Latest release of InfoNet boosts water and wastewater asset management
 |
Wallingford Software announces today the release of Version 3.5 of InfoNet, the leading asset and data management system for the water industry, covering water supply, water distribution, wastewater collection, sewers and storm water networks. InfoNet enables water companies to store, validate, review, clean, edit, analyse and report on all their infrastructure asset data held in a single database, to improve both planning and operational decision-making.
|
Highlights among the long list of enhancements in Version 3.5 are automatic tracing of pipes in distribution networks, further functions to manage CCTV survey files, and the addition of “incidents” as network objects.
In water distribution networks, it is often necessary to identify which valves need to be closed in order to isolate specific pipes or sub-sections of the network. A new tool in InfoNet v3.5 undertakes this automatically, tracing outwards from the selected pipe or pipes until a valve node or the ends of the network are reached. The feature also enables operational groups to create contact lists for customers affected by planned or emergency procedures
CCTV surveys are stored within the InfoNet database so that a simple click on a specific pipe within a network diagram will immediately display the relevant CTTV clips. New functions within InfoNet v3.5 improve the ease of use of CCTV clips to identify the precise position of defects in the network, and supporting decision-making to address the problems.
Incident objects are a new type of network object in Version 3.5, available for both collection and distribution networks. Incident objects, designed to track through the cycle that follows the report of an incident, enable operations engineers to manage all the phases from the incident being reported through the creation of work packages, recording of work performed, and the re-survey to confirm asset condition. Throughout the process a record of the asset availability is maintained, the location and safety of work crews may be tracked, and the planning of asset inspection routes can be refined.
Paul Banfield, Sales Director of Wallingford Software, describes the development direction of InfoNet. “InfoNet is designed to provide all asset owners and consultants across a departmental team, a company or a frameworks partnership with a single interface to all the data they routinely require, either by storing the data within the InfoNet database, or providing a transparent interface to data stored elsewhere. Our users find that this concept, simple to state but in the past very hard to achieve, provides huge benefits. So as InfoNet develops, we try to identify in ever greater detail not just what those data requirements are, but how and why specific data items are used, and then provide functions to support that usage.
“We develop InfoNet to address specific local requirements all around the world. So in version 3.5 the manhole defect coding function, for example, now supports the various standards of CH2M HILL SCREAM™ (USA), WSAA (Water Services Association of Australia), MSCC (Manual of Sewer Condition Classification) (UK), and EN13508-2.2000 (EU), as well as custom methods. InfoNet is proving an essential tool for users all around the world”. www.wallingfordsoftware.com
