Why – and what is DIMP?

DIMP is the acronym for Distribution Integrity Management Program.  This is a new pipeline regulation/requirement that becomes effective February 2010.  The regulation will require Local Distribution Companies (LDC’s) to put an Integrity Management Plan (IMP or IM) in place – and this must be done by August 2011, or face penalties.

EMS USA is currently working on a massive amount of ‘behind the scenes’ discussion on pulling together the services to help these LDC’s come compliant in accordance to what has been set by PHMSA.

And why is this going to be busy for marketing…well, it is a whole new arena – and opportunity.  It is estimated there are more than 2 million miles of low pressure pipeline in the United States that will need to comply with the new rule.  The rule itself is the next phase of the Pipeline Safety Act of 2002. 

As one of only a handful of Integrated Pipeline O&M companies in the US, this is a great opportunity for EMS USA!

My team is currently finalizing the web-site, next will be the SEO, and the Google Adwords to really kick off our efforts; along with several mailed items to the targeted audience, all of which needs to be completed within the next 3 weeks!

You can see the web-site now.

Then the real work of follow-up and using the skills of Copywriting Guru, Richard Laurence Baron to come up with a few choice words on this new regulation and how EMS USA will lead the charge, when it comes to the O&M and meeting the needs of the 7 elements drafted.

Our plan is to then really show off our huge service offering at the NACE Annual Conference in San Antonio, scheduled for March, by which time we will be well on our way with DIMP!

I just got off the phone with an operator who said, “this year has been the worst year I can remember in terms of having to do more things with less money. It has been a real struggle to get this year end closed.”  The price of gas is down.  The integrity rules have placed additional demands on resources.  There is very real pressure do things more efficiently.

Recession or not, the question of how to do more with less is universal across industries and across time.  Since the first workflow software was p (see draft post with quotes from business week)

Lucky for us, dozens of three letter acronyms have been championed, tested, and either refined or abandoned in industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare.  These industries were some of the first to adopt workflow management systems (WMS), business process re-engineering (BPR), service oriented architecture (SOA), et al in the hope of doing more with less.  Recent efforts with business process management seem to have been making headway recently.

In fact, Gartner says “For struggling companies, business process management is a lifeline that helps them survive by reducing and avoiding costs in this volatile and turbulent economy.”  They go on to say that “compliance is often another burden. BPM is well-suited to drive costs out of compliance and regulatory work.”

This report pertains to managing regulatory compliance in the financial, insurance, healthcare and similar industries.  While these industries share the need for an audit trail with pipeline integrity management, they differ in the focus of their concern.  In asset management the “things” we manage are physical pipelines, not digital accounts.  Instead of policy documents, we have linear assets.  Instead of transactions lasting seconds to days, we have transactions – like [next assessment] – that last years.  How can the lessons from these other industries be applicable?

A taste of nirvana…

Take for example the case of aligning inspection results with the GIS centerline.  By now this activity should be routine and yet, the consequences of screwing up can translate to money lost digging holes in the wrong place.

The routine nature of this data alignment makes it desirable to outsource or down-source.  The criticality of the task makes senior-level involvement necessary.  Do you have junior-resources perform the task and have senior-resources review every instance?  Do you throw people at the problem with extra quality assurance checks before senior-level sign-off?  How do you do this consistently?  How do you monitor the process?

In a software-supported world, software can be used to guide a junior-level resource through a repeatable workflow.  It can check the alignment for common errors and help guide quality assurance.  It can watch for unusual circumstances and raise these few cases to the attention of a senior-resource who can use the audit trail to ferret out a root cause.

While a simple example, the benefits should be evident.  The senior-resource is released from a mundane task while remaining involved where needed.  Despite using a lower-level resource, consistency and quality will improve as individual steps are refined.  Confidence in the activity will increase as senior-resources can go back and review the audit trail whenever there are questions.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?  Indeed, many software vendors in our space have recognized the potential benefit and have begun to shape their message accordingly.  From what I can tell, these vendors are getting traction with operators.  Clearly there is something to this.

Current efforts…

I know of four domestic vendors who are messaging to this space.  Do these vendors have the answers?  From what I can tell, they don’t even have the questions yet.  Each vendor is taking a uniquely different approach:

• Vendor 1: High-level BPM play
• Vendor 2: Workflow engine
• Vendor 3: Data integration
• Vendor 4: Decision support

Clearly each of these vendors has a different take on the problem.  If you dig into their stories though, you will see that they are all trying to help the integrity manager orchestrate the integrity process.  If so, then as the space matures these vendors should converge to different flavors of the same answer.

Until an answer is revealed what is an operator to do?  Pick one of these four vendors and help drive their solution?  Avoid being a guinea pig and wait for some success stories?  How about turning outside of the industry to learn from those who have been doing this for a while?

Going back to the thought-leaders for this sort of thing – the financial, insurance, and healthcare industries – there are plenty of cautionary tales.  For every company that has had a smashing success, an equal number have had miserable failures.  [cite - miserable success rate of sw projects? Alt 50% success of BPM.]  Clearly there is some risk involved.

How can we apply the lessons that other industries have learned in the area of using software supported processes to do more with less?  How can we reduce our implementation risk and at the same time increase the likelihood of a successful solution?

Complicating factors…

There are some glaring differences between the industry of the thought leaders – finance, insurance, healthcare- and our own:

1. We deal with linear assets that can be parsed into an infinite number of segments.  Contrast this with policies, accounts, and patients which remain relatively discrete through their lifetime.
2. Geospatial data is relied on much more heavily in our industry.
3. Our “customer” is the longevity of the pipe.
4. Our processes require trips from the office to the field and back.

In devising a solution, we must factor in the effect of these and other differences between business processes and engineering processes.

A call for research…

One approach, that of my colleagues, is to “just jump right in and start trying stuff”.  If these vendors survive, they will eventually evolve a strong solution.

I prefer a more deliberate approach.  I believe that by studying the successes and failures of business process management we can quickly narrow our scope to those engineering processes that share similar patterns.  With a narrowed scope, we can then concentrate on the elements that make engineering processes unique.

To explore these problems, I am trying to set up some formal research through the Colorado School of Mines.  My objective:

Given the vast canvas of software support for business processes, devise a value-based protocol for applying these tools to support pipeline integrity management.

If you know of an operator who would be receptive to the idea of being a laboratory, would you mind helping me connect with them?

Benefits:

• State-of-the-industry solution
• Do more with less, sooner
• Path of lowest risk

It will require:

• Operator participation
  • help identify test scenarios
  • help collect baseline metrics
  • help select and install commercial software packages
  • customizing them
  • running tests
  • analyzing results

• Funding
  • research grant
  • time from you
  • some software & hardware
  • some programming

Maybe if we’re lucky we can get PHMSA to help out with this as well.

Stay nimble!

- Craig

Even in this slow down period of growing my business while I think and strategize I am still doing. I sold 30 imps the other day and used some of the money from those sales to buy copies of Think and Grow Rich for these 4 boys (young men) I know who appear to me (and I could be wrong)…drifting along. They’re intelligent and nice young men and I think they can be great, but they’re (likely) unfocused. I want them to be focused and manifest their dreams.

This is a larger part of my vision and intention for Da Vinci FML, LLC (my company over IMP and my other efforts) to share mindfulness and intentionality of the mind (e.g. Think and Grow Whatever the hell you want!) with communities that are relatively powerless. The power is there and always has been. It’s a matter or harnessing it. Sharing this fact and cultivating it is crucial to me.

Alissa

p.s. Keep your earbuds SAFE with the IMP earbud belt. www.impgarden.com. NEW 10 pack for $15/shipping FREE!

So I have taken a break from blogging, and selling IMPs while I reconfigured my ideas and set some more goals. I realized a few things…I’m not a salesperson. And that’s not a bad thing. When I learned of sales representatives who can sell for me I was convinced that is the way to go. I want to bring this product to lots of people, and I can’t do that myself. Professional rep companies can.

I also learned about the need to develop a line of products for manufacturers to take me seriously. It is a lot of work and money to bring a new product into stores and and Andy told me “even if they think your product is the greatest thing since sliced bread, they won’t carry it because it would be too much work”.

So a line, is in the works, with universal workout mp3 holder armbands and the IMP straps.  It is cohesive with my other brand, the Size 10 Chronicles and the technology end of things. Both to make fitness better and more stylish and music/entertainment more organized and safer. That’s how I plan on working up the brand.

I am turning 40 in a month. I will try to get to the CES to the iLounge to sell IMPs. Lots to do, like 3 weeks to do it in. Line sheet today.

Alissa

p.s. as I said on FB…”Next”.

A point of confusion…

Recently I had a conversation that went badly.  Examining it in hindsight it is clear that I was on a completely different wavelength regarding the definition of integrity management.  This is not the first time that the definition of integrity management has caused me to have a confusing conversation.

The confusion usually comes when I am speaking to an individual from the operations side of the business.  Most specifically, when I am speaking with a vendor who services the operations side of the business.

It’s not what you know…

Figure 2.2 from Mohitpour et al in Pipeline Operation and Maintenance – A Practical Approach (ASME)[ii] (crudely screen captured from the Google books preview) I think highlights the source of confusion:

Pipeline Control, Operations and everybody else

This chart shows a typical organizational model for a pipeline company.  My experience confirms that this structure is common.  All management functions have been combined into the single box at the top of the structure.  Below this box are the four primary concerns of operating a pipeline – operations, pipeline control, technical support, and corporate support.

The entire branch on the left side of this chart is the operations division.  Operations is a very visible concern for the pipeline company.  In contrast, the pipeline integrity group is merely a box in the technical support group.  Because this group is small, typically only a handful of engineers and technicians, many vendors do not encounter them.

It is not surprising that vendors who do not encounter IM would have a skewed perspective of its definition.  It is to be expected that they would be unaware of its concerns.  To these guys IM is about running pigs and doing DA, because this is where their customers’ concerns are.  ”Their customers” being the operations group, not the integrity management group.

Convergent definitions…

Mohitpour et al [i] say that the integrity management and asset management functions of pipeline maintenance are often part of the technical support functional area which is “typically located in the head office of the pipeline company.”  This “support group caries out integrity management functions.”

Again, drawing from the book, the authors list the concerns of this group as:

• Pipeline inspection
• Pipe replacement
• Establishing an overall maintenance strategy
• Developing a maintenance program
• Managing computerized maintenance management systems
• Measuring performance of maintenance activities

This explanation seems consistent with the PHMSA definition of integrity management.  PHMSA prescribes a program consisting of regular inspections, risk assessments, and mitigation activities.  While PHMSA’s primary concern is minimizing the pipeline’s impact on people and the environment, the operator shares these concerns plus the concern of maximizing the pipeline’s useful life.  In either case, the activities described in the IM rules are very much aligned with the activities described by Mohitpour.

Both perspectives describe an integrity manager who is concerned about data and process. These are not the boots-on-the-ground guys.  They work in an office.  They ask the questions “what” and “where”.  They are less concerned about “who” and “when”.

My definition, my ambition…

So far, this is consistent with my definition of integrity management and with my understanding of the concerns of the integrity manager.  Not to dis the pigs, but they are not what is on my mind when I write about integrity management.

Definition: Pipeline integrity management is a continuous sequence of engineering analyses and subsequent assessments which combine to maximize the useful life of each individual pipeline asset.  This is very much about data.  It is very much about keeping a record of each analysis, assessment, and decision.  It is being able to support a decision when audited.

Ambition: The vision of the integrity manager is to orchestrate the IM process.  To see data flow smoothly from one step to the next.  To be able to visualize the past, present, and future of maintenance on the pipe.  To know who and why and when.  To initiate tasks across departments.  To have data that goes in clean and stays that way.  To continuously improve IM processes and to be able to demonstrate this improvement.  To do more with less.

I will go on later.  For now, I have clarified the definition of integrity management and have identified the core concerns of integrity managers.  In later installments I’ll explore these concerns in more detail.

Until next time,

-Craig

[ii] fig 2.2 p 38; Pipeline Operation and Maintenance – A Practical Approach (ASME); Mo Mohitpour, Jason Szabo, Thomas Van Hardeveld; (C) 2005 ASME, NY NY 10016; Link to cover on google-books.

As many of you will know my website project file needs to be no more than 5mb in size. Talk about skin of ones teeth!

There are occasions we need to export or import data from/to Oracle.

These are sample command line inputs to do so.  The database can be local (localhost, 127.0.0.1) or remote server.

$ exp db_username1/password_of_username1@127.0.0.1 TABLES=(db_username1.%) FILE=exportfile1.dat exportfile2.dat exportfile3.dat exportfile4.dat FILESIZE=1024MB INDEXES=n LOG=logfile.log

it’s virtually done, just minor tweaks and file size now. Oh yeah, and to remove lorm ipsum with english hehe http://www.edsonweb.co.uk/wollaton/index.html

Took a while but I got there!

Oracle’s export (exp) and import (imp) utilities are used to perform logical database backup and recovery. When exporting, database objects are dumped to a binary file which can then be imported into another Oracle database.
In order to use exp and imp in Oracle Database you have to run catexp.sql script. catexp.sql basically creates the exp_full_database and imp_full_database roles to the oracle user. We have to run catexp.sql for the time first time if database not create using DBCA. Because it is already executed if you create your database by DBCA.

Look for the “imp” and “exp” executables in your $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. These parameters can be listed by executing the following commands: “exp help=yes” or “imp help=yes”.

Source: $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catexp.sql

Full database export:
The EXP_FULL_DATABASE and IMP_FULL_DATABASE respectively, are needed to perform a full export.
Use the full=yes export parameter for a full export.

exp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp full=yes statistics=none
imp system/manager file=emp.dmp fromuser=scott touser=scott

Tablespace:

Use the tablespaces export parameter for a tablespace export. It is only apply to transportable tablespaces.

exp userid=’system/manager’ tablespaces=users file=exp.dmp log=tbs.log statistics=none

Schema:
This mode can be used to export and import all objects that belong to a user. Use the owner export parameter and the fromuser import parameter for a user (owner) export-import.

Table:
Specific tables (and partitions) can be exported/imported with table export mode.
Use the tables export parameter for a table export.

Example :
exp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp log=emp.log tables=emp rows=yes indexes=no
exp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp tables=(emp,dept)

imp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp full=yes
imp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp fromuser=scott touser=scott tables=dept

Using a parameter file:
exp userid=scott/tiger@orcl parfile=export.txt

export.txt contains:

BUFFER=100000
FILE=scott_data.dmp
FULL=n
OWNER=scott
GRANTS=y
COMPRESS=y

Take DDL output in Dump file:
imp scott/tiger file= emp.dmp indexfile=emp.txt

or, to see ddl into screen,
imp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp show=y

How can one improve Import/ Export performance?

EXPORT (exp):

• Set the BUFFER parameter to a high value (e.g. 2Mb — entered as an integer “2000000″)
• Set the RECORDLENGTH parameter to a high value (e.g. 64Kb — entered as an integer “64000″)
• Use DIRECT=yes (direct mode export)
• Stop unnecessary applications to free-up resources for your job.
• If you run multiple export sessions, ensure they write to different physical disks.
• DO NOT export to an NFS mounted file system.  It will take forever.

IMPORT (imp):

• Create an indexfile so that you can create indexes AFTER you have imported data. Do this by setting INDEXFILE to a filename and then import. No data will be imported but a file containing index definitions will be created. You must edit this file afterwards and supply the passwords for the schemas on all CONNECT statements.
• Place the file to be imported on a separate physical disk from the oracle data files
• Increase DB_CACHE_SIZE (DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS prior to 9i) considerably in the init$SID.ora file
• Set the LOG_BUFFER to a big value and restart oracle.
• Stop redo log archiving if it is running (ALTER DATABASE NOARCHIVELOG;)
• Create a BIG tablespace with a BIG rollback segment inside. Set all other rollback segments offline (except the SYSTEM rollback segment of course). The rollback segment must be as big as your biggest table (I think?)
• Use COMMIT=N in the import parameter file if you can afford it
• Use STATISTICS=NONE in the import parameter file to avoid time consuming to import the statistics
• Remember to run the indexfile previously created

What are the common Import/ Export problems?

• ORA-00001: Unique constraint (…) violated
  • You are importing duplicate rows. Use IGNORE=YES to skip tables that already exist (imp will give an error if the object is re-created).
• ORA-01555: Snapshot too old
  • Ask your users to STOP working while you are exporting or try using parameter CONSISTENT=NO
• ORA-01562: Failed to extend rollback segment
  • Create bigger rollback segments or set parameter COMMIT=Y while importing
• IMP-00015: Statement failed … object already exists…
  • Use the IGNORE=Y import parameter to ignore these errors, but be careful as you might end up with duplicate rows.

 Source www.orafaq.com

I thought it may be worth to document the start of the 2nd year for that wonderful PDP unit we all love, and I suppose so I can look back and see all the exciting things i’ve been up to.

For the first unit authorship, I must say wasn’t my favorite. I did find it hard to understand the theory lectures and how to apply the theory to interactive media, although I’m sure I would of found it easier to write an essay for TV production…

I enjoyed creating the upload site and see the basis of what PHP can do. The workshops were very helpful and allowed me to take PHP to a level I haven’t been involved with before. I definitely felt the production side of this production was successful. My site worked with users being able to upload and download media. Although I wasn’t pleased with the outcome of the design.

My main principle was to focus on the code and to drop it into a design at the end. I definitely left the creative side of the project to near to the end, when it should of been planned to be completed gradually.

There were quite a few problems I encountered with PHP being new to this field of work, but eventually managed to overcome them.

Were now into our second week of the cleverly named unit, Interactive Media Production. How they came up with that name is beyond me, but it does sound like i’ve heard it from somewhere before…

Creating this game is definitely going to be interesting! Our group have sooo many great ideas I just wish we all had the knowledge and skills to implement them all. Alot of ideas are beyond what we are capable of, however if we did make them it would probably be the best game in the world.

We’ve decided group roles and started thinking about our pitch presentation which will give us an indication as to whether these ideas we think are fantastic and mirrored by the lecturers.

This has probably been the easiest 300+ words i’ve written, I wish all my essays could flow as easy as this!

So you know I LOVE Napoleon HIll. I am working on my Thinking and Growing Rich. My goal is to manifest $480 million dollars in the next 4 years. The book says to name your price, so I named one I think would make me happy. Whatever it is. Name it. Named it. Claim it. Claiming it. Manifesting what I think.

Part of getting the money–the main part really for me is gaining my freedom. Freedom to do what I want to do from moment to moment. Feeling freedom now–what will it feel like–working at the things I LOVE to do–inventing, business, working out, personal coaching, helping people with weight loss, and this…manifesting their dreams.

I have experienced this already. Sure it sounds nuts, but it’s not really. I manifested a size 10 from a size 20 and have maintained it after seeing it in my head I made it happen. The book says this and I knew it before I read the book as I experienced it from time to time previously. You have to feel what it’s like. I felt what my smaller body was like.

I know it works. I’m now working on a size 6–ripped and lean for good.

Anyway…so far I’ve been manifesting good parking spaces. Not $480 million dollars. But it’s a start.

Alissa

In trying to get at the definition of integrity management, I started thinking outside the world of pipelines.  Ultimately, integrity management is the act of keeping a thing together.  How “together” we keep that thing is a matter of taste.

Measures of “togetherness” or “integrity” range from “good-enough” to “can-not-fail”.  A pickup truck which is used to shuttle employees around a junkyard merely needs gas and enough essential fluids that the engine doesn’t seize up.  A breathing system on the shuttle better have frequent inspections and safety checks so that it never goes down.  In the pipeline world, independent of what PHMSA says, we try to avoid negative press coverage.

In all of these cases integrity management means keeping your thing from degrading to the point where it no longer meets your measure of integrity.  The truck can fall apart around us.  We’re good as long as the engine keeps running.  We might be able to tolerate a little dirt on the outside of our breathing system.  Any degradation beyond that might be cause for taking some mitigating action.  In the pipeline world…  Well, you know…

An interesting question comes to mind, how would the PHMSA rules for integrity apply to any random integrity management problem? Would PHMSA’s general approach work for something that is near and dear to my heart?  Can I come up with an integrity plan to protect my chocolate cake?  If PHMSA did a good job with the integrity rule, it should be applicable to things other than pipelines.  Right?

For my current best audience, US Operators of gas transmission pipelines, PHMSA’s description of the rule would be the best place to start:  (Other IM rules are similar.  See for yourself: liquid IM, proposed distribution rule)

Briefly put, the Gas IM Rule specifies how pipeline operators must identify, prioritize, assess, evaluate, repair and validate – through comprehensive analyses - the integrity of gas transmission pipelines that, in the event of a leak or failure, could affect High Consequence Areas (HCAs) within the United States.

Considering how much time the folks at PHMSA probably spent honing this definition, we can examine it a bit closer.  Specifically, take a look at the actions I underlined, “identify, prioritize, assess, evaluate, repair, and validate”.

1. Identify – identify threats to integrity
2. Prioritize – rank by risk
3. Assess – examine each asset for threat occurrences
4. Evaluate – for each occurrence, determine severity
5. Repair – repair or monitor each occurrence, based on severity
6. Validate – vet the program, demonstrate improvement

Depending on where you go on PHMSA’s site, these steps may be worded differently but conceptually they remain consistent from gas to liquid to facilities to the new distribution rules.

Rewording in terms a cake-eater like me can understand we have:

1. Figure out what could go wrong
2. What’s the worst combination of events?
3. Look for places where it is happening
4. Where is it happening worst?
5. Fix the really bad spots, watch the rest
6. Learn from your mistakes

So, I maintain that if this list is a good generic process I should be able to protect my chocolate cake.  What follows is an outline of the integrity program for my cake.

Program Elements:

Affected Assets:

Asset ID: Chocolate cake, 42
Asset Type: Point
Positioning: Kitchen counter
Coating: Frosted chocolate w/ sprinkles
Seam type: Pudding
Last Inspection/type: 15 minutes ago/ visual inspection

1) Threat Identification

• Third party:
  • Spousal encroachment
  • Theft by progeny
• Environmental:
  • Water fight at nearby sink
  • Seismic door slam
• Operational:
  • Transporting cake
  • Lighting candles

2) Risk Ranking (likelihood, consequence)

1. Ops: Transporting cake (high, extreme)
2. TP: Theft by progeny (high, high)
3. Ops: Lighting candles (high, med)
4. TP: Spousal encroachment (med, med)
5. Ops: Lighting candles (high, low)
6. Env: Water fight at nearby sink (low, med)

3) Assess for threats, by descending risk

Worst threat is transporting the cake.  For transporting the cake only we’ll perform a visual inspection of the transport path and identify real threats in the area. (We would have a similar set of assessments for each identified risk.  You can see how the complexity of the program balloons in scale as we get closer to the details…)

One question we might ask is does a visual inspection address any other threats?  If we look for spouse or progeny in the area, and confirm that there are none nearby, we can address all third party threats with the same inspection. (But for how long are we safe?)

Visual inspection: Chocolate cake, 42
Threats addressed: Ops: transport, TP: Progeny, TP: Spouse
Inspection results:

1. Water on the floor
2. Complex system of plates, trays, and wrapping
3. Giggling kid just outside the door
4. Tuna sandwich on table, cat on patrol

4) Evaluate threats and determine severity

1. Water on floor – monitor
2. Complex system of plates, trays, and wrapping – mitigate
3. Giggling kid – mitigate immediately
4. Tuna sandwich/cat situation – monitor

5) Repair per evaluation

1. Assess the water situation again in 5 minutes
2. Before transport, remove all but one plate
3. Bribe giggling kid
4. Assess the sandwich and cat during transport

6) Validate

1. Slipped in water – should have cleaned it up
2. Cardboard plate folded during transport
3. Bribed kid with hotdog – not interested, went for discarded wrapping
4. Startled cat jumped on counter, bumping transporter’s arm who slipped on water and dropped cake on kid

Program evaluation:

Cupcakes distribute the risk more evenly.  Next time, do cupcakes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

See ya next time!

- Craig

Courtesy Dominic Hobbs of WoW.com

Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

I’ve always felt that the cooldown on this ability was rather long, and it’s nice to see it’s being shortened to bring it in line with the fact that instances these days are much shorter and faster than they used to be. More wipe recovery is good, no?

Affliction

Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

There have always been issues with Warlock threat, whatever Blizzard have said, and hopefully this will address some of them. The main problem is often that we can’t simply just let our dps drop to 0 to prevent any threat being generated, as our DoTs will continue to tick. Obviously this problem is therefore especially apparent with Affliction, which relies heavily upon DoTs, and so 20% less threat from two points in this talent will help out the spec quite a bit.

Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.

The developers are pushing quite hard for the Felhunter to be viable again (so Affliction will use it instead of the Succubus or mana battery Imp) and allowing the puppy’s main attack to hit more often – leading to increased damage – is a good way of doing it.

Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.

As above – the more damage done by the pet, the better. Whether or not we’ll see the Felhunter become the de facto Affliction pet again I’m unsure, but it’s certainly going to be more of an option.

Demonology

Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.

Right, wowee, some major changes happening here. So the current effect needs SB or Incinerate to hit a target at 35% health or less to activate it. This will be the same with the new effect, except Soul Fire will also proc it, which is nice. However, the current effect will reduce the cast time of the next Soul Fire by 60% (assuming two points), whereas the new effect will reduce the cast time of the spell by 40% for 8 seconds.

What this means is you’ll be able to cast more SF spells per proc – the number depends on your haste – meaning more dps per proc, despite the relatively slower casting times compared to the current effect. I would also assume that casting SF then refreshes the effect, so you can just keep going and spamming it, providing you don’t have to move or do anything else for more than 8 seconds. I haven’t tested this on the PTR, but if correct, we can say goodbye to the weaving technique of mixing SB and SF, and hello to constant SF spam under 35%. It’s simpler, but less interesting. Of course, we still don’t get charged any shards for Decimated SF spells.

Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock’s spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.

A simple buff to give us some more damage, since we Demo Warlocks are often bullied into speccing into this by our raid leaders for the bonus to raid dps, and it’s only right we should have some personal gain.

Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.

Another pretty large change to dissect. The effect today (with 3 points) gives our Shadow and DoT spells a 15% chance to increase the damage of our Fire spells by 10% for 12 seconds. Lots of numbers there, but lots more coming up. So the new effect is firstly going to give our Immolate spell a longer duration – this is nice; more dps for less mana usage and less time casting. The next part of the redesigned effect will give our Corruption spell a 12% chance to trigger MC; we therefore have less chance of proccing it, as it can only be from one spell and the % chance is less, although admittedly it’s a spell we should all have up anyway.

When we do trigger it, instead of a bonus to Fire damage, we’re going to get a reduced cast time and more damage on the next three Incinerate spells cast in 15 seconds. Alternatively, we get more damage and crit chance on the next three SF spells within 15 seconds. Obviously you can cast either spell and get the respective effect, up to three times. What this change means for you in terms of dps depends on the fight really, but I suspect in general it will be a dps increase when the effect procs – the downside could be its chance to proc, which is less than it is now, as mentioned. It does definitely mean that we need Corruption up when we’re Decimating under 35% however, for the SF bonuses.

Destruction

Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.

This is a nerf unfortunately, but let’s be fair, Conflagrate was getting pretty crazy, especially in PvP. The fact that the DoT damage (which only lasts 2-3 seconds) is a slight relief, but it looks like you Destruction folks will just have to spec Demo live with it.

Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

Similar to the threat reduction given to Affliction really.

Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%.

More dps from the pet favoured by most Destro Warlocks in PvE, whilst not increasing damage in PvP too much. This is simply balancing.

Pets

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

More balancing of PvE with PvP – your pets will die far less often to those nasty bosses, but still will be killable by those nasty players.

Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.

Again, just a balance to bring these pets on par with the regular ones.

Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Good for those few of us who use this pet to finish a fight with, or for if you need a really quick AoE stun, as we can now use it more often.

Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.

Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Glyphs

Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.

While you should always be proccing this with Life Tap, because it’s frankly better and doesn’t prevent your pet doing damage, it will be nice to proc it “by accident” when you do use Dark Pact. I’m struggling to find any solid numbers on this, but I’ll give a more in-depth explanation.

Right now, the max level Dark Pact ability takes 1200 mana from your pet and gives it to you. Life Tap takes 1490 (modified by Spirit) of your own health, and gives you an equivalent amount of mana. Unless for some reason you have a negative amount of Spirit, Life Tap will therefore always return more mana than Dark Pact, so it really depends on your health and your pet’s mana as to which spell you use. With the new changes to the Felhunter and its Shadow Bite ability (which returns mana to the Felhunter if talented), the issue of draining this pet’s mana won’t be so much of an issue as it can keep doing damage, so if it does become the major Affliction pet, we could see Dark Pact become more prevalent than it is now. If you’re using another pet however, I would still recommend Life Tap to proc this effect; it’s also worth noting that Dark Pact only has a chance (numbers to follow) of activating the effect whereas Life Tap activates it 100% of the time.

Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.

A thrilling new glyph which looks set to help Affliction back up from the bottom of the spec pile, having this will allow your Corruption to tick faster according to haste, so while the effect will run out faster and require renewing, your dps should increase as it literally is more damage per second. Expect to need to make some changes to your Affliction rotation to allow for more regular refreshing of this spell.

Bug fixes

And to finish, a whole swathe of bug fixes…

Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.

Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.

Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.

Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.

Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.

Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.

Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat.

Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

Overall, it’s pretty good, and where it’s bad, it’s needed for balancing. I’m looking forward to testing the new Demonology changes in particular, and expect a report once 3.3 hits as to how everything is working. For detailed information on how the different raiding specs will perform with these changes, see the WoW.com article here.

Feel free to comment on anything I’ve missed or gotten wrong with regard to the changes. Also, what are you looking forward to most?

Vel.

Do a quick survey of companies claiming to support the IM rules for pipelines and invariably they are focused on the operations side of the business. In the operations world, compliance with the IM rule means running pigs and doing direct assessment.  In terms of time and effort, the hardest part is doing confirmatory digs.  The rulings have had minimal impact on the day-to-day life of a field services professional.

In contrast, the folks in engineering are feeling an enormous strain because of the ruling.  Typically engineering services will own compliance with the IM rule.  Whereas at one time a few engineers could run the integrity program of a major transmission company, the analytically rigorous and data intensive nature of the IM rulings have stretched these departments to the limit.

Follow along as I figure out how to make the world a better place for pipeline engineers.  I aspire to enable pipeliners to orchestrate their IM program to achieve visibility into the process, control over its behavior, and protection for the data behind it.

I am developing a concept called engineering process management (EPM).  It is an extension of business process management (BPM).  BPM has provided visibility, control, and protection to the banking, insurance, and a number of other regulated industries.  Along the way, the folks who have employed it have realized tremendous operational flexibility and control that has translated into reduced operating costs, fewer mistakes, and less harried workers.

I hope to bring the same benefits to the world of engineering where instead of banking transactions or insurance policies, we are concerned with the integrity of physical assets.  At this point EPM is only a concept.  Over the next few months I hope to begin building it. Right now I am looking for an operator who wants me to build it and is willing to pay me a little bit to do so.

Stay tuned!  I’ll share my progress, some of the things I learn, and some of my observations along the way. Here in these early days I’ll try to fill in some background as well.

Welcome! Glad you are here!

Leave me feedback below.

Craig

This is a bad situation. If he gets her too riled up, she might break something!

Another happy accident.

I call him Charles.

Nui, niule, novembra 2.pusē izplaukst mallēpis i sorkonais duobuleņš munā krūzē. Pavasarī i vosorā laseituos zuoleitis i zīdi – izkoltuši i bezformeigi, bet vys vēļ kruosaini, globojās burceņā. Vajaga viņ korstu iudini i vyss sazīd i sazaļoj par jaunu!

Vakar voi vysu dīnu nu gaisa kryta iudiņs. Dīvamžāļ tys naspiej likt atplaukt cylvākim…

Agent Andy. I got about $1million dollars worth of advice yesterday from Andrew Abrams yesterday. Truly a priceless 45 minute conversation. He is a designer, licensing agent, genius all around to bringing products such as mine to market. Do this Alissa!

What I took from the conversation.

My price point is too high. Will make that adjustment on the website tomorrow.

Gift show representation…HUH? Knew nothing about it, now I know something and have a contact.

Retail packaging…I knew a bit about this, but got more detailed information about showing for gift shows (spindle, J hook).

Hope. There is a market for this product. Getting out to it won’t be as hard (or as easy) as I thought.

Yay for Andy!

Much love,

Alissa

I wrote a note on my town website about the product. It was risky because (and I had forgotten but was quickly reminded) how touchy people are on that message board. I got my hand slapped right away for advertising there. OUCH, that stings!

The person who slapped my hand is probably right, but the way he did it. YUCK. I was so upset, annoyed, hurt I got shaken for half a day. Now I have had lots and lots and lots of positive comments from people who have tried the product, bought the product and all and one guy, who has never seen it, and may tend toward the snarky makes a comment and WHAM I hit the mat and it takes hours for me to get back up again. This ish is fragile, but getting tougher.

And then some people are NOT jerks….I did have some very good news. I’m connecting with a man (thanks Barbara!) who can help me move the business to business end of things forward. I hope to work with him to get into gift shows and make contact with corporations and other vendors/orgs who could use the product as a promotional vehicle. Every time a customer or alumni looks at their iPod they’d see the logo of that company. Pretty cool. Looking forward to that!

Much love,

Alissa

p.s. my dear friends via facebook backed me up on the jerk thing.