EC: aeShield v4

Safety - Process safety, intrinsic safety: aeShield is an enterprise level software application for executing, monitoring, and sustaining the functional safety lifecycle required by IEC 61511 providing one tool for executing the entire lifecycle. This is a Control Engineering 2016 Engineers’ Choice finalist.

October 15, 2015

Several years ago, aeSolutions embarked on a journey to create a safety lifecycle management application that would facilitate owner-operators in achieving and monitoring compliance with ISA-84 and IEC 61511. The system they developed, aeShield, was initially launched in 2011 to provide owner-operators with tools to execute, monitor, and sustain the Safety Lifecycle. The enterprise level application provides a single tool for executing the entire lifecycle and includes template management to drive consistent practices for SIS documentation. aeShield is a tag-based database system that allows references to instrumentation in risk analysis activities to be electronically connected to engineering design and validation data. aeShield provides visibility into the status of safety lifecycle documentation, such as the SRS, SIL calculations or functional test plans, within a location or project. The revision tracking mechanism in aeShield allows engineering process safety data to be tracked with high integrity.

In September of 2013, aeSolutions achieved a major milestone with their aeShield application by launching two key modules that have impact for their users. They launched the Historian Module which closes the loops between assumptions made in the LOPA and SIL Calcs with real operating data collected electronically through interfaces to control system historians and graphically represent this data on a dashboard. The new Historian Module in aeShield provides visual indications of operating data for critical protection layers used as risk reduction in Layer of Protection Analysis. aeSolutions also launched the Document Control module, enhancing collaborative work practices across multiple competency levels and multiple working locations while maintaining data integrity. Document Control allows project managers to identify competent personnel who will be tasked with the check-and-approve process per safety lifecycle documentation type. This helps ensure the personnel with the correct competencies are identified to help support the safety management plan.

aeSolutions, www.aesolns.com