Overview
For a prominent inspection firm in the oil refinery sector that faced significant challenges with its manual inspection data management processes, we developed an inspection data management web application. Our solution streamlined the entire inspection workflow, integrating role-based access, data management, and reporting features into a single web platform, making the process hassle-free and reducing manual data entry of the entire inspection process.
- Web application capable of generating and managing reports of the inspection
- Customizable user roles such as Admin, Inspector, and Authorized Signatory to manage access and permissions effectively
- Secure login via email ID and OTP authentication
- Create and assign inspection tasks, allowing inspectors to upload various documents and photographs
- Inbuilt image editing tools to add annotations, overlay, change brightness, contrast, etc.
- Comprehensive report generation with options for report preview and approval
- Facility to import equipment and side details from Excel
- Bulk upload option to upload multiple equipment drawings together
Case
Equipment, regardless of the industry, is susceptible to wear and tear, and oil refineries are no exception. These oil refinery facilities are filled with complex, heavy, and highly technical machinery, all of which are highly prone to corrosion and other damages and require frequent maintenance. Regular inspections of the oil refinery plants are vital for checking for any malfunctioning equipment, as unexpected malfunctions can bring down the plant and can cost a fortune. Hence, periodic maintenance and inspection processes are critical to maximizing performance, ensuring safety, and saving costs in the long run.
One of our prominent clients based out in Japan, who is a leader in inspecting heavy equipment at oil refinery sites, faced significant challenges with their manual data management system. The organization with more than three decades of footing in the industry had all their inspections done manually in Excel and other platforms. The staff were meticulously documenting inspection details in Excel sheets, which required copying data across multiple sheets, preparing detailed reports, and consolidating inspection records. This labor-intensive approach was prone to human error, leading to inefficiencies, potential delays, and most importantly, time-consuming report preparation.
Recognizing the need for a streamlined system, our client joined hands with TA to develop an inspection data management web application for oil refineries to make data entry hassle-free with real-time updates, easy management of large volumes of information, and report generation.
Challenges
The primary challenge faced by the client was with the manual entry of the details from the inspection conducted. Being an organization with over three decades of industry experience, most of its client data and inspection information was scattered across Excel documents and other places, making it very difficult to retrieve previous information from previous inspections. The sheer volume of files made it very difficult to gather the necessary information in a timely manner.Another major challenge faced by the client was that they often needed to make markings and annotations on the photographs taken during inspections to precisely identify the damaged areas for efficient report generation. For this, they resorted to tools like Paint to get that done, which was an added burden to their already laborious task. It is in this context that the idea of an inspection data management web application sparked their interest.
The challenges faced by the client include:
- Managing extensive inspection data
- Extensive manual effort in compiling the inspection report
- Time-consuming report-generation processes
- Third-party image modification tools for photo annotations and markings in report generation
Solution
To address the challenges faced by the client, we developed robust inspection data management software for oil refineries, a web application where all the needs of the client came into being. The solution begins with an OTP-based authentication; the user enters the mail ID, an OTP will be sent, and upon putting it in, the user will get into the application. The key user roles include Admin, Inspector, and Authorized Signatory, along with the option to customize and add new roles. Based on the user roles, the user is provided with inspection tasks for their particular client for registered equipment such as columns, exchangers, furnaces, storage tanks, piping, and others. Each piece of equipment comes with a tag, equipment type, which plant it belongs to, which client it belongs to, and a description of the equipment.
For the inspection report, the user can upload photos of the equipment showcasing the damages in the equipment. In order to highlight the damaged areas and other significant areas, a third-party markup tool has been integrated into the application that enables the user to make annotations and markings by choosing different colors, pen sizes, etc. Once that is done, they can compile all the details together, add their comments that should be specified in the report, and then get it approved by the authorized signatory. Once approved, the report is made final and sent out. The platform also allows users to schedule dates of inspection so that the team can plan ahead and inspect the allocated plant.
The inspection data management software for oil refineries offers:
- User role management such as Admin, Inspector, and Authorized Signatory roles, with the flexibility to create additional roles with tailored access
- Create and update inspection tasks, upload documents and photos, and utilize inbuilt image modification tools
- OTP-based authentication
- Integrated image markup tool
- Automated report generation
- Data import and bulk upload
- User-friendly interface
Impact
The inspection data management system for oil refineries has significantly reduced the manual effort by staff to enter data and generate reports of the inspection activities carried out by the organization. The web application has streamlined the entire inspection process, from assigning inspection tasks to staff and uploading documents to adding annotations on specific areas of the uploaded images, previewing reports, submitting them for approval to the authorized signatory, and generating the final report. Thus, transforming the organization’s inspection management operations and making the processes more efficient, accurate, and clear.
The impact of the inspection data management system for oil refineries includes:
- Comprehensive, accurate, and timely reports enable more informed decision-making
- Improved documentation and record-keeping ensured adherence to industry standards and regulatory requirements
- Decreased the labor and time required for inspection data management, resulting in cost savings for the firm
- Reduced report generation time that was done manually
- Minimized human errors in data entry and report creation
- Centralized data storage to easily retrieve and manage historical inspection records