So, as we said in the first blog post of the series, we also not only have a mechanism for modelling expected breakdowns, but can use this mechanism with a systematic philosophy of failure management for modelling unexpected breakdown on short operations.

Before we get into it, let’s consider the question we want to ask. On the face of it, we might want to know the P50 of the duration of the operation, with all risk taken into account. Read more >

In yesterday’s entry about modelling breakdown, I introduced the idea that from next week, Mermaid enables the modelling and analysis of technical breakdown. The new feature that we’re releasing is called “Occasional Tasks”.

An Occasional task or group is one that only happens for certain repeats of its parent group. So, take this very simple task diagram for a survey job to start with:

We’ve got 60 survey lines to complete, and each one takes an hour and a half. Our “Survey One Line” group is repeated 60 times to show this. Read more >

Almost as soon I start talking to clients about Mermaid, one of the first things I’ve always said is, “This is a weather risk analysis tool; it doesn’t take technical breakdown into account – that’s something you’ll have to model yourself.”

Having said that, risk of technical breakdown is a real and common problem for us and our clients. We’ve had projects put at serious risk due to failures in the ability of equipment to perform, requiring repair on-site, in the middle of critical tidal windows. Read more >