Parasyn solutions range from small-scale boutique applications through to major SCADA enterprise integration including IoT solutions. This could include the development of specialised drivers and enhancements to vendor’s off-the-shelf products to complete the full enterprise solution. Whatever the size of requirement or problem to be solved we will take a systematic approach to managing the requirements. Part of this approach may include assessing the impact of the requirements on the enterprise, understanding what innovation may be required to achieve particular outcomes, defining what steps need to be accomplished to improve operational performance, and highlighting what process intelligence information is required to increase production.
Supporting major critical infrastructure companies, Parasyn customers operate water, gas, power and transportation assets using a blend of SCADA, Control System and Enterprise Information System technologies. Advanced applications include predictive analytics and model predictive control technologies. Sustainable low-cost production and efficient asset operation is possible with today’s technologies, and the need to get this right the first time doesn’t have to cost you more; it just requires some clever thinking. With the right process information, asset operators can make critical decisions that will yield long term paybacks. There is no “quick fix” or shortcut to operating assets efficiently. You need good information at the fingertips of knowledge workers to stay on top of maintenance strategies, unexpected production requirements and emergency support requirements.
Solution’s Space
- IoT Enterprise Software Systems
- Traditional SCADA systems
- Treatment Plant Control Systems
- Process Control Systems
- Telemetry Systems
- Technology upgrades
- Instrumentation & Electrical (I&E) Design & Field Services
- Hardware and Software procurement
- High Availability (HA) Operational Management Systems
- Control & Telemetry Panel fabrication
- SWIMs or Regulatory compliance reporting
- Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Integration
- Predictive Analytics & Condition Based Monitoring (CBM)
- Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM)
- Service Level Agreements (SLA)
Providing trusted data means shaping, designing, deploying and maintaining software systems which include smart connected devices, traditional control systems and information from anywhere inside or outside the enterprise. See one example of how latest technology is evolving and even replacing the way we used to manage devices.
Designing systems with the entire enterprise in mind ensures that the solution has interoperability with other business applications. Our aim is to “land” the right data in the right place, packaged to conform with standards.
ICT infrastructure and Tools designed to host information and raw asset data. Optimised management of SCADA & Automation Systems means tight integration with the enterprise business infrastructure. Parasyn presents the platform to bridge the control system to the business.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition is the fundamental operational software tool for managing control system assets. PLCs & RTUs are used to control critical assets and report operational status which help improve performance. A well-designed Human Machine Interface makes viewing, understanding and interpreting your data a breeze. A design which includes situational awareness is said to increase operator performance by as much as 30%.
IT Networks, Communications Systems, Electrical Interfaces and Control Cabinets. We design systems, configure and supply telecommunications equipment and cabinets including PLCs, RTUs and instrumentation.
The control system silo and enterprise management systems no longer need to live separate lives. With modern technologies, work order creation, asset & ERP performance tracking and predictive analysis all work toward reduced operating costs, better scheduling for planned maintenance, reduction in downtime and early warning detection of plant failures. This can be done without customised code and in an environment that your team or a trusted partner can manage. This technology leverages Condition Based Monitoring (CBM) and Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) applications.
Compliance Reporting & Data Analysis
Governments and regulatory bodies have been steadily increasing their demand for more accurate, validated and timely data. Organisation Compliance Reporting & Data Analysis requirements have therefore naturally become increasingly important as deregulation and privatisation takes a hold across the globe. Managing assets holistically according to how the business manages the asset and not how the operations group repairs and maintains the asset, no longer needs to be mutually exclusive. Technology now delivers high speed data acquisition, abstracted data structures which fit your asset model, mega storage, caching of enterprise KPI and performance management information. This means that at all levels of the organisation the appropriate information is presented for users. This no longer means different systems for different work groups. Those days are over.
Centralised Management of Substation IEDs – NERC CIP
Centralised management of substation IEDs offers significant benefits in terms of secure access to devices, engineering configuration management for proprietary devices, automated fault record management and enterprise information connectivity. This Unified Substation Intelligence philosophy is designed to free utilities from locked into vendor specific or proprietary IED technologies and instead offer solutions that provide true, multi-vendor, multi-function and vendor agnostic interoperability. When assets are uniformly managed, anomalies become glaringly obvious. Suddenly what seemed ok before is no longer acceptable. This occurs because operational inconsistencies become easier to “see”. Better management of assets starts with accurate information,managed by asset class. Even more important however is that this Unified Grid Intelligence solution enhances the security and data integration capabilities of the utilities install base of IEDs. This allows utilities to maximize the ROI of their IED investments by deferring need for costly IED updates and even more costly IED replacements.
Problems Solving – What problems do you fix?
Designing systems and problem solving requires flexibility. We recognise the need to have a rigorous process to ensure quality when flexibility and creativity is applied. Our people are problem solvers and solution designers. They are not the same thing. We have found that collaboration is a key element to effective problem solving. The need to clarify an issue, to justify a resolution approach and then work against agreed measurable steps all contribute to increased performance. This isn’t because people are driven harder to solve problems as pressure can often be an inhibitor to the creativity required to solve complex problems. It is more about the process of thinking at a deeper level and being more thorough as peers jointly invest in their support to problem resolution or they join in “”hands on””. Either way, we have found that when there is a problem to solve, calling a “”timeout””, Assembling the right people and developing a justified “”what next”” plan saves reputation, saves time, saves money, saves face and fixes problems. it requires a degree of humility to have others contribute to “”your problem”” and discipline to stick to the plan and then report the results on time, no matter what!
To give you an idea of the diversity of problems we solve, we have provided this very short list. This is by no means comprehensive. It is just a glimpse to highlight diversity.
- 24/7/365 breakdown support could be about software, instrumentation issues, peculiar process problems, bad data, just about anything that looks out of the ordinary.
- Fix device integration issues where devices are supposed to communicate but do not. This device communication may be partially working or not at all.
- Consult to develop a new strategy to use technology to improve operations and reduce costs. The end result would be a scoping document, recommendations on what next or practical guidelines on how to transition from today to a desired future state.
- Testing and documenting an existing or new system to establish a system QA baseline. This is similar to auditing, whereas auditing is often restricted to inspection rather than operating.
- Data migration; taking old data and transforming it to merge into new software systems. This may include a measure of quality checks to improve the usefulness of reusing historical data. It may including add better context (metadata) so that users are better informed about how to consume the data with higher levels of confidence.
- Transition planning to ensure operational integrity is maintained on existing systems particularly for critical applications.
- Upgrade a technology platform or work out why an upgrade didn’t work 100%. These can be mountains to climb with the complexity of operation system environments we now use.
- Doing design for something that has not been done before. This is so different to reusing an approach previously done before and simply changing the parameters. It is a deep-thinking process which is also creative and can be risky. Odd as this may seem, not many people design, and very, very few do systems design where the macro environment is fully considered as part of this deep thinking. In many respects, design is solving a complex problem, if the designer understands how the design is to help the business overall.
- Reducing the number of nuisances alarms an operator has to face and improving the quality of alarm notifications. Solving these types of problems is just as much about process improvement as technology configuration. So many operators suffer poorly operating systems because there was not master plan one alarm and event management. Out of the box, this is usually a disaster (a problem) for someone to solve.
- Decide which technology to use for a particular application. This may include RTUs, PLCs, SCADA, Advanced Software applications, IoT devices, protocols, telecommunications devices and ICT infrastructure. Cloud technology is becoming more popular, is great for some, and not permitted by others. Sometimes a hybrid model is the “”right”” solution.
Our wider challenge is overcoming business constraints through intelligent technology solutions without using technology for the sake of it. Keeping up with all the technology trends might be cool but being on the bleeding edge of technology can end up being a pointless and uncomfortable place to be. Foresight rather than oversight means a holistic design not just bleeding edge technology. Being able to see the whole picture is important to us.