In today's interconnected world, managing assets efficiently has become more than just a necessity—it's a requirement. 

“Integration enables your people to access accurate, timely, consistent data to make the best decisions for your organization.” - Todd Lewis, CEO, Spatial DNA

Let’s dive into how integration is revolutionizing asset management using Spatial DNA's Smart Workflows in two diverse but equally vital domains: City Government and Manufacturing.

The Asset Lifecycle Journey

Whether city infrastructure or manufacturing machinery, assets undergo a journey known as the asset lifecycle. This lifecycle encompasses various stages, from planning and procurement to operations and retirement. At each step of this cycle, organizations must make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and ensure compliance with regulations.

Asset Lifecycle Stages and Integration
1. PLAN

Planning involves the evaluation of existing assets to enhance service capacity or extend their lifetime - think an existing road or highway - or the building of new infrastructure.  The identification of land to acquire or the expansion of existing rights-of-way can take years.  

In the asset planning stage, design tools and geographic information systems are used to designate new or expanded corridors, identify land use or zoning changes, and compile a drawing set for review and approval.  Community development systems manage the workflow for development applications, from land acquisition and consolidation to review to permit engineering drawings. Decision Support Systems leverage data from asset management, risk and degradation assessments for each asset type, and needs from long-term planning to identify capital project investments for asset refurbishment, capacity improvement, or new asset requirements.

Integration requirements in this stage focus on the community development system.  

For growing municipalities, development fees are a major source of revenue. Reconciliation of payments for development applications and permits with the finance system is critical to model revenue inflows. 

Tracking & Reviews: Progress is often tracked and reviewed by wider stakeholders with documents available through a shared document management system, requiring documents, drawings, and progress for each development application to be searchable at each stage in the development process. Interfacing with electronic plan review systems enables collaborative review of engineering drawings.

Capital Project Planning: assets are evaluated to achieve a level of service score balanced against an annual capital budget over a 25- or 50-year period.  Capital projects are identified on a rolling annual basis.  Integrations with your asset management and ERP systems ensure the creation of projects to allocate work orders and financial expenditures.

2. DESIGN

Design activities are a foundational phase laying the groundwork for the entire journey of an asset, influencing its performance, efficiency, and longevity. During this crucial stage, organizations engage in meticulous planning and conceptualization, utilizing tools like Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM).  The blueprint for an asset's construction, operation, and maintenance is shaped in the design phase, encompassing considerations for structural integrity, safety standards, and compliance requirements.

As designs near completion, procurement activities related to materials and equipment to support construction begin.  Integration with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SCM (Supply Chain Management) systems synchronize the bill of materials from the BIM unified model and update supplier and part information.

3. CONSTRUCT

In construction, the meticulously designed plans and conceptualizations evolve from the drawing board to tangible reality. This phase is characterized by deploying skilled labour, utilizing cutting-edge construction technologies, and orchestrating many materials and resources. The construction phase encapsulates the physical assembly of assets and the critical integration of systems, workflows, and safety measures to ensure a seamless and compliant construction process. 

A construction management system such as eBuilder from Trimble or ProCore tracks the activities to be completed at each construction phase. It is the repository for all activities, progress, documentation and design information, and management of trades and progress reporting to the infrastructure owner.  Inspections are critical to ensure that all trades are completing work to specification. Integrating mobile inspection apps and survey equipment with your construction management system allows for real-time reporting of work-in-progress status and the more technical quantity surveys to understand material delivered, used, cut or filled.

As any of you who have done a home renovation knows, you will encounter problems with the design or construction approach that require workarounds as soon as you start.  Change requests are a constant, but keeping your ERP or SCM updated with changes to material specifications can reduce delay costs and ensure equipment and materials are onsite when needed. Integrating your construction management and ERP/SCM tools helps your procurement specialists anticipate changing requirements.

4. OPERATE 

Once construction is complete, assets move into the active operation and maintenance phase, requiring strategic planning, real-time monitoring, and efficient workflows. During this phase, organizations strive to maximize asset performance (spend the least for the biggest benefit), ensure reliability, and optimize resource utilization (equipment, material, and labour). 

Integration requirements in this stage focus on the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) or Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS).  

An Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) or Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) manages the inventory of assets and the predictive and reactive maintenance activities and strategies to minimize downtime and extend asset life.  Integrating advanced technologies, such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors and SCADA systems, gathers real-time data on asset conditions.  The EAM has various integration points with other systems to simplify cross-departmental work and ensure other parts of the organization have ready access to asset data.

ERP Interfaces: enable the communication of costs per work order, including labour, equipment use, material consumption, and third-party contracts, so that a complete financial picture of repairs and improvements to an asset are tracked.  This ensures that the tangible capital asset value and depreciation calculations are captured as per GAAP or public accounts standards and to decide on the repair or replacement of an asset.  Additionally, the spare parts inventory requires replenishment as parts are used in repairs.  Automating the purchase requisition, procurement, and receipt process minimizes inventory procurement and carrying costs and ensures that inventory is properly valued, depreciated, and turned over periodically.

HR Interfaces: People hate tracking their time.  However, tracking time in multiple places leads to poor quality data that can affect capital investment decisions based on labour hours entered.  Maintenance and field staff should enter their data once and know that the data that they enter is tied to their paycheque.  Entering time in the EAM, or capturing time per work order in a time-entry system interfaced to the EAM, ensures that labour hours are correctly allocated to work activities.  When entered time is integrated with the HR/payroll system, employees only enter their time in one place and receive pay based on their entered time.

CRM and CIS Interfaces:  service requests are entered by staff using equipment or facilities that identify maintenance issues, the general public infrastructure users, or by the utility billing department tracking meters and on/off requests for utility services to an address.  Automating the receipt of service requests through integration ensures that the EAM or CMMS system can track work and report work status and feedback from maintenance and field teams to the originator of the service request.  This saves customer service time on the phone for follow-up and coordination.

Machine and Equipment Interfaces:  sensors report on machine use and telemetry to automatically create maintenance activities in a CMMS before breakdown so that preventative maintenance can be scheduled in non-production time slots.  SCADA systems report status, measures (for example, flow through a pipe from a flow meter), alerts, and integration to create corresponding work.  Integration with a work management system can also initiate a control action, such as turning a valve, based on a work order status change.

5. DECOMMISSION

The decommissioning phase signifies the concluding chapter in the asset lifecycle, where assets reach the end of their operational tenure and are prepared for responsible retirement or disposal. This phase involves meticulously deconstructing facilities, infrastructure, or equipment, necessitating strategic planning, adherence to environmental regulations, and proper asset retirement procedures. In this critical phase, organizations must consider sustainable practices, waste management, and environmental impact.

For larger works, deconstruction is similar to the construction phase in using equipment, labour, and materials.  A construction management system such as eBuilder from Trimble or Procore is used to manage the subcontractors, report on progress, and manage the documentation and drawings.

Integrating your Inspection apps and survey equipment for more technical quantity surveys with your construction management system automates updates to the current status of work.

How Integration can be the Game Changer

At each stage, Spatial DNA's platform can provide integration capabilities to facilitate data exchange, workflow automation, and central performance KPI monitoring, streamlining asset management across the entire lifecycle.

“Integration in the asset management lifecycle has several benefits, including supporting mobile workers with the data they need on the go, shifting organization to a 360-view of all costs throughout the lifespan of an asset, and helps with analyzing options to deploy short-term projects from your long-range capital plans.” - Todd Lewis, CEO, Spatial DNA

Integration is what connects the dots in the asset lifecycle. It involves seamless communication between systems, data sharing, and workflow automation. Through integration, organizations can break down silos, optimize processes, and utilize the full potential of their assets.

Spatial DNA's Smart Workflows: Simplifying Integration

Spatial DNA's Smart Workflows are the catalysts that make integration accessible and efficient. These pre-built integrations streamline business processes between units, departments, or partners that simplify asset management tasks, offering solutions for Master Data management, Service Requests, Work Order synchronization, and more. 

Our 20+ pre-built Smart Workflows connect seamlessly to any system you’re using to any other system. The daunting task of starting from square one is gone. We provide you with a foundation built from data exchange best practices and fine-tune the solution to align with your organization's distinct requirements to save you time and resources on your integration. In addition, our Smart Workflows remove any dependency your data has on any particular system. You can upgrade or replace an application without breaking your integration.

With Spatial DNA, organizations can simplify complex processes and achieve better asset management outcomes.

Use Case: Reporting on Tangible Capital Assets

Consider a city government managing a diverse portfolio of tangible capital assets, from roads and bridges to public buildings. The city's Work/Asset Management System efficiently tracks the maintenance, inspections, and work orders related to these assets. However, the city relies on its ERP system for financial reporting and compliance purposes.

Spatial DNA's Work Order Cost Smart Workflow seamlessly connects the Work/Asset Management System with the ERP system, allowing real-time reporting on tangible capital assets.  This integration ensures that financial data, maintenance records, and asset valuations are synchronized, providing accurate and up-to-date information for budgeting, audits, and compliance reporting.

Integration transforms asset management in City Government and Manufacturing, focusing on key asset lifecycle stages. The challenges, solutions, and benefits are unique to each domain and can be impacted by Spatial DNA's prebuilt Smart Workflows.

By embracing integration and leveraging Spatial DNA's Smart Workflows, organizations can create new levels of efficiency, cost savings, and performance.

Contact us today to learn more.