1. Introduction
At a meeting of process industry companies and organizations in Wilmington US on September 21st. 1995, strong support was given to the formation of a world-wide coordinating initiative PIEBASE - the Process Industry Executive for achieving Business Advantage using Standards for data Exchange. This Charter was accepted at a meeting of the PIEBASE Executive on October 3rd. 1996. The intent would be to achieve a common strategic vision for the delivery and use of internationally accepted standards for information sharing and exchange.
PIEBASE is the global 'umbrella' for process industry consortia and their member companies active in the development of STEP (Standards for the Exchange of Product Data, ISO standard 10303) and other standards for industrial data for the process industries. It is charged with the overall coordination of the development and implementation of these standards. In particular it is responsible for the vision, and the Road Map needed to deliver that vision, and for the coordination and stimulation of industry activities to achieve that. PIEBASE provides a forum for broad participation by industry consortia in defining the priorities of the global process industry in this area and in reviewing proposals for international standardization.
The members of PIEBASE are Process Industry consortia active in the development of international standards for information sharing and exchange. The participants of PIEBASE comprise those process industry companies active in the subject area via their membership of industry consortia, and their representation is their membership of those bodies. The companies are in the general areas of:
Participants are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding as a basis for cooperation.
At this stage in its evolution PIEBASE, as an umbrella of existing organizations is not a legal entity in itself and will not undertake major funded projects on its own account. Such projects and activities will be the responsibility of industry consortia on a national or international basis.
2. The Vision
The vision as agreed at Wilmington was: Companies in the process industries shall be able to share and/or exchange electronically the information needed to design, build, operate and maintain process and power plants using internationally accepted standards. By the year 2000, this vision will be achieved for a high value subset of this information.
3. The Deliverables
Apart from developing a shared view of the key issues across the process industries the key tangible deliverables are seen to be:
4. Overall Structure
PIEBASE exists at two levels:
4. 1 The PIEBASE Executive Committee
The PIEBASE Executive Committee will have 10 - 12 members, reflecting an appropriate geographic balance, with members drawn from the major industry consortia plus a representative of ISO. It will meet at least twice per year to set direction, monitor progress of and endorse the plans of the Working Groups. The representative from ISO (NIST) assists in the fulfillment of the task of coordinating those activities (e.g. Application Protocol development) which relate specifically to ISO.
A 'PIEBASE Coordinator/ Secretary' supports the activity.
A number of Executive Committee Members will ideally participate in the various Working Groups to facilitate cohesion; if this is not the case 1 or 2 members of the Executive Committee will need to be in direct contact with Working Group members.
4.2 The PIEBASE Working Groups
These groups will form from time to time, to undertake the tasks identified as being needed for PIEBASE to fulfil its role. Participation will vary according to the task and may well include organizations outside 'PIEBASE' consortia. The project managers of the individual projects in national or other industry consortia, as well as members of these projects, are the natural members of the Working Groups.
The Working Groups will not necessarily carry out (all of) the tasks themselves. Having identified the Road Map and strategy (together with the Executive Committee), some of the actual work could be undertaken by industry consortia.
4.3 Legal Structure, Funding and Voting
At this time PIEBASE is not a legal entity. It is an 'umbrella' under which existing consortia and organizations formed to pursue the development of STEP and other standards for industrial data for the Process Industries. It has come together to together to coordinate, harmonize and steer their activities. At the present time there are no subscription fees for PIEBASE. Meeting attendees fund their own attendance or are funded by their association or consortia initiative which they represent. Such consortia are free to determine how they should support PIEBASE and determine whatever subscriptions they see as necessary to support the activity.
PIEBASE will not depend upon formal voting procedures. Items for international standardization are already subject to voting as part of the ISO or other procedure. The nature of PIEBASE is such that progress can only be made by consensus. It is expected that the PIEBASE Executive Committee will reach consensus on all major issues.
4.4 Projects, Application Protocol (AP) Development, etc.
Standardization projects will continue, but in time would be guided by PIEBASE in terms of addressing areas of work that will optimize the overall effort being applied by the process industry. Existing liaisons will be formalized by the existence of the PIEBASE planning and coordination activity.
5. Linkage to the International Standards Organization (ISO)
The Technical Committee within ISO responsible for STEP, ISO TC 184/SC4, has already established a planning activity - the Process Plant AP Planning Project - to work with industry to plan and coordinate the scope and development of APs. PIEBASE works with the AP Planning Project and provide overall coordination of the Process Industry's involvement in STEP and related activities. The AP Planning Project participates in PIEBASE and contributes to the development of the Industry Road Map for the implementation of STEP. This is a formal link from PIEBASE to ISO. PIEBASE will request formal liaison status with ISO TC184/SC4 and other organizations as appropriate.
6. Communications
There is a need to communicate industry's objectives with respect to international standards, the PIEBASE vision and associated benefits of its organization / coordination activities. Whilst considerable communication takes place via the local consortia there is also a need to broadcast a consistent message about PIEBASE. This will be addressed on an on-going basis by the PIEBASE Executive and by annual industry communication meetings attended by signatories of the Memorandum of Common Understanding and Cooperation.
7. Administrative Support
For at least the first year of PIEBASE the activities will be administered by people and resources supplied on a voluntary basis or by support from participating companies or established industry consortia. The substantive part of the envisaged work will be executed by the Executive Committee and the Working Groups as detailed above.
Lloyd's Register served the secretariat role for the initial period through 1997. At the January 1998 meeting, POSC agreed to provide the secretariat role with assistance from POSC/CAESAR.
FIGURE 1