Innovyze Releases InfoMaster V4.5 With Cox's Proportional Hazards Deterioration Model, Taking Infrastructure Maintenance Out Of The Break/Fix Approach Into The Fix-Before-Break Era

Powerful Infrastructure Condition Prediction Modeling Optimizes Water and Sewer Network Rehabilitation Prioritization and Capital Planning Programs for Sustainable Infrastructure Asset Management

Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for smart wet infrastructure, recently introduced InfoMaster Generation V4.5, with new and improved analysis and reporting applications. Certified by NASSCO PACP, MACP and LACP V6.0, the new version features the Cox proportional hazards model for modeling the aging processes of water and wastewater network pipes and accurately estimating their lifetimes and structural/functional failure potential and distribution over time. It also features the advanced time-based probabilistic Weibull and Herz pipe failure modeling techniques. These powerful asset integrity modeling techniques provide reliable pipe failure predictions, even for limited failure records and when applied to different pipe materials. They can greatly assist water and wastewater utilities in assessing their pipes’ propensity to fail, identifying critical ones, prioritizing their inspection, and determining rehabilitation requirements.

Globally, aging water and wastewater infrastructures are rapidly deteriorating and sometimes failing — with potentially dire human, environmental and financial consequences. As this aging process continues, the need for effective asset integrity management becomes more pressing. Maintaining water and sewer assets in fit-for-purpose condition throughout their target lifespans is a primary goal for utilities worldwide, and selecting the right pipes for rehabilitation at the right time is one of the main asset management challenges. An understanding of how pipes fail, combined with a quantitative grasp of the underlying causal factors likely to induce failure, is valuable in formulating a targeted approach to rehabilitation, repair and renewal planning. InfoMaster accurately estimates both the likelihood and consequence of failure for each individual pipe in the network, as well as the amount and time of occurrence of future failures. This critical information facilitates a proactive approach to identifying and managing these high-risk assets to help preserve structural integrity and keep the network operating well into the future. It also eliminates reactive maintenance: waiting for pipe failures to occur before repairing.

The InfoMaster product suite features automated import of InfoWater and InfoSWMM network models and facilitates significantly better planning and control by giving utilities critical insight into all enterprise assets, their conditions, aging and work processes. It also features direct integration with Cityworks (Azteca Systems Inc., Sandy, UT) and can also interface with other leading maintenance management software (CMMS). The software lets utilities use information and analytics in new ways to drive higher productivity and quality while managing costs and increasing operational flexibility. It also lets them accurately estimate the likelihood of pipe breaks in the future and determine the parameters that most affect that likelihood. These may include pipe diameter, length, material, year of installation, location, operating pressure, rainfall, land use, soil properties, temperature, traffic loads, seismic zone, ground water level, proximity of other underground installations, and history of failure. Understanding these factors gives utilities an optimized, mission-critical basis for rehabilitation prioritization and failure prediction.

Available exclusively for the Esri (Redlands, CA) ArcGIS 10.x platform, InfoMaster includes components to run on desktop, web, tablet, and smartphone environments. With its “out-of-the-box” approach to geospatial wet infrastructure asset management — a distinct point of differentiation from traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions — InfoMaster revolutionizes business analytics and optimization (BAO) for water and wastewater utilities. While the typical enterprise software deployment requires a 12- to 18-month implementation cycle, InfoMaster can be deployed in just a day to a few weeks — giving small to medium-sized utilities the first-ever opportunity to optimize network management at very low cost.

Where other ERP systems are focused on electronic records management, InfoMaster is built from the ground up to provide superior business analytics and modeling capabilities. It marks the first time utilities have been able to manage and control the flow of both data and water for better, faster and more accurate decision making. Because InfoMaster data can be organized by project, a single BAO package can be used by both the utility and its engineering consultants — providing enormous flexibility in managing data for multiple utilities.

With InfoMaster, a utility can manage its entire underground infrastructure directly from the Esri geodatabase to deliver unmatched engineering productivity and network performance. Because any analysis is only as strong as its underlying data, InfoMaster includes direct support for gravity pipes, force mains, manholes, laterals, pump stations, closed circuit television (CCTV) inspections, manhole inspections, smoke testing, customer incidents, and other field activities. Data can be read directly from an enterprise geodatabase; imported or linked to third-party ERP systems; or entered directly through the desktop, Web, or companion smartphone or tablet applications.

(CCTV acceptance inspection of sewers is standard practice in the U.S. and Australia. The PACP, MACP and LACP programs of the US National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) and the Conduit Inspection Reporting Code of Australia WSA05, published by the Australian Water Services Association, provide guidance to utilities in determining the acceptability of sewer defects and features.)

InfoMaster analysis tools are unparalleled in the industry, giving utilities the ability to validate and then “slice and dice” virtually any piece of data. Armed with clean data, they can then use InfoMaster tools and wizards to move nimbly in optimizing operations. Among these tools are applications that can be used to establish a prioritized capital replacement plan based on sound condition assessment; reduce the number of “hotspot” cleaning activities by comparing current cleaning schedules to reported upstream blockage complaints; and overlay smoke testing defects reported in real time via an iPhone with Bing (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) aerial maps to facilitate identification of older houses with cross connections.

“Preserving the integrity of water and sewer network assets helps to ensure they remain available and reliable longer,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., BCEEM, NAE, Hon.D.WRE, Dist.D.NE, F.ASCE, President, COO and Chief Technical Officer for Innovyze. “Improving the likelihood of smoother operations with fewer interruptions — creating more uptime and less downtime — also means more profits for the operation. InfoMaster combines ease of learning and use with a powerful, comprehensive set of graphical presentation tools, time-based probabilistic asset failure analysis models, and asset integrity management capabilities for accurate prediction of structural or functional deterioration of water and wastewater pipes. Faced with challenging budget constraints, these unique advantages help water and wastewater utilities develop sound annual replacement plans for critical pipes that balance investment with expected benefits in a risk-based management context. They also enable users to exceed their operational quality standards by extending both asset service life and overall reliability and performance at maximum cost savings — significantly increasing return on investment.”

Pricing and Availability
InfoMaster V4.5 is now available worldwide by subscription. InfoMaster FieldWork and InfoMaster FacilityWatch are available from the Apple iTunes App Store. For the latest information on the Innovyze Subscription Program, including availability and purchase requirements, visit www.innovyze.com or contact your local Innovyze Channel Partner.

About Innovyze
Innovyze is a leading global provider of wet infrastructure business analytics software solutions designed to meet the technological needs of water and wastewater utilities, government industries, and engineering organizations worldwide. Its clients include the majority of the largest UK, Australasia and North American cities, foremost utilities on all five continents, and ENR top-rated design firms. With unparalleled expertise and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the Innovyze connected portfolio of best-in-class product lines empowers thousands of engineers to competitively plan, manage, design, protect, operate and sustain highly efficient and reliable infrastructure systems, and provides an enduring platform for customer success. For more information, visit www.innovyze.com.