FAQ

A:  The intent of a HAZOP (HAZardous Operability) study is to evaluate a proposed or existing system on functional operability. It is a qualitative means of evaluating a system in a node by node approach, applying various process deviations to the system components and noting their effect on operability and function of the components.  Typical variables are pressure, flow, temperature, contaminants, and more as applicable. The end result is often a redesign to improve or assure operability of the intended design.
A criticality analysis, and specifically the Uberlytics approach, discovers the most critical systems, and ranks them in order of priority.  The goal is to find out what systems pose the highest risk to an operation, measured in a number of areas beyond a typical HAZOP (safety, environmental, cost, up-time) and then ranks those system risks in order of priority.

The Uberlytics approach to criticality analysis is unique in two key ways.  Firstly, we use our exclusive software tool, the Criticality Analyzer™, specifically designed to facilitate criticality analysis.  This highly flexible tool boasts a host of features, each derived from real world application needs, each providing a distinct benefit to the end result.
Secondly, the Uberlytics approach focuses on the functional system level of a facility, where each system is designed to deliver one function. Each system is evaluated against various failure modes and its impact severity on categories considered important to the overall mission of the facility, such as safety, environmental, capacity, cost, and up-time.  Anything that is vital to the overall constraints and mission of the system under evaluation can be included, like commercial and contractual terms, regulatory constraints, liquidated damages, stakeholders and  political fallout. Each category is then weighted against the other categories to uniquely reflect the importance of each category in the overall operation.  Each level of failure mode severity, measured in six levels of severity, is also weighted against each other, balancing between two systems with varying levels of severity and varying numbers of failure modes and probabilities.

Perhaps.  If you are experienced in asset hierarchy set up, failure mode analysis, and have a fair bit of experience in criticality analysis, then you could easily conduct an effective analysis with the Criticality Analyzer ™ after the initial set up.  However, if you have never performed a criticality analysis, or have limited experience, then we do not recommend going it alone.  Even the best software is only as good as the data it is fed.  To provide a meaningful result, have the process be efficient, and have the results be actionable, it is essential to draw on the extensive and real world experience of our expert team.

The Criticality Analyzer™ fits perfectly into any asset management (AM) plan.  In fact, it is a necessary component of any comprehensive AM plan.  Most serious large scale local and enterprise wide AM tools (Oracle, Maximo, Hansen, SAP, etc.) all have fields specifically designed to be populated with criticality data for each asset.  Every AM program that ignores the criticality ranking of its assets and systems short changes itself and ignores a key functional component intended to drive work orders and efficient use of funds.  The result is often a haphazard and crisis oriented work order approach.

Criticality Analyzer™ is a desktop, self-contained AIR* application ready to install and run on Windows, Mac or Linux operating platforms. It uses easily accessible SQLite database, without restriction to the user for full data access with external tools such as database reporting tools.
*Adobe Integrated Runtime is the stand-alone version of the popular Adobe Flash platform commonly used in Internet browsers.