APM
Framework
The Meridium Asset Performance Management
(APM) solution combines Strategy Development,
Strategy Management, Strategy Execution and
Strategy Evaluation capabilities into a single
comprehensive system that addresses all aspects
of an effective asset performance management
program. By implementing the Meridium APM
solution, your company can increase profitability
and achieve predictable production capacity by
increasing reliability and improving the perform-
ance of your production assets.
The Meridium APM Framework serves as the technical
foundation of the APM solution and provides the infra-
structure for the business processes supported by the indi-
vidual Meridium modules to create a fully integrated APM
system. The Meridium APM Framework includes a com-
mon set of decision support tools, configuration features for
extensibility, administrative applications and enterprise
integration with your existing business systems. Meridium
Web Client provides easy online access to a subset of
Meridium functionality while expanding access across the
enterprise, reducing IT overhead and training require-
ments.
Through the Meridium APM Framework, your company
can realize the power of a comprehensive, fully integrated
APM solution that will allow you to achieve the maxi-
mum potential of your production assets.
Decision Support Tools
The Meridium APM Framework includes a set of core fea-
tures that act as the foundation for standard work processes
and provide a consistent user interface which guides users
through APM workflows. The Decision Support aspect of
the Meridium APM Framework includes the following
tools, which can be leveraged by any module:
• Home Page – Provides role-based access to Meridium
business processes and functions. The Home Page typi-
cally serves as a starting point for performing work in
Meridium and can be tailored for specific needs or
processes within your organization. From the Home
Page, access can be provided to any information or work
process that is managed within Meridium. Home Pages
can be designed for individual users or common groups of
users based upon their specific roles and responsibilities,
giving users quick access to the information they need to
perform their jobs efficiently and effectively.
• Search Tool – Lets users perform simple, keyword, or
advanced searches to locate specific data within the
Meridium application. The Search Tool provides an
easy-to-use interface for selecting criteria ranging from
simple to complex so that you can quickly locate any
record based upon any criteria. Common searches can
be saved for reuse and sharing with other Meridium
users.
• Record Manager – Provides an application for the man-
agement of data in Meridium with capabilities to view,
create, and modify data throughout the Meridium sys-
tem.
• Record Explorer – Provides a hierarchical “tree”
view and navigation of data within the Meridium
system. By navigating the hierarchy in the Record
Explorer tree, you can easily find, view, manage, cre-
ate, delete and copy data within the Meridium
application.
 • Datasheet – Organizes all the data that is stored for
a record into a custom view that can be configured
by an administrative user. Multiple datasheets can
be made available to provide multiple views of a
record for different users.
• Associated Links – Provides customizable hyperlinks
that allow you to invoke actions and access func-
tions for a given record.
• Query Tool – Provides a robust platform for developing
ad-hoc queries to access any information stored in the
Meridium APM system. Users can develop criteria, sort
results, and group values, as well as create specific calcu-
lations and expressions to manipulate data. Any query
that is created can be saved for reuse, to be shared with
other users, or to be used as the basis for graphs, reports,
and other analysis documents.
• Query Builder – Guides novice users step by step
through the process of creating a query to access the
information of their choice. The Query Builder
takes the guesswork out of building queries by pre-
senting users with valid options and prompting
them to make appropriate selections.
• Query Designer – Provides more advanced users
with a powerful and flexible tool for building
queries. Using the Query Designer, users can add fil-
ters, expressions, and special criteria to queries to
refine the results that will be returned.
• Hyperlinks – Provides you with the option to add
links to query results to support custom workflows
and extend the query functionality. Hyperlinks in
query results can give users access to any Meridium
feature or can direct them to more detailed informa-
tion about the query results.
• Datasets – Can be used to manage and analyze informa-
tion that is not stored in the Meridium database. A
dataset can be created by importing data from an exter-
nal file (MS Excel, XML, or text file formats) or by
designing one in Meridium. After a dataset has been
saved, it can be used to build reports and graphs as well
as other analysis documents.
• Graphs – Lets you format any numeric data to provide a
visual representation of the information in the database.
Meridium supports the use of a variety of graph types,
including bar, area, scatter, line, Pareto, pie, pyramid, and
Gantt charts. Graphs can be fully configured using cus-
tom labels, colors, and effects. Graphs can be saved to be
reused and shared with others as well as printed and
exported. Hyperlinks can be added to graphs to support
accessing more detailed information in the form of
another graph or a query.
• Reports – Allows you to create a custom, formatted view
of any data that exists in the database. Meridium pro-
vides reporting capabilities through Crystal Reports and
SQL Server Reporting Services.
• Catalog – Provides a central repository for storing
Meridium objects (queries, reports, graphs, etc.) so that
they can be reused, shared with others, modified, refer-
enced from any module, and controlled.
• Strategy rules – Provides a mechanism for defining rules
that can monitor asset design characteristics, mainte-
nance and production history, current performance, and
performance projections and can automatically create
recommendations and send alerts when certain thresh-
olds have been exceeded.
• Reference Documents - Provides the capability to add an
electronic file or URL reference to any data stored in the
Meridium applications.
• Configurable State Management - An integrated state
management engine that allows for specific customer-
defined data routing and approvals.
Configuration Management
The Meridium Data Configuration Manager provides all
the tools you need to set up and configure the Meridium
APM system.
• Record Family Hierarchy – Provides a fully configurable,
multi-dimensional data structure that lets administrative
users define how asset, location, and analysis data will be
defined, stored and managed within the system.
• Metadata – Defines the structure of every family within
the Meridium system. Metadata is fully configurable and
allows you to customize the appearance and behavior of
families and fields.
• Datasheets – Provides the ability to create a custom view
of every record in the database. Using a tabbed structure,
you can organize information into “pages” by specifying
which fields should appear on each tab. Multiple
datasheets can be created for a single family to support
different workflows and to cater to different types of
users.
• Business Rules – Allows you to create custom logic at
the family and field level to specify how records and
fields should validate, calculate or format data. Business
rules help you unlock the power of Meridium by increas-
ing the efficiency of data-entry tasks, ensuring the unifor-
mity of data across the system, and automating calcula-
tions and data validation. For instance, business rules can
be created to:
• Perform validation checks to ensure that data is
entered completely and in a consistent manner.
• Prevent user actions based upon custom criteria,
 such as preventing the deletion of records that con-
tain certain values.
• Populate or calculate values using information
entered into related fields.
• Let users enter information into one record and then
update all related records based upon those changes.
• Macros – Allows you to develop custom business logic
that can be invoked to support any custom workflow or
to provide users with options when they perform certain
actions in the system.
• Import/Export Utility – Provides import and export
capabilities for metadata, which facilitates the transfer of
metadata between multiple Meridium data sources. The
Import/Export utility helps facilitate the process of mov-
ing from a test system to a production system and can
also help streamline the task of modifying large amounts
of metadata.
• Security – Allows you to secure the system by creating
password-protected users who can be granted permis-
sions to perform certain tasks within the system.
• Security Groups – Let you organize users within the
system according to their job function, roles and
responsibilities. Individual users can be assigned to
security groups to inherit all the privileges associated
with that group, helping to streamline the security
configuration process.
• Family-level Privileges – Allow you to grant users
and groups permission to create, modify, and delete
records belonging to any specific family in the data-
base.
• Object-level Privileges – Let you allow and restrict
user and group access to individual database objects
(i.e., queries, reports, datasets, etc.) that are stored in
the Meridium Catalog.
Enterprise Integration
Utilizing industry-leading ETL (extraction, transformation,
and load) capabilities, Meridium can synchronize the APM
system with your existing applications, such as Enterprise
Asset Management (EAM) systems, condition monitoring
and predictive systems, as well as enable process historians
to leverage the data that you are already collecting in stan-
dard business systems for Asset Performance Management.
In addition to interfacing with the aforementioned business
systems, Meridium can integrate with virtually any external
datasource required to support your asset performance man-
agement initiatives.
• Preconfigured Interfaces – Use standard interfaces provid-
ed by Meridium to integrate with your existing EAM sys-
tem.
• Custom Interfaces – Create interfaces to any ODBC,
OLE-db or Web Service compliant application.
• Scheduling – Schedule interfaces to run automatically at
pre-set intervals, such as hourly or nightly, so that the
Meridium application always contains the latest informa-
tion without any manual user intervention.
In addition to providing an open interface platform for
enterprise systems, Meridium has a strategic partnership
with SAP and provides very robust integration between
APM and the SAP PM product, which provides integration
of Equipment, Functional Locations, Maintenance Orders
and Notifications. Meridium provides several alternatives
for integration with SAP, including:
• SAP Extract Pack - Provides the capability to define com-
mon extraction models for any data that resides within
SAP. Any data element within the SAP can be accessed,
extracted, transformed, and loaded into a Meridium con-
figuration for SAP. Standard extraction interface models
include Equipment, Functional Locations, Notifications,
and Maintenance Orders.
• SAP BAPI Interface – Available for SAP versions 4.6c
and later, this BAPI-based integration allows Meridium to
create SAP notifications via SAP developed and support-
ed BAPIs.
• Meridium Certified Powered by NetWeaver Interface –
Certified interfaces which support the generation of noti-
fications through the SAP PI platform.
Additional APM Framework Capabilities
• Web access – Meridium Web Client provides manage-
ment with visibility across the enterprise and enables users
to easily focus on the Meridium functionality specific to
their roles.
• Alerts – Can be generated from the system manually or
automatically to notify users via e-mail when certain con-
ditions exist.
• Hyperlinks – Links to any feature or Meridium data can
be placed in various locations throughout the system, such
as on home pages, in query results, and in graphs, to pro-
vide immediate access to important data and to facilitate
custom work processes.
• Microsoft Office® integration - Reports, plots, and data
can be easily exported to Microsoft Office applications
such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, as well as Adobe
PDF formats.
• E-mail capabilities - Links to any data in APM can be
sent via e-mail, facilitating collaboration within and
between various sites.
• Print capabilities - Provides the ability to print various
reports, plots, and data.
The Meridium APM Framework is the foundation of the
Meridium Asset Performance Management (APM) soft-
ware and serves to connect all Meridium modules to form
a comprehensive and fully integrated APM system. The
Meridium APM Framework provides the tools and base-
line functionality that you need to develop a powerful solu-
tion that supports your workflows and has the flexibility
needed to meet changing business needs.

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