Perspectives

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 5: Accessible

What makes a good datamodel?

Murray Callander

June 25, 2020

Having the best datamodel in the world won’t help you grow your digital capabilities if the only way to access it is through proprietary drivers.

Being accessible means two things:

Using web APIs so that any system can access it; and

Structuring the data in a standard format

Whatever system you choose to build your data model in needs to have REST APIs, and this is really standard practice in software development now anyway.

Structuring the data in a standard format is a bit harder as in reality this is no one standard. There are various contenders from OPC UA to BIM and ODATA.

At Eigen we solve these problems by using Neo4j as our preferred home for Data Models. As an opensource technology it ensures that our customers are not locked in and can always access the data independently of our systems.

Neo4j has direct APIs and we build our own APIs on top of it that can serve up contextualised data according to the format required.

Written by

Murray Callander

Posted on

June 25, 2020

February 16, 2021

The Power of Asset Models in Real Time Operations Management

June 26, 2020

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 7: Be pragmatic when it comes to deciding what is an object and what is a property

June 25, 2020

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 6: Forget duplication

June 25, 2020

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 4: Validated

June 25, 2020

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 3: A Class Library

June 25, 2020

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 2: Flexible

You may also like

DCOM

Get ready for DCOM hardening

Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) is a Microsoft remote communication protocol at the heart of many real time data links.

Knowledge Graphs

Knowledge graph to manage safety risk and asset barrier health

Context and clarity through dynamic monitoring and visualisation

Knowledge Graphs

10 things we’ve learned about building knowledge graphs

There is definitely something intuitive about building knowledge graphs, after all, they mirror the way we as humans acquire knowledge and retain it through connections and context.

Digital Transformation

Dynamic digital transformation for fast growing oil & gas companies

The trend in many mature basins, just like the UK and Norwegian continental shelves, has been one of steady divestment by the supermajors and a new generation of smaller oil and gas operators.

Electric cars

How much does it cost to drive an electric car in the real world?

In short, electricity prices vary hugely compared to petrol or diesel; you can pay anywhere from 5p/kWh to 70p/kWh so it costs me anywhere from 3p/mile to 35p/mile depending on where I charge.

Electric cars

My electric car does 1000 miles on a charge

Would I recommend an electric car? Yes, definitely. They are nicer to drive, much cheaper to run and need less maintenance. Range isn’t the issue, maybe the real question is “are you prepared to change your habits?”.

Electric cars

Electric Cars – range doesn’t matter, getting home does

When you say you own an electric car everyone’s first question is about that magic word “Range” – “How far can it go on a charge?”. Having owned an electric car for over six years now I can tell you that range is much less important than the ability to recharge at your destination. Let me explain why.

Safety Barriers

How to make a digital twin of a bow tie

At Eigen, we build and deploy live data models as part of a digital twin for oil and gas facilities. One of the challenges in doing this is how to combine the physical and the abstract into a working data model. And a great example of this is the bow tie – a diagram showing all the protective measures against hazardous events and their potential consequences.

Knowledge Graphs

Knowledge graphs: a bridge

The automobile and industrial designer Freeman Thomas said “We were promised a simpler life, and technology has only complicated our lives.” In complex domains, like oil and gas, technology may well have simplified some things but it has certainly complicated others, particularly where data is concerned.

Decision making

Stop running to keep up.

Death and taxes may historically have been the only two certainties in life, but we might consider a third – increasing volumes of data. With ubiquitous sensing, unlimited cloud storage and insatiable demands from every walk of life, data is growing exponentially.

Digital twin

Digital frontline

Much of the focus of digital transformation is given to big data, clever systems and game-changing innovations, like robotics, AI and IoT. But what is often missing is the focus on people, who have been irrevocably transformed by digital.

Digital twin

Digital Transformers

We formed Eigen almost fifteen years ago, although the original founding team had all been working in oil and gas for the previous decade. As individuals, then later as Eigen, we worked with bp to deploy its breakthrough Field of the Future programme in Azerbaijan, and have since been part of many oil and gas operators’ digital transformation journeys.

Digital twin

Digital twins: a myth buster

There’s a lot of hype about digital twins in oil and gas. Much is well-founded, since the integration of the underlying technologies that make digital twins possible have potential to accelerate much needed digital transformation in the sector. But you can’t believe everything you read.

Digital twin

Digital twin: technology of now

The concept of digital twin has a futuristic quality at a time when robotics and artificial intelligence also are coming of age. But whilst there’s no disputing the transformative impact of digital twins, in industries as wide-ranging as construction, marine, agriculture and oil and gas, what makes up a digital twin is technology of now.

Decision making

Using Knowledge Graphs for Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Prioritisation Problems

One of the problems of asset-heavy industries, including Oil & Gas and Petrochemical operations, is decision-making for maximum impact, under resource constraint conditions. These industries typically manage an array of highly interconnected assets and relationships which bear on the impact of the decision.

Digital twin

To Copy Or Not To Copy – That Is The Question

When it comes to digital transformation and learning how to discover insights hidden in data, one question that regularly arises is whether we should copy all of our data into a data warehouse or data lake, or alternatively connect directly to the source systems.

Digital twin

How to make a Digital Twin of a Bowtie – Part 2

In this blog series we’re looking at how you turn a bowtie diagram into an online Digital Twin showing live barrier health information. The previous part looked at the level of detail required to make a working data model in practice. In this instalment we’re looking at the challenge of assessing the health of protective functions not directly related to the physical SECEs (Safety and Environmentally Critical Equipment).

Digital twin

How to make a Digital Twin of a Bowtie – Part 1

In this blog series we’re looking at how you turn a bowtie diagram into an online Digital Twin showing live barrier health information. In this instalment we’re considering the level of detail required to make a working data model in practice.

Digital twin

How to make a Digital Twin of a Bowtie – Introduction

How do you turn a bowtie diagram into an online Digital Twin showing live barrier health information?

Complex Subsea Hydraulic System

Detecting leaks in a complex subsea hydraulic system

Imagine the situation: Hydraulic fluid pressure is dropping fast; supply tank levels are also dropping. You are pretty sure there is a big leak in the system, but you have no idea where it is. Pretty soon the operation will be compromised: The pressure will be below the minimum required and you may be forced to shut down the field. It is a scary picture.

What makes a good datamodel?

The Power of Asset Models in Real Time Operations Management

There is a lot of buzz nowadays about “Digital Twins”, and every Digitalisation Director out there is thinking they need to have a Digital Twin of their assets. It makes sense: If you have a digital representation of your assets; you can simulate, test scenarios, plan operations and visualise data within the context afforded by the twin, without having to visit or “be present” in the real asset, especially if these assets are remote.

Agile

When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar!

Ah, the old ones still the best ????. But such questions can sometimes be worth considering. For example, when is Agile not Agile?

Open Source

My experience switching from iPhone to Android

Two months ago I switched my phone from an Apple iPhone 7 to an Android based POCO X3 NFC. At the same time one of my daughters upgraded their phone to an iPhone XR so we’ve been comparing experiences. So what’s it been like??

Uncategorized

Real Time Operations Digital Technology Trends for 2021

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit us round about March 2020 and the Oil prices crashed, all of us working for the Oil & Gas industry panicked and prepared for the worse. In previous market downturns, budgets had been slashed and projects cancelled, but this time something quite different happened, at least in the Digitalisation space.

Agile

What has Agile ever done for us?

In an earlier blog, I wrote about what Agile is. And that’s all well and good, but what has Agile ever done for us?

Open Source

Using Open Source to avoid lock-in to expensive proprietary technologies

I’ve been using Apple products since 2007. Every smart phone I’ve had has been an iPhone but yesterday I ordered a new Android phone. I’m so fed up with shelling out around £1000 every couple of years but I’ve been trapped because all my music is in iTunes, all my family have iPhones and we run Macs*. Man, I hate being locked in! I wouldn’t mind if it was still value for money, but it’s not – I feel like I’m being taken for a ride now.

Perspective

UI/UX and design thinking – how we just delivered the best project we’ve ever done

In November (this month as I write this) we have not long closed out possible two of the best custom software projects we have done. Sure there were bugs in the testing and there will be more found by the users I’m sure, but what made them so good? We hit the schedule to within a week on both of them and there were no scope changes over the entire project, so we hit the budget as well. This is particularly impressive for one of them because it was a completely new piece of software, written from scratch; taken from powerpoint to in production in 5 months.

Uncategorized

Tenders encourage gaming of costs

This picture makes me laugh and if it makes you laugh too then you’ve probably been involved in purchasing or project delivery at some point.

Is your Oil field being exploited at its best?

Production Well Testing Best Practices

Production Well Testing is an essential part of managing an Oil & Gas field if the field has more than one well and production measurement resources are limited, as is generally the case.

Agile

What is Agile?

You have probably heard software developers talk about being Agile, and maybe wondered what they mean. Perhaps they do star jumps and touch their toes before breakfast, or write code while limboing under desks? Well, it’s nothing like that… read on to find out more!

Uncategorized

Eigen and Wintershall DEA agree a long term digitalisation partnership:

I’m really excited about the long term partnership we have recently signed with Wintershall Dea for a number of reasons not least because it’s a great team and we have a lot of fun working together!

Decision Bridge Technology

Decision Bridge Technology – Why are we still in business?

Back in July I asked myself the question “Why are we still in business after 11 years?”. A small specialist company in a big competitive industry. We’ve been through 3 downturns now and we continue to develop longstanding relationships with some of the most innovative operators in the business. Clearly we are doing something right but what is it?

Decision Bridge Technology

Decision Bridge Technology – A song is more than a riff

Did you ever learn to play “Sweet child of mine” on the guitar? Like almost every other teenager who had a guitar I learned the opening riff to “Sweet child of mine” and I remember playing it in a guitar shop when I was testing out an amp, only to have one of the staff point to a sign on the wall that said anyone playing “sweet child of mine” would be thrown out the shop and told never to return!

Is your Oil field being exploited at its best?

Is your Oil field being exploited at its best? Part II

In our previous blog, the discussion was centred on assessing how well an asset is exploited, as a key concern for the field manager and the asset team. The Integrated Choke Model (ICM) was proposed as a model to identify opportunities for improving the free cash flow as the fundamental objective during periods when the oil price is low.

Uncategorized

What can we learn about Barriers from the Beirut Port explosion?

The world was shocked to learn about the massive explosion in the port of Beirut: This has been a terrible tragedy with an astronomical cost in terms of lives lost and damage to property; one could even argue, to the whole country, as even the strategic grain reserves were hit.

Is your Oil field being exploited at its best?

Is your Oil field being exploited at its best?

A typical question for a Petroleum Field Manager is how well the asset is being exploited and if this exploitation is efficient and generates enough value for Operator and Partners. This article explores some answers based on our understanding of the challenges that appear throughout the life of the field, and to how to be prepared to transform them into opportunities.

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 7: Be pragmatic when it comes to deciding what is an object and what is a property

Now we are potentially getting right in amongst the weeds and many a data model gets stuck in the weeds because this issue is not understood.

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 6: Forget duplication

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, hard disks and memory were small and really expensive. In 1969 the computer that landed man on the moon only had 4k of RAM and 72k of ‘disk’ (ROM) storage.

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 4: Validated

Google search is not a validated datamodel. Nor is it comprehensive, but it’s good enough for most of us.

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 3: A Class Library

“A well structured class library allows you to build applications that are portable across different assets. They overcome the problems of different naming conventions across assets or sites.”

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 2: Flexible

Trying to model humans is probably the easiest way I know to break an inflexible model. Why? Because humans are recursive – that means they keep repeating the same thing and also they keep changing the rules! Humans start off as a child and become parents, they form relationships with each other, they marry each other and they can now change gender. If you designed your database schema in the 1500’s you would have had to rebuild it several times since!

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel? – Point 1: Non-hierarchical

The problem with hierarchies is they are subjective and only relevant to a certain viewpoint or problem. For example, what is the hierarchy of equipment on an industrial facility? Should it be based on area or on equipment size, or on position in the process?

What makes a good datamodel?

What makes a good datamodel?

Every Digital Twin needs a data model somewhere inside it. The Data Model is the digital map of where everything is; it’s the central reference for how everything is connected; it’s the search engine for your information.

Ingenuity

Five key features of Eigen Ingenuity that make Remote Working such a breeze

Not all process real time visualisation and collaboration tools are created equal. Always taking advantage of the latest digital technologies, Eigen Ingenuity exhibits five key features that make working remotely, working from home and working from anywhere, much easier.

Uncategorized

Stop the copy-paste craze!

If you are being tasked with creating reports for management on a daily or weekly basis, you are probably extracting real time data into Excel, adding manual figures, performing calculations (efficiency, availability, etc.) and then plotting the results.