Modeling enterprise assets using projection modeling

Introduction

The first case from which the modeling of real objects of real infrastructure begins, be it urban, telecommunications, production, oil and gas, etc., is the separate accounting of functional and physical objects. As far as I understand, the ISO 15926 standard, then system engineering, tried to cope with this task, but they all only tried stone for a tooth, but were able to solve it. The fact is that they could not offer an adequate activity model, and therefore could not offer an appropriate modeling methodology. In 2016, I spoke at the conference Neftegazstandart - 2016 , at which I presented a solution to this problem in general. I wrote about this earlier in the article Modeling Enterprise Assets: Modern Standards and Practice . In this article I will talk about this method of solving the problem, but now I will present it from the point of view of projection modeling .

Formulation of the problem

Let the task of accounting for electric grid facilities be set. This task was assigned to two departments: the production and technical department (VET), which operates the power grids, and the repair department (RO), which is busy maintaining the network in working condition.

It seems that in this problem everything is simple: entered the accounting units and go! For example, I created a transformer model in the information system and that's it! However, one must be very attentive. The same word in different departments means different objects. If we are talking to an employee of the PTO, then by a transformer he means a transformer installed at the substation and its function is voltage conversion. If we speak with an employee of the repair department, then by transformer he means a transformer, which is not necessarily connected to the power grid.

You ask: how do these objects differ? At a particular point in time nothing. Here is a transformer, it changes the voltage. While we are here and now, everything is fine. But as soon as we push the time frame of the model, the difference will become apparent. Imagine that the transformer in the substation is broken. A repair team arrived and replaced it with a new one. After replacing it will be the same transformer, or another? The answer depends on who you are building the information system for. From the point of view of the PTO, the transformer remained the same. Moreover, the VET may not even know that the replacement took place. The process of voltage conversion continues, which means that the transformer is working. However, from the point of view of repairmen, the transformer has changed. He has a different production number, his own maintenance schedule, a different weight. It turns out that PTO and RO take into account different objects? Yes, that is right. In practice, in order to distinguish one object from another, it is customary to call the first type of objects a technical place, and the second type - a piece of equipment.
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Outside the power grid economy there are synonyms for these terms. A technical place is a functional object, a piece of equipment is a physical object.

In the article Function, Scenario and Approximation of Events, I showed how the school task of determining the trajectory of an airplane differs from the real problem of estimating the probability of its position at a given time in a given place. On the example of accounting for transformers, one can see how the institute’s problem of asset accounting differs from the real task of accounting.

Concepts

Define concepts in terms of projection modeling.

A functional object is a 4-D object, which is projected onto time as a function, and onto space - as an object. As long as the function exists, the functional object exists. While the operation is not performed, the functional object does not exist. What to do if the functioning is intermittent? That is, the operation is interrupted by silence intervals? We have many functional objects, one continuous, or one with interruptions in time? In the article Roles, their modeling in IP, I gave examples of gluing and separation of roles. Those who read it, the answer is obvious: as we want. As a solution, you can do as you see fit for your purposes.

We are accustomed to the fact that objects must retain their material composition. A functional object by its nature may not retain the material composition. It is like a fire hose through which water flows rapidly. We can see it as an object, but its material composition changes constantly. So with the functional object. We can see it, but the material composition may change. If the old pump is replaced with a new one, the gas transfer function will not change, and the functional object will not change. But the material composition will change.

A physical object is one that you can put a number on and be sure that this number will remain. As a rule, a physical object is an object with a conserved real part. For example, said water hose has a lingering real part in the form of a hose. But in reality there is no criterion to separate physical and functional objects. It is simply customary to consider some objects to be physical, and others to be functional. So, the task of the repair department is to ensure the efficiency of specific equipment (read - the physical object that came from the factory), so that it can perform the role of a functional object (read - functioned). A physical object is projected onto space as an object, and for the time being its projection is not interesting.

Physical and functional objects intersect in space-time, sometimes occupying the same volume. The longer the intersection of this kind, the longer the specific physical equipment operates.

It is considered that the functional object is associated with a specific place in the project documentation. And this confuses many beginners, because it is not clear how the work of the transformer is connected with the project? And if there was no project, or it was lost, or built on a whim, and no one had any idea - did it happen, then it turns out that there is no functional object? Of course have. Just to explain the difference between the physical and functional object of beginners is often confused by the project. In order not to be confused, it is better not to mention it at all.

The solution to the problem of accounting

So, we have two different accounting objects: a transformer-functional object and a transformer-physical object. Both of these two 4-D spaces have a common part: the 4-D subspace in which they intersect.

In the information model, this intersection is modeled by a pair of attributes: “from” and “to.” For example, a physical object may have such pairs with reference to a functional object, which models the fact that from such a moment on such a physical object and a functional intersected in space.

This model can be extended not only to physical and functional objects, but generally to any, for example, to the material values ​​of an enterprise. It is clear that they can have intersections with both physical and functional objects. And a transformer - material value can differ both from a transformer - a physical object, and from a transformer - a functional object.

By the way, physical objects were once functional, because all objects were once singled out as objects of human activity. But over time, the function was lost, or there were many. And the functional object acquired the status of physical.

Questions to systems engineering

I have questions about systems engineering. How does it take into account functional objects and does it take them into account at all? Is it clear that the function of pumping oil by one pump is different from the function of pumping oil by another pump? If so, how are these functions modeled in the information system? How does system engineering account for objects of other types, for example, tangible assets?