AVEVA Business Paper Powering Up 2013

Powering Up

www.aveva.com

An AVEVA Business Paper

AVEVA Electrical’s essential capabilities for efficient electrical engineering and design

Powering Up - An AVEVA Business Paper

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Introduction

1 – Integrating electrical engineering with other disciplines and data

2 – Integrating electrical and instrumentation engineering

3 – Integration with third-party solutions

4 – Complete, automatic and fully auditable change management

5 – Plug-in performance

6 – Familiarity breeds efficiency

7 – Fits right in

8 – Trustworthy

9 – Easy to adopt

Conclusions

More about AVEVA Electrical™


Introduction

Electrical engineering and design is one of the most complex and demanding aspects of new plant projects, plant revamps and shipbuilding. In the hydrocarbon industry alone, annual capital expenditure on electrical engineering and design has been estimated to reach $3 billion. Clearly, the electrical disciplines should have engineering and design tools as powerful as those used for 3D design in plant layout or ship design.

Sadly, this is not the case. Even the most widely used electrical engineering software is regarded as difficult to use, poorly integrated with other important systems and only a partial solution. In practice, most engineers muddle along with a poorly controlled workflow using a combination of spreadsheets and 2D drafting programs. Using specialist electrical analysis software is hampered by the difficulty of exchanging data with it. Not surprisingly, the result is inefficient, error-prone and frustrating work, unnecessarily increasing project costs and the risks of rework, delays and quality problems.

Recognising the need for a modern, efficient solution, AVEVA worked with electrical engineering specialists from the plant and marine industries to identify specific needs and challenges. From this work, nine key areas were identified where currently available electrical engineering and design technologies failed to meet users’ requirements. The result was the creation of AVEVA Electrical™, a uniquely powerful, productive and intuitive solution which unlocks engineers’ skills and creativity to dramatically reduce the pressures on project schedules and budgets.

‘Even the most widely used electrical engineering software is regarded as difficult to use, poorly integrated with other important systems and only a partial solution. In practice, most engineers muddle along with a poorly controlled workflow using a combination of spreadsheets and 2D drafting programs...’


1 – Integrating electrical engineering with other disciplines and data

Evidently, an electrical engineer limited to working with spreadsheets and drafting software cannot easily share information with 3D designers. For example, providing sufficient cable tray capacity in the right places and calculating cable lengths is a tedious and uncontrolled manual process that must be repeated every time a significant change is made.

In contrast, AVEVA Electrical integrates directly with the AVEVA 3D design environment. Designers and engineers can see and agree how and where cables are to be installed. Conflicts can be detected and resolved early in the design process, avoiding costly on-site rework and wasted materials. Cable lengths can be calculated accurately and updated quickly if the 3D layout is changed.

For increased efficiency, the new AVEVA Everything3D™ (AVEVA E3D™) design solution now enables cable routing directly from AVEVA Electrical’s intelligent cable schedule. Design information such as cable length and route nodes is passed back from the 3D model to the electrical database.

Whether working with AVEVA E3D or AVEVA PDMS™, cables can be created in AVEVA Electrical, routed in 3D and then have all their deliverables managed from the AVEVA Electrical reporting tool. Such close integration of electrical with 3D design can, on its own, lead to savings of over 30% compared to existing methods.

‘AVEVA Electrical integrates directly with the AVEVA 3D design environment. Designers and engineers can see and agree how and where cables are to be installed. Conflicts can be detected and resolved early in the design process, avoiding costly on-site rework and wasted materials...’

Integrating electrical engineering with other disciplines and data


These two disciplines are so closely related that they are generally just called E&I. Yet the separate tools used in each cannot normally share information; an astonishing situation when instrumentation invariably requires or controls an electrical supply, or shares the same installation.

AVEVA Electrical and AVEVA Instrumentation™ are not only closely similar design systems; they can also share the same database. Changes in one are automatically reflected in the other and their impact is instantly highlighted for attention. Managing both systems together is not only the logical way to work, it saves time and cost whilst ensuring the integrity of the design.

2 – Integrating electrical and instrumentation engineering

Specialist systems, methodologies and standards are used for determining cable sizes, according to load, length, environmental conditions and so on. Historically, applying these has been a tedious, error-prone, manual process. AVEVA Electrical overcomes this by integrating with a project or company-specific cable sizing methodology, or with a third-party application.

This combines AVEVA Electrical’s efficiency and ease of use with the convenience and reliability of passing data directly to the external cable sizing system. The results of the calculations are then passed back and stored automatically within the AVEVA Electrical database. All deliverables can thus be managed by the AVEVA software, bringing them under robust change control and ensuring completeness, consistency and accuracy.

3 – Integration with third-party solutions

Integrating electrical and instrumentation engineering

‘AVEVA Electrical and AVEVA Instrumentation are not only closely similar design systems; they can also share the same database. Changes in one are automatically reflected in the other and their impact is instantly highlighted for attention...’


Whether in the plant or marine industries, developing complex, one-off capital projects is a process of continual change. Engineers and designers must collaborate closely to progressively refine the design from outline concept to final, fully detailed definition. Managing the many changes generated is critical to efficient working and to regulatory compliance. Manual processes become overwhelmed at a low level of project complexity.

AVEVA Electrical provides built-in change management functions to meet this need. It helps to maximise efficiency and avoid unnecessary rework, and provides a full audit history of who made which changes. Of particular practical value is its ability to accurately track change activity to meet out-of-scope requests by the client.

4 – Complete, automatic and fully auditable change management

In many situations, a company has a mixed technology environment and a variety of legacy systems built up over many years. Any advantages gained by adding yet another application may be eroded by the increased burden on system administration and the risks of hidden incompatibilities corrupting safety-critical information.

Technology should be part of the solution, not part of the problem. AVEVA Electrical therefore integrates readily with existing IT infrastructure, supporting efficient working alongside a mixture of engineering, design and productivity solutions. This capability reduces – or even eliminates – the need for costly data conversion or custom interfaces. Direct exchange of data with other systems greatly reduces opportunities for errors and inconsistencies.

5 – Plug-in performance

Complete, automatic and fully auditable change management

‘Technology should be part of the solution, not part of the problem. AVEVA Electrical therefore integrates readily with existing IT infrastructure, supporting efficient working alongside a mixture of engineering, design and productivity solutions...’


Engineers love Excel for its power and versatility in handling tabular data. AVEVA Electrical takes full advantage of this, providing datasheet templates that map fields directly into its database. Changes to a datasheet directly update the project database and vice versa, ensuring that datasheets are always up to date, and maintaining a full audit trail of changes.

Users can readily customise datasheets that their suppliers can use with no additional training or set-up. Templates can be configured to company standards and copied from one project to another, ensuring consistency and saving time and money. Multiple tagged items are easily accommodated; the datasheet generator copies and renames a template form for each individual item, automatically filling in the data for each.

6 – Familiarity breeds efficiency

AVEVA Electrical works seamlessly, not only with Excel, but with all standard office applications. Its data is readily portable and compatible with typical spreadsheet tools. It can be reliably ‘round-tripped’ to and from office applications, enabling efficient management and flexible reporting of information.

Engineers should to be able to collaborate on a task, but the tools used for electrical design rarely support this basic requirement. In contrast, AVEVA Electrical supports collaborative, multi-site working out of the box. This has obvious benefits for EPCs working on large projects, but it also supports Owner Operators in the development of plant improvements. Taking advantage of AVEVA Electrical’s work-sharing and change-control capabilities, design modifications can be created and evaluated in a draft status. Only once they are approved will the changes be made to the as-operating system definition; otherwise they can be rolled back without impact. A full audit trail is created.

7 – Fits right in

‘AVEVA Electrical works seamlessly, not only with Excel, but with all standard office applications...’


AVEVA Electrical’s use of a ‘single source of truth’ design database makes electrical diagrams an intrinsic part of the project’s design information. Data hierarchy is automatically and immediately written to the design database, ensuring that the line diagram is always a reliable source of information.

8 – Trustworthy

In many instances, engineering departments continue struggling with an inefficient system because the disruption of replacing it is too costly to justify. AVEVA Electrical overcomes this. Its modern technology framework and application layer enables legacy data to be readily imported from a wide variety of sources. One user, even before having been formally trained in its use, had, with little difficulty, imported the entire electrical system of a substantial asset into AVEVA Electrical.

Once controlled within AVEVA Electrical, the quality of the data can be determined and errors resolved. Obsolete systems and fragmented data sources can then be discarded with confidence.

9 – Easy to adopt

‘Data hierarchy is automatically and immediately written to the design database...’

‘One user, even before having been formally trained in its use, had, with little difficulty, imported the entire electrical system of a substantial asset into AVEVA Electrical...’


Conclusions

Any engineering or design activity that is carried out in isolation from all other project activities is likely to be inefficient and error-prone. Until now, electrical engineering has been isolated by the very tools it uses.

AVEVA Electrical not only makes individual engineering and design tasks easier; by properly integrating its data, it increases efficiency and quality across the entire project.

‘AVEVA Electrical not only makes individual engineering and design tasks easier; by properly integrating its data, it increases efficiency and quality across the entire project...’


Conclusions

AVEVA Electrical is a feature-rich software suite for electrical engineering and design in both plant and marine environments. Built on the same industry-leading technology as AVEVA Instrumentation, it shares the same powerful database and highly graphical ‘visual engineering’ interface. It is part of AVEVA’s Integrated Engineering & Design solution, integrating fully with other AVEVA applications and sharing data reliably with third-party applications.

Whether in new-builds, revamps/refits, or asset operations, AVEVA Electrical brings measurable efficiencies and savings to projects of all sizes. No other solution on the market can match AVEVA Electrical for:

z ease of adoption and use

z productivity

z data quality and consistency

z openness to other systems

z integration with the 3D model

z efficient project control.

AVEVA Electrical has been designed to meet the practical needs of engineers and designers and to overcome the many shortcomings of alternative electrical design tools. It delivers:

z efficiency and high-quality output

z rigorous, automated change management

z intuitive, graphical cabling design and management

z coordinated, catalogue-driven procurement

z clear visualisation and reporting

z scalability and easy reconfiguration to meet users’ evolving needs without additional expense

z more efficient relationships with vendors

z integration of different types of data, including the 3D model

z extensive, readily accessible information about every object

z efficient data upload and management for rapid project start-up.

For more information about AVEVA Electrical, visit www.aveva.com/aveva_electrical.

AVEVA Group plcHigh CrossMadingley RoadCambridgeCB3 0HBUK

Tel +44 (0)1223 556655Fax +44 (0)1223 556666

Headquartered in Cambridge, England, AVEVA Group plc and its operating subsidiaries currently employ staff worldwide in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. AVEVA also has representatives in additional countries around the world.

For more details on AVEVA Worldwide Offices, visit www.aveva.com/offices

www.aveva.com

Copyright © 2013 AVEVA Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or recording, without permission. Permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrievable system of any nature. No responsibility can be accepted by AVEVA for action taken as a result of information contained in this publication. Licenses issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited or any other reproduction rights organisations do not apply to AVEVA. ABP/PU/13

AVEVA Business Paper Powering Up 2013

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