Energy facility control system

• US 8,606,548 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Webster, Andrew Sebastian, Hess, Adam Glenn, Kowal, Keith E., Ciecholewski, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Silver, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Johnson, Cedric D
• Application Number:
  US12/965,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20110224953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 700/286, 700/30, 715/221, 715/224
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 Energy audits or management systems therefor

Abstract

An energy facility control system transforms the manner in which energy facilities create, modify, share, and store information during all phases of their lifecycles, from licensing through construction and decommissioning. The energy facility control system provides energy operators and their suppliers with collaborative toolsets to help improve accuracy, reliability and efficiency during every stage of an energy facility'"'"'s lifecycle.

Claims

1. An energy facility control system comprising:

a database configured to maintain documents that support an energy facility as collections of data objects, each of the data objects having one or more attributes that classify a type of data stored in the data object and the documents that support the energy facility including at least;

a license document that defines a licensing agreement between the energy facility and a regulatory organization and includes a first collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the license document, the first collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the license document, and

a design document that defines a design of at least a portion of the energy facility and includes a second collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the design document, the second collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the design document; and

one or more server systems that are configured to access data stored in the database and to perform operations comprising;

reusing data objects among the documents that support the energy facility, the reuse including reusing, in the license document and the design document, a first data object that includes data describing a component of the energy facility by;

including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document,

including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document, and

maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document, the first data object representing at least one of words describing the component, an image of the component, and a computer-aided-design drawing of the component; and

processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents, the processing including;

identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to a transaction based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, the identified data objects being included in multiple, different documents that support the energy facility, and

handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility.

2. The energy facility control system of claim 1:

wherein the first data object that includes data describing the component of the energy facility comprises a computer-aided-design (CAD) drawing of the component of the energy facility;

wherein including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the first collection of data objects that define the license document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the license document;

wherein including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the second collection of data objects that define the design document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the design document, and

wherein maintaining, in the database, the single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document comprises maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the CAD drawing of the component that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document.

3. The energy facility control system of claim 1, wherein the operations performed by the one or more server systems further comprise processing modifications to the first data object by modifying the single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document, the modifications to the first data object being reflected in each of the license document and the design document based on modification of the single stored instance of the first data object.

4. The energy facility control system of claim 1, wherein processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents comprises:

identifying a transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document that defines a different licensing agreement than the licensing agreement defined by the license document;

in response to identifying the transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document, identifying data objects included in the first collection of data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data based on attributes of the first collection of data objects;

accessing the identified data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data; and

using the identified data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data in handling the transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document.

5. The energy facility control system of claim 1:

wherein the transaction is a request to change the component of the energy facility described by the first data object;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises;

isolating, from the license document, a licensed safety margin data object that describes a licensed safety margin that is impacted by the component of the energy facility, and

isolating, from the design document, a designed safety margin data object that describes a designed safety margin that is impacted by the component of the energy facility; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises handling the request to change the component of the energy facility using the licensed safety margin data object and the designed safety margin data object.

6. The energy facility control system of claim 1:

wherein the transaction is an adverse condition of the energy facility detected by a corrective action application;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises, based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the adverse condition of the energy facility detected by the corrective action application, the identified data objects being associated with at least licensing and design operations related to the energy facility and including at least one data object included in the first collection of data objects and at least one data object included in the second collection of data objects; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises handling the adverse condition of the energy facility detected by the corrective action application using the identified data objects associated with at least licensing and design operations related to the energy facility.

7. The energy facility control system of claim 1:

wherein the documents that support the energy facility include;

an as licensed system requirements document that defines system requirements needed to comply with the licensing agreement and includes a third collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as licensed system requirements document,

an as designed system requirements document that defines system requirements needed to comply with a design of the energy facility and includes a fourth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as designed system requirements document,

an as built system requirements document that defines system requirements for the energy facility as built and includes a fifth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as built system requirements document, and

an as maintained system requirements document that defines system requirements for the energy facility as maintained throughout its lifecycle and includes a sixth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as maintained system requirements document;

wherein the transaction is a change in the energy facility;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises, based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, identifying, from among the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth collections of data objects, impacted data objects that are relevant to the change in the energy facility, the identified data objects including at least one data object included in the third collection of data objects, at least one data object included in the fourth collection of data objects, at least one data object included in the fifth collection of data objects, and at least one data object included in the sixth collection of data objects; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises using a configuration management application to, based on the identified data objects, assess impact of the change in the energy facility on the energy facility as licensed, as designed, as built, and as maintained.

8. The energy facility control system of claim 1, wherein the database is configured to maintain the documents that support the energy facility as collections of extensible markup language (XML) data objects defined in accordance with an XML schema.

9. The energy facility control system of claim 1:

wherein the database is configured to maintain documents that support a nuclear power plant as collections of data objects;

wherein the license document defines a licensing agreement between the nuclear power plant and a nuclear regulatory organization and includes a first collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the license document;

wherein the design document defines a design of at least a portion of the nuclear power plant and includes a second collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the design document;

wherein reusing data objects among the documents that support the energy facility comprises reusing data objects among the documents that support the nuclear power plant; and

wherein processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents comprises processing transactions related to the nuclear power plant using the data objects as opposed to the documents.

10. A method comprising:

maintaining, in a database, documents that support an energy facility as collections of data objects, each of the data objects having one or more attributes that classify a type of data stored in the data object and the documents that support the energy facility including at least;

a license document that defines a licensing agreement between the energy facility and a regulatory organization and includes a first collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the license document, the first collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the license document, and

a design document that defines a design of at least a portion of the energy facility and includes a second collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the design document, the second collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the design document; and

reusing, by one or more server systems, data objects among the documents that support the energy facility, the reuse including reusing, in the license document and the design document, a first data object that includes data describing a component of the energy facility by;

including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document,

including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document, and

maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document, the first data object representing at least one of words describing the component, an image of the component, and a computer-aided-design drawing of the component; and

processing, by one or more server systems, transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents, the processing including;

identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to a transaction based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, the identified data objects being included in multiple, different documents that support the energy facility, and

handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility.

11. The method of claim 10:

wherein the first data object that includes data describing the component of the energy facility comprises a computer-aided-design (CAD) drawing of the component of the energy facility;

wherein including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the first collection of data objects that define the license document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the license document;

wherein including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the second collection of data objects that define the design document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the design document, and

wherein maintaining, in the database, the single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document comprises maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the CAD drawing of the component that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising processing modifications to the first data object by modifying the single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document, the modifications to the first data object being reflected in each of the license document and the design document based on modification of the single stored instance of the first data object.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents comprises:

identifying a transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document that defines a different licensing agreement than the licensing agreement defined by the license document;

in response to identifying the transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document, identifying data objects included in the first collection of data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data based on attributes of the first collection of data objects;

accessing the identified data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data; and

using the identified data objects that do not pertain to energy facility specific data in handling the transaction related to reusing portions of the license document in another license document.

14. The method of claim 10:

wherein the transaction is a request to change the component of the energy facility described by the first data object;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises;

isolating, from the license document, a licensed safety margin data object that describes a licensed safety margin that is impacted by the component of the energy facility, and

isolating, from the design document, a designed safety margin data object that describes a designed safety margin that is impacted by the component of the energy facility; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises handling the request to change the component of the energy facility using the licensed safety margin data object and the designed safety margin data object.

15. The method of claim 10:

wherein the transaction is an adverse condition of the energy facility detected by a corrective action application;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises, based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the adverse condition of the energy facility detected by the corrective action application, the identified data objects being associated with at least licensing and design operations related to the energy facility and including at least one data object included in the first collection of data objects and at least one data object included in the second collection of data objects; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises handling the adverse condition of the energy facility detected by the corrective action application using the identified data objects associated with at least licensing and design operations related to the energy facility.

16. The method of claim 10:

wherein the documents that support the energy facility include;

an as licensed system requirements document that defines system requirements needed to comply with the licensing agreement and includes a third collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as licensed system requirements document,

an as designed system requirements document that defines system requirements needed to comply with a design of the energy facility and includes a fourth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as designed system requirements document,

an as built system requirements document that defines system requirements for the energy facility as built and includes a fifth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as built system requirements document, and

an as maintained system requirements document that defines system requirements for the energy facility as maintained throughout its lifecycle and includes a sixth collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the as maintained system requirements document;

wherein the transaction is a change in the energy facility;

wherein identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to the transaction comprises, based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, identifying, from among the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth collections of data objects, impacted data objects that are relevant to the change in the energy facility, the identified data objects including at least one data object included in the third collection of data objects, at least one data object included in the fourth collection of data objects, at least one data object included in the fifth collection of data objects, and at least one data object included in the sixth collection of data objects; and

wherein handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility comprises using a configuration management application to, based on the identified data objects, assess impact of the change in the energy facility on the energy facility as licensed, as designed, as built, and as maintained.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the database is configured to maintain the documents that support the energy facility as collections of extensible markup language (XML) data objects defined in accordance with an XML schema.

18. The method of claim 10:

wherein the database is configured to maintain documents that support a nuclear power plant as collections of data objects;

wherein the license document defines a licensing agreement between the nuclear power plant and a nuclear regulatory organization and includes a first collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the license document;

wherein the design document defines a design of at least a portion of the nuclear power plant and includes a second collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the design document;

wherein reusing data objects among the documents that support the energy facility comprises reusing data objects among the documents that support the nuclear power plant; and

wherein processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents comprises processing transactions related to the nuclear power plant using the data objects as opposed to the documents.

19. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

maintaining, in a database, documents that support an energy facility as collections of data objects, each of the data objects having one or more attributes that classify a type of data stored in the data object and the documents that support the energy facility including at least;

a license document that defines a licensing agreement between the energy facility and a regulatory organization and includes a first collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the license document, the first collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the license document, and

a design document that defines a design of at least a portion of the energy facility and includes a second collection of the data objects that are managed as discrete pieces of data separate from the design document, the second collection of the data objects representing words, at least one image, and at least one computer-aided-design drawing that make up the design document; and

reusing data objects among the documents that support the energy facility, the reuse including reusing, in the license document and the design document, a first data object that includes data describing a component of the energy facility by;

including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document,

including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document, and

maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document, the first data object representing at least one of words describing the component, an image of the component, and a computer-aided-design drawing of the component; and

processing transactions related to the energy facility using the data objects as opposed to the documents, the processing including;

identifying impacted data objects that are relevant to a transaction based on the one or more attributes of each of the data objects, the identified data objects being included in multiple, different documents that support the energy facility, and

handling the transaction using the identified data objects without accessing all data from the multiple, different documents that support the energy facility.

20. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 19:

wherein the first data object that includes data describing the component of the energy facility comprises a computer-aided-design (CAD) drawing of the component of the energy facility;

wherein including the first data object in the first collection of data objects that define the license document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the first collection of data objects that define the license document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the license document;

wherein including the first data object in the second collection of data objects that define the design document comprises including the CAD drawing of the component in the second collection of data objects that define the design document such that the CAD drawing of the component is presented in the design document, and

wherein maintaining, in the database, the single stored instance of the first data object that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document comprises maintaining, in the database, a single stored instance of the CAD drawing of the component that is referenced by each of the license document and the design document.