Case study: from Word and Excel to a pipeline integrity management platform

One of our clients has been using pipeline integrity management software PRIMS and additional services for over a decade. In this case study, they share which daily work they manage in the software and why putting the pipeline as a focal point in the software is beneficial.

Word and Excel

The pipeline operator gathers lots of data of their assets. Before using a pipeline integrity management tool, they handled their pipeline data manually in Word and Excel. They then started looking for another system to handle this more effectively. It was then that PRIMS, formerly known as Pipeline Manager, was launched.

"After several discussions with the client, we signed our first 5-year cloud-based hosting contract in 2009", says Hartmut Gransow, Regional Director of Intero - The Sniffers GmbH.

FFP Assessments

Besides the Third Party Activity (TPA) Module, the pipeline operator uses the cloud-based software application for Fitness-For-Service (FFS) assessments.

"It is important to note that we go beyond just selling hosting contracts to pipeline operators. We also offer our clients services using PRIMS. For example, we create FFP reports", states Hartmut from Intero - The Sniffers GmbH.

According to the client, the FFP reports allow them to keep learning about the condition of their pipelines. All information is now centralized.

"In the past, data had to be exported and then imported again to know the pipelines' actual condition and work with the most actual information. In my opinion, we now find ourselves in a continuous improvement process" states the operator.

The pipeline as a focal point

When comparing PRIMS with other pipeline integrity management software, several functionalities stand out. The operator emphasizes that PRIMS is built with the pipeline itself as a focal point.

"We see that the pipeline is the focal point and that the GIS system is an additional layer. This is in our opinion a strong advantage of PRIMS."