB allows the user to specify 3 different B life values.
P parameter
The P parameter indicates the time at which the unreliability is to be calculated during a Weibull analysis. For example, if a value of 8760 hours is specified then the program will
calculate the unreliability at 8760 hours. The calculated value is shown to the right of the cumulative probability graph. Note that this parameter does not affect RBD or fault tree
simulations in any way. It is merely provided as information for the data set.
Reliability estimation
Users may choose the Median rank, 90% rank, 95% rank or Nelson methods for estimating reliability values from times to failure.
This method first calculates rank numbers for each failure based on the following expression:
The table below illustrates how unreliability is estimated by the median rank number.
Nelsons Method
At any time at which a failure occurs a hazard rate function, , is calculated by dividing the number of failures occurring at that time by the number of survivors immediately
before that time:
The cumulative sum of these values gives a sample estimate of the cumulative hazard function, .
The table below illustrates how the hazard rate function and cumulative hazard function are calculated with some example data.
Time x S
If the user chooses Method 1 (default) the program simply uses the life values provided by the user to estimate reliability values.
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If the user chooses Method 2 the program calculates the life values based on the dates and times entered for F/S (failure or suspension) date and the installation date.
Parameter precision
The user may specify a parameter precision value of 2, 3, 4, 6 or 9. The precision value determines the number of significant figures calculated when determining the parameters
of the Weibull and other distributions. This facility is required to prevent unnecessarily high precision values being transferred to causes and failure models that are associated with
a Weibull set. Consider a beta parameter that has been generated with the value
0.923456789
The table below illustrates how the beta parameter will be rounded for a variety of precision values.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each Weibull set. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project
Options dialog.
Weibull Sets - Fitting a Distribution
Availability Workbench (AWB) allows the user to choose from a number of different calculation methods for fitting an appropriate distribution to the historical time to failure or time to
repair data associated with a Weibull set. To select a different method simply choose the appropriate option from the Distribution drop-down list in the main toolbar. Alternatively
use the Select Distribution Automatically option on the Analysis pull-down menu to prompt the program to automatically select the 'best-fit' distribution. AWB determines 'best-fit'
by taking the smallest goodness of fit indicator for all the available 'single' distributions (unless the Include multiple Weibulls in automatic distribution selection option is
checked in the General tab of the Weibull Set Properties dialog in which case multiple distributions are included). The goodness of fit is determined from the following expression:
where and are the fitted unreliability values and estimated unreliability point values respectively. N is the total number of points plotted.
AWB allows the user to fit a distribution to a Weibull set manually as well as using automatic data fitting algorithms. To access this facility select the Analysis, Set Distribution
Parameters Manually pull-down menu option in the Weibull module. A Distribution Parameters dialog will be revealed allowing the appropriate parameters to be modified by the
user. As the parameters are modified, the graph will change to reflect the changing shape of the distribution.
When fitting data manually, users may find it useful to first display the failure rate graph. It is often easier to fit data manually to the estimated regionalized rate in this graph.
Exponential Distribution
The exponential distribution may be associated with component failures or maintenance tasks (for sampling times to failure and time to repair respectively). This distribution should
be used to model the failure characteristics of components that do not exhibit any ageing. The distribution represents a constant failure rate (or repair rate). The expressions below
represent the use of the distribution for failures. For repairs the failure rate should be replaced by the repair rate and the mean time to failure by the mean time to repair.
Unreliability,
Failure Rate,
1-Parameter Weibull
The Weibull distribution is used to model the failure characteristics of components with time-dependent failure rates. A common use is to model the ageing characteristics of
mechanical components. The 1-Parameter Weibull calculation method requires the user to specify the shape parameter of the distribution. When fitting the Weibull distribution to
historical data AWB varies the characteristic life parameter to obtain the best fit.
where
Unreliability,
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Failure Rate,
where
= gamma function
2-Parameter Weibull
Expressions for the 2-Parameter Weibull are identical to the expression given above for the 1-Parameter Weibull method. The only difference is that the user does not specify the
value of the shape parameter. The program will assign the shape parameter as well as the characteristic life when fitting the distribution to data.
3-Parameter Weibull
where
Unreliability,
Failure Rate,
where
= gamma function
Bi-Weibull
If the time to failure data originates from two independent failure modes, AWB may be requested to fit two Weibull distributions to the data. The total failure rate for the two failure
modes is given by:
Tri-Weibull
If the time to failure data originates from three independent failure modes, AWB may be requested to fit three Weibull distributions to the data. The total failure rate for the three
failure modes is given by:
Lognormal
The lognormal distribution may be associated with scheduled and unscheduled maintenance tasks.
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Normal
The normal distribution may be associated with scheduled and unscheduled maintenance tasks.
where
Weibayes
If the Weibayes calculation method is selected then the following expression is applied to estimate the characteristic life of the Weibull distribution. Note that the shape parameter is
specified by the user.
where
If there are no failures then an assumption is made that a failure is imminent. Hence is set to 1.
Phased Bi-Weibull
The phased Bi-Weibull is, in effect, two Weibull distributions with different sets of Weibull parameters. The first Weibull is only valid up to the time specified by the gamma
parameter of the second Weibull. The second Weibull is only valid from the time specified by its gamma parameter. In effect the time axis is split into two distinct phases. Each
phase is associated with a different Weibull distribution. The failure rate in the first phase is given by
for and
for
Phased Tri-Weibull
The phased Tri-Weibull is, in effect, three Weibull distributions with different sets of Weibull parameters. The first Weibull is only valid up to the time specified by the gamma
parameter of the second Weibull. The second Weibull is only valid from the time specified by its gamma parameter and up to the gamma parameter of the third Weibull. In effect the
time axis is split into three distinct phases. Each phase is associated with a different Weibull distribution. The failure rate in the first phase is given by
for and
for and
for
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where and are the x and y values of points in the cumulative probability plot. N is the total number of points plotted.
where and are the fitted Weibull unreliability values and estimated unreliability point values respectively. N is the total number of points plotted.
Weibull Plots
Weibull plots will be displayed when you have the Plot or Plot & Grid option selected above the right-hand window. There are three different Weibull plot types. The Cumulative
Probability plot displays estimated unreliability values versus time. The Failure Rate plot displays estimated and distribution-derived failure rate values over time. The Probability
Density Function plot displays distribution-derived probability density function values.
Availability Workbench (AWB) automatically fits the selected distribution to the estimated unreliability points and displays the distribution-derived unreliability as a continuous red
line. For the 3-parameter Weibull distribution a set of blue points and a continuous blue line are also displayed. These represent the time-normalized estimated unreliability values
and distribution respectively.
Unreliability is defined as the probability that a first failure has occurred before or at the specified point in time. Time corresponds to the age of an equipment relative to its
installation into the system in an as good as new condition.
The failure rate is defined as the probability of first failure per unit time conditional on the equipment being operational at a given time. Time corresponds to the age of an equipment
relative to its installation into the system in an as good as new condition.
The probability density is defined as the probability of first failure per unit time. Time corresponds to the age of an equipment relative to its installation into the system in an as good
as new condition.
Assigning Weibull Sets
Weibull sets may be assigned to causes in the RCMCost module (Cause Properties dialog) and failure models in the AvSim module (Failure Model Properties dialog). These
dialogs are revealed when adding a new cause or failure model to a project or when selecting the Edit, Properties pull-down menu option for an existing cause or failure model.
Weibull sets may be assigned to represent the failure characteristics of a component from within the Failure tab of the Cause Properties and Failure Model Properties dialogs.
Weibull sets may be assigned to represent the repair characteristics of a component from within the Parameters tab of the Task Properties dialog.
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Process Reliability Module - Overview Page 1 of 3
The Process Reliability module allows production data to be compared from different plants or different time periods. Production data may also be transferred from simulated production profiles created
from within the AvSim module. This allows production data from potential plant improvements to be compared with existing production data.
The Process Reliability module of Availability Workbench analyzes daily plant production data to distinguish between systematic production losses and reliability losses. The method allows users to
quickly analyze whether a production process is efficient and distinguish reliability losses from production losses.
Daily production data is analyzed using Weibull and other types of plots. The Cumulative Probability plot is used to identify trends in the data. Cusps in the plot are marked to identify regions (of daily
product capacity ranges). The right-most cusp on the Cumulative Probability plot identifies the point at which reliability problems begin to occur (lower daily capacity values to the left of this cusp will be
influenced more strongly by reliability problems rather than controlled process losses). The points to the right of the cusp will normally form a reasonably straight line and are fitted (automatically by the
program once the cusp has been defined by the user) to a Weibull distribution. These points represent production losses for a controlled process. A steep line is preferred as it indicates a very tight
process with little variation in production from day to day.
Users may define a theoretical Nameplate Weibull distribution which is also displayed on the Cumulative Probability plot. The nameplate represents the desired or maximum achievable production
capacity from a controlled process with no reliability losses. It is not based on the actual plant data but is defined by the user.
In some cases defining a single cusp to mark the onset of reliability losses is sufficient. All data values to the left of the cusp (lower daily production capacities) are assumed to have a reliability loss
element. However, in many cases, the reliability loss region may display one or more additional cusps in the Cumulative Probability plot indicating that there are distinct reliability problems in the process.
Users may mark such cusps resulting in the program splitting the reliability loss region into two or more regions.
When cusps are defined on the Cumulative Probability plot, Availability Workbench calculates various parameters associated with the entire Process Set (all the daily capacity losses recorded in the set).
Principal parameters are Actual Losses, Production Losses and Reliability Losses (all expressed as an average loss per day). Production Losses are determined from the Weibull distribution fitted to
the data points to the right of the right-most cusp. Reliability Losses are determined by subtracting Production Losses from Actual Losses. Production Losses are extrapolated into the reliability loss
regions to the left of the right-most cusp on the basis that there will be some contribution to actual losses from a controlled production process even though the reliability losses become more dominant
when daily losses are more severe. Actual Losses, Production Losses and Reliability Losses are also calculated for each reliability loss region defined to the left of the right-most cusp. Reliability
Losses are determined by subtracting Production Losses from Actual Losses in each region.
If you have already defined one or more Process sets in your project you can display the associated data (Process set items) by selecting the appropriate Process set node in the tree control. Alternatively
select the required Process set from the combo-box above the plot window. Ensure that either the Plot, Grid or Plot & Grid option is selected above the right-hand window. To add a new Process set
select the Process Sets node in the tree control and use the right-button pop-up menu to add a new set.
The grid in the right-hand window is used to display production data. The data will normally be daily production values but AWB does not restrict you to a particular time interval. Data may be imported
using the Windows clipboard (copy and paste) or may be typed into the grid by hand. The grid representing Process set items has several columns. One column is used to specify the capacity value (the
average production capacity for the day). Other columns indicate whether the data item is currently disabled, how many days were associated with the capacity level suspended at this time and the record
date.
As data items are entered into the grid, points will be plotted in the cumulative probability graph. These points represent the estimated cumulative probability values for each recorded capacity value.
Cusps (identifying reliability loss regions) may be defined by hovering the mouse cursor over the item point in the plot and then pressing the select mouse button. A cusp may be removed by hovering the
cursor over the inverted triangle that marks the cusp dividing line in the plot and pressing the mouse select button.
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Process Reliability Module - Overview Page 2 of 3
A typical Process Reliability module screen display. The left window displays Process sets in the project tree control. The top right window displays a Process Reliability plot with calculated Process
Reliability parameters. The bottom right window displays daily production capacity values and other input parameters.
To modify existing data simply type the new data into the grid control or select the appropriate check boxes.
To add a new item you will need to access the Items tab of the Process Set Properties dialog. One way of accessing this tab is to click the right mouse button over the grid area to reveal the grid pop-up
menu. Then select the Add Record option. Alternatively, press the Ins key when the grid is displaying Process set items. The Items tab of the Process Set Properties dialog displays a grid control and a
Delete button. To delete existing items select them in the grid control and then select the Delete button. To add new items type in the new data into the empty last row of the grid control. After selecting
the OK button of the Process Set Properties dialog new points will be plotted in the cumulative probability graph. These points represent the estimated cumulative probability values at each capacity
specified by a Process set item.
Importing Data
Process set data may be imported directly from external databases or the Windows clipboard. To import data you will need to use the AWB import facility. The import facility may be accessed from the
File, Import pull-down menu option. If you are importing data from the Windows clipboard you can quickly access the import facility by selecting the Paste from Clipboard option from the grid control
right-button pop-up menu. The import facility will then enable you to match data on the clipboard to the appropriate columns in the Process set items table.
Defining Cusps
Cusps are process set items that identify the start of a reliability loss region. The cusp flag may be set for an item in the cumulative probability plot. Cusps may be defined by hovering the mouse cursor
over the item point in the plot and then pressing the select mouse button. A cusp may be removed by hovering the cursor over the inverted triangle that marks the cusp dividing line in the plot and pressing
the mouse select button. Alternatively you may set the cusp flag for an item on or off using the grid control in the lower right window or Process Set Properties dialog. The region to the right of the highest
capacity cusp item represents production (systematic) losses. The regions to the left of this cusp item represent reliability losses.
See Also
Import
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Process Reliability Module - Overview Page 3 of 3
Process set general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Process Set Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the Process set of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the Process set. Process set types are used to organize Process sets into groups. If a project contains many Process sets then this will greatly assist in locating a Process set in the
tree control structure.
Description
A description for the Process set of no more than 255 characters.
Nameplate Parameters
The Characteristic capacity (Eta) and Shape parameter (beta) define the Weibull distribution that represents the nameplate capacity distribution. This distribution acts as a benchmark or target with
which to compare actual production losses.
Production Parameters
The Characteristic capacity (Eta) and Shape parameter (beta) define the Weibull distribution that represents the demonstrated production capacity distribution. These parameters are normally obtained
by automatically fitting the Weibull distribution to data points at the high-capacity end of the cumulative probability distribution. The automatic fit is determined for points to the right of the right-most cusp
identified by the user. An automatic fit will be performed if the Auto fit option is checked.
Maximum capacity
The maximum achievable capacity from the plant. If the Auto set option is checked this value will be set to the highest capacity value for all items associated with the Process set.
Reliability estimation
Users may choose the Median rank, 90% rank, 95% rank or Nelson methods for estimating reliability values from item capacity values. For a more detailed explanation of these methods see the section
on Weibull Set Analysis Options.
Parameter precision
The user may specify a parameter precision value of 2, 3, 4, 6 or 9. The precision value determines the number of significant figures calculated when determining the parameters of the Weibull
distribution. This facility is required to prevent unnecessarily high precision values being generated Consider a beta parameter that has been generated with the value
0.923456789
The table below illustrates how the beta parameter will be rounded for a variety of precision values.
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each Process set. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options dialog.
Process Plots
Process plots will be displayed when you have the Plot or Plot & Grid option selected above the right-hand window. There are three different Process plot types. The Cumulative Probability plot displays
estimated reliability values versus capacity. The Probability Density Function plot displays probability density function values. The Comparison plot displays estimated reliability values versus capacity
for different process sets.
The nameplate and production Weibull distributions are displayed as color-coded triangular areas. Reliability loss regions (defined by cusps selected by the user) are also indicated as color-coded regions.
Reliability is defined as the probability that daily capacity will be above a specified capacity value.
Defining Cusps
Cusps are process set items that identify the start of a reliability loss region in the cumulative probability plot. Cusps may be defined by hovering the mouse cursor over the item point in the plot and then
pressing the select mouse button. A cusp may be removed by hovering the cursor over the inverted triangle that marks the cusp dividing line in the plot and pressing the mouse select button.
Comparison Plots
Comparison plots display estimated reliability values for a number of different process sets. Each process set is color-coded.
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Life Cycle Cost Module - Overview Page 1 of 4
Users may construct a hierarchical cost breakdown structure and assign cost equations to nodes in that structure. Parent nodes in the structure may simply summate the costs of child
nodes or apply a user-defined equation. Nodes with no children of their own may be assigned a simple numerical cost or a time-dependent cost equation. Equations associated with cost
nodes may be linked to predicted cost data originating from simulations performed in the RCMCost or AvSim modules.
Life cycle cost calculations are based on the time profile defined in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog. The time profile (the time span to be analyzed and interval length) is
common to all modules in AWB.
Life Cycle Cost Module - User Interface
To access the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) module in Availability Workbench (AWB) select the Life cycle cost pull-down option at the top of the left-hand window.
The project tree control in the left-hand window will display the data categories relevant to this module. These categories are Cost Nodes (these define the cost breakdown structure),
Global Variables (these define variables to be used in more than one cost node) and Phases (phases may be used to refine cost equations).
The right-hand window will display a grid control, plot, library structure or report depending on the mode of display chosen by the user (by selecting the Current right window mode option
above the window).
New cost nodes, global variables and phases may be added to the current project by selecting the appropriate node in the tree control and selecting one of the Add options from the right
button pop-up menu.
Once data has been added to a project a calculation may be performed by selecting the Analysis, Perform pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. Results may then be
viewed in the Cost Profile plot in the right-hand window.
A typical layout in the life cycle cost module. The left window displays the project tree with cost nodes, global variables and phases. The right window display the calculated cost profile.
Building a Life Cycle Cost Structure
To build a cost breakdown structure you need to add cost nodes to the project tree control in the left-hand window. To add a new cost node select an existing node or the top node (labelled
Cost Nodes) and click the right mouse button. From the pop-up menu that appears select the Add Cost Node option. The Cost Node Properties dialog will appear allowing you define the
cost equation for that node and specify a description and add notes. Select the OK button to add the node and continue this process to build the structure.
Cost Nodes - General Properties
Cost node general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Cost Node Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the cost node of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Interval cost
The cost to be assigned to each interval of the project time profile. The time profile is defined in the Lifetime tab of the Project Options dialog. The interval cost may be specified in a
number of different formats. In effect it can be a simple number or a cost equation.
If you enter a simple number, Availability Workbench (AWB) will interpret that number to be the cost to be assigned to each project time profile interval. For example, suppose we have
defined a project time profile of 10000 hours broken down into 10 intervals of 100 hours each. Entering a value of 500 would indicate to AWB that the cost associated with the node was
500 currency units for each interval. So the total cost for the entire time profile would be 5000 currency units evenly distributed over the lifetime.
Alternatively, you may wish to specify the cost as a capital sum to be incurred at a specific point in time. This may be done by adding a square bracket containing the time value to the end
of the cost value. For example, specifying
600[0] + 800[7000]
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Life Cycle Cost Module - Overview Page 2 of 4
would indicate that a cost of 600 currency units is to be incurred at the beginning of the project time profile and a cost of 800 currency units is to be incurred at a time of 7000 hours. If you
have defined any phases in the project you can also specify a phase ID within the square brackets. AWB will then apply the cost to all time profile intervals associated with the phase. If a
specified phase ends part way through an interval then only the relevant proportion of the cost will be applied. So the expression
600[Phase1] + 800[Phase3]
would indicate a cost of 600 currency units for each full interval associated with phase Phase1 and 800 currency units for each full phase associated with phase Phase3.
Global and reserved variables may be included in an expression for the interval cost. Global variables are defined by the user and reserved variables are fixed variables that you cannot
modify in the life cycle cost module. Many of the reserved variables link data from the RCMCost or AvSim module predictions. Global variables are preceded by the identifier G., RCMCost
variables are preceded by the identifier R. and AvSim variables are preceded by A. See the topic Reserved Variables for a full list of these variables. The reserved variables preceded by
the R or A identifier allow users to link to the most commonly used high-level variables in the RCMCost and AvSim modules. However, you may also link to a wide range of other project
variables at object level using the identifier P. An individual object variable is identified by the project table name, followed by the column name and then the object ID. For example,
P.Spares.UnitCost.ABC identifies the unit cost of a spare with an ID of 'ABC'. You will need to surround the ID with single quotes if the object ID contains blanks or a character normally
used as an operator (e.g. *). There are three other reserved variables. These are T, dT and SumOfChildCosts. T represents 'time', dT represents time interval and SumOfChildCosts
represents the sum of the costs of all child nodes.
Variables may be used in expressions together with the standard operators +, -, *, /, ^ representing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and power respectively. Numbers may be
integer or exponential format. An example of exponential format is
1.74E-2
representing
-2
1.74x10
The power operator raises the number to the left of the operator to the power specified to the right of the operator. For example, the expression
2^3
Examples of the use of variables and operators in an expression for the interval cost are given below.
23000 * G.CostPerUnitFloorSpace
Note that spaces must be used as delimiters between numbers and operators.
Description
A description for the cost node of no more than 255 characters
Up to 4 descriptive notes may be assigned to each cost node. Users may customize note headers (the labels used to identify a note category) using the Notes tab in the Project Options
dialog.
Global Variables - General Properties
Global variable general properties may be accessed from the General tab of the Global Variable Properties dialog.
ID
A unique identifier for the global variable of no more than 40 alpha-numeric characters.
Type
The type assigned to the global variable. Global variable types are used to organize global variables into groups. If a project contains many global variables then this will greatly assist in
locating a global variable in the project tree control.
Value
The value of the global variable.
Global variable values may be defined by entering a single number or an expression into the Value field. Global variable expressions may not contain reserved variables or other global
variables.
If you enter a simple number, Availability Workbench (AWB) will interpret that number to be the cost assigned to each project time profile interval. For example, suppose we have defined a
project time profile of 10000 hours broken down into 10 intervals of 100 hours each. Entering a value of 500 would indicate to AWB that the global variable cost value was 500 currency
units for each interval.
Alternatively, you may wish to specify the cost as a capital sum to be incurred at a specific point in time. This may be done by adding a square bracket containing the time value to the end
of the cost value. For example, specifying
600[0] + 800[7000]
would indicate that a cost of 600 currency units is to be incurred at the beginning of the project time profile and a cost of 800 currency units is to be incurred at a time of 7000 hours. If you
have defined any phases in the project you can also specify a phase ID within the square brackets. AWB will then apply the cost to all time profile intervals associated with the phase. If a
specified phase ends part way through an interval then only the relevant proportion of the cost will be applied. So the expression
600[Phase1] + 800[Phase3]
would indicate a cost of 600 currency units for each full interval associated with phase Phase1 and 800 currency units for each full phase associated with phase Phase3.
Global variable expressions may contain the standard operators +, -, *, /, ^ representing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and power respectively. Numbers may be integer or
exponential format. An example of exponential format is
1.74E-2
representing
-2
1.74x10
The power operator raises the number to the left of the operator to the power specified to the right of the operator. For example, the expression
2^3
Note that spaces must be used as delimiters between numbers and operators.
Description
A description for the Global variable of no more than 255 characters.
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Life Cycle Cost Module - Overview Page 3 of 4
Reserved Variables
Reserved variables may be used within the cost node expressions used to define interval costs. They may not be used to define a global variable value.
Reserved variables identifiers are listed below together with a description. Global variable identifiers are not case-sensitive.
Life cycle costs may be displayed in the Cost Profile plot in the right-hand window. By selecting the Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option you can reveal the Plot Options dialog to
display data for specific cost nodes in the project.
Cost Profile Plots
Cost profile plots may be displayed by selecting the Plot option of the Current right window mode menu above the right-hand window. Then select the Cost Profile option on the Plot
type selector menu above the right-hand window.
Cost profile plots display interval or cumulative costs for the project and individual cost nodes over the time profile specified by the user. Users may set different plot options by selecting the
Tools, Options, Plot pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. The Plot Options dialog will be displayed allowing different options to be selected.
The Costs tab of the Plot Options dialog displays the following option settings.
Inclusion lists
The inclusion lists allow you to specify which cost nodes you wish to be included in the cost profile plot. Move cost nodes between the Included and Not included lists by selecting the
appropriate cost nodes and clicking the arrow buttons in between the lists.
Variable
The variable list allows you to select the variable to be displayed in the system profile. Users may choose between Interval cost or Cumulative cost
Plot style
The style of plot.
Show grid
If checked the plot will display a background grid.
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Life Cycle Cost Module - Overview Page 4 of 4
Automatic
If checked the program will automatically set the minimum and maximum values of the variable axis.
Minimum/Maximum
If Automatic is not checked then the user must enter the minimum and maximum variable axis values.
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Reports - Overview Page 1 of 1
Reports - Overview
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides a sophisticated reporting facility called the Report Designer that allows users to
view and print standard reports provided with the installation and design custom text, graph and diagram reports.
The Report Designer may be accessed by selecting Report from the Right window mode selector pull-down menu
(situated above the right-hand window).
The Report Designer enables the user to view and design text column, text row, graph and diagram reports. Using the
Report Designer users may modify existing reports, create their own reports based on copies of the pre-defined reports, or
create entirely new reports.
Report definitions are stored in XML files that are given the default extension awb-repx. Each report is stored in a single
file. Existing reports may be opened by selecting the Report Designer File, Open Report pull-down menu option within
the right-hand window. Once a report has been opened you may print or preview the report by selecting the appropriate
option from the Report Designer File pull-down menu.
The reports obtain their source data from a SQL compatible database which is intelligently updated with the application
data when a report is opened. SQL queries ranging from simple single table queries to complex union and multi-join
queries can be used to interrogate the database. In addition to displaying the actual report data, the user may display
information ranging from the date, time and page numbers to complex SQL queries using report macros.
The Report Designer print preview, print and export operations are multi-threaded. This means, for example, that a user
may continue with other tasks in the application whilst a report is re-paginating.
The Report Designer comprises an outline view, one or more document area tabs (corresponding to the number of open
reports), and its own menu bar and toolbars.
The facilities provided by the Report Designer are described in full in the Report Designer User Guide.
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Diagram Report Settings - Overview Page 1 of 2
Line width
The line width in units of 1/72 of an inch.
Color diagrams
If checked the diagram will be displayed as a color diagram in reports.
Page Filter
Determines whether to print all pages of the RBD and fault tree diagrams in the project or whether to print a sub-set of
pages. If All pages is selected then all diagram pages will be printed. If Visible and below is selected the currently
displayed RBD or fault tree page is printed together with all pages logically connected below the displayed page. If Visible
only is selected only the currently displayed RBD or fault tree page is printed.
Report Rotation
Affects the orientation of the diagrams in reports. If No rotation is selected the report will remain in its default orientation.
If Rotate 90 degrees or Rotate 270 degrees is selected then the report will be rotated through the appropriate angle.
See Also
RBD Page Order
Fault Tree Page Order
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Diagram Report Settings - Overview Page 2 of 2
Order by ID
When checked the RBD pages are ordered alphabetically by their block ID.
User-defined order
When checked the user may edit the order of the RBD pages.
Move selections up
Selection of this button moves the selected RBD page up one position in the list order.
See Also
Overview
Fault Tree Page Order
Order by ID
When checked the fault tree pages are ordered alphabetically by their gate ID.
User-defined order
When checked the user may edit the order of the fault tree pages.
Move selections up
Clicking moves the selected fault tree page up one position in the list order.
See Also
Overview
RBD Page Order
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Application Settings - Overview Page 1 of 6
Application settings determine the default location of project, library and other files. They may also be used to specify
various user preferences for plot colors, number of undos allowed etc.
See Also
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
See Also
Overview
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
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Application Settings - Overview Page 2 of 6
See Also
Overview
Files
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
Plots
Lists of the fonts applied to text in the screen plots.
Grid
Lists the fonts applied to text in the grid display.
Pop-up text
Lists the fonts applied to text used in pop-ups.
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
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Application Settings - Overview Page 3 of 6
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Undo
Import
Naming
Threads
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Application Settings - Overview Page 4 of 6
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Import
Naming
Threads
Code page
The code page number identifies the character set to be translated when reading RCMCost V4 and AvSim V10 project
files. Examples are 936 for simplified Chinese, 932 for Japanese and 949 for Korean.
Apply hold-for-repair rules to failure models when opening AvSim V10 project files
if this option is set then AWB will convert AvSim V10 hold-for-repair setting to inhibit task rules for the appropriate failure
models. If this option is not set then rules will be applied to blocks or primary events rather than failure model tasks. This
option should not be set if the AvSim V10 project uses common failure models for different blocks or primary events that
have a hold-for-repair setting.
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Naming
Threads
Use CopyOf renaming scheme for AvSim RBD structure on paste special
If checked, Availability Workbench (AWB) will use the 'CopyOf' prefix when renaming RBD blocks during a paste special
operation. If not checked, AWB will rename blocks using the name of the target RBD page followed by an automatically
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Application Settings - Overview Page 5 of 6
generated extension.
Use CopyOf renaming scheme AvSim fault tree structure on paste special
If checked, Availability Workbench (AWB) will use the 'CopyOf' prefix when renaming fault tree gates and events during a
paste special operation. If not checked, AWB will rename gates and events using the name of the parent gate followed by
an automatically generated extension.
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Threads
See Also
Overview
Files
Backup
Fonts
Colors
Plots
Undo
Import
Naming
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Application Settings - Overview Page 6 of 6
Binding configuration
The endpoint binding name. Typical binding names are netTcpBinding, basicHttpBinding and wsHttpBinding
Scheme
The scheme name (set to blank for default)
Host
The host name
Port
The port number
The plugins list identifies all plugins currently associated with the application.
Add
Select the Add button to create a new plugin.
Edit
Select the Edit button to edit the plugin selected in the plugin list
Copy
Select the Copy button to copy the plugin selected in the plugin list
Export
Select the Export button to export the plugin selected in the plugin list. Exported plugins are saved to a file in XML format
with the extension awb-plgx.
Import
Select the Import button to import a plugin from file.
Remove
Select the Remove button to permanently remove the plugin selected in the plugin list
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Importing and Exporting Data - Overview Page 1 of 7
The import and export facilities connect to the following external formats:
Access databases
SQL Server databases
Oracle databases
Excel files
XML files
Text files
Windows clipboard
In order to import or export data you must select and match the data to be transferred. AWB provides facilities to quickly
match the required data in the Import and Export dialogs. These dialogs are accessed by selecting the File, Import or
File, Export pull-down menus respectively.
Once you have selected and matched your data you can save this information in an import or export template. This means
that next time you wish to import or export the same type of data to the same external source or target you can just
retrieve the template and perform the import or export of data without re-selecting and re-matching your data. AWB
remembers your last import or export template so that the next time you enter the import or export facilities your previous
selections and matches will already be set.
AWB automatically validates data as it is being imported into a project. Many import errors can be automatically corrected
on import. For example, an invalid negative number will be re-assigned the minimum allowed numerical value for the data
value being imported. Validation errors are displayed to the user during the import process.
Importing Data - Connecting to the External Data Source
The Availability Workbench (AWB) import function requires that the user defines the external data source. On entering the
import facility (by selecting the File, Import pull-down menu option) AWB will display the Database tab of the Import
dialog. The Database tab is used to define the connection to the external source whether it is a database, file or the
Windows clipboard.
Type
The database or file type.
Server
The server to connect to. This field need only be selected when connecting to a SQL Server database. AWB will
automatically populate the list of available servers when the database Type has been set to SQL Server.
Service
The service to connect to. This field need only be completed when connecting to an Oracle database.
Login
The login fields only apply to SQL Server and Oracle databases. Select Use Windows authentication or enter a user
name and password. Then select the Connect button to connect to the database.
Database
The database file name for Access and SQL Server databases. The list of available database names will be automatically
populated once the server has been chosen for a SQL Server database.
File
The file name for XML, Excel and text file connections.
Browse
The Browse button enables users to browse the Windows directory structure for file names or Access database files.
Mode
The use may choose between one of the following import modes
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Importing and Exporting Data - Overview Page 2 of 7
An imported data record matches an existing project record if the object ID is identical. The object ID is effectively the
primary key. For example, if you are importing labor categories from an external database you may be importing a row
that contains ELECTRICIAN as the ID (primary key). If the AWB project already contains a labor category with ID
ELECTRICIAN then a match is found.
Delimiter
The delimiter that is to be used to separate columns for a Text File User Delimiter data source.
Importing Data - Matching Tables
When importing data from an external data source you need to indicate the match between external table or worksheet
names and the Availability Workbench (AWB) application database tables. AWB will only permit import to application
tables that are import-enabled.
Table matches are defined by accessing the Table Matches tab of the Import dialog.
If you are connected to the Windows clipboard or a text file then you can only match to a single table.
WORKCREWS->Labor
Indicates that the external table WORKCREWS is matched to the application table Labor.
Auto match
Selection of the Auto match button prompts AWB to automatically match external and application tables that have the
same name. Although Excel worksheet names are preceded by a $ symbol AWB will recognize matching names if this is
the only differentiating character.
Clear match
Selection of the Clear match button will clear the match selected in the external table list.
Availability Workbench (AWB) will only permit import to columns that are import-enabled. If the external data source is a
text file, an Excel file or the Windows clipboard then column names will be extracted from the first row of the file if the
Column names in first row option was selected in the Database tab. If this option was not selected then AWB will assign
the names F1, F2, F3 etc. to the external columns list.
Table Match
The currently selected table match defines which columns are to be displayed in the external and application column lists.
You will be able to select any previously defined table match.
NUMBER->Quantity
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Importing and Exporting Data - Overview Page 3 of 7
indicates that the external column NUMBER is matched to the application column Quantity.
Small icons are displayed to the left of column names in the lists to help identify the type of data associated with the
column.
The primary key column uniquely identifies an object. In AWB it is the ID column for that object. Secondary keys provide a
link to the primary key in other AWB tables. The Boolean data type is associated with values of true and false.
Auto match
Selection of the Auto match button prompts AWB to automatically match external and application columns that have the
same name.
Clear match
Selection of the Clear match button will clear the match selected in the external column list.
Type
The database or file type.
Server
The server to connect to. This field need only be selected when connecting to a SQL Server database. AWB will
automatically populate the list of available servers when the database Type has been set to SQL Server.
Service
The service to connect to. This field need only be completed when connecting to an Oracle database.
Login
The login fields only apply to SQL Server and Oracle databases. Select Use Windows authentication or enter a user
name and password. Then select the Connect button to connect to the database.
Database
The database file name for Access databases. The database name for SQL Server databases. The list of available
database names will be automatically populated once the server has been chosen for a SQL Server database. This field
need only be completed for Access and SQL Server databases.
File
The file name for XML, Excel and text file connections.
Browse
The Browse button enables users to browse the Windows directory structure for file names or Access database files.
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Delimiter
The delimiter that is to be used to separate columns for a Text File User Delimiter data source.
Export no match
If you wish to export AWB data to tables and columns with the same name as the AWB application tables and columns
then select this option. This option may also be selected for creating a new database or file using AWB data. This option
cannot be used, however, for exporting to SQL Server or Oracle databases.
Note that if the Export no match option is selected the contents of existing tables that have the same name as exported
AWB tables will be deleted before the export of data takes place.
Exporting Data - Matching Tables
Tables may be matched for Access, SQL Server and Oracle databases. Tables and worksheets may also be matched for
Excel files. However, tables may not be matched for export to text files and the Windows clipboard.
Table matches are defined by accessing the Table Matches tab of the Export dialog.
You will only need to match external tables to Availability Workbench (AWB) tables if the Export no match option is
switched off.
When exporting data to an external data source you need to indicate the match between external table or worksheet
names and the AWB application database tables.
If you are connected to the Windows clipboard or a text file then you can only match to a single table.
WORKCREWS<-Labor
indicates that the external table WORKCREWS is matched to the application table Labor.
Auto match
Selection of the Auto match button prompts AWB to automatically match external and application tables that have the
same name. Although Excel worksheet names are preceded by a $ symbol AWB will recognize matching names if this is
the only differentiating character.
Clear match
Selection of the Clear match button will clear the match selected in the external table list.
After defining matches between external and application tables you then need to define column matches. If the external
data source is a text file, an Excel file or the Windows clipboard then column names will be extracted from the first row of
the file if the Column names in first row option was selected in the Database tab. If this option was not selected then
AWB will assign the names F1, F2, F3 etc. to the external columns list.
Table Match
The currently selected table match defines which columns are to be displayed in the external and application column lists.
You will be able to select any previously defined table match.
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NUMBER<-Quantity
indicates that the external column NUMBER is matched to the application column Quantity. Small icons are displayed to
the left of column names in the lists to help identify the type of data associated with the column.
The primary key column uniquely identifies an object. In AWB it is the ID column for that object. Secondary keys provide a
link to the primary key in other AWB tables. The Boolean data type is associated with values of true and false.
Auto match
Selection of the Auto match button prompts AWB to automatically match external and application columns that have the
same name.
Clear match
Selection of the Clear match button will clear the match selected in the external column list.
You may transfer tables to and from the Exported application table list by selecting the appropriate table followed by
selection of the appropriate arrow button. The buttons that contain three arrows will transfer all tables from one list to
another.
If you select more than one table and the target for export is a text file, Availability Workbench will create multiple text files,
one for each table. The files will be given the base file name specified in the Database tab of the Export dialog with an
extended name identifying the table. For example, a base text file name of demo.txt would result in files demo_Labor.txt
and demo_Spares.txt being created if the tables Labor and Spares were exported together.
Export No Match - Specifying Columns for Export
If the Export no match option is selected under the Database tab of the Export dialog you will have access to the
Columns tab that allows you to define which columns are to be exported.
You may transfer columns to and from the Exported application column list by selecting the appropriate column
followed by selection of the appropriate arrow button. The buttons that contain three arrows will transfer all columns from
one list to another.
Importing and Exporting Data - Schema
The Schema tabs of the Import and Export dialogs display the table and column structure of the connected database, file
or Windows clipboard. In the case of text files, Excel files and the clipboard, the displayed schema will simply be the first
row of data.
Small icons are displayed to the left of column names in the schema tree to help identify the type of data associated with
the column.
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The primary key column uniquely identifies an object. The Boolean data type is associated with values of true and
false.
Importing and Exporting Data - Filtering Data
You may set filtering parameters from within the Filters tab of the Import or Export dialog.
The filter function allows users to restrict the data that is imported from or exported to an external database. The filter
function is not available when importing data from the clipboard, text files or XML files.
Table
You may set filter parameters for each matched table pair. The table list allows you to select the matched table pair for
which you wish to view or modify filter parameters.
Column
You may set filter parameters for each column in a matched table pair. The column list allows you to select the column for
which you wish to view or modify filter parameters.
Filter operation
The filter operation you wish to perform on incoming or outgoing data. Valid filter operations are
Equals
Does not equal
Is greater than
Is greater than or equal to
Is less than
Is less than or equal to
Contains
Filter value
The filter value associated with the filter operation
Current filters
A list of the filters currently assigned for the import or export process.
Clear
Selecting the Clear button will remove the current filters.
Number of columns
This field indicates the number of columns in each row of the file
Column
This field indicates the column number for which the position is being specified
Position
The position of the column indicated in the Column field
Auto set
Selecting the Auto set button prompts the program to automatically assign column positions. Users may later adjust
automatically assigned positions.
Preview
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The Preview list shows the current column positions by inserting column dividers (the symbol ^ is used) between text in
the file.
In this form the user may choose whether to use 'Windows authentication' to login or alternatively enter a username and
password.
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Renaming RCMCost Locations Page 1 of 2
Objects will only be renamed under the current tree control selection.
Renaming AvSim Blocks and Nodes
AvSim blocks and nodes may be renamed by selecting the appropriate Rename option on the Tools pull-down menu.
Blocks and nodes may be renamed selectively by selecting a block and then selecting the appropriate Rename under
selection pull-down menu option.
Sorting Data
Objects may be sorted in the Availability Workbench (AWB) project tables by selecting the Tools, Sort pull-down menu
option. A Sort dialog will appear allowing the user to specify the sort requirements. The Sort dialog functionality is
described below.
Table
Specifies the AWB project table to sort.
Sort by
Specifies the column to sort by.
Ascending/Descending
Specifies whether to sort the data by ascending value or descending value.
Then by
The Then by selections allow the user to define a second or third sort criteria.
The dialog lists the task groups currently defined in the project together with the sum of their associated individual task
durations. Users may then enter the group task duration and AWB will automatically calculate the efficiency factor for the
task group. Selection of the OK button will remove the dialog and apply the calculated efficiency factors to all task groups.
Selection of the Cancel button will remove the dialog without applying the factors.
Converting Data
Availability Workbench (AWB) provides facilities for converting RCMCost location hierarchy diagrams and AvSim RBD and
fault tree diagrams into different formats. The following automatic conversion methods are available.
The appropriate conversion option may be selected from the Tools, Convert pull-down menu.
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Note that the newly created RBD structure will not contain any parallel configurations as the location hierarchy does not
model redundancy arrangements between different location equipments. Location quantities will not be transferred to the
RBD structure.
Note that the newly created fault tree structure will not contain any parallel configurations as the location hierarchy does
not model redundancy arrangements between different location equipments. Location quantities will not be transferred to
the fault tree structure.
Note that standby arrangement data and other dependency modelling cannot be transferred to the RCMCost location
hierarchy.
Note that standby arrangement data and other dependency modelling cannot be transferred to the RCMCost location
hierarchy.
To generate special reports select one of the Tools, Update Special Reports pull-down menu options.
The special reports facility utilizes a template report file that should not be modified directly by the user. This template file
is provided in the default reports directory Auto-Generated Plots\Templates. Interval optimization plots are generated
from this file and are stored in the directory above the directory containing the template.
Project Statistics
The Project Statistic dialog provides a summary of how many rows are defined in the tables of the current project. In
addition it provides a summary of the memory being accessed by Availability Workbench. To access the Project Statistic
dialog select the Tools, Project Statistics pull-down menu option.
Project Declassification
The project declassification facility removes descriptions and notes from the current project. This is useful if you wish to
send a project file to another Availability Workbench user but you do not wish them to understand the logical meaning of
objects in your system model. To declassify the current project select the Tools, Declassify Project pull-down menu
option.
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You can modify data in the grid control by clicking on a 'write enabled' text field or selecting a pull-down menu option or
selecting a check-box in the grid area. Data will only be modified once the focus has left the grid field being edited. If you
try to enter invalid data a message will be displayed and you will have to re-enter some valid data or press the Escape
key to abort the edit operation.
Many of the grid tables will allow you to edit data by double-clicking the mouse button with the cursor positioned in the
grey area to the left of each row in the grid. A dialog will displayed revealing the properties of the object associated with
the row in the grid.
Availability Workbench provides a number of custom grid layouts. These may be customized by the user and new layouts
may be created. Grid layouts created by the user are known as 'user layouts'.
The grid control may be used to filter and sort data and there is also a 'find and replace' function.
See Also
General Layout Options
Filter Layout Options
Sort Layout Options
Find and Replace
Statistics
ID
An identifier for the grid layout. This ID will be displayed in the Grid layout selector pull-down menu above the right-hand
window.
Visible Columns
Shows the currently visible columns for the grid layout. The order of the list is the order the columns are displayed in the
grid. To change this order highlight the column using the left mouse button and click the Up or Down button to shift the
highlighted item one place. To transfer columns to the Hidden columns list, highlight the item using the left mouse button
and click on the right-hand arrow button.
Hidden Columns
Shows the currently hidden columns for the grid layout. To transfer fields to the Visible columns list, highlight the item
using the left mouse button and click on the left-hand arrow button.
Row Height
The default height of each row in the grid. If this value is set to 0 the height is set automatically. Note that this value is
ignored when the Auto-size rows check-box is selected.
Apply
Applies any changes to the grid layout but does not dismiss the dialog.
Export
Exports the grid layout to a XML file. The exported file is given the default extension awb-grdx. Exported grid layouts may
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be sent to other users who may import the layout using the grid layout import facilities.
Reset
To reset the grid layout to the default settings click the Reset button. This function is only available for the default grid
layouts.
Filter by Column
Choose from the drop down list the column the filter is to be applied to. In the next drop down list choose the type of
comparison to be made, for example equals.
Filter by Value
The value or text that the comparison applies to. If a second comparison is required, choose either OR orAND from the
next drop-down list and fill out the second comparison type and value.
And by
Users may optionally enter a second set of filtering criteria.
Clear
Selection of the Clear button clears the current filter parameters in the dialog.
Apply
Applies any changes to the grid layout but does not dismiss the dialog.
Export
Exports the grid layout to a XML file. The exported file is given the default extension awb-grdx. Exported grid layouts may
be sent to other users who may import the layout using the grid layout import facilities.
Reset
To reset the grid layout to the default settings click the Reset button. This function is only available for the default grid
layouts.
Sort by
The column and criteria on which to sort. Select the column ID from the list and then Ascending or Descending radio
button. If the Alphanumeric text sort flag is set text data will be sorted taking into account the numeric value at the end of
each character string. This will result in a different order being applied to objects that have identical character strings
followed by a number. Consider the ordering of a set of object IDs:
FM10
FM100
FM11
FM8
FM9
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FM8
FM9
FM10
FM11
FM100
Then by
Users may specify two additional sort criteria in the Then by areas of the dialog.
Apply
Applies any changes to the grid layout but does not dismiss the dialog.
Export
Exports the grid layout to a XML file. The exported file is given the default extension awb-grdx. Exported grid layouts may
be sent to other users who may import the layout using the grid layout import facilities.
Reset
To reset the grid layout to the default settings click the Reset button. This function is only available for the default grid
layouts.
Table
The project table associated with the current grid. This field is read-only.
Column
The column which is to be searched. The user may choose All columns to search all the columns in the grid layout.
Find what
The text string, number or boolean variable (true/false) to locate.
Replace with
The new text string, number or boolean variable (true/false).
Match case
Indicates that the text string upper or lower case values specified in the Find what field must match those in the grid
control
Object/Column/Data list
Lists object columns and the associated data located during a search.
Find next
Selection of the Find next button prompts the program to find the next occurrence of the data in the grid control.
Find first
Selection of the Find first button prompts the program to find the first occurrence of the data in the grid control.
Replace
Selection of the Replace button prompts the program to replace the matching data located in the grid control.
Replace all
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Selection of the Replace all button prompts the program to replace all occurrences of matching data located in the grid
control.
Grid layouts may be imported by selecting the Grid, Import Layouts pull-down menu option. A file Open dialog will be
revealed allowing the user to select one or more file to import. Once imported the grid layouts will be associated with the
current user stored in the users Local Settings\Application Data folder.
Individual grid layouts may be exported from within the Grid Layout Options dialog for the current grid. Users may also
export all the existing grid layouts together by selecting the Grid, Export All Layouts pull-down menu option. On
selection of this option the Browse for Folder dialog will be displayed allowing the user to select the folder that will
receive the exported XML files. Each grid layout will be defined in a separate file. Exported files are given the ID for the
grid layout as the base name for the file.
Default layouts (layouts originally provided with the program) may be reset to their default settings. This option is provided
as users can modify the settings of a default layout even though they cannot delete it. Individual layouts may be reset from
within the Grid Layout Options dialog. Alternatively, users may reset all default layout settings by selecting the Grid, Reset
All Default Layouts pull-down menu option.
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The About Dialog Page 1 of 1
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Requirements
AWB can connect to SAP via the SAP connector for Microsoft .NET or using SAP NetWeaver Web Services.
If you are connecting via the SAP connector for Microsoft .NET you will need to install the SAP GUI (version 640 or later).
If you are connecting via Web Services then you will need to create two services in SAP to support the Portal.
On some SAP systems you may also need to install the ZISO_READ_TABLE function which is used as an alternative to
the standard RFC_READ_TABLE SAP function. This function only reads data from SAP and does not upload any data to
SAP. For more information on this function see the section Custom Read Table Function.
SAP portal data elements may also represent data elements that do not currently exist in SAP but have been generated
from the RCMCost module. These data elements are typically new maintenance plans, items and task lists. The SAP
Portal may be used to upload this data into SAP.
Portal options are saved in template files. If you are accessing more than one SAP system then you can save separate
template files to represent logon details and other options associated with each system. SAP portal templates may be
created, saved and opened by selecting the New Template, Open Template, Save Template and Save Template As
options on the SAP Options pull-down menu.
Language
The SAP language identifier. The language identifier is used to ensure that descriptive text residing in SAP is displayed in
the correct language when downloaded from SAP to the SAP Portal.
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Plant
The SAP plant identifier. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted.
Maintenance plant
The SAP maintenance plant identifier. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted.
Cause Catalog
The catalog to be used to represent causes when building master data. Typically users will choose '5' to map SAP cause
codes to RCMCost causes or 'B' to map object parts to RCMCost causes or 'C' to map damage codes to RCMCost
causes.
Objects to download
The objects to download from the SAP system. SAP system data is downloaded into the SAP Portal by selecting the Sap
Download, Download SAP data pull-down menu option.
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If this flag is checked operational costs (not calculated in older SAP systems) will be downloaded and added to other
maintenance order costs.
Controlling area
The controlling area to filter downloaded labor categories.
Material types
The SAP material type filters to be applied. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted for each type. If all of the 8 material
type values are left blank the Portal will not filter by material type. Ensure that filter type 'IBAU' is set if you wish to
download PM assemblies.
Plan categories
The SAP maintenance plan categories that you wish to filter on when downloading data. Up to 8 category codes may be
specified. If all the plan category code fields are left blank the Portal will not filter on plan categories. Typical codes are PM
for 'Maintenance Order', PN for 'Maintenance Notification' and ME for 'Notification'.
Equipment categories
The SAP equipment categories to be considered when downloading data from SAP. A maximum of 1 character is
permitted for each category. If all of the 16 category values are left blank the Portal will not filter by category.
Planner group
The SAP planner group to be used to filter notifications. If this value is left blank the Portal will not filter notifications
according to planner group.
BOM usage
The BOM usage code to be used when identifying BOMs. A maximum of 1 character is permitted.
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Filter conditions are defined by explicitly identifying SAP table fields together with a filter operation and a filter value. Up to
8 such filter conditions may be specified. Multiple filter conditions are grouped together using AND logic. For example the
3 filter conditions
result in the following SQL WHERE clause to be added when downloading data from the locations table:
WHERE TPLNR LIKE 'K%' AND TPLNR NOT LIKE 'K1%' AND RBNR = 'VALVE'
Where clauses are applied to all tables that contain the specified fields.
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PM activity types
The SAP activity types that will be used to identify PM activities. Up to eight types may be specified. A maximum of 4
characters is permitted for each type.
PM notification types
The SAP notification types that will be used to identify PM notifications. Up to eight types may be specified. A maximum of
2 characters is permitted for each type.
Labeling system
The SAP labeling system to be assigned to a functional location when uploading to SAP. A maximum of 1 character is
permitted.
Structure indicator
The SAP structure indicator to be assigned to a functional location when uploading to SAP. A maximum of 1 character is
permitted.
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Operation grouping
This setting determines how task lists and operations will be built.
If the Group all tasks in a single operation option is selected, individual AWB tasks will be grouped into a single SAP
operation for each maintenance item.
If the Single operation for each task option is selected a separate operation will be created for each AWB task.
If the Group tasks by labor category option is selected a separate operation will be created for each labor category. If
multiple item plans have been requested, each labor category will be assigned to a separate maintenance item.
If the Assign operations manually option is selected operations are not created automatically when building task lists in
the SAP Portal. They may be added manually in the Task List Properties dialog
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Document application
The SAP document application type to be used when building SAP documents. The default is DOC.
Planner group
The default SAP planner group for each plan. Users may override the default by typing a different group ID into the
Planner Group field of the Maintenance Plan Properties dialog. A maximum of 3 characters is permitted.
Control key
The SAP control key for each maintenance plan. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted.
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The default SAP order type for each planned maintenance. Users may override the default by typing a different ID into the
Order Type field of the Maintenance Plan Properties dialog. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted.
Strategy
The default strategy ID to be used when creating new strategy plans in SAP.
Equipment category
The default SAP equipment category to be used when building new equipments. A maximum of 1 character is permitted.
Plan category
The SAP maintenance plan category to use when building new plans. By default, the maintenance plan category is set to
PM.
System condition
The default system condition to be used when building a new maintenance plan item.
Key date
The key date to be used when building maintenance plans and their associated task lists
Sort field
The default sort field to be used when building maintenance plans
Business area
The SAP business area. This value is used when building functional locations, equipments and maintenance plans in the
SAP portal. A maximum of 4 characters is permitted.
Authorization group
The SAP authorization group to be used when building locations and equipments.
Cost center
The SAP cost center to be used when building locations and equipments
Priority
The default priority to be used when building a new maintenance plan item.
For users connecting via the SAP connector for Microsoft .NET the options allow users to log on with a user ID and
password or using single sign on. Load balancing may also be optionally specified.
For users connecting via SAP NetWeaver Web Services the options allow specification of the service address, user ID
and password.
Application server
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SAProuter string
The SAProuter string.
System number
The SAP system number.
Client
The SAP client number.
User
The default user name for SAP log on.
Load balancing
This flag indicates that load balancing is to be employed.
System ID
The system ID for load balancing.
Message server
The message server for load balancing
Group
The group name for load balancing.
Language
The language key (e.g. EN for English)
Single sign on
This flag indicates that connection should be made to SAP using single sign on.
Quality of protection
The quality of protection level for SAP single sign on.
SNC name
The SNC name for single sign on
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You can abort the download process at any time by selecting the SAP Download, Abort Download pull-down menu
option.
Once data has been downloaded you will be asked whether you wish to view data in the message log. The message log
contains a record of the download process and any errors that may have occurred during the download process.
Downloaded data is now part of your current project and will be retained when you save your project.
Building Data in RCMCost
Building Master Data
You can build RCM master data in the RCMCost module by selecting the RCM Build, Build RCMCost Master Data pull-
down menu option. Only objects that are checked in the SAP Portal tree control and dependent objects will be converted
to their equivalent RCMCost representations. SAP Portal master data objects that may be converted in this way are
technical objects, effects, ABC indicators (mapped as criticality rankings), labor, material groups, materials (mapped as
spares) and BOMs.
You may also build RCM causes in the RCMCost module by selecting the RCM Build, Build RCMCost Causes using
Forms pull-down menu option. This option allows the user to select individual causes from a list rather than have all
associated causes automatically assigned to technical objects in the RCMCost module.
Note that during the download process from your SAP system the Portal automatically joins notification data to the
appropriate maintenance orders. It will also download notifications that are not associated with a maintenance order as a
'pseudo maintenance order' entry in the Portal maintenance order table (so long as the Include notifications not
attached to work orders option is selected in the Download Options tab of the SAP Portal Options dialog).
Select the RCM Build, Calculate TTFs pull-down menu option to prompt the Portal to calculate times to failure for the
displayed work orders. The Portal calculates time to failures using the following steps:
Maintenance orders and notifications associated with a functional location in SAP, rather than an equipment, may be
identified with an equipment by the Portal if the functional location has a single equipment below it. To activate this
function select the Assign equipment to location only maintenance orders option in the SAP Portal Options dialog
(Download Options tab).
Note that if the Portal cannot determine a realistic TTF value for the work order (because consecutive work orders have
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the same date, for example) then the TTF calculated column of the grid control will be left un-checked and the TTF will
not be included in any subsequent Weibull set creation.
Users may choose to create single item or multiple item plans using the Create multiple item plans on upload option in
the Upload Options tab of the SAP Portal Options dialog. Each task group is uploaded to a single maintenance plan.
Uploaded maintenance items are associated with a single task list. Users may choose whether they wish to associate a
single operation to the task list or whether multiple operations should be associated with the task list. This is done by
choosing the appropriate Operation Grouping setting in the Upload Options tab of the SAP Portal Options dialog. If
the Group all tasks in a single operation option is selected, the Portal will group all the tasks associated with a
maintenance item into a single operation. If the Single operation for each task option is selected the Portal will create an
operation for each task. If the Group tasks by labor category option is selected each operation will contain all the tasks
associated with a particular labor category. If this option is used in conjunction with multiple item plans each item will
represent a different labor category. If the Assign operations manually option is selected operations must be added
manually by the user in the SAP Portal once the plan has been created.
Building a new maintenance plan in the SAP Portal typically consists of the following operations:
SAP maintenance plans are automatically assigned names identical to the original task group ID. General task lists are
also given the same group name as the task group ID by default when built in the SAP Portal for the first time. Equipment
and functional location task lists have their group names set to null in the portal (they will be allocated when uploaded to
SAP).
See Also
Work Instruction Document Formats
Before uploading data to SAP you should check the elements you wish to upload in the project tree control. Checking a
high level tree node will also check the tree nodes connected beneath it. To upload data select the SAP Upload, Upload
Master Data pull-down menu option. During data upload information and error messages will be displayed in message
strip at the bottom of the main window. A message log will be displayed when the upload is complete.
Alternatively you can upload individual items using the Upload button in the appropriate Properties dialog.
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SAP. Before uploading data to SAP you should check the maintenance plans you wish to upload in the project tree
control.. The Maintenance Plan Properties dialog will also allow you to create new plans individually using the Upload
Plan button. If the plan already exists in SAP the dialog will allow you to activate or deactivate a plan and set or remove
deletion flags for that plan.
Note that SAP requires single-cycle plan intervals to be multiples of 24 hour periods. The Portal will adjust RCMCost
intervals to comply with this requirement when building plans in the Portal.
The Maintenance Plan Properties dialog contains a Create Report button. Selecting this button will produce a Word
document containing data associated with the SAP plan and associated task group.
Maintenance plan reports are particularly useful if you wish to upload or modify SAP plans using the SAP GUI rather than
the AWB SAP Portal. You may also produce a report for all the plans in a single Word document by selecting the SAP
Build, Write Maintenance Plan Report pull-down menu option.
During data upload information and error messages will be displayed in the message area at the bottom of the main
window. A full message log will be displayed on completion of the upload process.
Performance data allow users to identify critical areas of a system where maintenance optimisation will potentially provide
the most benefit. The Performance plot is interactive allowing you to select bars in the plot area to drill down the hierarchy
and reveal associated data in the grid control.
Modifying Properties
Many of the properties of SAP Portal objects will not normally be modified by the user. They will have been downloaded
from SAP and play an important role in the analyzing of SAP data. For example classes and technical object types may be
used to group work orders for processing into Weibull sets that will be used in RCMCost for maintenance optimisation.
Some fields may be modified, however, if you are uploading data back into SAP. For example, you may wish to set a work
center or modify task list operation descriptions.
Library Comparisons
The SAP Maintenance Plan Properties and Task List Properties forms allow you to compare the properties of
matching plans and task lists in an attached library. This is useful if you have want to compare modified plans and task
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lists with data currently existing in a SAP system. The library must represent data directly downloaded from the SAP
system and the current project should represent SAP Portal data modified through the maintenance optimisation process
prior to upload to SAP. Fields are either color-coded or displayed for both the library and project data.
The SAP Portal will disable some of the fields in dialogs where there is no appropriate upload function to SAP.
During work instruction document generation, the SAP portal inserts tables into a copy of the template file and populates
these tables with task and resource data associated with the appropriate maintenance plan (task group). These tables are
at the beginning of the file.
To create this new function in your SAP system use the SAP GUI to copy the existing RFC_READ_TABLE function to a
new function named ZISO_READ_TABLE. This may be done using transaction SE37. Then copy the new source code
from below. The function should be identified as a Remote-enabled module in the Attributes tab for the function. Finally
save and activate the new function.
After creating the new function ensure that the Use custom read function option is checked in the General tab of the
SAP Portal Options dialog.
ZISO_READ_TABLE
FUNCTION ZISO_READ_TABLE.
*"--------------------------------------------------------------------
*"*"Local interface:
*" IMPORTING
*" VALUE(QUERY_TABLE) LIKE DD02L-TABNAME
*" VALUE(DELIMITER) LIKE SONV-FLAG DEFAULT SPACE
*" VALUE(NO_DATA) LIKE SONV-FLAG DEFAULT SPACE
*" VALUE(ROWSKIPS) LIKE SOID-ACCNT DEFAULT 0
*" VALUE(ROWCOUNT) LIKE SOID-ACCNT DEFAULT 0
*" TABLES
*" OPTIONS STRUCTURE RFC_DB_OPT
*" FIELDS STRUCTURE RFC_DB_FLD
*" DATA STRUCTURE TAB512
*" EXCEPTIONS
*" TABLE_NOT_AVAILABLE
*" TABLE_WITHOUT_DATA
*" OPTION_NOT_VALID
*" FIELD_NOT_VALID
*" NOT_AUTHORIZED
*" DATA_BUFFER_EXCEEDED
*"--------------------------------------------------------------------
"
CALL FUNCTION 'VIEW_AUTHORITY_CHECK'
EXPORTING
VIEW_ACTION = 'S'
VIEW_NAME = QUERY_TABLE
EXCEPTIONS
NO_AUTHORITY =2
NO_CLIENTINDEPENDENT_AUTHORITY = 2
NO_LINEDEPENDENT_AUTHORITY = 2
OTHERS = 1.
IF SY-SUBRC = 2.
RAISE NOT_AUTHORIZED.
ELSEIF SY-SUBRC = 1.
RAISE TABLE_NOT_AVAILABLE.
ENDIF.
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* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* find out about the structure of QUERY_TABLE
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA BEGIN OF TABLE_STRUCTURE OCCURS 10.
INCLUDE STRUCTURE DFIES.
DATA END OF TABLE_STRUCTURE.
"DATA TABLE_HEADER LIKE X030L.
DATA TABLE_TYPE TYPE DD02V-TABCLASS.
CALL FUNCTION 'DDIF_FIELDINFO_GET'
EXPORTING
TABNAME = QUERY_TABLE
* FIELDNAME =''
* LANGU = SY-LANGU
* LFIELDNAME =''
* ALL_TYPES =''
* GROUP_NAMES =''
IMPORTING
* X030L_WA =
DDOBJTYPE = TABLE_TYPE
* DFIES_WA =
* LINES_DESCR =
TABLES
DFIES_TAB = TABLE_STRUCTURE
* FIXED_VALUES =
EXCEPTIONS
NOT_FOUND =1
INTERNAL_ERROR =2
OTHERS =3
.
IF SY-SUBRC <> 0.
RAISE TABLE_NOT_AVAILABLE.
ENDIF.
IF TABLE_TYPE = 'INTTAB'.
RAISE TABLE_WITHOUT_DATA.
ENDIF.
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* isolate first field of DATA as output field
* (i.e. allow for changes to structure DATA!)
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA LINE_LENGTH TYPE I.
FIELD-SYMBOLS <D>.
ASSIGN COMPONENT 0 OF STRUCTURE DATA TO <D>.
DESCRIBE FIELD <D> LENGTH LINE_LENGTH in character mode.
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* if FIELDS are not specified, read all available fields
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA NUMBER_OF_FIELDS TYPE I.
DESCRIBE TABLE FIELDS LINES NUMBER_OF_FIELDS.
IF NUMBER_OF_FIELDS = 0.
LOOP AT TABLE_STRUCTURE.
MOVE TABLE_STRUCTURE-FIELDNAME TO FIELDS-FIELDNAME.
APPEND FIELDS.
ENDLOOP.
ENDIF.
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* for each field which has to be read, copy structure information
* into tables FIELDS_INT (internal use) and FIELDS (output)
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA: BEGIN OF FIELDS_INT OCCURS 10,
FIELDNAME LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-FIELDNAME,
TYPE LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-INTTYPE,
DECIMALS LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-DECIMALS,
LENGTH_SRC LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-INTLEN,
LENGTH_DST LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-LENG,
OFFSET_SRC LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-OFFSET,
OFFSET_DST LIKE TABLE_STRUCTURE-OFFSET,
END OF FIELDS_INT,
LINE_CURSOR TYPE I.
LINE_CURSOR = 0.
* for each field which has to be read ...
LOOP AT FIELDS.
READ TABLE TABLE_STRUCTURE WITH KEY FIELDNAME = FIELDS-FIELDNAME.
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IF SY-SUBRC NE 0.
RAISE FIELD_NOT_VALID.
ENDIF.
* compute the place for field contents in DATA rows:
* if not first field in row, allow space for delimiter
IF LINE_CURSOR <> 0.
IF NO_DATA EQ SPACE AND DELIMITER NE SPACE.
MOVE DELIMITER TO DATA+LINE_CURSOR.
ENDIF.
LINE_CURSOR = LINE_CURSOR + STRLEN( DELIMITER ).
ENDIF.
* ... copy structure information into tables FIELDS_INT
* (which is used internally during SELECT) ...
FIELDS_INT-FIELDNAME = TABLE_STRUCTURE-FIELDNAME.
FIELDS_INT-LENGTH_SRC = TABLE_STRUCTURE-INTLEN.
FIELDS_INT-LENGTH_DST = TABLE_STRUCTURE-LENG.
FIELDS_INT-OFFSET_SRC = TABLE_STRUCTURE-OFFSET.
FIELDS_INT-OFFSET_DST = LINE_CURSOR.
FIELDS_INT-TYPE = TABLE_STRUCTURE-INTTYPE.
FIELDS_INT-DECIMALS = TABLE_STRUCTURE-DECIMALS.
* compute the place for contents of next field in DATA rows
LINE_CURSOR = LINE_CURSOR + TABLE_STRUCTURE-LENG.
IF LINE_CURSOR > LINE_LENGTH AND NO_DATA EQ SPACE.
RAISE DATA_BUFFER_EXCEEDED.
ENDIF.
APPEND FIELDS_INT.
* ... and into table FIELDS (which is output to the caller)
FIELDS-FIELDTEXT = TABLE_STRUCTURE-FIELDTEXT.
FIELDS-TYPE = TABLE_STRUCTURE-INTTYPE.
FIELDS-LENGTH = FIELDS_INT-LENGTH_DST.
FIELDS-OFFSET = FIELDS_INT-OFFSET_DST.
MODIFY FIELDS.
ENDLOOP.
* end of loop at FIELDS
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* read data from the database and copy relevant portions into DATA
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
* output data only if NO_DATA equals space (otherwise the structure
* information in FIELDS is the only result of the module)
IF NO_DATA EQ SPACE.
*DATA: BEGIN OF WORK, BUFFER(30000), END OF WORK.
*MODIFICATION FROM STANDARD FUNCTION
DATA: BEGIN OF WORK, BUFFER(30000), F TYPE F, END OF WORK.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <WA> TYPE ANY, <COMP> TYPE ANY.
ASSIGN WORK TO <WA> CASTING TYPE (QUERY_TABLE).
IF ROWCOUNT > 0.
ROWCOUNT = ROWCOUNT + ROWSKIPS.
ENDIF.
SELECT * FROM (QUERY_TABLE) INTO <WA> WHERE (OPTIONS).
IF SY-DBCNT GT ROWSKIPS.
* copy all relevant fields into DATA (output) table
LOOP AT FIELDS_INT.
IF FIELDS_INT-TYPE = 'P'.
ASSIGN COMPONENT FIELDS_INT-FIELDNAME
OF STRUCTURE <WA> TO <COMP>
TYPE FIELDS_INT-TYPE
DECIMALS FIELDS_INT-DECIMALS.
ELSE.
ASSIGN COMPONENT FIELDS_INT-FIELDNAME
OF STRUCTURE <WA> TO <COMP>
TYPE FIELDS_INT-TYPE.
ENDIF.
MOVE <COMP> TO
<D>+FIELDS_INT-OFFSET_DST(FIELDS_INT-LENGTH_DST).
ENDLOOP.
* end of loop at FIELDS_INT
APPEND DATA.
IF ROWCOUNT > 0 AND SY-DBCNT GE ROWCOUNT. EXIT. ENDIF.
ENDIF.
ENDSELECT.
ENDIF.
ENDFUNCTION.
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The Download Utility dialog will be displayed allowing you to specify a Sap table or view, the fields you wish to download
and an optional where clause. For example specifying the table IFLO and the fields TPLNR and PLTXT will allow you to
download functional location names and descriptions. You might also specify an optional where clause such as SPRAS
LIKE 'E' to only download rows relating to the English language. Note that you should not include the word WHERE as
this is automatically added to the where clause specified by the user. If you wish to download all the fields in a table then
you may select the All fields check box. This may result in an exception if there are many fields in the Sap table you have
specified. In such cases you will need to specify the fields explicitly.
The Download Utility dialog allows the user to limit the number of rows downloaded from the database and listed in the
dialog by setting the Maximum download rows and Maximum list rows values respectively.
Data is downloaded when the Download Data button is selected. After data download is complete you may export the
data to a comma delimited file by selecting the Export Results to File button.
Connecting to SAP using Web Services
If you wish to connect to SAP using Web Services you must first create two services.within the SAP system. One web
service needs to be set up for the SAP function RFC_READ_TABLE (for downloading data into AWB) and another for the
SAP function RFC_CALL_TRANSACTION_USING. These services may be created using the SAP GUI.
Use transaction SE37 to access each SAP Function in turn. After displaying the appropriate function select the Utilities,
More Utilities, Create Web Service, From the Function Module pull-down menu option. Enter a service definition of
ZISO_RFC_READ_TABLE or ZISO_CALL_TRANSACTION_USING depending on which service you are creating. Use
the default settings in the subsequent dialogs but check the Release Service for Runtime option.
Once the web services have been created they may be viewed using the WSADMIN transaction code. If you select the
ZISO_RFC_READ_TABLE service and then select the Web Service, WSDL pull-down menu option, the SAP GUI will
display the WSDL for that web service using the web service address. This address may be copied into the Service
address field of the SAP Portal Options Dialog (Connection tab).
Performance plots display data originating from the maintenance orders and notifications downloaded from SAP.
Plot type
The type of performance plot. Options are:
Cost
Activity count
Task duration
The Cost plot type is based on maintenance costs calculated by the SAP system. The Activity count plot type is based
on the number of maintenance activities performed. The Task duration plot type is based on the duration of maintenance
activities.
Object type
The object type for which performance data is to be displayed. The SAP Portal processes performance data originating
from maintenance orders and assigns this data to dependent object types.
Show grid
If this option is selected the background grid will be displayed in the plot area.
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If this option is checked descriptions will be used for labels rather than IDs.
Profile plots display performance data over a time range based on the dates associated with maintenance orders and
notifications.
Plot type
The type of profile plot. Options are:
Cost
Activity count
Task duration
The Cost plot type is based on maintenance costs calculated by the SAP system. The Activity count plot type is based
on the number of maintenance activities performed. The Task duration plot type is based on the duration of maintenance
activities.
Interval
The interval at which to display profile data.
Automatic
If this option is checked the time range will be based on the dates of all the maintenance orders in the current project.
Start date
The start date for which to display data
End date
The end date for which to display data
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Requirements
Before using the AWB MAXIMO Portal you will need to install the integration objects that allow AWB to upload and
download data using web services. Further information is provided in the sections Maximo 6.2 - Importing Integration
Objects and Interfaces (for Maximo V6.2) or Maximo 7.0 - Importing Object Structures (for Maximo V7.0).
MAXIMO Logon
Before entering the MAXIMO Portal ensure that the AWB project you wish to download data to, or upload data from, is
already open. Then select the File, ERP Portal, MAXIMO Portal pull-down menu option. You will then be presented with
the MAXIMO Logon dialog. If you have previously entered logon details for your MAXIMO system, and saved these
details to a MAXIMO Portal template file, these details will already be entered (except for the password). Enter the
password and select the Log on button to connect to MAXIMO.
Typically the data extraction operation may take a few minutes and so the Portal provides a facility to save an image of
this data once it has been obtained. This is useful if you intend to re-enter the portal frequently for downloading data and
the MAXIMO database is not likely to have changed since the last refresh operation. Images may be saved to a file using
the Connection, Save MAXIMO Data Image pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. They may later be
retrieved using the Connection, Open MAXIMO Data Image pull-down menu option. If you are using the portal to upload
information to MAXIMO you should refresh the MAXIMO image between separate upload operations unless the
operations are unrelated.
If you wish to distinguish assets from functional locations in the AWB location hierarchy you must assign an equipment
type to each root location in your AWB project before entering the Portal. If an equipment type is assigned to a location in
AWB the location ID will be used as the asset ID in MAXIMO. Users must ensure that MAXIMO naming conventions for
functional locations and assets are adhered to.
MAXIMO failure classes, codes and causes are determined by grouping causes belonging to the same equipment types
and functional failure categories in the current AWB project. Failure classes will be attached to the appropriate assets.
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Before populating the tree control the Portal will check to see if the locations, assets and failure classes originating from
the AWB RCMCost module already exist in MAXIMO. The Portal will color code data items that already exist in MAXIMO
in the tree control.
Once data is displayed in the tree control, nodes may be expanded or collapsed using the + and - icons to the left of
each node, or by selecting a node and using the View, Expand Tree or View, Collapse Tree pull-down menu options.
You should then select the functional locations, assets and failure classes you wish to upload. Selection of a high level
tree node will also select the tree nodes connected beneath it. To upload data select the Upload Data, Upload Selected
Master Data to MAXIMO pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button.
During data upload information and error messages will be displayed in the list to the right of the tree control. If you wish
to clear these messages after the upload has been completed select the View, Clear Messages pull-down menu option.
Functional locations will only be displayed for the organization and site specified in the General tab of the MAXIMO Portal
Options dialog. Functional location and asset attributes must also match the filter values set in the Master Data tab of the
MAXIMO Portal Options dialog.
Once data is displayed in the tree controls, nodes may be expanded or collapsed using the + and - icons to the left of
each node, or by selecting a node and using the View, Expand Tree or View, Collapse Tree pull-down menu options.
Selection of the Download Data, Download Selected Master Data to AWB pull-down menu option will download
selected functional locations, assets, labor, equipment (tools), spares and BOMs. Note that Maximo crafts are downloaded
to RCMCost labor types. Individual Maximo craft skills are downloaded to the RCMCost labor table. Each craft skill is
given an ID int the format CRAFTID-CRAFTSKILLID when downloaded to RCMCost. This naming convention must also
be used when uploading labor resources as part of a Maximo job plan.
Selection of the Download Data, Download Causes to AWB pull-down menu option will download selected failure
classes to the appropriate location in the AWB project.
Selection of the Download Data, Download Selected Maintenance Task(s) to AWB pull-down menu option reveals the
Preventive Maintenance dialog for the selected PM or job plan. Note that this download function applies to a single
selection and so the PM or job plan must be selected (highlighted in dark blue and not just checked). This dialog enables
users to download the associated job plans. To download one ore more job plans to a task in AWB first select the
appropriate MAXIMO job plan in one of the tabs (if there are multiple job plans associated with the PM) and then select
the Download Job Plan button. The Link MAXIMO Job Plan to AWB Task dialog will then appear allowing you to
specify the existing AWB cause and task to attach the MAXIMO job plan(s) to. You may create a new task in the AWB
project or choose an existing task. If a new task is created then the task will be associated with an AWB task group with
the same name as the MAXIMO PM.
During data download information and error messages will be displayed in the list to the right of the tree controls. If you
wish to clear these messages after the upload has been completed select the View, Clear Messages pull-down menu
option.
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You may use the Maximo Portal to upload task groups as PMs and their associated job plans. Different schemes are
available to upload all tasks in a task group to a single job plan or to upload individual tasks to a PM sequence or a route
stop. A PM hierarchy may also be created by matching task group types to parent PMs in Maximo. If all tasks are
uploaded to a single PM the Portal will provide the option to group all the tasks associated with a task group into a single
MAXIMO document attached to the job plan associated with the PM.
The PM Upload tab of the MAXIMO Portal enables users to view PMs (task groups) originating from AWB and upload all
or a selection of these PMs to MAXIMO. This facility may be used to create new PMs or modify existing PMs.
Create a document in MAXIMO for operation to be uploaded (if Attach work instruction document to PM option
is selected)
Create a work instruction document in Microsoft Word format (if Attach work instruction document to PM option
is selected)
Create a job plan with the appropriate job tasks and resources
Assign the document to the job plan (if Attach work instruction document to PM option is selected)
Create the PM and assign the job plan to the PM
Create a route in Maximo with a route stop for each RCMCost task
Create a job plan for each route stop and assign the appropriate resources to the job plan
Create the PM and assign the route to the PM
Creating a PM hierarchy
If the Create PM hierarchy option is selected in the PM tab of the Maximo Portal Options dialog the Portal will create
parent PMs to match the task group type structure in the AWB project.
PM naming
MAXIMO PMs will be assigned names identical to the original task group and task group type IDs in AWB.
Displaying PMs
Before uploading PMs to MAXIMO you must first select the Connection, Refresh Data pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button to build an image of the data in your MAXIMO system.. Alternatively, select the Connection,
Open MAXIMO Data Image pull-down menu option to open a previously saved data image. Once this data image has
been obtained the Portal will populate the top grid control with the PMs (task groups) originating from the current AWB
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project. Maintenance plans that already exists in MAXIMO are color coded. Non-matching intervals are also color coded.
The grid control at the bottom of the MAXIMO Portal screen is populated with PMs that exist in MAXIMO but do not match
the IDs of task groups originating from AWB.
Uploading PMs
Selection of the Upload Data, Upload PMs to MAXIMO pull-down menu option prompts the Portal to display the
Preventive Maintenance dialog for all plans with the Upload to MAXIMO check-box selected in the grid control. The
Preventive Maintenance dialog will allow you to create new PMs and modify existing PMs using the Upload PM button.
Note that MAXIMO requires intervals to be multiples of 24 hour periods. The Portal will adjust AWB intervals to comply
with this requirement.
The MAXIMO Portal also contains a facility to produce a PM report containing data associated with the MAXIMO PMs and
the associated AWB task groups. PM reports are particularly useful if you wish to upload or modify MAXIMO PMs from
within MAXIMO rather than the AWB MAXIMO Portal. You may produce a report for all the plans in a single Word
document by selecting the Upload Data, PM Report pull-down menu option. The Preventive Maintenance dialog
contains a Next PM button allowing users to move to the next selected PM without making any further uploads.
During data upload information and error messages will be displayed in the list to the right of the tree control. If you wish
to clear these messages after the upload has been completed select the View, Clear Messages pull-down menu option.
If the Portal was unable to complete any of the necessary steps of writing documents, uploading plans, uploading tasks or
uploading technical documents this will be indicated in the appropriate columns of the top grid.
See Also
Work Instruction Document Formats
Analytics
The Analytics tab of the MAXIMO Portal enables users to analyze work orders in the connected MAXIMO system and
download historical failure data into AWB Weibull sets. The Analytics tab is organized into a plot area (top left), an asset
grid control (top right) and a work order grid control (bottom). The plot area may alternatively display messages when
downloading data from MAXIMO.
After obtaining an image of the data in your MAXIMO system you will be able to click on data displayed in the plot area to
drill down to the asset you wish to analyze. You will also be able to review all the data associated with an asset class.
During data download information and error messages will be displayed in the top left of the Analytics tab. Once the data
download is complete the message area will be replaced with a plot showing analytics data. You can toggle between
displaying the messages and displaying the analytics plot by selecting the View, Show Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button.
The Location combo-box may be used to filter data for Location and Asset plot types. This combo-box also applies a
location filter to assets displayed in the grid control to the right of the plot area.
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You may also affect various settings by pressing the mouse button with the cursor positioned over a bar in the plot area.
For example, selecting a location bar will automatically drill down one level in the location hierarchy.
Select the Download Data, Calculate TTFs pull-down menu option to prompt the Portal to calculate times to failure for
the displayed work orders. The Portal calculates time to failures using the following steps:
Note that if the Portal cannot determine a realistic TTF value for the work order (because consecutive work orders have
the same date, for example) then the TTF calculated column of the grid control will be left un-checked and the TTF will
not be included in any subsequent download to AWB.
Portal options are saved in template files. If you are accessing more than one MAXIMO system then you can save
separate template files to represent logon details and other options associated with each system. MAXIMO portal
templates may be created, saved and opened by selecting the New Template, Open Template, Save Template and
Save Template As options on the Options pull-down menu.
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Organization
The MAXIMO organization. This value is used when uploading and downloading data to and from MAXIMO. A maximum
of 8 characters is permitted.
Site
The MAXIMO site. This value is used when uploading and downloading data to and from MAXIMO. A maximum of 8
characters is permitted.
Upload scheme
The upload schemes available are
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Uploading a new PM to MAXIMO using the Map RCMCost task to Maximo job task scheme consists of the following
operations:
Create a document in MAXIMO for operation to be uploaded (if Attach work instruction document to PM option
is selected)
Create a work instruction document in Microsoft Word format (if Attach work instruction document to PM option
is selected)
Create a job plan with the appropriate job tasks and resources
Assign the document to the job plan (if Attach work instruction document to PM option is selected)
Create the PM and assign the job plan to the PM
Uploading a new PM to MAXIMO using the Map RCMCost task to Maximo route stop scheme consists of the following
operations:
Create a route in Maximo with a route stop for each RCMCost task
Create a job plan for each route stop and assign the appropriate resources to the job plan
Create the PM and assign the route to the PM
Uploading a new PM to MAXIMO using the Map RCMCost task to Maximo job sequence scheme consists of the
following operations:
Create PM hierarchy
If the Create PM hierarchy option is selected in the PM tab of the Maximo Portal Options dialog the Portal will create
parent PMs to match the task group type structure in the AWB project.
Document type
The MAXIMO document type to be used when uploading work instructions. A maximum of 16 characters is permitted.
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MAXIMO version
The version of MAXIMO you are connecting to.
User
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During work instruction document generation, the MAXIMO portal inserts tables into a copy of the template file and
populates these tables with task and resource data associated with the appropriate PM (task group). These tables are at
the beginning of the file.
IBM WebSphere must be configured with the additional JMS features in the WebSphere administrative console. These
configuration tasks include creating the JMS bus and configuring the various options for supporting the sequential
inbound, sequential outbound and the continuous outbound queues. These steps are fully described in Appendix B1 of the
IBM Maximo Installation Guide.
The Maximo Enterprise Adapter basic configuration is described in chapter 6 of the IBM Maximo Enterprise Adapter
System Administrators Guide.
The pre-requisites below have been determined by extensive testing on a clean Maximo 6.2 system.
Maximo 6.2 import processes are complex and the order described below must be adhered to !
The integration external system, interfaces and objects are defined in three xml files: extsys.xml, interface.xml and
object.xml. These are located in the Availability Workbench program directory.
The IBM WebSphere administration console URL is of the form http://<maximo hostname>:<websphere port>/ibm/console
(e.g. http://sun:9060/ibm/console). The Maximo Administrator administration console URL is of the form http://<maximo
hostname>:<maximo port>/maximo (e.g. http://sun:9080/maximo). These examples are based on the default installation
ports.
Please note: if you already have the Availability Workbench V1 web services installed then please proceed to Importing
the Integration Objects, Interfaces and External System.
Pre-Requisites
1. Ensure that a web service end point MXWEBSERVICE exists before import. This is required by the extsys.xml
import file. To add the end point:
a. In the Maximo Administrator select Go To Integration External Systems.
b. Select the Filter Table icon to display all the external systems.
c. Select the built-in EXTSYS1 external system.
d. From the Select Action drop-down list select the Add/Modify End Point option to display the Add/Modify
End Point dialog.
e. If the end point MXWEBSERVICE of type WEB SERVICE does not exist then proceed with the following
instructions.
f. Select New Row.
g. Enter the End Point name (highlighted) as MXWEBSERVICE.
h. Select the Handler select icon to display the Select Value dialog and select WEBSERVICE.
i. The end point properties are now displayed below the New Row button.
j. Enter the following properties:
i. ENDPOINTURL - http://<maximo hostname>:<maximo_port>/meaweb/services (e.g.
http://sun:9080/meaweb/services)
ii. TARGETNAMESPACE - http://www.mro.com/mx/wsdl
iii. WSEXIT - psdi.iface.router.DefaultWSExit
k. Select OK to save the new end point.
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Please note: if you already have the Availability Workbench V1 web services installed then these steps must be repeated
so that the web services can be upgraded. However the existing web services do not require re-deployment in step 4 -
only new web services need to be deployed.
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When you have deployed all the interfaces the import process is complete and you may now access Maximo data using
Availability Workbench.
Unlike Maximo 6.2 the import process is simple and will work with Maximo as installed out of the box, with the proviso
that the Migration Manager is installed.
The integration object structures, enterprise services and external system are defined in three zip files:
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip,
AWB_ENTERPRISE_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip
AWB_EXTERNAL_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip (where NNN is a non-constant version
number)
These are located in the Availability Workbench program directory. Please note: DO NOT rename these files or the
import process will fail.
Please ensure that you have a backup of the current Maximo database before performing these operations.
1. Select Upload Package from the Select Action drop-down list to display the Upload Package dialog.
2. Select Browse to display the Choose File dialog. Select the
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip file from the Availability Workbench program
directory and then select OK.
3. Select Deploy Package from the Select Action drop-down list to display the Deploy Package dialog.
4. Check the Do you have a current backup? check box and then select Deploy to display the Electronic Signature
Authentication dialog.
5. Enter the Password and the Reason for change and then select OK.
6. The Please Wait dialog is displayed as the package is imported. When the Processing Complete message is
displayed you should see the status message Package
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN deployed successfully displayed.
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7. Select OK to dismiss the Please Wait dialog. The object structure import is complete.
8. Repeat steps 1 through to 7 for the files AWB_ENTERPRISE_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip
and AWB_EXTERNAL_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip. Please note that the files must be
imported in order.
1. Select the Create Web Service-Create WS From Enterprise Service option from the Select Action drop-down list to
display the Create Web Service from an Enterprise Service Definition dialog.
2. You will see all the Availability Workbench enterprise services (for example AWB_EXTSYS_AWB_LOCATIONS)
displayed. There are 37 in total.
3. Select the check box to the left of each enterprise service in turn. Only select those prefixed with AWB_. Select
the right arrow button on the toolbar (to the right of the 1-20 of N label) to page through the services.
4. When all the enterprise services have been selected select CREATE to create the web services. The dialog will be
closed and you will see the web service list displayed in the main window.
5. Enter AWB in the Name text box (just below the Web Services Library banner).
6. Select the Filter Table button on the toolbar (to the right of the Filter label) to display only the web services
beginning with AWB.
7. Select the Select Records check box (at the bottom left of the web service list). This displays all the web services
with a check box to the left.
8. Select the check box to the left of the Name label (just below the Web Services Library banner). This will
automatically select all the web services.
9. Select the Deploy Web Service option from the Select Action drop-down list to deploy all the web services.
When you have deployed all the web services the import process is complete and you may now access Maximo data
using Availability Workbench
Unlike Maximo 6.2 the import process is relatively straightforward (although more complex than Maximo 7.1) and will
work with Maximo installed out of the box , with the proviso that the Migration Manager is installed and the
mxe.int.containerdeploy system property modified.
The integration object structures, enterprise services and external system are defined in three zip files:
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip
AWB_ENTERPRISE_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip
AWB_EXTERNAL_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip (where NNN is a non-constant version
number).
These are located in the Availability Workbench program directory. Please note: DO NOT rename these files or the
import process will fail.
Please ensure that you have a backup of the current Maximo database before performing these operations.
1. Select Upload Package from the Select Action drop-down list to display the Upload Package dialog.
2. Select Browse to display the Choose File dialog. Select the
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip file from the Availability Workbench program
directory and then select OK.
3. Select Deploy Package from the Select Action drop-down list to display the Deploy Package dialog.
4. Check the Do you have a current backup? check box and then select Deploy to display the Electronic Signature
Authentication dialog.
5. Enter the Password and the Reason for change and then select OK.
6. The Please Wait dialog is displayed as the package is imported. When the Processing Complete message is
displayed you should see the status message Package
AWB_OBJECTS_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN deployed successfully displayed.
7. Select OK to dismiss the Please Wait dialog. The object structure import is complete.
8. Repeat steps 1 through to 7 for the files AWB_ENTERPRISE_V2_MAXIMO7ENT_MAXDB71_MAXIMO_NNN.zip
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1. Select the Filter button and enter containerdeploy in the Property Name. Select the Filter Table button (to the right
of the Filter button). The mxe.int.containerdeploy global property is displayed in the list.
2. Select the right arrow button next to the property to drop-down the property details.
3. If the Global Value is 1 it is necessary to change it to 0 so that the web service is deployed to the product web
services container rather than the application server web services container.
4. Change the Global Value to 0 and then select the Save Property button (to the right of the Select Action drop-
down) to save the property.
5. Now restart the Maximo application server using the WebSphere console.
1. Select the Create Web Service-Create WS From Enterprise Service option from the Select Action drop-down list to
display the Create Web Service from an Enterprise Service Definition dialog.
2. You will see all the Availability Workbench enterprise services (for example AWB_EXTSYS_AWB_LOCATIONS)
displayed. There are 37 in total.
3. Select the check box to the left of each enterprise service in turn. Only select those prefixed with AWB_. Select
the right arrow button on the toolbar (to the right of the 1-20 of N label) to page through the services.
4. When all the enterprise services have been selected select CREATE to create the web services. The dialog will be
closed and you will see the web service list displayed in the main window.
5. Enter AWB in the Name text box (just below the Web Services Library banner).
6. Select the Filter Table button on the toolbar (to the right of the Filter label) to display only the web services
beginning with AWB.
7. Select the Select Records check box (at the bottom left of the web service list). This displays all the web services
with a check box to the left.
8. Select the check box to the left of the Name label (just below the Web Services Library banner). This will
automatically select all the web services.
9. Select the Deploy Web Service option from the Select Action drop-down list to deploy all the web services.
When you have deployed all the web services the import process is complete and you may now access Maximo data
using Availability Workbench.
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Overview Page 1 of 5
Requirements
Before using the AWB Ellipse Portal you will need to set up a link to your Ellipse database using the Windows ODBC Data
Source Administrator. The Ellipse Portal connects to the Ellipse database using the Data Source Name.
Ellipse Logon
Before entering the Ellipse Portal ensure that the AWB project you wish to download data to is already open. Then select
the File, ERP Portal, Ellipse Portal pull-down menu option. You will then be presented with the Ellipse Logon dialog. If
you have previously entered logon details for your Ellipse system, and saved these details to a Ellipse Portal template file,
these details will already be entered (except for the password). Enter the password and select the Log on button to
connect to Ellipse.
Typically the data extraction operation may take a few minutes and so the Portal provides a facility to save an image of
this data once it has been obtained. This is useful if you intend to re-enter the portal frequently for downloading data and
the Ellipse database is not likely to have changed since the last refresh operation. Images may be saved to a file using the
Connection, Save Ellipse Data Image pull-down menu option or equivalent toolbar button. They may later be retrieved
using the Connection, Open Ellipse Data Image pull-down menu option.
Functional locations will only be displayed for the district code specified in the General tab of the Ellipse Portal Options
dialog. Functional location and equipment attributes must also match the filter values set in the Master Data tab of the
Ellipse Portal Options dialog.
Once data is displayed in the tree controls, nodes may be expanded or collapsed using the + and - icons to the left of
each node, or by selecting a node and using the View, Expand Tree or View, Collapse Tree pull-down menu options.
Selection of the Download Data, Download Selected Master Data to AWB pull-down menu option will download
selected functional locations, equipments and resources.
Selection of the Download Data, Download Root Causes to AWB pull-down menu option will download selected root
failure codes to the appropriate location in the AWB project.
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Selection of the Download Data, Download Selected Maintenance Task(s) to AWB pull-down menu option reveals the
Scheduled Maintenance Task dialog for the selected plan. This dialog enables users to download the associated
standard job tasks and resources. To download all Ellipse tasks to a single AWB task select the Download All button. To
download selected Ellipse tasks to a single AWB task first select the appropriate Ellipse tasks in Standard Job Tasks tab
and then select the Download Selected Tasks button. The Link Ellipse Task to AWB Task dialog will then appear
allowing you to specify the existing AWB cause and task to attach the Ellipse task(s) to. You may create a new task in the
AWB project or choose an existing task.
During data download information and error messages will be displayed in the list to the right of the tree controls. If you
wish to clear these messages after the upload has been completed select the View, Clear Messages pull-down menu
option.
Analytics
The Analytics tab of the Ellipse Portal enables users to analyze work orders in the connected Ellipse system and
download historical failure data into AWB Weibull sets. The Analytics tab is organized into a plot area (top left), an
equipment grid control (top right) and a work order grid control (bottom). The plot area may alternatively display messages
when downloading data from Ellipse.
After obtaining an image of the data in your Ellipse system you will be able to click on data displayed in the plot area to
drill down to the equipment you wish to analyze. You will also be able to review all the data associated with an equipment
group.
During data download information and error messages will be displayed in the top left of the Analytics tab. Once the data
download is complete the message area will be replaced with a plot showing analytics data. You can toggle between
displaying the messages and displaying the analytics plot by selecting the View, Show Plot pull-down menu option or
equivalent toolbar button.
The Location combo-box may be used to filter data for Location and Equipment plot types. This combo-box also applies
a location filter to equipments displayed in the grid control to the right of the plot area.
You may also affect various settings by pressing the mouse button with the cursor positioned over a bar in the plot area.
For example, selecting a location bar will automatically drill down one level in the location hierarchy.
Select the Download Data, Calculate TTFs pull-down menu option to prompt the Portal to calculate times to failure for
the displayed work orders. The Portal calculates time to failures using the following steps:
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Note that if the Portal cannot determine a realistic TTF value for the work order (because consecutive work orders have
the same date, for example) then the TTF calculated column of the grid control will be left un-checked and the TTF will
not be included in any subsequent download to AWB.
Portal options are saved in template files. If you are accessing more than one Ellipse system then you can save separate
template files to represent logon details and other options associated with each system. Ellipse portal templates may be
created, saved and opened by selecting the New Template, Open Template, Save Template and Save Template As
options on the Options pull-down menu.
District code
The Ellipse district code. This value is used as a filter when downloading data from Ellipse.
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The minimum width to be used for analytics plots. If the plot will not fit into the available space in the plot area the Portal
will display scroll bars to allow the user to view hidden areas of the plot.
DSN
The Ellipse Data Source Name specified in the Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator.
User
The default user name for Ellipse logon.
Table prefix
Specifies the prefix to Ellipse database tables. For example if the Ellipse tables commence with MSF then no prefix should
be specified. However, if tables begin with Ellipse_MSF the prefix 'Ellipse_' should be specified.
The Download Utility dialog will be displayed allowing you to specify an Ellipse table or view, the fields you wish to
download and an optional where clause. For example specifying the table MSF600and the fields EQUIP_NOand
PLANT_NO will allow you to download equipment names and plant numbers. You might also specify an optional where
clause such as DSTRCT_CODE=1234 to only download rows relating to the specified district. Note that you should not
include the word WHERE as this is automatically added to the where clause specified by the user. If you wish to download
all the fields in a table then you may select the All fields check box.
The Download Utility dialog allows the user to limit the number of rows downloaded from the database and listed in the
dialog by setting the Maximum download rows and Maximum list rows values respectively.
Data is downloaded when the Download Data button is selected. After data download is complete you may export the
data to a comma delimited file by selecting the Export Results to File button.
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The Dynamic Link Library - Overview Page 1 of 7
In addition to accessing data you may also programmatically request the AWB DLL to perform simulations and
calculations. The following simulations and calculations may be performed:
The Availability Workbench DLL is a .NET assembly that runs under the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0. No
separate installation is necessary to access the DLL. The DLL is part of the AvailabilityWorkbench.exe file. You will,
however, require a DLL license to access the main functionality of the DLL. In addition, if you use any of the analysis or
simulation methods provided by the DLL you will require the appropriate module license.
In addition to the Availability Workbench DLL you will also require a .NET assembly development tool such as Microsofts
Visual Studio.
A DataSet object may be initially populated with the very minimum of default data for a project by calling the DataSet New
method. This method would be called if you are intending to populate a project with data from scratch.
A DataSet object may also be initially populated with data using the DataSet Read method. In this case data is extracted
from an existing Availability Workbench project file.
The DataSet class provides methods for writing and reading data to and from the DataSet. Tables and columns in the
DataSet are identified by unique string identifiers. These identifiers are listed in the document Availability Workbench DLL
Reference Manual.
If you wish to write modified project data to a new or existing Availability Workbench project file then simply call the
DataSet Write method. If you wish to validate the data first then call the DataSet Verify method.
The Availability Workbench DLL DataSet class also provides methods for performing simulations and analyzing data. You
must have the appropriate module licenses to use these methods. The analysis and simulation methods are:
RCMPerformSystemAnalysisRun
RCMPerformAutoTaskOptimizationRun
RCMPerformAutoTaskGroupOptimizationRun
AvsimPerformRun
WeibullPerformAnalysis
LCCPerformAnalysis
ProcessPerformAnalysis
Only create one instance of the DataSet class during a program session. If necessary use the New method to
clear all the project tables.
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A sample project AWBDllSample is also provided with the Availability Workbench installation and illustrates the creation
of structured data.
DataSet Class
Constructor
DataSet()
Constructor method. Initializes a new instance of the DataSet class. Automatically creates the tables and columns that
represent the Availability Workbench project schema.
Public Methods
void TerminateLicense()
Terminates the current license and releases it to other users.
int TableCount()
Returns the total number of tables in the project schema.
bool New()
Populates a DataSet with basic project data.
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string[] Verify()
Checks data contained in the DataSet tables for errors.
public void EnterpriseSetBindingConfiguration(string bindingConfiguration, string scheme, string host, int port,
string userPrincipalName)
Sets the binding configuration of the Enterprise System
bindingConfiguration: The binding configuration string for the Enterprise system
scheme: The scheme to use (leaving blank uses the default scheme)
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See Also
LicenseConfiguration Class
DataTable Class
DataColumn Class
DataRow Class
DataValue Class
LicenseConfiguration Class
Constructor (overloaded)
Initializes a new instance of the LicenseConfiguration class. The properties of the LicenseConfiguration class specify the
type and location of the DLL license.
licenseType: The licenseType must be set to HARDWARE, SERVER or STANDALONE.
licenseLocation: Must be set to the path name of the standalone license file or the server location. A server location is
specified as <server port number>@<server host name or IP address>. The licenseLocation does not need to be set for
the HARDWARE licenseType.
checkoutRCMLicense: Check out a RCMCost module license (required if performing RCM simulations)
checkoutAvSimLicense: Check out an AvSim module license (required if performing AvSim simulations)
checkoutLCCLicense: Check out a LCC module license (required if performing a LCC analysis)
checkoutWeibullLicense: Check out a Weibull module license (required if performing a Weibull analysis)
checkoutProcessLicense: Check out a Process Reliability module license (required if performing a process reliability
analysis)
See Also
DataSet Class
DataTable Class
DataColumn Class
DataRow Class
DataValue Class
DataTable Class
Public Properties (Read Only)
string id: The unique identifier for the table. Set automatically by the DataSet class constructor when creating all the tables
representing the project schema.
string description: The description for the table. Set automatically by the DataSet class constructor when creating all the
tables representing the project schema.
Public Methods
int ColumnCount()
Returns the total number of columns for the DataTable object.
int AddRow()
Adds a row to the DataTable object. Returns the index of the new row.
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Returns the DataRow object corresponding to the specified row index value. Returns null for an invalid row index.
rowIndex: The zero-based index of the row.
int RowCount()
Returns the current number of rows for the DataTable object.
See Also
DataSet Class
LicenseConfiguration Class
DataColumn Class
DataRow Class
DataValue Class
DataColumn Class
Public Properties (Read Only)
string id: The unique identifier for the table. Set automatically by the DataSet class constructor when creating all the tables
representing the project schema.
DataType dataType: The column data type. The dataType enumerator may have the following values
String: String data type
Int32: 32-bit integer data type
Double: Double data type
Bool: Boolean data type
int foreignTableIndex: If the foreign key flag is set to true, this property indicates the index of the foreign table.
int integerMinimum: The minimum allowable value for Int32 data types.
int integerMaximum: The maximum allowable value for Int32 data types.
double doubleMinimum: The minimum allowable value for Double data types.
double doubleMaximum: The maximum allowable value for Double data types.
int noOptions: The number of options allowable for a column that represents a choice list.
See Also
DataSet Class
LicenseConfiguration Class
DataTable Class
DataRow Class
DataValue Class
DataRow Class
A DataRow represents a row within a DataTable.
Public Methods
Overloaded method to obtain the DataValue object for the specified column. Returns null if an invalid column index or ID
is specified.
columnIndex: The zero-based index of the column
columnID: The column ID
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See Also
DataSet Class
LicenseConfiguration Class
DataTable Class
DataColumn Class
DataValue Class
DataValue Class
Represents a data value within a DataRow.
Public Methods
string GetString()
Gets a string value from a DataValue object.
int GetInt32()
Gets an integer value from a DataValue object.
double GetDouble()
Gets a double value from a DataValue object.
bool GetBool()
Gets a boolean value from a DataValue object.
See Also
DataSet Class
LicenseConfiguration Class
DataTable Class
DataColumn Class
DataRow Class
When the DLL populates a DataTable object using the Read method, the DataValue objects created will contain both the
string and integer values for foreign keys. The integer value will be the zero-based index of the row in the foreign table.
When modifying data you may therefore use either the SetString or SetInt32 methods of the DataValue class to set new
data values for foreign keys. When you call the DataTable Write method you must specify which method you have used
by setting the useIndicesForForeignKeys argument to true or false.
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Plugins Overview
If you are licensed to use the Plugins facility you will be able to create programmable plugins that read, analyze and
modify data from the current AWB project. Plugins may be used to create specialized reports, perform specialized
operations or conversions, modify project data and call external libraries or processes. Plugin may be exported for use by
other users.
If you are licensed for plugins then a Plugins tab will be visible in the Application Options dialog. This tab allows you to
import, create and modify different plugins. You may execute a plugin from the Plugins menu. The Plugins menu will only
appear if you have a valid plugins licence and have at least one plugin defined in the Application Options dialog.
Plugin Definition
Each plugin may be defined using the Plugin Definition dialog. This dialog is displayed when adding or editing a plugin
from the Application Options dialog.
General Tab
ID
A unique identifier for the plugin
Menu Text
The text to appear in the Plugins menu
Description
A description of the plugin
Code language
The programming language for the plugin source code. The options are CSharp (C#) and Visual Basic.
Read only
Check the Read only flag if the plugin does not modify the current AWB project.
Image file
An option image file to define a bitmap (16 x 16) that will appear alongside the menu text in the Plugins menu. You may
use the Browse button to locate an image file
Assemblies Tab
Referenced assemblies
A list of assemblies to be referenced by the plugin code. Typical assemblies might be 'System.dll' and 'System.Data.dll'.
Use the Delete and Browse buttons to delete or browse for assemblies respectively.
Code Tab
Source Code
The source code to be executed when the plugin is selected from the Plugins pull-down menu. The executed plugin code
method must be called RunCode with and pass a DataSet argument with return type bool. It must be in the namespace
Plugin and class PluginCode. Return true if project data has been modified. Return false otherwise. The DataSet
argument will be pre-populated with the current Availability Workbench project data. See the DataSet Class reference in
the Dynamic Link Library section for more information.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Globalization;
using System.IO;
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namespace Plugin
{
class PluginCode
{
public static bool RunCode(AvailabilityWorkbench.Dll.DataSet dataSet)
{
AvailabilityWorkbench.Dll.DataTable dataTable = dataSet.GetTable("Spares");
MessageBox.Show( dataTable.RowCount().ToString());
dataTable = dataSet.GetTable("RcmLocations");
int newRowIndex = dataTable.AddRow();
AvailabilityWorkbench.Dll.DataRow newDataRow = dataTable.GetRow(newRowIndex);
AvailabilityWorkbench.Dll.DataValue dataValue = newDataRow.GetValue("Id");
dataValue.SetString("PSTAT1");
dataValue = newDataRow.GetValue("Description");
dataValue.SetString("Pumping station");
dataValue = newDataRow.GetValue("Parent");
dataValue.SetString("EX1");
return true;
}
}
}
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