A thirst for knowledge
Halifax Water Commission taps OSIsoft and Microsoft for data that reduces water loss
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 5/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Water loss is a never-ending problem for water utilities. Anywhere from 15 percent to 50 percent of potable water is lost as it moves from treatment plants to end users due to leaking pipes. And because it is difficult for water companies to identify leaks, let alone track how much water they are losing, many leaks continue unabated.
For Halifax Regional Water Commission (HRWC), the first regulated water, wastewater and storm water utility in Canada, such water loss is unacceptable. A few years ago, the utility adopted the best practices in water loss control developed by the International Water Association's Water Loss Task Force.
As part of the process, HRWC segmented its distribution network into 65 district metered areas (DMA). By carefully monitoring the flow of water in each DMA, HRWC would be better able to pinpoint the exact location of leaks.
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The PI System from OSIsoft collects real-time data from multiple systems and serves the data, in the proper context, to users through a Microsoft Office interface. The Halifax Regional Water Commission uses the solution to uncover leaks in its water distribution network. |
But in order to monitor water flows, HRWC needed to collect and analyze enormous amounts of time-series data. Also, because HRWC was burdened with disparate legacy systems as the result of several mergers, it needed a tool that would tie these systems together and provide workers with a comprehensive view of water flows.
The answer was OSIsoft's PI System, an industry-leading enterprise data historian that collects time-series data—in real-time—and uses a Microsoft Office interface to serve up the data to end users.
“The PI System let us keep the legacy systems and continue to get value out of them,” says Carl Yates, general manager, HRWC.
With the PI System, HRWC can calculate average water flows and then use them as a benchmark against which they can measure actual flows to look for possible leaks. The utility uses the graphical interface provided by a PI System component called ProcessBook along with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to publish this information to its intranet so that leak specialists can quickly locate potential problems.
The system also alllows users to view, analyze, and share data according to their individual needs.
“We're on the leading edge when it comes to water loss prevention because of our loss control program incorporating the PI System,” Yates says.
Joint value proposition:
Leading performance management software provider OSIsoft offers the PI System, the industry standard in enterprise historians. Employed at more than 11,000 installations worldwide, the PI System enables the real-time management, retrieval, and deep archiving of critical time-series operational data. Microsoft has teamed with OSIsoft to enable Microsoft products such as Excel Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) portals to serve as front-end interfaces for the PI System. This allows companies to deploy the solution with less user training time, making it easier for employees to use the system to make better, faster, and more relevant business decisions.
OSIsoft Solutions
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PI System: This enterprise historian collects and aggregates operational, time-series data from sources throughout the enterprise to provide manufacturers with a clear and consistent view into operational performance. More than 400 available standard connectors make it easy for organizations to connect the PI System to programmable logic controllers, distributed control systems, laboratory information systems, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, IT equipment, and business systems.
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ProcessBook: As the easy-to-use graphical display interface to the PI System, ProcessBook efficiently displays real-time and historical data residing in the PI System and other sources.
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DataLink: By establishing a direct connection between the PI System and Microsoft Excel, DataLink lets users create and publish reports and perform complex analysis of data stored in the PI System.
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RTWebParts: These Web-based applications allow users to investigate real-time information—including time series, transactional, and Web services information, all within a familiar Internet browser-based environment. Data can be combined from many different sources, real-time, maintenance systems, production planning systems, and financial systems. RtWebParts work within the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.
Microsoft Solutions
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Microsoft Office SharePoint Server: Designed to provide a single, integrated location where employees can efficiently find organizational resources, access corporate knowledge and leverage business insight, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server offers many features associated with collaboration, portals, enterprise search, content management, forms-driven business processes, and business intelligence.
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Microsoft Excel Services: As part of Microsoft Office SharePoint, Excel Services simplifies using, securing and managing Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbooks as interactive reports that can be shared throughout the enterprise.
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