About importing and maintaining proxy tags

To link documents to tags using tag linking as described in About linking tags and documents, you need to import tag numbers from the maintenance management system or other sources to create the proxy tags and maintain them in Meridian Enterprise. The proxy tags will require ongoing maintenance that involves updating the proxy tags in Meridian Enterprise when tags are deleted or changed in the maintenance management system or the physical plant so that the data remains accurate.

There are usually three possible sources for the tag numbers:

• Asset numbers stored in the maintenance management system
• Numbers provided by equipment suppliers
• Numbers generated by the engineering or maintenance departments

When importing and maintaining tag numbers, there are many issues to contend with, among others:

• What is the structure of the tag numbers? For example, is the equipment type, manufacturer, or site of the equipment encoded in the tag number?
• What is the best storage structure to use in Meridian Enterprise? Possible structures are by equipment type, by process, or by geographic location. Other structures can also be used, and more than one structure can be used.
• How are the tag numbers determined? Possible sources are: the Engineering department, the Maintenance department, or equipment suppliers. If tag numbers are generated by an internal department, a mapping between these and numbers used by equipment suppliers may be necessary.

All of these issues are closely related to the operating procedures of the organization and the asset structure in the maintenance management system. A one-size-fits-all solution cannot and does not exist. Importing tag numbers when the Asset Management Module is deployed and maintaining the proxy tags when the system is operational require customer-specific solutions, possibly supported by specific customization.

Given these issues, the goals of any solution are to:

1. Create a list that matches documents to maintenance management system tag numbers.
2. Implement procedures to control the creation of tag numbers and propagate new tag numbers between the maintenance management system and Meridian Enterprise.

The following topics describe provide some guidelines in how to achieve these goals.