Release notes — ReliaEn 1.0.0

The first release

ReliaEn is desktop reliability engineering software with a built-in computerised maintenance management system (CMMS). It works on your own data from Excel, CSV or JSON files, or from an SQL database. Every analysis gives a report that you can export.

Reliability analyses

• Discrete reliability with binomial and Poisson models.
• Life data estimation for complete and censored data, with Weibull (2-parameter and 3-parameter), exponential, lognormal, gamma, smallest extreme value, logistic and loglogistic distributions.
• Survival plots, repairable fleets, accelerated life testing (ALT), degradation (gamma and Wiener processes), warranty prediction, Cox regression and test plans.

System reliability

• Reliability block diagrams (RBD), reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) simulation and Markov analysis.
• Reliability optimisation, spare parts optimisation and life-cycle cost.

Maintenance management

• The asset register, work orders, preventive maintenance (PM), failure reporting, spare parts and reports. These are linked directly to the analyses.

Not in 1.0.0, planned for 1.0.2 (December)

• Normal and 2-parameter exponential fits, mixed Weibull, exact median ranks and rank regression on X, and likelihood-ratio bounds.
• The Lawless–Nadeau variance of the mean cumulative function (MCF) and warranty months as exact failure times.
• Multi-stress ALT, warm standby blocks, duty-cycle blocks and static blocks.
• Spare pools and repair crews in RAM simulation, and Markov mean availability.
• Worksheets of more than 500 rows.

The report guides under Help are in English in 1.0.0 and in Thai from 1.0.1.

New in 1.0.0

CMMS Bridge. The Bridge reads the Excel or CSV export files of enterprise maintenance systems, including sheets in your plant’s own layouts. The Import Wizard loads assets, work orders, PM plans, meters, items and failure codes into the ReliaEn CMMS. Every ReliaEn function then works on these records as on its own. Your enterprise maintenance system remains the system of record. ReliaEn reads only the files that you export and does not connect to that system.

Asset criticality ranking. ReliaEn scores each asset on consequence, likelihood and detectability (C × L × D). It places the asset in class A, B or C on a criticality matrix and records the source and the reason for the class. Each assessment is saved as a versioned record in a register. The class sets the priority of the asset and the priority that ReliaEn calculates for its work orders. When you edit the matrix, ReliaEn lists every asset whose class changes.

Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) studies. Two templates work on one study.

• The Process FMEA form rates severity, occurrence and detection on a scale of 1 to 10 and calculates the risk priority number (RPN). After each action, it records the residual severity, occurrence, detection and RPN.
• The matrix failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) uses the same study.
• You can import a study from your Excel workbook and export it back to Excel.
• Each study belongs to an asset in the CMMS, and ReliaEn flags each class-A asset that has no FMEA study.

Reliability of each asset. Each equipment asset has its own reliability page.

• When the asset has at least 3 coded failures, ReliaEn fits a Weibull life model to its coded corrective work orders. With fewer failures, the page shows how many coded failures the asset has.
• ReliaEn treats the running time since the last failure as a time without failure (a censored time).
• ReliaEn fits the model again when you ask and each time one of these work orders closes.
• The page also shows the mean time between failures (MTBF) and the mean time to repair (MTTR) from the history of the asset.

PM interval and spare parts policy.

• ReliaEn calculates the replacement age with the lowest cost per hour. It shows this age next to the interval that you set, with the cost per hour of both and the cost per hour of running to failure.
• For each spare part, ReliaEn calculates the reorder point and the maximum stock that meet your service level over the lead time. It shows them next to your minimum and maximum, with the stock-out probability.
• Every result appears beside your own data. Nothing changes until you click to apply it.

Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) decision for each failure mode. For each failure mode in the FMEA study of an asset, the RCM logic tree selects a maintenance strategy. The tree uses the Weibull shape parameter of the asset, the severity and detection ratings of the failure mode, and the costs. The strategies are on-condition maintenance, scheduled replacement, failure-finding, run to failure and redesign.

Asset Health. ReliaEn calculates three scores for each equipment asset: a health score from 0 to 100, the criticality score, and Risk = (100 − Health) × Criticality / 100. The health score uses five factors that the CMMS already holds. The Asset Health page shows the Criticality × Health and Criticality × Risk matrices and a list of assets ranked by risk. For each high-risk asset that has no open predictive work order, ReliaEn drafts one.

Key performance indicator (KPI) page. CMMS ▸ KPI Dashboard… opens the KPI page for all assets under the asset that you select. Each KPI can have a target and a caution level, and its status is OK, CAUTION or ALERT. In a new, empty file, the page shows six KPI cards and explains why each card is empty. Add to Report puts the KPI page on the Report tab, and you export it like any other report.

Repairable systems: generalised renewal process (GRP) / Kijima.

• The analysis reads the failure event log of a fleet: the event times of each unit and the end of observation. It can read this log directly from the corrective work orders in the CMMS.
• It estimates the ageing law (Weibull β and η) and the repair quality q together, from as good as new to as bad as old.
• The fitted model runs in RAM simulation.
• The analysis also gives a Bayesian estimate of q, models covariates on q and links to the degradation analysis.

Markov analysis with wear-out. In Markov models, failure rates can change with age. Four methods are available, and each models a different repair: non-homogeneous Markov for minimal repair, the method of stages for renewal or partial restoration, semi-Markov, and a virtual-age simulation with the restoration factor q. Open System ▸ Markov Availability… and select the model source “Wear-out (Weibull β, η)”.

Three more life distributions. The smallest extreme value, logistic and loglogistic distributions each have their own analysis. The smallest extreme value and logistic distributions also work as block models in reliability block diagrams and are sampled in RAM simulation. Life-cycle cost and spare parts optimisation do not use these two distributions. If you select one of them there, ReliaEn explains why it is not available.

PM-Scope optimisation. PM-Scope finds which severity classes preventive maintenance should control. Each control level prevents the breakdowns whose downtime is above a threshold. ReliaEn reports the control level with the lowest cost.

AI Support, stage 1. In 1.0.0, AI Support covers the file-to-report path and menu mode.

• File to report: you drop in a file or name an asset, and you write what you need in Thai or English. You confirm what the model understood, and you receive a standard ReliaEn report with a written narrative. Each number in the narrative is a cell of the report.
• Menu mode: when no model is connected, or the computer cannot run one, you choose the analysis from a menu and attach the file. ReliaEn produces the same standard report.
• By default, AI Support uses a local language model. You can choose a cloud provider and enter your own application programming interface (API) key. Windows stores the key in its credential store.
• In 1.0.0, AI Support reads and analyses your data. It does not change your data.

Related records. One typed link connects related records: an asset and its place in the hierarchy; an RBD block and its asset; an FMEA study with its asset, work orders and failure events; a part, the bill of materials (BOM) that lists it, and the asset. The Related tab of an asset shows these records and opens them.

Mobile work execution. The technician app on a phone closes a job at the asset (online), records meter readings and runs inspections against a checklist. It shows the PMs that are due, and the status log and previous findings of each work order. Photos and meter readings taken offline go to the CMMS at the next sync.

Protection against overwriting. If two people edit the same record, ReliaEn rejects a save that is based on an older version. The record does not change, and a one-sentence message tells the user what happened and what to do. The dialog then shows the record as it is now.

Projects and files.

• File ▸ New Project / Open Project… / Save Project… saves the RBD canvas and the fitted results of the session in a project file.
• When you reopen a project, a block that comes from an analysis shows its result without running the analysis again. If the data changed after the save, ReliaEn tells you.
• Project files from earlier versions still open.
• You can import data from Excel, CSV and JSON files or from an SQL database. You can export reports as PDF, HTML or Word files.
• Help holds the report guides and About ReliaEn.

Software updates. ReliaEn checks for, downloads and installs signed updates. When you select Download and install, ReliaEn closes and the installer runs. ReliaEn then restarts as the new version and opens the CMMS file that you had open. Before an update changes your CMMS file, ReliaEn backs up the file and tells you. An interrupted download resumes. If a new version does not start, ReliaEn returns to the previous version automatically. Administrators can install updates silently. The technician app updates itself.

Licensing. Each computer has a signed licence file that works offline. The file shows its expiry date and opens every module. Without a licence, ReliaEn opens in read-only mode, and the status bar shows the state of the licence.

Requirements and first install

• Windows: 64-bit Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11. On older or 32-bit Windows, the installer stops and tells you why.
• SmartScreen: The first time you run the installer, Windows may show “Windows protected your PC”. Select More info, then Run anyway. The installer is signed. Windows stops showing the warning after the signed installer has built up a reputation.
• Your licence: ReliaEn needs a licence file issued for your computer. Open Help ▸ Licence…, copy your machine code (RL-…) and send it to license@reliaen.com, or use Request licence by e-mail. Install the file you receive with Install licence file…. The licence stays valid when one part of the computer changes: at least two of the three hardware identifiers must match, and one match gives 14 days of grace. Without a licence, ReliaEn opens in read-only mode.
• Updates: ReliaEn checks https://updates.reliaen.com once a day when it starts. You can switch the check off in Help ▸ Updates…. The check reads one signed file and sends nothing about you, your computer, your licence or your data. Administrators can point every computer at a mirror inside your network, or switch the check off, with the policy file %ProgramData%\ReliaEn\policy.json. A computer without internet installs an update from a folder with Help ▸ Updates ▸ Install from file…. ReliaEn checks the signature of every update before installation, backs up your CMMS file before the update changes it, and returns to the previous version automatically if a new version does not start.