Assets and Infrastructure Management System (AIMS) Software

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Current as on 30th January 2004

Document #05

 

 

What is AIMS?

AIMS stands for "Assets and Infrastructure Management System" - a domain-independent Software for storing and retrieving hierarchical information, both about the assets and infrastructure, and about their properties. Most of the technical terms and acronyms used are described in the "AIMS Glossary".

 

 

 

What are the broad features of AIMS Software?

Uses a hierarchical data structure

Data can be fed asynchronously

All data need not be filled

Uses (Visual) Prolog's List Processing Power

Operates in either Local or Distributed Mode

Has Search facility

Can Set up Trigger Alerts

Logs all the Events

Open Ended, Modular

Unlimited Storage of Information

Single Click Report Creation

Conversion of Database to XML

Viewing the Database as an XML Tree

 

 

 

To understand the AIMS Software better, in what sequence should I read the AIMS Help File System?

Though individual preferences will vary depending upon the situation and objectives, the following is the recommended order:

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Glossary

Best Practices Guide

Getting Started Guide

Configuring AIMS Software

Adding a New Asset

Editing an Asset

Adding / Editing / Copying / Moving Branches

Deleting Roots and Branches

Viewing a Root

Viewing the AIMS Database Tree Using XML

Validating the AIMS Databases

Searching for Information

Setting Trigger Alerts

Viewing the Log Information

Creating a Report in AIMS

Data Transfer Using XML

 

 

What type of Computer (Configuration) should I use to make the best use of the AIMS Software?

The AIMS Software can work either in a local or distributed mode. Refer the Best Practices Guide for a detailed description of each of these modes. In the local mode, all the databases of AIMS Software (assets, systems,....,notes, signals,images, audios, videos, and all the multimedia files) reside in the local machine (localhost) where the AIMS Software itself is located. In the distributed mode, the databases are located in Computers (host Servers) other than the localhost, which are connected to the localhost through the same Intranet. If local mode is used, since the databases reside locally, a faster Computer would be required, one which has (a) a faster processor, (b) higher memory (RAM) and (c) a large persistent storage device (a big hard disk drive), depending upon the size of the databases. If distributed mode is used, the localhost could be a simple Pentium-class machine, having a fast-ethernet (or Gigabit ethernet) access to the Intranet. In both cases, the local host must run on either Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. In the case of distributed mode, the host Servers should preferably run Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server.

 

What is an Asset?

An asset is hardware, which can be either immovable or movable.

 

 

 

Give some examples of assets?

Immovable assets can be thermal power plants, petrochemical plants, nuclear reactors, dams, etc. Movable assets can be aircrafts, submarines, space vehicles, orbiters, stations, etc., aircraft carriers, and so on.

 

 

 

What type of Assets / Infrastructure information can be stored in AIMS?

AIMS can store data about assets that have their information in a hierarchical fashion. Or in a situation where the available data can be "cast" in an hierarchical fashion.

 

Can AIMS be used for storing hierarchical-type but non-Asset information?

Yes. With very little modification, AIMS can store non-asset, hierarchical-data, for example, the organisational information of an establishment.

 

 

 

Is there a Case Study available that showcases all the features of the AIMS Software?

Yes. See the Getting Started Guide.

 

 

 

In what language is AIMS software written?

The AIMS software has been written in (Visual) Prolog, a high-performance fifth-generation language most suitable for query, search and information storage.

 

In which platform can AIMS software run?

AIMS is targeted towards the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows platform.

 

 

 

What are the broad modules of the AIMS software? What are their functions?

AIMS software has modules to Enter, View, Edit, Move, and Delete information in the form of database trees. It also has facilities to Search information, Log events, Configure the software, and Trigger Alerts to the environment.

 

 

 

What are the major arms of the AIMS Database Structure?

The major arms of the AIMS software include facilities to store and retrieve information about the (a) properties of the assets' hardware, (b) various lifecycles of these hardware, and (c) data (notes, strings, descriptions or any other multimedia content) pertaining to the assets / lifecycles.

 

 

 

I have information about an asset. How can I feed that information into AIMS?

The first task would be to study this information in depth, and to mentally "cast" this information into a form that is suitable for AIMS to store and retrieve. The "Best Practices Guide" would be a good place to look at, and the "Getting Started Guide" would give the first few steps to start with.

 

How can I retrieve information from AIMS?

Information can be retrieved from the AIMS Software in two modes: (a) by selecting an asset (or one of its systems, components, or parts) and browsing ("drilling-down") its properties, or (b) by Searching for a specific information through the Search facility.

 

 

 

Can I Search the AIMS database?

Yes. You can search the full AIMS database by invoking the Search dialog and feeding the search parameters. If the resultant set of hits are too large, you can also filter the hits to zero-in on the appropriate data.

 

How can I modify the information that is already present in AIMS?

There are several ways to modify the information that is present in the AIMS databases. If one can view the database information as "trees", then it is possible to edit the values of the "leaves", add/delete the "leaves" or "branches". It is also possible to copy/move a certain "branch" from one tree to another.

 

 

 

Is there a way to View the AIMS Database in its entirety?

Yes. You can convert the AIMS Database (or any portion of it) into an XML Tree. This Tree can be opened in any modern browser and the red icons + and - present on the left side of the Tree can be used to either Expand or Collapse the whole Tree or a part of it. Cycling through this Tree in this manner can give the User a full perspective of the AIMS Database. In addition, the XML Tree also allows th User to see the full details of each Node, its Branches, their IDs, etc.

 

What are the alerting mechanisms of the AIMS software?

The AIMS Software can be configured to send out alerts, when certain events are triggered. These are called Trigger Alerts. These can be sent over the Intranet as pop-up messages. If the host machine (the machine where the AIMS Software runs; the databases could be in a different machine) is configured to communicate with a SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Server, then the AIMS software can send the alert as an EMail message. In addition, if the host machine has dialer, the AIMS software can also send SMS (Short Messaging Service) to a Cellular Phone.

 

What types of data can be stored in the AIMS database?

AIMS software treats most of the data as "Strings" - the properties of the hardware, the different lifecycles (called evolutionary cycles), their values are all stored as Strings. Reference to external web pages (Universal Resource Locators - URLs), and other multimedia content (file names of signals, images, audios and videos) are all stored as Strings.

 

 

 

Does AIMS have the functionality to open various multi-media and other content files?

The AIMS software does not contain any built-in facility to open signals, images, audio, video or URLs. It sends the file name (or the URL, as the case may be) to the appropriate application program to open the content. The User can configure which application program should open what multimedia content.

 

 

 

Can I Create a Report of the Database?

Yes, it is possible to Create a Report, either for a single Node in the Database, or for the full database. The created Report will be in HTML format, with most of the important links embedded onto it. It is also possible to convert the HTML Report created into other popular formats, through standard methods.

 

How transfer data from AIMS to other Database Systems?

The correct way is to convert the database (or a selected portion of it) in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format, and use this for data transfer. The AIMS Software has a single-click straightforward method to convert databases or data-fragments to XML.

 

 

 

Are all Users of the AIMS Software equal?

AIMS Software recognises three types of Users: (a) Ordinary Users, (b) Managers and (c) Administrators.

 

What are the Security features of the AIMS Software?

The AIMS software relies entirely on the Operating System for its Security requirements. It does not employ any encryption at present.

 

 

 

Can I place the AIMS Databases away from the AIMS Software?

Yes. The AIMS software runs in a local machine, also called localhost. The AIMS databases can reside in a different Server (each of the databases can reside in individual Servers, if required), connected to the localhost through a local area network. At present, AIMS does not support Virtual Private Networks (VPN) or HTTP access.

 

What are the logging features of the AIMS Software?

Each important event (opening of databases, reading of databases, modification of databases, errors, trigger settings, etc.) is logged on to a log file by the AIMS software. The logging mechanism records the Username, Machine name, Date & Time, module that fired the event, databases accessed and so on. The User can configure the AIMS software to switch OFF or switch ON logging at any time. In addition, the User can also View, Save and Reset the log file at any time.

 

Is it possible for the same User to have multiple AIMS Databases that store information about multiple Assets, in the same Computer? In different Computers?

This is not advisable, nor is it required, but still Yes, it is possible to do so. But care must be taken to rename and remember each of the configuration files, so that one database doesn't encroach upon the other, while in use.

 

 

 

In what way the AIMS Databases are different from popular RDBMS like SQL Server?

RDBMS such as the SQL Server stores all the information in the form of normalised Tables. The AIMS databases have been recast into SQL Server Tables, but AIMS uses its own database structure, that uses "lists" and "lists of lists" heavily. Lists are open ended data structures which are very powerful for the type of application AIMS addresses - sparse, non-uniform filling of open ended information. However, it must be remembered that commercial RDBMS software are optimised for peak performance and multitude of features, which may not be available in AIMS, as of now.

 

Is there a difference between the way humans access the AIMS Databases and the way the machine accesses them?

Yes. Human beings will access information in the AIMS databases using names of the assets, systems, components, parts, evolutionary cycles, notes, etc. The software, however, assigns an unique ID to each of these in a manner transparent to the User, and uses this ID to access the asset information.

 

 

 

 

Does AIMS meet the Standards requirements? How?

Yes, refer the document.