Joint Integrity Management FAQs: Your Guide to Leak-Free STO Projects

Below, we answer some common questions around the challenging arena of bolted flange management and discuss how MODS Connect Integrity solves many of the challenges associated with safe, quality assured, traceable, accountable project handover. Let’s get started. 

Why is joint integrity such a high-stakes issue?   

Industrial health and safety is the primary reason why bolted flange integrity is such a high-stakes issue. Why are quality assured joints so important? Firstly, it’s essential to ensuring no loss of hydrocarbon containment, which can have devastating consequences. Considering the value stream downstream, minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime of production facilities is of financial and societal importance. 

Quality assured joint integrity management is a non-negotiable to ensure leak-free startups. This includes traceable and accountable workflows – including accountability of individuals responsible for the joints – to enable lessons learned for continuous project improvement, especially in the event there is an incident or a near miss. 

Are the common tools used to manage bolted flange integrity failing us?  

The most common method for managing bolted flange integrity is via the use of manually-inputted Excel spreadsheets. Owing to the sheer number of joints on an asset, a lot of these joints for some facilities aren’t managed at all – they are largely forgotten about until a reason arises to tend to them as and when necessary. 

Some facilities might have lots of their joint integrity records linked to an Excel spreadsheet, but that still falls short of full digital transparency with easily accessible and comprehensive historical records for each and every joint afforded by software such as MODS Connect Integrity.   

In any industry, the problems associated with paper-based records are clear: historical records get lost and bungled; any historical recall gets tied to a person or people responsible for managing information, people who may relocate or retire, taking that traceability with them. Losing historical records and traceability makes is impossible to learn from errors or potential errors, so there’s no pathway toward continuous improvement. 

This is what a purpose-built integrity management system such as MODS Connect Integrity delivers: accessible historical records and accountability for all of an asset’s joints.  

How does MODS Connect Integrity solve the accountability issue that’s missing in joint integrity management?  

MODS Connect Integrity assigns every joint a lifetime ID and links every joint – complete with history, check sheet and status – to a color-coded 3D model (Connect Viewer). This provides both contractors and operations full joint confidence during completions and handover.  

Further, MODS Connect Integrity removes some of the arduous tasks of paperwork processes, providing operations with the necessary joint assurances, such as having been set correctly with the correct lubricants, accurate torque settings, etc. This gives operations confidence that they are ready for hydrocarbons to come safely on board, without delay.   

What are the best change management approaches to digitalization? Changing mindsets is hard. 

In addition to providing seasoned change management expertise, we typically advocate for a staged approach: small digital steps to allow time to acclimate people and processes versus giant leaps. This affords ample time for training and ensuring system users experience benefits of the software as readily as possible – then, and only then, will users become advocates for the new systems and for increasingly valuable change. 

Taking joint integrity as an example: aging asset with a hot-mess of records, and newer assets lacking joint integrity register entirely, both face certain requirements, whether legislation-driven or from operations side. These are critical systems with high-pressure hydrocarbons. Understanding the value-add of a robust joint integrity management system is, in principle, clear.  

In practice, when starting to implement a system such as MODS Connect Integrity, it might make sense to start with ongoing projects, building that new working model (and accompanying joint database) over time, versus trying to get 100 percent of all asset joints in the system in one go. Again: baby steps. 

How can my teams get out of the spreadsheet mindset to manage projects?  

Spreadsheets are no going away, at least not anytime soon. They still have their place in industrial projects at this point in time. It's more around understanding how the use of digital technology adds value in the key places that will provide the greatest return of investment.  

And this is why MODS Connect consists of an ecosystem of different applications, because we understand that every project, geographical location, contractor and operator faces different challenges.  

The MODS Connect ecosystem of modules can be thought about like a toolbox, where we can help clients pick and choose the highest-impact tools to support whatever their project execution weakness may be. Removing paper from the workflows. Streamlining processes and communication. Ensuring transparency, traceability and accountability. Providing a database to amass information in a centralized location. And attaching all information to a 3D model. Whatever workflow MODS Connect is being used for, experientially, users and managers realize the benefits.  

Ready to move beyond spreadsheets?

See how MODS Connect Integrity simplifies flange management with full traceability, accountability, and confidence at every joint.