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  Peltonen  Björn 
 

"Case Study", The SGML implementation at Norsk Hydro

 

Abstract:

 A significant economical objective at Norsk Hydro is to reduce the time and cost of maintaining equipment used in oil production.
  According toNORSOK (NORsk SOkkels Konkuranseposisjon or in English the competitive standing of the Norwegian offshore sector) , 50% of the development cost of an off-shore installation, is related to information.NORSOK is the Norwegian initiative to reduce development and operation cost for the off-shore oil and gas industry. An important part of this effort is to develop cost efficient standards to replace individual oil company specifications.
  In this case study we will explain the implementation of an interactive system to improve the accessibility of technical supplier documentation by utilising theSGML standard.
 

WhySGML

  Close co-operating and networking between operators, contractors, vendors and manufacturers is most important in large scale project such as an off-shore installation. One of the most essential success factors in these kind of cases is to use approved standards, likeNORSOK ,ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) /SGML /STEP (Standard Exchange for Product Data) ,POSC (Petrotechnical Open Software Corporation) /CEASAR etc.
 This will, in the long run, cut costs substantially for all parties involved.
  TheSGML standard provides Norsk Hydro with an application- and system independent storage format for technical documentation. At any level of granularitySGML encourages the identification of important details inside the documents which subsequently may be utilised by a number of different applications and users. This will also give the information a life-time protection due to the fact that the format is independent of tools and presentation format.
 
 

IMIC (Interactive Maintenance and Information Concept) - Interactive Maintenance and Information Concept

  TheIMIC , funded and developed by Norsk Hydro, provides allNORSOK conforming vendors and operators with an optimal, cost efficient standard for interchange of operational documentation and information.IMIC is realised through a combination of highly interactive SGML documents conforming to a set ofDTD (Document Type Definition) s, and a well defined set of traditional, relational, database tables.
 The goals for the project is to reduce the maintenance cost by 30% and at the same time increase the quality and increase the security level.
 After analysing the situation, it became obvious that the greatest potential for improvement was related to the documentation.
  The backbone of the whole new system is a Data-Model, which is compliant with thePOSC /CEASAR data model, which describes all the systems and their relations, installed on a oil-producing platform and two DTD's that will describe the information structure. The system architecture is based on a combination ofSGML documents and traditional database information. All documents (e.g. maintenance procedures etc.) are stored inSGML , while information used for planning, logistics, and parts management is stored in normalised database tables. There is also specific requirements for drawings. Earlier, AutoCAD and Intergraph were the only accepted formats. The goal is to transform these drawings directly toCGM4 (Computer Graphics Metafile) including intelligent "hot-spot" information. The intention is that these "intelligent" position numbers are defined during the drawing phase, not afterwards. Also the documentation will be produced with specially customised SGML tools which will guide the authors to write structured technical information based onSGML . The author also has the ability to define interactive links while he/she is writing This is a substantial saving in time and money. The interactiveSGML documents and interactive drawings shall provide the user with automatic access to pure context/task related database information, and thereby increase the security and efficiency of the work.
 The infrastructure for this concept is built by utilising WEB-technology. All information is stored in one repository, on-shore.
 The importing, validation, quality check etc. is done by Norsk Hydros documentation group.
 
  The operation/maintenance personnel at off-shore platforms, will access the required data (e.g. procedures, database information etc.) through graphics and drawings with hotspots or by using advanced search engines, through an Intranet network utilising WEB technology and a multipurposeSGML viewer on the client side.
 

Summary

 Streamlining and standardization of the whole business process concerning the production, storage and usage of technical information, is one of the most important issues in this whole project.
 This transformation process will not be completed over-night.
 One of the problems is, how to convince some of the manufacturers to change their focus from product orientation to information orientation.
 These companies are all using standards in their manufacturing, because their components/products, (pumps, motors, valves etc.) will often be installed into larger systems. Without using standards the installation, operation and maintenance, it is more or less impossible or at least very difficult, and it would be very hard to sell such products.
 The same thing will also happen with the information/documentation. It will also, in many cases, be "installed" in a e.g. operation and maintenance system. Therefore it is most important that the documentation is done according to the accepted standards.
 The customer won't see it satisfactory anymore to receive high quality components and systems with poor quality manuals. Unfortunately this is still the case in many companies.
 However, there are also many companies who already have the ability to deliver structured, standardized information. These companies have a very clear business advantage in selling their products in the future.
 One example from Oseberg Feltsenter / SDT ball-valves, shows clearly some of the benefits of standardized and structured information:
 Previously the information consisted of 2000 documents / corresponding to 6000 A4 pages.
 This was reduced to 250 documents without loosing important information.
  To assist the suppliers and manufacturers to make this transformation process as easy as possible NH has developed customisedSGML authoring tools and database tools. This "toolbox", including training, will be installed at all NH main suppliers, when requested.
 This set of tools will also help the supplier to meet the new information requirements from other customers.
 "Working for change is never easy, and creating something new is always more difficult than finding a reason to justify the old."
 By Ragnar Hurum, Sector Manager Offshore, Federation of Norwegian Engineering Industries
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 
  • [Norsk Hydro] Norsk Hydro HVEDIK System architecture
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  • [Johan Bredrup Dahl, Norsk Hydro] HVEDIK-et eksempel pa nytenking
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  • [Norsk Hydro] The Author's Guide, Writing Maintenance Procedures in SGML
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