Implementing TSM and BMS Smartly and Easily With Timly

TSM – A Qualitative Basis for Sustainable Supply Security

Technical safety management – an important building block for the self-monitoring of a utility company – was specifically tailored to the needs of utility companies by the German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (DVGW), Bonn, as a quality management system. Successful certification guarantees the highest quality of supply and certifies that the utility company has an orderly, efficient and quality-oriented operational management.

The core task of the TSM is to support the independent action of the companies and at the same time to strengthen the competence of the technical self-administration of the public gas and water supply. In this way, the TSM also contributes to minimising liability risks and to guaranteeing security of action for employees and managers.

All technically relevant requirements for qualification and organisation have been summarised by the DVGW in Worksheets G 1000 (gas) and W 1000 (water).

For utilities, TSM certification is therefore a confirmation that they have a company organisation that meets all technical supply requirements, as well as suitable processes that must be continuously monitored and documented.

BMS – Quality in Construction

Another component of a secure gas and water supply is the technically flawless laying of pipelines. Utility companies can only fulfil this task if only efficient and reliable companies are commissioned with the construction and maintenance of pipeline-related infrastructures.

In this context, certification in accordance with DVGW Code of Practice GW 301 has proven itself for many years as proof of the qualification of pipeline construction companies. For clients in the gas and water supply sector, GW 301 represents an excellent prequalification procedure for the selection of specialist companies.

An essential component of this inspection and certification of pipeline construction companies is the business management system (BMS). In this process, companies active in pipeline construction are audited, certified and regularly monitored with regard to formal, personnel and factual requirements.

Lang Group: Opting for a Customised Solution

For both management systems, for the TSM as well as for the BMS, extensive documentation must be kept with regard to planning and monitoring as well as the timely implementation of training or compliance with maintenance and inspection intervals for machines and equipment and much more. Utility companies as well as companies active in pipeline construction mostly use a complicated system of Excel files, filing systems and also self-built SharePoint solutions for monitoring and documentation.

These systems are usually person-bound, costly to maintain and often prone to errors. This was also the initial situation of the LANG Group – at least until the beginning of 2019. The complex system of Excel files was time-consuming to maintain and documents were distributed decentrally throughout the company. In the context of increasing digitalisation of internal company processes, it was clearly recognised at LANG that the traditional documentation paths were no longer in line with the requirements of modern and sustainable company management.

A new software solution was to automate processes, centralise information and documents in the company, but also provide management support in the form of key figures and evaluation options as well as administrative relief. As no solution meeting this requirement profile could be found on the market, LANG decided to develop the Timly Cloud solution for TSM and BMS together with Timly Software AG, Zurich.

The smart development was configured to support both utilities and construction companies in quality assurance and in the implementation of a variety of TSM and BMS requirements. Thus, it is a solution “from the industry – for the industry”.

Monitoring regulations and inspection intervals can be stored for each item or piece of equipment. The system takes over the monitoring of deadlines and proactively informs the responsible person by e-mail.

Inspections, repairs and maintenance of the object or device can be easily stored directly in the system. In addition to the required TSM monitoring functions, the Timly inventory solution offers many other functionalities that simplify inventory management and operational processes:

Topic 4: Monitoring of partners

The TSM regulations stipulate that companies must regularly check their contractual partners and service providers to ensure that they are able to provide the offered service in the required quality. If the partner is appropriately certified, one can assume that he is capable, but one is still obliged to check the validity of the certificate at regular intervals.

The Timly Cloud offers the possibility of an automatic monitoring of the partners and their certification as well as the documentation of the verification in the system, analogous to the Timly inventory solution.

Smooth Audits Thanks to Central Data and High Transparency

By using the Timly Cloud solution, the LANG Group has succeeded in bringing together the data that is stored in many places in the company in a structured manner. This has helped to create a high degree of transparency, relieve the administration and reduce costs. As a result of this central data storage, access to data and evaluations has also been simplified for the management, which has led to faster and more efficient data-based decision-making processes.

All in all, this has led to an optimisation and reduction of the workload for all parties involved, which has also become apparent in the organisation and implementation of the audits required for the company. Previously, audits for the LANG Group involved a great deal of time and effort in terms of personnel. A large number of documents and records had to be compiled as part of the audit process.

Thanks to the organised and centralised data storage by the Timly Cloud, the process could already be significantly shortened during the last audit. With the integrated search and filter functions, information and documents could now be called up ad-hoc during the audit procedure and presented digitally to the auditor. The LANG Group is now quite relaxed about the next audits.

A Short Interview of the Lang Group With Timly

“Fast data management with home-made solutions was no longer possible!”

Timly’s extraordinary performance, tailored to the requirements of pipeline construction, is not least the result of a constructive exchange and a joint development offensive between Timly Software AG and the LANG Group, which has been active in pipeline construction for several generations.

In this short interview, the two authors of the article, Philipp Baumann, Managing Director and founder of Timly, and Sebastian Lang, Managing Director of LANG GmbH Bauunternehmen seit 1891, talk about the successful cooperation.

Mr Baumann, what was the starting point for the development of the Timly software?

“It is an essential core of our corporate philosophy to develop software solutions in the direction of very concrete practical requirements. Naturally, this can only work by exchanging ideas with a partner from industry about concrete problems and optimisation potentials that exist in a sector.

This approach brought us into contact with the LANG Group from Bodenheim. Together with LANG, we then started to address a powerful cloud-based documentation approach for workforce qualifications & certifications.”

Was Mr Baumann eager to work with you, Mr Lang?

Sebastian Lang, Managing Director of the LANG Group

Reliable management of all these subtasks is associated with a high organisational and documentary effort. We clearly realised that a fast and reliable handling of these relevant data was no longer possible on the basis of homemade Excel tables”.

What has changed through the use of Timly?

“In the Timly Cloud we have installed a highly beneficial tool that is tailored exactly to our needs, reduces our administrative workload and takes over many of the necessary monitoring functions. We are convinced that with the Timly Cloud solution we now meet our corporate due diligence obligations even better and have improved quality assurance in order to fulfil our corporate responsibility in these areas in a legally secure manner.”