PARMS Decision Support Suite

PARMS delivers prudent and efficient renewals in a cost-effective manner, while helping to develop and sustain institutional capacity in asset management and investment planning

The decision support and modelling techniques underpinning PARMS are the result of decades of research into the management and modelling of buried infrastructure. A general discussion of PARMS is presented below. Further information on specific tools can be accessed via the following links:

Overview

PARMS is an integrated suite of computer-based models designed to help utilities manage their investments in pressure pipe renewals. The tools support an end-to-end process via a range of flexible and configurable modules.

One key point of differentiation of PARMS is that it embeds a risk-based life cycle costing simulation tool that predicts future system performance and estimates budgets under a range of alternative asset management policies.

PARMS also provides a business as usual approach to prioritising asset renewals that uses best available data to ensure all such investments are prudent and efficient.

Decision Support Capacity

PARMS consists of two main decision support systems:

  • PARMS Retic: applicable to small diameter, generally reactive, reticulation pipes.
  • PARMS T&D: applicable to larger diameter, generally more critical, transmission and distribution (T&D) pipes (also called trunk mains in some utilities).

While there are differences in detail, the PARMS suit helps users achieve the following:

  • Implement effective data management
    • A separate software module called the PICT is used to check the integrity of data and import that into the software via a ‘business as usual’ process.
  • Explore network data via the Network Explorer module
    • Understand service, reliability and risk via corporate and user-defined queries
    • Visualise results in tabular, GIS, histogram, and graphical formats
    • Assess predicted performance of assets
    • Specify parts of the network for further analysis.
    • Select potential assets for renewal based on reliability, service and risk measures
  • Undertake strategic analysis
    • Investigate a range of what-if scenarios by simulating network performance, cost streams, reliability and service over the specified planning horizon (often 25 years)
    • Assess the impact of budget constraints on future network performance
    • Undertake financial and economic analysis (including risk projections)
  • Justify tactical budgets
    • Justify budgets needed for the next delivery period (e.g., five years) to align expenditure with strategic business intent
  • Capital prioritisation
    • Develop potential clusters of renewal for reactive assets
    • Prioritise critical assets for condition assessment and business case development
    • Monitor and assess the financial, economic and asset management benefits of renewal and other risk management interventions
    • Integrate new data as it arises and use this in reassessment of investment priorities

Tailoring PARMS

The software is tailored for use through the development of bespoke deterioration curves. This involves analysis of a company’s asset and failure data.

The deterioration curves are designed to allow the performance of the network to be simulated over the long term. Their form also allows them to be updated whenever new failure data becomes available, which ‘self-calibrates’ the curves and allows best available information to be used when making renewal decisions.

Utility-specific cost models and supporting settings are also defined. The cost models reflect both direct utility costs (cost of repair, replacement, etc.) and externality impacts (social costs like traffic and customer disruption) if needed.

PARMS Modules

The PARMS decision support suite consists of a separate data management tool and three analytical modules that facilitate data visualisation and modelling:

  • PICT
  • Network Explorer
  • PARMS-Planning
  • PARMS-Priority

PICT

PARMS includes a separate ‘extract-transform-load’ data management package called the PICT.

One of the key functions of the PICT is to check the integrity of asset and failure data and import that into the software via a ‘business as usual’ protocol.

The software also provides import functionality for pipe prioritisation factors that reflect asset risk and can thus be used in the prioritisation of asset renewals and/or condition assessment, as appropriate to the asset class.

Network Explorer

The software delivers strong data visualisation and exploration capacity via the Network Explorer module.

The Network Explorer allows the user to understand the state of the network, specify parts of the network for further analysis, and identify potential candidates for renewal.

PARMS-Planning

PARMS-Planning is a strategic-tactical simulation tool. It allows users to explore a range of what-if scenarios, by simulating network performance over the strategic planning horizon (e.g. the next 25 to 30 years).

For each year in the analysis period, the number of failures on each individual pipe asset is predicted (based on the relevant deterioration curves), and the management response to each failure simulated. The simulation uses Monte Carlo techniques.

Results are presented in the form of graphs and exportable tables, including:

  • A breakdown of cost by category, including renewal, maintenance and social costs
  • Pipeline failure rates and numbers by material type
  • Predicted renewal lengths by material type
  • Customer interruption rates and numbers by material type
  • Changes in network length by material type

PARMS-Priority

PARMS-Priority is designed to assist water utilities target pipes to replace and undertake the work when it is most economic. To this end, the module helps users identify renewal clusters that manage risk of failure while minimising the cost and disruption of capital works.

With PARMS-Priority, users can improve the efficiency of their decision-making processes for rehabilitation of water reticulation pipe networks in terms of:

  • Building clusters of pipe renewals and management of the renewal program
  • Lowering overall costs, both for renewal programs and the cost of analysis
  • Making best use of available data
  • Reducing failures, and avoiding the associated costs and consequences
  • Improving customer service levels and managing risk
  • Reducing environmental and social impacts

Business as Usual Implementation

We work with utilities to develop protocols that bring together all data needed for the management of an asset class (not necessarily restricted to the needs of PARMS). We then create database views to import the necessary data into PARMS via the PICT.

Achieving business as usual data flows not only reduces the cost of data management and analysis, it ensures that ‘best available’ data is used in the cyclic prioritisation of renewal spend.

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