Industries – Affectli

Utility Management

Andrea — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:39:30 +0000

Utility Management

About the Company

In a world of constant change, Government, Public Services, Regulatory Bodies and Commissions will need to integrate their respective systems to become more intuitive to identify, respond and adapt to new technology opportunities, social changes, and citizens/business needs, as and when they emerge.

By connecting and streamlining data and processes, silos will be broken down, resulting in effective processes and business models that are more efficient.

IoT projects are driven by government policies due to the positive economic, social and environmental impacts that digitisation produces. Organisations need to leapfrog over yesterday’s legacy IT systems to more agile, digital-age models such as cloud computing and cognitive technologies if they are to understand digitisation trends.

With recent efforts to replace paper forms with websites and e-forms overlaid with tools such as rules engines, regulatory reform has often been part of governments’ agenda. By digitising companies, reducing compliance burdens, and enabling economic growth, this digitalization regulates them more effectively, targets risks more effectively, and reduces compliance burdens.

Water & Utilities Industry Challenges

Manual Systems & Disparate Data

Multiple systems & disparate sets of data which rely on time consuming, error prone manual consolidation.

Risk Compliance & KPI Measurements:

Complexities of operational environments that require effective monitoring of:

Regulatory Compliance
Cyber Threats
Economic Conditions
Climate Change
Reliance on Third Party Suppliers

Operational Challenges

Reactive maintenance & repairs.

Financial losses due to difficulty managing, tracking & monitoring assets in remote locations.

Reliant on multiple resources & accurate reporting to monitor:

Climate change
Ageing infrastructure
Water scarcity
Growing populations
Increased demand for water and sewerage services
Increased environmental pressures
Cybersecurity threats
Compliance with current and future regulations
Water Quality
Labour shortages
Geopolitical risks
Site Access Management & Security
Power Supply Management
Remote Site Automation
Site Build & Maintenance Planning & Optimisation

People Inefficiencies

Complexities of the operational environment require multitudes of extra people, leading to reduced efficiencies and increased overheads.

Complexities with Vendor & Third Party Management

Challenges mitigating risk & contract management of tenants, vendors and third parties.

The Affectli Solution

Umbrella Management System

Integration of all systems within the Water & Utilities sector into one Operating System.
Monitoring of endpoints (i.e. access control, generators, battery packs, power supply, passive hardware, video streaming, maintenance team, vehicles in the field etc) on all sites globally delivering real-time data through a “single pane of glass” to any part of the organisation.
Strong permissions and multi-tenancy functionality ensures that the right people get the right information at the right time.

Ability to meet Risk & KPI Measurement criteria:

Real-time data immediately detects and alerts of problems.
Workflow automation enables improved execution, resulting in improved Regulatory Compliance

Operational efficiencies

Digitised processes, GIS tracking and automated workflow processes for optimised Operations and Maintenance Planning, Managing Sites, Access & Security.
Accurate real-time reporting on all aspects of the business, including Demand, Supply and Quality.
Ability to make immediate & informed decisions using meticulous data.
Instant visibility of all facets of the organisation.

People efficiencies

Improved efficiencies & accountability resulting in reduced resources, reduced overheads and increased profitability.

Multi-tenancy solution

Manage multiple tenants, control access to information and ensure comprehensive, auditable action trail for Risk & Contract Management.

The Affectli Orchestration

By integrating their IoT endpoints and assets, Affectli provided real-time insights into the client’s business using GIS and geo-reporting tools.

With Affectli’s Situational Awareness feature, icons representing client assets change colour when they are faulty or alarms are triggered. In real-time, the status colour changes according to whether the issue has been resolved or escalated.

When alarms are triggered, predefined parameters enable processes to be started automatically or manually. Field service agents are assigned to these jobs by generating work cards/tickets and sending them to the nearest, most qualified field service agent.

Affectli provides contextual collaboration on all tasks as part of its agile support, ensuring the right people receive the right information at the right time and maintaining historical data and audit trails.

By applying calculations to historical data received from signals and alarms, we could predict when reservoirs would run out based on consumption rates.

A parameter was then applied to alert the client three hours before the reservoir would reach critically low levels, providing them with the tools to prevent unnecessary service interruptions or emergency shutdowns. Following this, a summary of all water levels in the reservoirs was published every 2 hours to their mobile devices, giving them a real-time overview of their reservoirs’ water levels.

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Mining

Andrea — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 12:18:59 +0000

Mining

About the Company

One of the world’s Largest Gold Mining companies began commercial production in 2006 in a remote region of Africa with sites operating surface and underground mines.

The operation of such a significant mining asset in remote regions of Africa requires a constant understanding of the state of operations and secure monitoring of the picture on the ground.

The control rooms can drill down from maps into blueprints, technical drawings and multiple live CCTV feeds that are folded into the GIS infrastructure of the system using the platform.

By consolidating all asset management into a single control room, the client has reduced costs, mitigated theft, and maximised efficiencies by ensuring coherent, timely and informed decision-making.

Mining Industry Challenges

Manual Systems & Disparate Data

Multiple systems & disparate sets of data which rely on time consuming, error prone manual consolidation.

Stringent SLA requirements & KPI Measurements

Complexities of operational environments that require effective monitoring of:

ESG & decarbonisation
Access to capital
Political instability
Regulatory Compliance

Operational Challenges

Reactive maintenance & repairs.

Financial losses due to difficulty managing, tracking & monitoring assets in remote locations.

Reliant on multiple resources & accurate reporting to monitor:

Low productivity
Labour shortages
Geopolitical risks
Site Access Management & Security
Power Supply Management
Remote Site Automation
Site Build & Maintenance Planning & Optimisation

People Inefficiencies

Complexities of the operational environment require multitudes of extra people, leading to reduced efficiencies and increased overheads.

Complexities with Vendor & Third Party Management

Challenges mitigating risk & contract management of tenants, vendors and third parties.

The Affectli Solution

Umbrella Management System

Integration of all systems within the Mining Co into one Operating System.
Monitoring of endpoints (i.e. access control, generators, battery packs, power supply, passive hardware, video streaming, maintenance team, vehicles in the field etc) on all sites globally delivering real-time data through a “single pane of glass” to any part of the organisation.
Strong permissions and multi-tenancy functionality ensures that the right people get the right information at the right time.

Ability to meet stringent SLA criteria

Real-time data immediately detects and alerts to problems.
Workflow automation enables improved execution, resulting in improved Regulatory Compliance.

Operational efficiencies

Digitised processes, GIS tracking and automated workflow processes for optimised Operations and Maintenance Planning, Managing Sites, Access & Security.
Accurate real-time reporting on Production Load Monitoring and Power Supply Management.
Ability to make immediate & informed decisions using meticulous data.
Instant visibility of all facets of the organisation.

People efficiencies

Improved efficiencies & accountability resulting in reduced resources, reduced overheads and increased profitability.

Multi-tenancy solution

Manage multiple tenants, control access to information and ensure comprehensive, auditable action trail for Risk & Contract Management.

The Affectli Orchestration

Without any downtime, Affectli was incorporated into the existing infrastructure and consolidated into a single control room.

A number of subsystems were integrated, such as conveyor belt weightometers, plant SCADA, drone technology, weighbridges, and geo-fencing systems, in conjunction with CCTV live feeds and vehicle tracking devices, to create the seamless integration. Using its powerful Mi-Stream processor, all the data gathered from the multiple points is then ingested into one single dashboard in real-time, transforming it into meaningful, contextual data that can be seen on the dashboard as it is updated across the system.

Affectli’s GIS infrastructure integrates multiple CCTV feeds, allowing the control room to view assets remotely and locate them on a map.

The ontology allows these assets to be drilled into granular details, such as blueprints and technical drawings, easily accessible as a result of a simple button click.

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telecoms 2

Andrea — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:19:53 +0000

Telecommunications

About the Company

One of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world has sites in remote areas that are responsible for servicing a vast growing emerging market.

They are committed to operating environmentally sustainable and reliable towers while meeting the increasing demand from their subscribers for data services and wireless telecommunications infrastructure.

By connecting their multiple systems and devices to Affectli and capturing our client’s intellectual property organisation using iBPMN-compliant workflow the Affectli Designer© and digitised their processes and workflows.

The Affectli Solution comes with customised app solutions that can be duplicated and re-engineered according to client-centric needs.

TowerCo Industry Challenges

Manual Systems & Disparate Data

Multiple systems & disparate sets of data which rely on time consuming, error prone manual consolidation.

Stringent SLA requirements & KPI Measurements

Extended Mean Time To Detect (MTTD) & Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) resulting in down time transgressions with significant penalties being levied.

Operational Challenges

Reactive maintenance & repairs.
Financial losses due to difficulty managing, tracking & monitoring assets in remote locations.

Reliant on multiple resources & accurate reporting to monitor

Tower Load.
Site Access Management & Security.
Power Supply Management.
Remote Site Automation.
Site Build & Maintenance Planning & Optimisation.

People Inefficiencies

Complexities of the operational environment require multitudes of extra people, leading to reduced efficiencies and increased overheads.

Complexities with Vendor & Third Party Management

Challenges mitigating risk & contract management of tenants, vendors and third parties.

The Affectli Solution

Umbrella Management System

Integration of all systems within the Tower Co into one Operating System.
Monitoring of endpoints (i.e. access control, generators, battery packs, power supply, passive hardware, video streaming, maintenance team, vehicles in the field etc) on all sites globally delivering real-time data through a “single pane of glass” to any part of the organisation.
Strong permissions and multi-tenancy functionality ensures that the right people get the right information at the right time.

Ability to meet stringent SLA criteria

Real-time data immediately detects problems, reducing MTTD from hours to milliseconds.
Workflow automation enables improved execution, resulting in less downtime and improved MTTR eliminating 99% of SLA penalties.

Operational efficiencies

Digitised processes, GIS tracking and automated workflow processes for optimised Operations and Maintenance Planning, Managing Sites, Access & Security.
Accurate real-time reporting on Tower Load Monitoring and Power Supply Management.
Ability to make immediate & informed decisions using meticulous data.
Instant visibility of all facets of the organisation.

People efficiencies

Multiple systems & disparate sets of data which rely on time consuming, error prone manual consolidation.

Multi-tenancy solution

Multiple systems & disparate sets of data which rely on time consuming, error prone manual consolidation.

The Affectli Orchestration

Affectli was used to connect multiple systems and devices thereafter the clients’ intellectual property of the organisation was captured using iBPMN compliant workflow with the Affectli Designer© and digitised their processes and workflows. Affectli comes with a suite of app solutions that can be duplicated and re-engineered according to each clients need which included the Field Operation Management app, Service Desk app, Network Surveillance app and the Asset Management app.

The Field Operation Management includes a Refuelling app for Fuel Monitoring where an operator receives an automated task as soon as the fuel tanks reach 35% which includes details such as the location, tank ID, tank capacity, and request for a refuelling order. Additional controls can be implemented such as time stamped pictures taken on site and a task requirements a three-way matching process is completed for example: The GPS location matches the site to be refuelled, the gauge on the tank registers as full, the operator sends confirmation that the order has been filled.

The Affectli apps are completely customisable and can include the ability to monitor anomalies, breaches or monitoring systems such as open/closed doors, overheating of batteries, and much more…

The Service Desk app controls the requests to access a particular site online within the Affectli platform allowing people to identify themselves, which entity in the organisation they represent, the site that needs to be assessed and the type of visit such as maintenance, repairs, and more.
The request is verified against a database designed for the client once submitted, the customer then receives a confirmation notification in real-time
The client can limit their customer’s access to the site to control, the frequency of visits, draw reports for their customers to show specific data pertaining to each asset, extract a report on the severity of problems, indicate things such as tasks completed by technicians including an indication of additional criteria such as the time it took to complete the task(s) and more.
A similar application is duplicated to accommodate site visits, such as access to the DataCentre in order to effectively manage their POE (port of entry). The result is their ability to prevent cross heat transfer between hot and cold channels, thereby saving energy, cutting energy costs and eliminating unnecessary maintenance on air conditioning equipment.

Network Surveillance apps include: Network Incident Management, Problem Management and Incident Management.
It was imperative to our client that tower communications where up and that sites are fully functional because their MTTR and service delivery is benchmarked and managed against a stringent SLA.
Processes were digitised and as the system gathers information over time, building an intelligence that enables the client to predictively assist with maintenance and pre-emptive issues that may arise. It also allows the client to predict macro environment occurrences, such as weather and geolocation, through the Maps Interface, to plan for potential issues at the sites due to incidents such as weather or political instability.
Apps have been built to digitise various reports for the client, including Sunburst style reports showing the NOC which sites are down, the severity of the issue, and allows the interaction of the various parties involved to getting the site back up, and to contribute to the issues that have been raised automatically through the system.

Asset Management apps in order to efficiently manage assets belonging to a Client, as well as the assets belonging to tenants, vendors and customers and included: Asset Capture, Asset Movement, Asset Maintenance and Asset Repair.
These apps result in significant savings on overhead costs through digitising their asset tracking, streamlining processes, and their ability to maintain accurate audit trails through: capturing and ensuring the efficiency of all assets, ensuring regular maintenance is carried out, and that repairs are actioned when assets break, and ensuring that when assets are moved, that they are tracked and located in realtime.

Industry Use Case TowerCo Incident Managent Process

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Oil & Gas

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:43:56 +0000

Smart Laundry

A trusted solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovationand make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for Smart Laundry

About the Industry

Our Client, a market leader in the Oil & Gas industry, sought out a Digital Transformation solution for Vessel Tracking Services (VTS) and monitoring of Mobile Assets in their operational locations.

Project Summary

The Client required real-time position data of mobile assets for effective command and control response.

It entailed the tracking service of multiple marine vessels, as well as other moving assets both in their operational areas, as well as that of their subcontractors.

The Solution

Among the extensive list of requirements by our client, the digital solutions included:

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Smart Laundry

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:43:35 +0000

Smart Laundry

A trusted solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovationand make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for Smart Laundry

About the Industry

Typically, a laundry operation will be measured on its success by measurement and monitoring and by input vs output.

The Challenge

Historically, operators and management would receive a stream of numbers and alerts after the fact, when boilers fail and machinery is not operational, or when deliveries are not fulfilled.

Typically, smart devices or machinery would have alarms and alerts software, operating in silos, bombarding operators with disparate information, and no automation of contextual data.

They would have to send out delivery delay notifications, and reactively submit requests for technicians to repair machinery and service boilers. The result is that businesses often react to daily crisis management, as opposed to service delivery through a more effective, planned, proactive and controlled approach to their operational challenges.

The Solution

In the Industrial Laundry sector, AFFECTLI is an effective solution for an industrial laundry facility. Revolutionising the operations of entire industries, smart devices, data and system integrations allows commercial laundries to engage in smart washing and service delivery for improved operations.

By engaging in a digitisation process, a business can integrate AFFECTLI to interconnected computing devices and machines that will allow individuals to transfer and receive data across a network, without resorting to human contact.

The Affectli Orchestration

Affectli captures real time data that every device is capable of sending data throughout the entire range of operational activities in one single command and control centre. The platform digests all that data and presents it into geographically and statistically organised dashboards that are developed according to the customer’s needs. It also processes that data in the background in a management instruction system grafted on the organisation’s standard operating procedures raising instantaneous alerts when procedures and normal patterns of behaviour are not met.

This voluminous data is presented in clear dashboard aggregates that will allow any business to assess the performance of its own operations against the targets it sets itself as well as compare relative performance of its partners against the partner’s own targets and against each other. It will also allow for the timely issue of instructions for reactions to emerging situations acting across the barriers between itself and its partners and between the partners themselves where it is to its benefit to do so.

An industrial concern will be able to ensure that its clients achieve their supply chain objectives, that they are able to monitor and manage customer satisfaction goals through analysis of customer behaviour, and finally, manage its HR/workforce and contracted employment complement in order to ensure that efficiency is primary out of the organisations and can be accounted for and losses prevented and bottom line affected positively.

To ensure proactive operational management, an industrial laundry digitisation would be able to improve its operational efficiencies and apply best business practices while minimising downtime to providing uninterrupted services and improved customer satisfaction. The implementation of Affectli will enable management to be more efficient in monitoring and managing temperatures of boilers, water usage and monitoring and further along the line, distribution management.

The client´s IoT endpoints and assets and all the required variables would be integrated and captured into the Affectli platform to give an overview of the business in real-time using GIS and geo-reporting tools.

Within the Situational Awareness feature of Affectli, icons representing the client’s assets change colour when a fault occurs (such as overheating boilers, or tanks running low of water) or an alarm is triggered when lights are left off or drier doors are not closed properly) making it easier to identify and address problems as and when they arise. The status colour changes in real time, as the issues are resolved or escalated.

Pre-defined parameters enable processes to manually or automatically be started, when alarms are triggered. These processes are in the form of a work card / or tickets which are generated and sent to the nearest and most qualified service agent for attention. The bi-directional communication between the platform and smart devices also allows for Affectli to switch devices on or off or communicate a relevant command to automatically rectify alarms, without human intervention. (This is, of course, device dependent.) With Affectli supporting an agile environment, this feature also provides for contextual collaboration on all tasks, ensuring that the right people get the right information at the right time, as well as provides historical data and a full audit trail.

Having applied calculations to historical data received from signals and alarms, we are able to establish a predictive pattern of when a tank or boiler would be empty based on the rate of consumption. We would also be able to assign technicians prior to service dates of drying / washing or ironing equipment, in order to schedule these routine service and maintenance tasks according to load schedules.

Affectli can be configured so that parameters are applied to the intelligence, to notify operators minutes or hours ahead of time that the tanks would be reaching critically low levels, providing tools for a proactive approach to avoid unnecessary service interruptions and emergency shutdowns. Regular reports of water levels of tanks, temperatures and meter readings can be provided as and when required. Published at incremental intervals that are relevant to the operational requirements, giving them an accurate overview of water level, temperature and other readings of their operations.

OUTCOMES AND OTHER AREAS OF OPERATION

In addition to the machinery and equipment on a more focussed front, Affectli can be applied to the actual laundry process, with automated wash settings that don’t just save money and time – it’s also much better for the fabrics being laundered. In this regard, smart washing machines analyse load size and type, determining the amount of detergent to be used prior to the washing and drying process.

This information is critical in consumables procurement planning as well as care for the customer’s garments or linens. Furthermore, these smart machines also determine whether hot or cold water is most appropriate for each cycle and alert employees when each wash cycle is completed. In more sophisticated washer/dryer systems, anti-wrinkle measures, such as tumbling or steam, can be initiated without a manual prompt, and cycles can automatically be moved on from one cycle to another.

Take this one step further, to client notification that their laundry is completed and ready for collection, based on time factors configured into the platform. The information gathered from the disparate systems is processed in Affectli to provide insights on how to optimise consumption and increase savings.

This data is useful for making evidence based investments, and the positive effect on the bottom line through temperature and detergent regulation, can be significant. To boot, a reduction in energy consumption and harmful substance emittance into the environment, contributes to the business sustainability objectives, leading to a positioning of industry leadership in green operational principles.

When it comes to smart washing in commercial laundries, automation plays a significant role in reducing inefficiencies. By implementing an effective Digital Transformation solution like Affectli that is agile and scalable, as well as device and system agnostic, it provides an organisation with smart technology and connected systems that are the very foundation for business efficiency.

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Safety & Security

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:43:07 +0000

Safety and Security

A trusted multi-tenancy solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovation and make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for Safety & Security

About the Industry

Client A is a leading service provider of complex security and logistics services for high profiled clients and events across the Globe, and a leading provider of security and logistics services, which represents their core business. They operate throughout the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, former Soviet Union, Central Asia, Africa, North America and South America and Europe.

They provide products, services and innovative solutions for security and critical infrastructure protection activities, corporate risk management, crisis management and emergency response – all of which are aligned and tailored to the full life cycle of the business needs or objectives.

The multi-sector approach reflects the highly professional and extensive background of their professionals who come from military, police, commercial, logistics, engineering and legal areas.

The Challenge

Client A commissioned Mi-C3 to develop two security APPS within the Affectli Platform for a high profile, security-sensitive event that took place in Italy.

Client A commissioned Mi-C3, to develop two Security APPS within the Affectli Platform in order to showcase the responsive behaviour, collaborative communication and effectiveness of the IoT / Smart Workspace platform at a live, high profile, security-sensitive event.

This event, which took place in Sicily and had diverse security facets to consider. These included the security sensitive profile of the attendees, the intensive logistics around the event, as well as various forms of transportation that needed to be monitored across 3 events and resident sites.

The Solution

In past events, Client A manually managed the security process, guarding and foot patrol access, so one facet of the solution design was to bring all these elements together into one collaborative space.

We created an OBSERVATION BOOK APP and a CRISIS MANAGEMENT APP on the Affectli platform. These were used for incident reaction and provided a more efficient way to manage and mitigate the risk, security and logistics aspects of the event.
We provided an experienced team on site to provide user training and full time support to the operations team throughout the event, and as a result of the successful implementation of the pilot Affectli solution, Client A continues to digitise their live operations due to the flexibility and agility of the Affectli model.
In addition to which, Mi-C3 was invited to present the solution to the Association of Directors of Safety in Portugal (ADSP) at an annual event attended by an elite group of security professionals across Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Affectli Orchestration

Historically, Client A manually managed the security process including guarding and foot patrol access. They required a system that was more efficient by way of monitoring, reporting and tracking security observations in real time in order to mitigate and effectively manage risk and exposure.

An OBSERVATION BOOK APP process:

Enabled the “boots on the ground” to report all observations to the control room using their mobile devices (phones and tablets).
Included functionality for the control room to quickly deploy additional security personnel to areas as demarcated in the map of the application, to ensure that the incident was either rendered as minor and resolved, or escalated to more serious actions, such as in extreme cases, an evacuation.

In addition to being in a position to mitigate risk and have a faster response time, the control room operators were continuously able to:

Check the status of the site,
Draw reports instantly on incidents per severity, and
Display these in sunbursts on their screens to get an overall assessment of the status of security, all day, every day, as and when needed.

The Logistics challenges for Client A were complex and required a solution that would integrate a variety of moving parts into one cohesive system in order to effectively manage executions in real time.

A second LOGISTICS APP was provided on the Affectli platform.

The APP required the integration of Third Party vehicle tracking systems to collect signals that were displayed in real-time within the Affectli MAPS functionality.

The results was a display of complete operational awareness and tracking of all assets on ONE platform, allowing for a more efficient process with regards to managing the complexities of logistics, people and security risks associated with an event of this nature.

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Utilities Management

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:42:48 +0000

Utilities Management

A trusted solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovationand make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for utilities management

INTRODUCTION

In a world of constant change, Governments and Regulatory Bodies will need to become more intuitive in order to identify, respond and adapt to new technology opportunities, social changes and citizens / business needs, as and when they emerge.

Government, Public Services, Regulatory Bodies and Commissions will need to integrate their respective systems. Breaking down silos by seamlessly connecting and streamlining data and process flows will uproot outdated systems and practices, replacing them with new models that result in a more efficient process and effective business models.

Government policy is known to drive some of the largest IoT projects worldwide due to the positive Economic, Societal and Environmental impact that digitisation delivers. In order for organisations to understand digitisation trends, they would need to leapfrog over yesterday’s legacy IT systems, straight into more agile, digital-age models such as cloud computing and cognitive technologies.

Regulatory reform has often been part of governments’ approach to job growth. Much of the recent focus has been on replacing paper forms with websites and e-forms, overlaid with tools such as rules engines. But governments rarely have the resources to timely address complaints, often taking months or years to investigate long after the damage was done. Governments are starting to take advantage of digitization to better regulate companies and enable economic growth. Many reforming regulators use digital approaches to more effectively target risks, while reducing the compliance burden. This is a disruptive approach to regulatory reform, using data analytics tools coupled with streamlined reporting and third-party data to focus regulatory enforcement on risks.

Considerations

The unprecedented convergence of forces reshaping the electric power industry—from moderating demand and aging infrastructure, to environmental mandates and the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DER)—requires an increasingly flexible and robust grid. The grid is evolving from a one-way system where power flows from centralized generation stations to consumers, to a platform that can detect, accept, and control decentralized consumption and production assets so that power and information can flow as needed in multiple directions.

This common industry vision is known as the “intelligent grid.”

This intelligent grid builds on the industry’s innovative heritage of increasing interconnectedness using sensors, “smart” devices, and networked operations, and achieving it, requires a myriad of technologies, including numerous IoT applications.

At the heart of these advances are exponential technologies like sensors, robotics, and advanced analytics, which together, form advanced, interconnected systems capable of quickly analyzing large amounts of data. These critical systems are the sensory organs, nerves, and brains capable of giving our electric system the flexibility and agility necessary to enable ideas like a self-healing grid and plug-and-play generation—an intelligent grid.

The Solution

AFFECTLI is the overlaying layer of these systems and devices which brings a plethora of disparate systems and silos of information together into one management view in real-time, ensuring that contextual collaboration is optimised, across all data sources:

Installation of the core application and database using OS;
Integration of AIS data into the dashboard;
Integrations of devices / systems & databases into the Mi-Stream in order to bring all the data into one platform;
Real-time asset monitoring dashboard;

THE AFFECTLI ORCHESTRATION

In order to supply constant and reliable power that covers a wide national footproot to maximise access to electricity, a power regulator would need to ensure that appropriate regulations are enforced. Safe, adequate, reliable and affordable services need to be delivered in order to fulfill the regulatory compliance prerequisites.

Energy supply, maintenance and regulation solutions can be built within the AFFECTLI platform, and configured in line with the organisation’s own business process flows, herewith, to name a few:

Maintenance & Management of power sites and infrastructure
- Digitised processes such as:
  - Asset Management
  - Predictive Maintenance
  - Workforce Management
  - Fault reporting
  - Fault rectification (field services)
- Demand Planning
  - Predictive outages
  - Delivery & quality control
  - Measurement of meters
- Consumption Management
  - Smart Electricity Meter Integration
  - Readings for power delivery
  - Readings of power strength
- Asset utility consumption
  - Threshold Management
  - Asset Security
  - Power Factor Correction

In order to visualise the organisation’s state of play, live and in real-time, AFFECTLI allows for GIS interface mapping, using AI and current & historical data to deliver predictive data in the form of reports. These customisable reports are available in relation to geo locations, and displayed in any format required. Examples of such reports are as follows:

Reports of consumption, usage and service delivery
Real time visualisation of GPS & Threshold management
Maintenance scheduling
Usage & consumption trends and patterns
Pricing structures across networks and grids

CASE STUDY IN A SIMILAR ENVIRONMENT

In the Smart Utilities sector, AFFECTLI has been proven as an effective solution for a multi-million dollar independent company based in South Africa who supplies water that rates among the cleanest, safest and healthiest in the world. This company provides water and sanitation services to over 3 million people daily by way of nearly 11 000 kilometers of distribution pipes that deliver water to 33 water towers, 87 reservoirs and pump stations 24 hours a day.

Their reservoirs are measured and monitored by Programmable Logic Controllers and historically, system operators and management would receive a stream of numbers and alerts when alarms were triggered. They would have to send out emergency shutdown notifications, down tools and manually open and close pumps to ensure that sufficient water was delivered to their customer base. The result is that they were reacting to daily crisis management, as opposed to service delivery through a more effective, planned, proactive and controlled approach to their business.

To ensure they would meet service delivery and best business practices while minimising downtime to providing uninterrupted services and improved customer satisfaction, they implemented AFFECTLI to make them more efficient in monitoring and managing water levels in their most critical reservoir tanks.

The client´s IoT endpoints and assets were integrated into the AFFECTLI platform to give them an overview of their business in real-time using GIS and geo-reporting tools.

Within the Situational Awareness feature of AFFECTLI, icons representing the client’s assets change colour when a fault occurs or an alarm is triggered, making it easier for them to identify and address problems as and when they arise. The status colour changes in real time, as the issues are resolved or escalated.

Pre-defined parameters enable processes to manually or automatically be started, when alarms are triggered. These processes are in the form of a work card / or ticket which is generated and sent to the nearest and most qualified field service agent for attention.

With AFFECTLI supporting an agile environment, this feature also provides for contextual collaboration on all tasks, ensuring that the right people get the right information at the right time, as well as provides historical data and a full audit trail.

Having applied calculations to historical data received from signals and alarms, we were able to establish a predictive pattern of when a reservoir would be empty based on the rate of consumption.

We then applied a parameter to notify the client 3 hours ahead of time that the reservoir would be reaching critically low levels, providing them the tools for a proactive approach to avoid unnecessary service interruptions and emergency shutdowns. The next step was to include a summary of all the water levels within the reservoirs. This was published every 2 hours to their mobile devices, giving them an accurate overview of water level readings of their reservoirs.

Before the implementation of AFFECTLI, our client was reporting 5 to 6 low level alarms daily on their critical tanks, with the average level of those reservoirs being low, and marginally above empty. Within 8 days, this was reduced to only one low level alarm.

By implementing an effective Digital Transformation solution like AFFECTLI that is agile and scalable, as well as device and system agnostic, it provides an organisation with smart technology and connected systems that are the very foundation for business efficiency.

More information on AFFECTLI’s features and capabilities, available here.

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Telecommunications

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:42:12 +0000

Telecommunications

A trusted solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovationand make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for telecommunications

ABOUT THE COMPANY

One of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world have sites in remote areas that are responsible for servicing a vast growing emerging market. They are committed to operating environmentally sustainable and reliable towers while meeting the increasing demand from their subscribers for data services and wireless telecommunications infrastructure.

The Challenge

In emerging markets where there are far fewer fixed lines, less broadband penetration and unreliable power supply, network downtime can have far reaching implications. Our Client was faced with challenges meeting their stringent SLA criteria due to flawed computerised systems that were overloading their servers, resulting in inaccurate reporting and difficulty managing, tracking & monitoring their equipment situated in remote locations. In addition to which, they faced efficiency challenges managing tenant, vendor and third-party supplier access to various sites.

The Solution

Provide the client with the ability to:

Give the client ownership of their own data.
Provide a single view of their operation.
Customised solutions including the ability to automatically generate alerts & tasks to refuel tanks resulting in Zero No-Fuel days.
Effectively monitor abnormalities & breaches.
Manage tenants, vendors and third-party supplier access to the site. Provide accurate customer reporting.
Manage Power over Efficiency (POE) in their DataCentre.

Reduced Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) from 4 to 2 hours.
Accurately track, trace & monitor all their assets in real-time.
Provide the client with tools to build their own secure, scalable solutions through a digitised workflow APP made up of user-friendly no-code-low-code drop and drag capability.
Pinpoint where in the value chain ore has gone missing.

THE AFFECTLI ORCHESTRATION

We started by connecting multiple systems and devices to AFFECTLI. We then captured our client’s intellectual property of the organisation using iBPMN compliant workflow with the Affectli Designer© and digitised their processes and workflows.

Customised app solutions that have the ability to be duplicated and re-engineered according to client-centric needs included:

FIELD OPERATION MANAGEMENT

This included a Refueling app for Fuel Monitoring.

NOC operators receive an automated task as soon as the fuel tanks reach 35%.

Detailed information is included, namely the location, tank ID, tank capacity, and request for a refuelling order.

Additional controls can be implemented such as time stamped pictures taken on site, but aligned to the client’s criteria, the task is not considered completed until a three-way matching process is completed, namely:

The GPS location matches the site to be refuelled.
The gauge on the tank registers as full.
The operator sends confirmation that the order has been filled.

The client has the ability to duplicate this process to include the ability to monitor anomalies, breaches or monitoring systems such as open/closed doors, overheating of batteries, etc.

CUSTOMERS

This included a Service Desk app.

Requests to access a particular site are made online within the AFFECTLI platform. This allows the customer to identify themselves, select which entity within the organisation they represent, which site needs to be accessed and can specify the type of visit – whether it be maintenance, repairs, or otherwise.

This request is then verified against a database that was designed for the Client. Once submitted,
The customer receives a confirmation notification in real-time, either through an email or sms, or through AFFECTLI’s A-Live communication platform.

The client has the ability to limit their customer’s access to the site to control the frequency of visits if this forms part of their KPI requirements. In addition to which, they are able to draw reports for their customers to show specific data pertaining to each asset, extract a report on the severity of problems, as well as indicate things such as tasks completed by technicians – including an indication of criteria such as the time it took to complete the task(s).

A similar application is duplicated to accommodate site visits, such as access to the DataCentre in order to effectively manage their POE. The result is their ability to prevent cross heat transfer between hot and cold channels, thereby saving energy, cutting energy costs and eliminating unnecessary maintenance on air conditioning equipment.

NETWORK SURVEILLANCE

This included Incident Management apps for Network Surveillance that included:

Network Incident Management
Problem Management
Incident Management

It’s imperative to our client that tower communications are up and that sites are fully functional because their MTTR and service delivery is benchmarked and managed against a stringent SLA.

Processes were digitised. As the system gathers information over a period of time, the intelligence that is built, enables the client to predictively assist with maintenance and pre-emptive issues that may arise. It also allows the client to predict macro environment occurrences such as weather and geolocation through the Maps Interface, to plan for potential issues at the sites due to incidents such as inclement weather or political instability.

Apps have been built to digitise various report for the client, including Sunburst style reports showing the NOC which sites are down, the severity of the issue, and allows the interaction of the various parties involved to getting the site back up, and to contribute to the issues that have been raised automatically through the system.

ASSET MANAGEMENT

This included Asset Management apps in order to efficiently manage assets belonging to Client A, as well as the assets belonging to tenants, vendors and customers and included:

Asset Capture
Asset Movement
Asset Maintenance
Asset Repair.

These apps resulting in significant savings on overhead costs through digitising their asset tracking, streamlining processes, and their ability to maintain accurate audit trails through the ability to:

Capturing and ensuring the efficiency of all assets;
Ensuring regular maintenance is carried out, and that repairs are actioned when assets break; and
Ensuring that when assets are moved, that they are tracked and located in realtime.

More information on AFFECTLI’s features and capabilities, available here.

The post Telecommunications appeared first on Affectli.

Mining

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:24:04 +0000

Mining

A trusted solution for ANY organisation looking to improve risk management, increase innovationand make meaningful data-driven decisions.

Affectli for mining

ABOUT THE COMPANY

One of the world’s Largest Gold Mining companies began Commercial Production in 2006 in a remote region of Africa. The site includes operating both surface and underground mines.

The Challenge

Added to the challenges of managing such a remote location, our client was looking to consolidate critical information to drive informed decision making, mitigate risk and improve labour & equipment efficiencies.

The Solution

Provide the client with the ability to:

Improve security; safety and mitigate risk.
Consolidate multiple sources of data from a plethora of disparate systems and equipment into a single control room.
Provide meaningful, real-time data to drive informed decision making.
Provide meaningful, real-time contextual data that is dispatched to the right people at the right time.
Effectively manage people, equipment and components within the organisation.
Maximise efficiencies through the ability to convert labour-product and equipment-product productivities in real-time.

Real-time monitoring and factoring of geological conditions; operating time & delays; declining ore quality; equipment and purchasing of consumables.
Calculate and predict productivity.
Visualise actual production vs. budget in real-time through a single dashboard.
Pinpoint where in the value chain ore has gone missing.
Real-time audit trails, reporting and super analytics available at the click of a button.

THE AFFECTLI ORCHESTRATION

AFFECTLI was overlaid onto the existing infrastructure without any downtime, and consolidated into a single control room.

The integration included various subsystems such as conveyor belt weightometers, plant SCADA, drone technology, weighbridge, and geo-fencing that work in conjunction with CCTV live feeds and vehicle tracking devices. The powerful MI-STREAM processor then ingests all the data from these multiple points, which is then transformed into meaningful, contextual data that is viewed on a single dashboard in real-time.

The multiple live CCTV feeds are folded into the GIS infrastructure of the AFFECTLI system, allowing the control room to view remotely, as well as locate assets on maps. Through an ontological approach, these assets can then be drilled down into granular detail that includes the likes of blueprints and technical drawings – all with the ease of clicking a button.

More information on AFFECTLI’s features and capabilities, available here.

The post Mining appeared first on Affectli.