17/Jun/2007

PowerTechnology engaged Contigo to develop FlowCal, a web-based 'flow device calibration and certificate generation' application.

With an ever looming annual UKAS review, Contigo had to deliver against very tight timescales and with limited access to user resources.

Steve Abbott, Powertech project manager said,“Contigo successfully delivered the application on-time and to budget meeting the full functional requirements and project expectations”.

The problem

EON UK has a commercial flow device calibration operation that calibrates internal and external devices. The calibration and certification process is accredited by UKAS (UK Accreditation Service). Being one of only a few UKAS accredited organisations; flow calibration certification represents a large proportion of the work undertaken and has a relatively large turnover.

The flow calibration rig used by EON calibrates flow measurement devices including differential pressure, pulse output and current output (turbine meters and magnetic flow meters) devices. Simplistically, the calibration compares the measured flow of water as registered by the device against the measure flow of water as flowed into the rig’s tank.

EON’s testing facility recorded the test data and generated certificates using a combination of legacy applications and excel spreadsheets amongst other tools. Whilst these dramatically reduced the time required to prepare the certificates, this solution was increasingly becoming inadequate, inefficient, unsupportable and error prone. More importantly, these applications were collectively identified as being an issue during UKAS reviews in recent times.

The Implementation

E.ON UK Power Technology engaged Contigo to develop FlowCal, a bespoke web-based “equipment commercial flow device calibration” and certificate generation solution. The Flowcal solution supports the calibration process facilitating rapid and efficiently recording of the experimental set up and test results; and subsequently generates a flow calibration certification document.

The aims and benefits of the application included;

• Consistency and a reduction of time for data entry and analysis
• Centralization of certificate storage for ease of retrieval and audit purposes
• Compliance with Corporate application architecture standards
• Improved maintainability and configurability
• Improved Security and access control

Contigo successfully delivered the application on-time - meeting the functional requirements and project expectations.

Contigo used Microsoft technologies (ASP.NET 2.0 including Report Viewer, Ajax.NET, SQL Server 2005 and TFS); integrated with Cruise Control for Continuous Integration and mbUnit for mathematical model testing; to significantly enhance development productivity and quality.

Steve Abbott, Powertechnology ltd Flowcal project manager commented, “Contigo successfully delivered the application on-time and to budget meeting the full functional requirements and project expectations”.