In order to be able to run the Assets Valuation module, the utility must first have the necessary financial data in place. In this Technical Note you will learn how prepare your financial administration data, so that you can enter or import the financial costing data for all the assets and start managing and updating the system. This Technical Note will focus on updating the Water Pipes costing data and replacement pipe types.
The most important library cost information is related to the pipes as they form the main component of the distribution network assets. Pipe Cost information is normally assembled from previous Utility procurement contracts and kept in Excel spreadsheets. Such data can then be imported directly into EDAMS Network Data Management.
Water Pipes Cost Template
Since each Utility has their own pipe libraries and uses different pipe types, we cannot use a standard template for all. Therefore, we have created a custom query on all Utility Databases that each Utility can access directly from EDAMS Network Data Management (NDM).
In order to access the personalized Pipe Cost Template, the Utility must open EDAMS NDM and navigate to the Reports tab as shown in the image below:
Then, open the Queries functionality and select the following:
- Only non-empty groups – Checked
- Use Modern Query Output format – Checked
The image below shows the two check buttons as described.
Once the check buttons are selected, the user can navigate to the ‘Water Pipes’ Category and expand the list in order to be able to view all available queries for the Water Pipes element type as shown in the image below:
Once the user reaches this point, they must select the ‘Pipe Cost Template’ query and press the button to execute the query. The following window will appear:
In the above window, they system shows ALL pipe libraries that are currently being used by the Utility along with their replacement Pipe Type.
Press the excel button in order to export and edit the table in excel.
Filling the Water Pipes Costing Library
Once the Utility has exported the Template, they can start editing the template to capture the missing information. In this section we will describe what is needed to be filled in the template.
The image above shows the template in the exported excel file.
The first three columns, namely ‘Material’, ‘Class’ and ‘Nominal Diameter’ must not be changed/altered for any reason because these are the pipe types that are currently being used within the Utility’s network.
The following columns are available for editing and MUST be captured by the Utility:
- Cost Date: The original cost date
- Original Pipe Price/ meter: The pipe cost per meter
- Installation cost flag: Do not change, this is needed during import
- Installation cost as %: This is the installation cost as percentage of the original pipe cost
- P&G cost as % of Total Cost / meter: This is the preliminary & General cost given as percentage of the Total Cost. i.e. Original Cost + Installation Cost
- Useful Life (yrs): The Original Design Life of the pipe type
The following three columns are available for editing even though they have values in them. The three columns refer to the replacement pipe type and it means that in case the Utility needs to replace any pipe within the network, the system will replace the existing pipe type with the one specified under the replacement pipe type. If the Utility opts to leave the replacement pipe types as is, the system will always replace the pipe using the same pipe type.
We strongly suggest that the Utility updates the Replacement Pipe Types in order to avoid wrong Rehabilitation plans in the future. An example of such an issue is, the existing AC pipes, that usually when replaced, the Utilities opt to use other materials such as UPVC. The following three fields must be filled:
- Replacement Pipe Type: The material of the pipe that will replace the existing one
- Replacement Class: The class of the pipe that will replace the existing one
- Replacement Diameter (mm): The Nominal Diameter of the pipe that will replace the existing one
An example of a filled template is shown in the image below where you can clearly see that this specific Utility opted to replace all AC pipes with either UPVC or GRP when and if the need arises.
Based on the above filled template, the Utility has captured the following:
- Cost Date: 01/01/2006 -> This means that the costing information for the specific pipe was obtained on that date
- Original Pipe Price/meter: Different Values -> Because each pipe type costs differently
- Installation Cost: 80% -> The Utility opted to use a standard percentage for all pipe types for the pipe installation cost
- P&G Cost: 27% -> Again, the Utility opted to use a standard percentage for the preliminary and general costs of a pipe replacement
- Useful Life: Different Values -> Based on the Original Design Life of the pipe type
Once the Utility fills their own Template, they should save it on their cloud folder in order to be used during the Assets Valuation Training.