Architecting Powerful Portals
Martin Mysyk
© 2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.
Architecting Powerful Portals
Agenda
• Company Background
• Industry and Information Challenges
• Case Study – TransAlta’s ODC
• SAP Interactions and Modules
• Lessons Learned
• Summary
TransAlta – Company Background
• One of Canada’s largest nonregulated electric generation
and wholesale marketing
companies
• Founded in 1911
• 50 Facilities operating in
Canada, United States,
Mexico, and Australia
• 10,000 megawatts generating
capacity
• Fuel mix of coal ,gas , hydro
and renewables
Current Utility Industry Challenges
• Environmental Challenges
• Cost pressures on fuel sources
• Aging workforce
• Competition for scarce workforce resources
(Alberta especially!)
• Pressure to provide uptime while reducing
maintenance costs
• Companies are looking for solutions to mitigate
these challenges
Information Technology Strategic Framework
The BIG picture
Plants
Enterprise
Meter Tags
Meter Vendors
FIELD
DEVICES
DCS
DATA
HISTORIAN
Calculations
Golden Tags
Operating
Data
Business
Analysis
Enterprise
Reporting
& Analysis
Golden Tags
Calculations
SAP
Engineering & Operations
Planning,
maintenance
and operational
tools
Visualization
Business
Warehouse
Business
Analytics
PM
PS
MM
HR
FI
CORPORATE
INDICATORS
DASHBOARDS
-- Executive
-- Manager
-- Supervisor
-- Worker
Analytics
Smart Signal
Generation
Automated
Performance
Monitoring
Marketing
Billing
Operational Diagnostic Center Vision
“The Operational Diagnostics Center (ODC)
is intended to improve the bottom line for
TransAlta, reduce the environmental
impact of our operations and position us
well for future growth opportunities while
managing the aging demographic in our
workforce.”
Plant to Fleet Data Flow
Actionable
Information
KPI’s
Dashboards
Fleet Optimization
Business Intelligence
Reliability
Predictive Monitoring
Optimization
Plant Level Operations Dashboards
Plant Alarms, DCS Real-time
Easy Access to Information
Engineering Applications
Smart Signal
Discrete data
Limited value
Distributed Control Systems (DCS)
Historians
Technology Experience
• Previous Portals and Portal connected
technology – IBM, Plumtree, Netweaver
• SAP Customer since 1992 (Currently ECC6.0)
• Experience with vendor integration with SAP
modules
• Experience working with vendors to surface
iViews in portal for seamless user interface
Operational Diagnostics Center
Design Principles
– Centralized engineering analyses of equipment
performance
– Centralized equipment condition monitoring
– Condition based predictive maintenance plans
– Fleet visibility of equipment condition and
performance to the TransAlta technical experts
– Direct interface with plant operators for alarm review
and management
Previous Situation
Complex information is hard to manage!
Management
Marketing
Generation
Operations
Power Plant
Manager
User
Systems
PDA
Site
Internet
Intranet
SAP R/3
Databases
DCS
Scheduling
Energy
Trading
Enterprise-wide Decision Support
Management
Marketing
Users
Systems
Sites
Generation
Operations
Power Plant
Manager
Operational
Diagnostic
Support
Enterprise-wide Decision Support
The Benefits
 Role-based presentation of information
 Provision of expert knowledge about the plants facilitates:
 Fast remedies in all plants
 Best practice sharing
 Availability of power plant fleet as information for energy
trading
 Improvement of risk assessment and management :
“2nd set of eyes”
 Improved process control and low expenses for repair
reduces costs
 Increased MWh generation, especially at peak load times
(elimination of bottlenecks)
 Transparency and synergies created
Getting Started
ODC Design Study Objectives
Initial engagement with vendor partner to develop:
– Current state of software
– Functional gaps
– Recommendations to address gaps
– Detailed scope and project schedule
Design
Study
Functional
Specs.
Prototype
Activities and Project Timelines
Production
Build
Fleet Build
Out
Getting Started
Defining the “as is” landscape
• Analyze condition of installed historians
• Analyze reliability of data collection
• Review configured equipment diagnostics (SmartSignal) models
• Review configured Thermal Performance Monitoring systems
• Review configured off-line and on-line Vibration Monitoring systems
• Review DCS and Power IT landscapes
• Review configured SAP Plant Maintenance
• Review configured maintenance related workflows
• Review configured SAP Enterprise Portal
TransAlta ODC Power Portal: SAP EP,
SAP PM and IP.21
TA Management
User Roles
- access
rights
via TA AD
- info content
via
TA SAP EP
portal page
design
SAP EP
navigation to
portal pages
-------------------SAP EP to
ERP R/3 link
Plants
IP.21 based
data collection
Technical /
Engineering
Center
Plant
Manager
ODC
Center
Operational
Diagnostics
Technology
Leveraging Information and Resources
Performance
Performance
Turbine /
Vibrations
Performance
Turbine /
Vibrations
Turbine /
Vibrations
Centralized Operational Diagnostic Center
Boiler /
Equipment
Diagnostics
Boiler /
Equipment
Diagnostics
Boiler /
Equipment
Diagnostics
Engineering
Trading
Executive
Reporting
Maintenance
Integration Considerations
SAP PM and Siemens M3000
1.
3.
Manual
data
input
Status Update
4.
M3000
Case
Logging
Fault
Notification
Work orders
planning
Alarms
Event
registration
2.
1.
Relevant
problems (Faults)
influencing
actual operation
Diagnostic
System
M3000
Early
warning
DCS
Field Device
etc.
Signals
via HART/
Fieldbus
or Profibus
etc..
EW Notification
Signal Values
Pre-alarms
processing
Plant Maintenance
Potential problems
influencing future operation
Maintenance or calibration of
measurement unit necessary
Status Update
x.
irrelevant
signals
Work orders
execution
Steps
standard
optional
TransAlta Operations Diagnostic Centre
Thermodynamic
Modeling
Plant Data (Vibration
Analysis)
Plant Data (Historian)
Predictive Diagnostics
Plant Data
Data Storage
ODC Historian (IP21)
Data Structure
Hierarchy (Aspen ODM)
Early Warning System
Data Links
SAP Enterprise Portal
Interface Screens (Aspen Web 21)
Crystal Reports
EWS Interface
Case Logging Tool
SAP PM
Document
Management
ODC Process Graphics
Alarm Processing Workflow
Adding Value to the Portal
New
Alert
Validation
Watch
List
Evalua
ted
Correc
tive
Valid
Fault
Analy
sis
SAP
PM
Fault
Notificat
ion
Action
Alarm
Ack
Inspec
tion
Repair
Disappear
Scan-Off
Case
Resolv
ed
Dismis
s
Correc
tive
Action
Alarm
Ack
Case
Resolv
ed
Dismis
s
ODC Early Warning System Operator
Interface – Portal Presentation
ODC Business Processes
•
When received in the ODC, alerts are investigated, following
ODC process guidelines.
SPPA-M3000 - Case Logging
• Supports the following tasks:
– Recording of cases in case logs
– Collecting significant signal value as KPI
– Documentation of shift crews
– Semi-automatic triggering of cases and fault
notifications
– Overall evaluation of operational conditions
– Supporting shift takeover and handover
Case Logging – Shift Management
Case Logging –Shift Resources
Case Logging – Shift Detail
Case Logging – Cases
Case Logging – Case Detail
The Operational Diagnostics Center
Business Value of the ODC
• The ODC will input close to “real-time” process data to
monitor equipment condition
• Provide immediate feedback to the Operations team.
• Results in improved plant equipment performance – and
implementation of maintenance practices based on
equipment reliability impacts and known equipment
condition.
• Potential benefits include improved the heat rate,
decreased fuel costs, improve plant reliability and
reduced environmental emissions.
Business Value of the ODC
• Other business benefits:
– Providing a central contact point and visibility for plant
operations
– Identify and correct plant equipment problems before
they become a process concern – thereby avoiding
catastrophic failure of critical equipment
– Measuring and sustaining other capital improvement
projects’ benefits
– Plant alarm monitoring and back-up capability
– Improving knowledge retention, transfer and sharing
How We Did IT
Lessons Learned so Far
• Top design consideration was to create a portal with SAP
interactions for diagnostic and performance monitoring
using existing technology – Netweaver 7.0
• Justified the project based on the business value of
having an operational diagnostics and performance
center
• Learned what integration points from production to
maintenance need to be addressed
• Need to move to a Netweaver CE 7.1 to take advantage
of newer composition techniques
Summary
• Have a strong business case that motivates the project
• Work with integration partners where cost and time and
resources are in short supply
• Know business processes that the solution is going to
support
• Do a current technology assessment and identify gaps in
moving to a portal solution
• Show value often and early – A prototype can do this
• Integration is key to taking the plant data and systems
information to management in a meaningful way
Martin Mysyk
TransAlta Corporation
martin_mysyk@transalta.com
© 2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.