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Rail infrastructure that operates at its optimum will be economical and sustainable and thus positively contribute to the productivity and competitiveness of an economy. The health of rail infrastructure, however, needs to be monitored, measured and maintained, which falls within the remit of asset managers who are often charged with balancing costs, opportunities and risks against the desired performance of the assets and their respective systems at varying levels. Having appropriate and reliable information about an asset is pivotal for enabling asset management to support decision-making, planning and execution of activities and tasks of assets, particularly during operations and maintenance. But, having access to the right information at the right time, has been and remains a pervasive problem, hinders an asset owner’s ability to ensure their rail infrastructure performance is being optimized. A new approach to facilitate the acquisition and integration of information to support digital asset management (DAM) for rail infrastructure is presented. The research uses a case study to empirically assess the quality of ‘as-built’ documentation for electrical systems of Bayswater railway station that forms an integral part of the Forrestfield Airport Linkage project, in Perth Western Australia. Errors, omissions and information redundancy contained within the existing ‘as-built’ documentation is quantified. Then, a case for the adoption of a Systems Information Model is put forward as the rail industry moves toward a digital future and seeks to future-proof their assets and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object oriented modeling (OOM) has become an integral part of the design process in construction due to advances in computer software. Despite these advances there remains a tendency for Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) to be used as the medium to assist in the creation, modification, analysis and optimization of Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I) systems within heavy industrial engineering projects. In this paper, a retrospective OOM (i.e., Systems Information Model (SIM)), for the E&I systems of a utility facility, which was constructed for an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the purpose of undertaking a constructability assessment prior to the commencement of construction is presented and discussed. The CAD drawings and cable schedule produced by the EPC were provided to an E&I organization to undertake a constructability assessment; errors, omissions and information redundancy were identified and quantified. The SIM model was then used to examine a tender proposal from a construction subcontractor (CS) of the EPC; discrepancies were identified and it is suggested that differences arose due to the prevailing errors and omissions. The potential use of a SIM during construction as a quality assurance/control (QA/QC) is then examined, as it is suggested that it can be used to ensure the development of an ‘As-built’ model and provide a realistic representation of the constructed asset, which safeguards its integrity for operations and maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of computer-aided-design (CAD) generated ‘As-built’ documentation is evaluated for a High Voltage Switchgear System (HVSS), which forms part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition up-grade within a geo-thermal power plant. A total of 267 CAD drawings for the HVSS were used to create a Systems Information Model (SIM) whereby the physical components and associated connections were constructed in an object orientated database. Throughout the modelling process a considerable amount of errors and information redundancy were identified and examples are presented. The production of the CAD drawings took 10,680 man-h in stark contrast to the 80 man-h required to construct the SIM, illustrating the efficiency and effectiveness of SIM compared to CAD for the documentation of electrical instrumentation and control systems (EICS). To realise this significant potential cost and productivity saving requires a shift in mindset and a move beyond the use of CAD, to an object oriented SIM, with a 1:1 relationship between objects in the model, and components in the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a case study, errors, omissions and information redundancy contained in the electrical and instrumentation (E&I) ‘As-built’ drawings for a Stacker Conveyor were examined. A total of 449 errors and omissions were identified within 42 documents. In addition, 231 cables and components appeared once among the 42 documents; 86 cables and components appeared twice and 12 cables and components appeared thrice. As a result of the errors, omissions and redundancy, requests for information (RFIs) were required. Retrospective analysis indicates that the indirect cost of raising the RFIs to the contractor was estimated to be approximately 9% of the cost of the E&I contract. To address the problems of errors, omissions and redundancy, it is suggested that there is a need to adopt an object orientated system information model (SIM) for E&I engineering design and documentation. It is demonstrated in the case study that the use of a SIM could bring significant improvements in productivity and reduce the cost of engineering design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Documentation errors have been identified as a significant problem within the construction and engineering industry. Errors contained with contract documents can contribute to loss of profit, reduced productivity, and cost and time overruns as well as contractual disputes. Research has identified that as much as 60% of variations in construction and engineering projects are a result of errors and omissions contained within poor quality documentation. Considering this alarming statistic and the impact that poor quality documentation can have on productivity, the research presented in this paper classifies and quantifies errors in 106 drawings and the cable schedule used to document for the electrical package for an Iron Ore Stacker Conveyor. The research reveals that Computer Aided Design (CAD) used to produce the electrical drawings was ineffective, inefficient and costly to produce as they contained an array of errors. In addressing the need to eliminate documentation errors and improve productivity, the cable schedule is used to create a Systems Information Management to develop a 1:1 object orientated model using the software Dynamic Asset Documentation. As a result, of using this approach it is estimated that a 94% cost saving and a substantial improvement in productivity could have been attained in this particular case. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]