Asset Hound: Tech savvy, smart and unique to ARCADIS

10 december 2014

Kristen AndreMy name is Kristen Andre, and I am an entry-level water resources engineer working for the water division of ARCADIS-US in Tampa, Florida. I am thrilled to be writing an entry for the Global Shapers blog and share my experiences. I will tell you more about a project I worked on, and especially about an app created by ARCADIS which I use a lot.

Risk assessment project

I am currently working for a city in South Carolina. Scott Lehman (Tampa, FL), Christina Anderson (Charleston, SC), Vanessa Negron (Tampa, FL), and I spent four days collecting data for the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. Our objective was to create an inventory of assets and perform a physical condition assessment of the assets. We used the app Asset Hound to record asset information (make, model, serial #, etc.), collect pictures of each asset, and assign physical condition scores based on the state of repair and operation of the asset.

KirstenOn the the picture, Christina and Vanessa are collecting data out in the field. Now that we are back in the office, we have populated the data from the tablets onto a spreadsheet in order to perform an engineering analysis. We will conduct a performance condition for each asset where we will look at failure modes in terms of regulatory, obsolescence, capacity and reliability. With the physical condition data collected in the field and the performance condition data, we can determine the risk of failure for each asset. The risk assessment will help the city become more proactive and less reactive to equipment failures and make informed capital improvement decisions by prioritizing the assets that need to be repaired and replaced over a period of 20 years.

Asset Hound

Asset Hound is a tablet application or “app” used to collect information while you’re out in the field. The app is built in-house by ARCADIS, and at ARCADIS, we use Asset Hound for a variety of projects including Asset Management, Unexploded Ordinance (UXO), Operation and Maintenance (O&M), Sample Collection, and Construction Oversight. The Asset Hound app is loaded onto any Android mobile device or tablet along with a project-specific template. The project-specific templates are created in-house and are designed to meet the needs and objectives of the project. With Asset Hound, we are able to capture field data with ease and efficiency. We can search and add previously entered data allowing repetitive tasks to be accomplished more easily. We have the option of adding pictures and GPS/mapping information and are able to upload and synchronize the data wirelessly.

I really enjoyed using Asset Hound and can’t believe how much it made my life easier while out on the field. No need for pen and paper and worrying about ink smudges or even worse, the possibility of papers flying away and possibly landing in a treatment tank or basin. I didn’t have to carry around a camera as juggling a bunch of items while out on the field can definitely be a challenge. The data can be populated automatically, which eliminates the errors from manually entering data into a spreadsheet. Asset Hound assigns the pictures to the asset for me, so I don’t have to worry about naming and matching the photos once I am back in the office. I can focus on the work at hand instead of the logistics. It’s tech savvy and smart. And it’s something that is entirely unique to ARCADIS!

Kristen Andre, ARCADIS US

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