Data governance or chaos?

Data is essential to optimise asset performance. It is used in a number of ways, from building maintenance strategies and managing lifecycle costs to determining why assets fail and understanding asset criticality. To implement future improvements to each of these areas, it is essential that data is captured, securely stored, analysed, and used to make informed decisions.

Data governance is the practice of managing and controlling data whilst providing security and privacy. It enforces organisational discipline and facilitates controlled change management of data which is essential for meeting regulatory compliance that requires changes to be controlled, traceable and auditable.

Data and data governance covers a very broad spectrum. In this article’s context, data governance relates to version control and approval processes for asset tactics.

Implications of poor data governance

Without data governance protocols in place, changes to asset tactics can be made without consultation or due change management which can result in consequences including:

• Detrimental environmental impacts
• Equipment damage or failure
• Damage to an organisations’ reputation
• Financial losses
• Injury or death

To reduce the likelihood of these severe consequences, data governance protocols are implemented. These protocols encourage organisations to answer tough questions such as:

• How do you control unmanaged changes?
• How do you roll back your data to an earlier version?
• How do you manage the history of changes and approvals?
• How do you recover your valuable data after accidental deletion?

The Orien solution

Orien is a cloud-based, asset management solution designed with data governance and peace of mind at the forefront. Orien mitigates the risk of uncontrolled changes in a number of ways:

Approvals processes: with Orien, any changes follow a seamless approvals process with one or many approvers and approval levels. This ensures that all changes are managed, evaluated and approved and that each change adds value and is undertaken with due care, knowledge and experience.

Version control: Orien provides version control of the tactics and packaging modules (SAP master data & work package documents). This creates different revisions that can be used for:

• Tracking
• Easy roll back to earlier versions
• Asset or component comparisons
• Benchmarking

History log: Version control is essential to mitigate the risk of uncontrolled changes and provides auditable records for regulatory authorities. Orien keeps a history log that includes:

• Revision number
• Action (approved, requested, rejected)
• Revision comments
• Who created the revision or who approved/rejected the revision
• Timestamp

Nightly backups: Orien uses the Microsoft Cloud architecture which has nightly backups providing peace of mind that all data is recoverable.

With appropriate data governance practices in place, organisations can reduce the risks associated with unmanaged changes to essential asset data. With Orien, approvals processes, version controls, history logs and nightly backups are taken care of, allowing you to focus your energy on implementing improvements to your asset optimisation practices.

Our experience

Orien is a cloud-based, asset management solution built in collaboration with leading industry experts and used by the largest asset-intensive industries across the globe. With Orien, it’s easy to consolidate, collaborate on, and control maintenance strategies and budgets across your organization to keep assets working for you. Our clients manage lifecycle costs and reduce uncertainty by understanding the critical activities that keep their operation running. With teams located worldwide and 24/7 support, Orien is quick to deploy and easy to learn.

Our team of experts are ready to help, reach out to Brian Spicer to learn more.