The Net Consulting Group
EAM Re-Constructed!

As intricately complex as a railway line is, it is also usually vast. Assets are large, interdependent, and spread out over a massive network of interconnected resources. Managing these assets requires an enormous effort, with solutions deployed quickly and covering all assets involved. The feat demands clear technical prowess, an understanding of the scale of such operations, and years of experience .

As a company that grew out of the railroad industry, Massachusetts-based The Net Consulting Group is an expert at deploying rapid approach, agile enterprise asset management (EAM). With a 20 year experience in creating and improving business processes specializing in linear asset management, the founder and CEO of The Net Consulting Group, Kevin Moore, was one of the pioneers who had helped create Optram, a leading asset management system that focused on condition assessment for the railroad industry. He is also an entrepreneur and has been involved in launching many startup technology ventures. Mr. Moore worked at MIT helping members of their Enterprise Forum successfully launch and obtain funding for their technology business ventures, and was an elected Advisor to the University of Vermont’s Transportation Research Center. Channeling his background in the field, Mr. Moore created The Net Consulting Group, an EAM specialist that offers practical, cutting edge consulting solutions for the rapid deployment of linear and non-linear asset management systems.

Mr. Moore started the company after noticing certain pitfalls in many of the existing EAM systems for the railway industry. They were challenging to get in place and configure properly, with several organizations spending 5 plus years trying to configure it and set up properly. The Net Consulting Group addresses this challenge with an agile approach to rapid deployment. The company can help set up a prioritized grouping of EAM modules and features, which can be adopted segmentally and in line with how clients adjust their business processes. The company can dynamically provide data about asset condition, repairs, and linear condition trends. Total spatial awareness is made available via an application tightly integrated with mobile devices, all of which are folded into the architecture.

This allows the company to leverage GIS and linear assets to provide additional value to clients, which includes document management tied to spatial locations (boundary-based). The system is barcode enabled and helps with defects and repair workflow development. The Net Consulting Group can perform big data analysis on this information, and as a part of their services, digitize paper forms into mobile forms for the application.

The Net Consulting Group specializes in linear assets, such as tunnels, bridges, roadways, railways, pipelines, and powerlines. With non-linear assets, such as real estate, buildings and equipment, The Net Consulting Group can help track that as well.

We do not follow the big bang approach that is often accompanied with large EAM sys-tem deployments, and instead offer a rapidly deployed, agile solution for both linear and non-linear assets

The Net Consulting Group solution graphically indicates inside of their mapping analytics system where their assets are and whether they are degrading and when they will need to be repaired or replaced. “We do not follow the big bang approach that is often accompanied with large Enterprise Asset Management systems, and instead offer a rapidly deployed, modular solution for both linear and non-linear assets,” says Mr. Moore. This can be made available via a desktop portal customized for each user’s role, with the associated workflow and custom reporting tools, dashboards, KPIs, and text notifications.

The Net Consulting Group solution is available, either straight out of the box or as a custom solution. The company offers a database that would work in multiple environments, on Oracle or SQL servers, or any relational database. The mobile software is rapidly deployed, which can be centrally controlled, with instant updates rolling out as needed for users. The Net Consulting Group also provides a secure website to graphically display asset condition information in a GIS, schematic, or linear view. Analytics are performed on the data to create key performance indicators, and custom reports. The information is updated via a mobile application, reports and SMS messages are sent without any human intervention, based only on a measurement exceedance event or another defined trigger.

The company is currently growing its technology footprint to use across even more disciplines, beyond the transportation industry. In the past, The Net Consulting Group has implemented a mobile and desktop application solution for one of the nation’s largest transit agencies and continues to perform analysis and forecasting for areas in most need of repair. Consequently, The Net Consulting Group is venturing into machine learning and is creating a library of useful workflow applications, mobile or otherwise, which can be universally valuable in all sectors. The company notes that while there are EAM solutions, the Net Consulting Group is making modular EAM solutions to stand alone or to integrate with existing EAM systems, in a specialized segmented solution that adds to existing technology infrastructure.