Now that Gartner1 has released their 2019 Market Guide for Asset Performance Management Software2, it is time to review the state of the APM solution here at IPS and project the future of IPS in the APM space.

For IPS, our desire has always been to provide a complete solution for our clients. We have concentrated our efforts on the Power Utility Industry as that industry represents our greatest strength because of the number of professionals from that industry that we employ. From the beginning, we created an EAM system with a World-Leading data model library that was designed from the ground up to provide enhanced capabilities to not only provide traditional Preventative Maintenance through time-based maintenance cycles but Condition-Based Maintenance through exceptional (referential) and calculated cycle times. This allowed you to adjust the maintenance schedule based on logic such as age or usage.

Moving forward several years, it became clear that it was not enough to react to conditions but to attempt to predict when conditions could happen. Enter APM. Asset Performance Management is still evolving at different rates in different industries and is largely driven by intensely asset-centric industries where the need to minimize system downtime is essential.

Here is the primary pain point in every asset-centric industry. How do I increase the reliability of my system and minimize downtime without expanding my maintenance budget? The answer, while not simple, is not as complicated as you may think. When calculating the health of an asset by aggregating the data collected from your EAM system and calculating the rate of deterioration of each of your assets, it becomes possible not only to predict asset failures but to maximize maintenance activities by concentrating effort on those assets at greatest risk.

When using advanced analytics to calculate the probability of failure, cost of failure, rate of deterioration, and end of life, it becomes easier to make strategic decisions such as when it is more advantageous to replace aging assets rather than maintaining them. Optimize your maintenance strategies not only by moving maintenance on assets with greater critical risk forward, but also delay maintenance activities on assets with low-risk values.

Unlike other APM solutions, IPS offers the complete package. Our APM package is fully integrated with our existing systems, while still completely able to run on top of a 3rd party EAM system. IPS has made great strides making sure it can fill the gaps left in other solutions, from sending risk data and OPEX/CAPEX analysis to an AIP (Asset Investment Planning) system, to collect data in the field with our fully integrated mobile solution named MobApp.

When contemplating what a complete solution looks like, consider the following:

  • Through integration with our EAM system, update your maintenance plan by automatically creating needed maintenance actions or notifications.
  • Through integration with our Outage Management module, maximize your outage schedule by moving maintenance activities forwards or back to take advantage of scheduled outages.
  • Through integration with our RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) module identify, define, and track failure modes and perform root cause analysis to help make informed decisions to improve your overall maintenance strategy.
  • Use industry-recognized analytics such as Weibull Curves, Duval Triangles, and Rogers Ratio.
  • Use nearly 150 out-of-the-box algorithms or create your own in the IPS analytics engine called SmartGridDI (no third-party analytics engine needed).
  • Define or change existing inputs for any analysis. Define or change the weighting for all defined attributes.
  • Create Rules Algorithms to create data validation for any data value in the system.
  • The same system is available On-Premise or through SaaS (Cloud)
  • Integrate with 3rd party data systems such as ERP, OsiPi, SCADA/EMS, ArcGIS, and more.
  • Too much functionality to list it all here. Come visit our solutions page to find out more information!

This is an area of constant evolution and growth here at IPS. We work closely with our clients to stay on the leading edge of functionality in APM.

1 Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
2 Gartner, Market Guide for Asset Performance Management Software, Nicole Foust, Kristian Steenstrup, 26 June 2019