Throughout their development and existence, companies build significant knowledge and experience. Part of this knowledge is reflected in skilled employees, but usually, most of it has been documented and today, information is digitally retrieved, collected, stored, and shared. This information can be found in multiple formats such as technical drawings, procedures, service manuals, and maintenance schedules.

A substantial part of this data can be used for predictive and selective maintenance purposes. In many processes, users are automatically warned when a specific part of the process needs maintenance or replacement in order to prevent failures. Directly after this warning, action is required. And there, the trouble begins. In ample cases, documentation containing relevant information is stored somewhere in a physical or digital database, and finding it is often a challenge. The search for the right information is extremely time-consuming, as files are generally stored in various locations and documents are present in multiple versions due to various updates. This leads to a lot of questions during the search: “Do we have all the necessary documents to determine how to solve the problem? Do we have the latest documentation at hand with the most up-to-date information?”

For this purpose, many companies have created sophisticated document management systems and subsequently trained their personnel on how to use them. Still, very often things do not go the way they should. Right after implementation, everyone files things enthusiastically in the right way but after a while, things get neglected, causing exactly those problems that the document management system should originally have prevented from happening.

Luckily, there is already a straightforward solution to the problem: Viewport.

Viewport works more or less like online search engines and retrieves data from non-structured information. The only thing Viewport requires is access to all the company’s relevant databases.

Viewport can search and find the desired information based on the specific tag or label entered by the user. Viewport can also digitalise all information into PDF or HTML files. Finally, all the information is indexed by the system. In this way, users can find basically anything that meets the search tag. One of the key advantages is that Viewport makes the process visible via digitised technical drawings of the process. By simply clicking on a certain part on the drawing, Viewport will immediately display all available information linked to the selected part. Another advantage is that it always shows the latest version of the available documents. It furthermore alerts the user when something is missing and signals when, for example, a part number is inaccurately filled in, helping companies to improve the quality of their documentation. Finally, the signal used to indicate a failure can be linked to certain tags, a feature that comes in handy for predictive maintenance purposes. The moment the signal runs, Viewport shows all the information you need to solve the problem. Hence, no need to spends hours (or even days) looking for the right information, documents or data.

Using Viewport, data can be collected faster, more efficiently, and more reliably. It goes without saying that a significant amount of money can be saved on data retrieving. In comparison to ERP systems, implementing Viewport is a relief. The first step is to decide what tags will be used. The next step is to decide which databases Viewport will be guaranteed access to, after which the indexing of information can begin. Depending on the amount of data, this indexing can initially take quite some time but once the system is in use, only new tags and/or amendments of existing ones require indexing, making the overall process relatively swift. Viewport can deal with 130 different file types and convert them into PDF or HTML files. This PDF and HTML filing will considerably reduce the file size of the documents, which makes Viewport easy to consult remotely, for example from a drill rig or vessel at sea. What is more, only the information relevant for the specific rig or vessel will be shown, reducing the necessary bandwidth for data transmission.

Several operators, including Shell, Total, and Centrica, are satisfied users of Viewport. In collaboration with our partner, Radial Software Group, we are successfully implementing Viewport for our clients.

Visit www.rolloos.com/en/solutions/data-analytics/viewport/ and contact us to start implementing Viewport.