MES, SCADA & Other Systems - Recent Threads

MULTI PAGE REPORT in EXCEL IN MOVICON NEXT 4.3.375

Vikram Pungaliya (Prime Controls) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 10:23:33 GMT

We have created reports using report feature in movicon next 4.3.375.

In the reports we have given header and footers and sub-bands using features given in the report application.

We are able to see these reports also in runtime and able to export in pdf format (with necessary headers and footers appearing in each page for multipage report). However , if same report we export to excel, the excel file misses these headers footers in each page. But appears only in once.

My client is insisting that they need the header footer , bands etc in each page of excel.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Movicon Next - Unable to Open Screens

Vikram Pungaliya (Prime Controls) — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:53:32 GMT

i had developed project in Movicon next version 4.3 build 373.
It was working fine in the pc i developed. and also worked on others pc we ported on to.
However, i have not installed movicon (same version) in my new laptop (win11 prof, 64 bit).
the project server runs properly from the Movicon environment. But when i execute the runtime , my screens are not opening. (i tried both Tiles page and Main screen option from the project property), it gives me same kind of errors. The runtime just hangs. I have to Ctrl+Alt+Del and end the Runtime task from the taskend.

Method not found: 'System.StringScreenSettings.ScreenDocument .GetServerAppNameProperty(System.Windows.UIElement)

However if i run the demo examples of movicon, they are running fine.
Please help urgently to resolve the issue

thanks in advance ,
Vikram

Movicon NExT 4.2 Client Misreads Variables - Troubleshooting OPC UA Communication Issue

AliShehadi — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 10:58:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm working with a SCADA system built using Movicon NExT 4.2 (Build 359), which I recently inherited. The setup includes a server and 5 distributed clients across a sterilization plant. The SCADA supervises various processes like temperature and humidity control for different production lines and chambers.

Issue:
One of the clients occasionally misreads a group of variables from the server. Specifically, it misreads the variables for the second production line (e.g., temperature, humidity) and substitutes them with the values from the first production line. It's worth noting that the issue only occurs between these two lines and not with random variables across the system.

The problem temporarily resolves after restarting the runtime of the affected client.

I suspect this may be related to a client-server OPC UA communication issue, but I'm not entirely sure.

Has anyone encountered a similar issue with Movicon NExT or OPC UA misreads in a client-server setup? Any suggestions for troubleshooting this issue would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Movicon Next - how to export structure and custom symbols from one project to other project?

Vikram Pungaliya (Prime Controls) — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 08:30:07 GMT

I am using Movicon Next version 4.2 and have created certain Structure and also symbol for Pump, Valves etc. Also have created custom Symbols with dynamics attached using the members of above structure. I have also created popup screens, where in i am using alias to connect to various variables of this structure type.

regards

Vikram

MOVICON - connecting to Rx3i + Vmax redundant system - Libray/Standard developed application available?

Vikram Pungaliya (Prime Controls) — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 08:35:11 GMT

Hi,

We are executing Movicon application interfacing PAC PLC (redundant CPL410 and Vmax IO on Profinet)

Is there standard diagnostic Movicon project/screens/objects available which, can use and modify , to show

1. CPU Mastership/Sby of Pri/Sec

2. Status animation of NIUs and IOs connected on it.

3. Port status of Profinet NIUs.

4. IO module status on each Profinet Drop.

5. Communicaiton status between PLC and MOVICON

6. Movicon Server/Client status screens (we are using redundant Movicon server and few clients connected on this server)

7. related alarm messages.

If standard libray is available, it would be helpful, else we may have to create a new one..

regards

Vikram

Delta V version

Chanchal Maji — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 03:24:56 GMT

What is the difference between Delta V version 14 and version R6? Any one explain me....

Movicon Next - How to Local Project to Project with Redundant Server

Vikram Pungaliya (Prime Controls) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:28:54 GMT

We are executing project with Movicon 4.2.355 with redundant server and 3 clients connected to it.
We plant to develop the application first as Local project and then convert it to Project with Redundant Server later. Is this possible?

regards

Vikram, Prime Controls

MES (3rd party) deltav integration

Jeff Young — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:40:05 GMT

Are there any best practices regarding this overall topic?

Thanks,

Jeff

EMERSON DL8000

SteveWJ — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 16:06:03 GMT

What is the most common failure mode of the DL8000

Modifying .FMT file in NotePad

CuriousDuncan — Thu, 20 May 2021 10:12:36 GMT

Hi All,

Is there any way to edit or modify .FMT file from notepad or by use of any other software instead of opening it in DeltaV BulkEdit?

Also, how to export the phase information in for bulk instances in notepad or in Excel?

Thank you in advance.

How to create s screen Open Multiple Pop-up always on top parent screen and close while close or switch parent screen in Cimplicity

Favas Kadaprath — Sun, 04 Apr 2021 09:15:17 GMT

Hi All,

I would like to be able to open up a number of popup screens on top of a parent screen. Eg. For multiple drive control or PID controller popups.

I would like to have the following functions:

* Allow to open multiple popup screens at once from a parent screen.
* The parent screen to remain active whilst a popup is active (eg. For control, to activate another popup, or to navigate screens).

* All open popups to be active.
* All popups to remain on top of the parent screen.
* All popups to automatically close when the parent screen is closed.

Could you please advise if there is facility to perform some or all of these functions?

With regards

Favas

Roclink protocol

Paul — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 10:20:18 GMT

Hello, I use Roclink protocol to get some data from my Floboss 407 and have a question how to correctly send a query to the device to get data with opcode 130. For example, I am wanna get the last 60 values from history. For this except "point number" and "number values requested"(hex 3C), I need "starting history pointer". How is get this "starting history pointer"?

For example query structure: unit(01) group(02) unit(03) group(01) opcode(hex82 dec130) length(05) ram area(00) point number(FE) number values requested(3B) starting history pounter(0D 03) check sum(D6 E3)

AE server configuration

Junggyu Yu — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 09:01:58 GMT

Dear Experts

I am participating a project to integrate AE server information of DelatV into Air Liquide South East Asia Cluster Alarm and Event Management System.

To sort out alarms in DeltaV, I identified that more informations are required in AE server of DeltaV.

For example to distinguish alarm status whether it was activated or recovered, and if the alarm was acknowledged or unacknowledged, I need to know State information.

Also parameter information would be good for me to distinguish if the alarm/event was on SP change, mode change or etc.

So basically, Is there any procedure explaining how to change AE configuration to collect more parameters from DeltaV?

Regards,

Junggyu Yu (Remy)

Firmware POU IEC 62591 not found in Micro RTU .mwt file

Vinu — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 17:51:51 GMT

Hi,

Good evening all,

I am very new to work in micro Control wave RTU and facing some issue while opening the project load file in micro RTU. Please look at my small introduction about that project. There was a one project done by someone on site and completed the job at remote Micro RTU in which my role is to continue from that remote to SCADA but I got the project load files from the contractor and that was opened in the existing site laptop. I tried to rebuild the load file, but errors are occurred which I have given below your reference and necessary solution to resolve the issues.

There are four errors:

1). Firmware POU 'IEC 62592' not found! Probably not implemented for processor type 'control wave'

2). File error! ()

3). File error! (IECWireless:IEC62592_1)

4). File error! (IECWireless)

Your prompt response would be greatly appreciated in this matter..!!

can i get some documentation on this also

Melvin velez — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 07:42:38 GMT

my mail is MNVfirmenich.com

Thanks and regards

Starting a report on "Balancing Technology and Economics".

SteveWJ — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 15:07:13 GMT

Have all the pertinent info on three of the major PLC Brands. I am looking for some technical and economic impact data on converting to DeltaV. I have never worked with Delta V before, but I have been following the Posts of the EE365 DeltaV Forum.

Compile error in DeltaV Graphics

Pradeep Jadhav — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:14:38 GMT

Hi,

I am getting a compile error on DeltaV Workspace. The error comes whenever i open the DeltaV Operate in Run mode.

It goes once we click OK. But the same error comes if we close & Open the Workspace again.

DeltaV ver is 14.3.1

DeltaV Campaign Manager Webservice - ModifyCampaign throws Error

Youssef.El-Bahtimy — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 01:47:08 GMT

I have been working with writing to the Campaign Manager Webservice from an external client per guidance in DeltaV Books Online.

I am able to invoke the ModifyCampaign method to change the mode of a campaign to manual, but I seem to always get an exception 'Failed to Modify Campaign. Base Recipe is Not Editable'.

Strangely, the mode of the campaign does indeed get changed to manual as I had intended. Rather than masking the error, I'd like to ensure I'm not doing something wrong.

Originally, I used:

...

ModifyCampaign(nodeName, campaignInfo, changeModeToManual, revertToPrevMode, UserInfo)

...

with the changeModeToManual argument set for true, but when I referred to the WCF SampleClient code included with DeltaV to see what I may be doing wrong, it instead showed

campaigninfo.BatchExecutionMode == BatchExecutionMode.Manual

ModifyCampaign(nodeName, campaignInfo, changeModeToManual, revertToPrevMode, UserInfo)

...

with changeModeToManual set to false.

I tried to emulate this because the sample client doesn't throw an error (appears to have a catch an try), and works. The result was the set to manual mode did NOT happen AND I still got the exception.

This is a pretty esoteric topic. so I'm crossing my fingers someone else has seen this. All other functions of interacting with the CMWS are working fine in my client, just this one nuisance exception is what I can't explain.

Thanks for your assistance.

MES DCS System setup with multiple DeltaV domain & Single External Domain Server

Chinmay_Makwana — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 10:40:07 GMT

Hello EE365,
We are currently having a setup of MES integrated DCS network at one of our sites. System Architecture for the same is attached below.
Mainly Third party MES is communicating with Batch Station (BS Station) & History Station (HS Station). Domain trust is enabled between two domains & all functionalities required are working as per the architecture disclosed.

1) BS Station is also our SOA gateway server where Campaign manager web services & Recipe Exchange web services are running. Same services are exposed to external server for third party API’s to use respective services.

2) HS station is also our OPC Server station. Same OPC Server tags are exposed on external server by installing OPC remote.

Case 1 (Two Batch & History Station - One DeltaV Domain / One External domain PC)
1) Can we use same External server PC & communicate to additionally added Batch station (BS-2) & History station (HS-2) in the same DeltaV domain?

2) Can two SOA gateways be enabled on one domain network?

3) Can services on external server PC be configured for two different batch stations (point to two different SOA Gateways) on same DeltaV domain during the installation of SOA gateway (exposes web CM & RE web services) on external server PC?

4) Can OPC remote be configured for two different OPC DA servers under same domain on the DeltaV side with similar DCOM settings (Expose’s OPC tags) on external server PC?

Required System Architecture is shown below

Case 2 (Two Batch & History Station - Two DeltaV Domain / One External domain PC)

1) Can we use same External server PC & communicate to two different Batch station (BS-1 & BS-2) & two different History station (HS-1 & HS-2) of different DeltaV domain?

2) Can services on external server PC be configured for two different batch stations (point to two different SOA Gateways) of two different DeltaV domain during the installation of SOA gateway (exposes web CM & RE web services) on external server PC?

3) Can OPC remote be configured for two different OPC DA servers of two different DeltaV domain with similar DCOM settings (Expose’s OPC tags) on external server PC?

We need to know about possible combination that are possible from above Case's at earliest. More possible combinations are more than welcome for the said architecture.

Thanks in advance for all the response’s.

Best Regards,
Chinmay Makwana

Creating Customised .fmt file

Rakesh Kirasur — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 06:27:13 GMT

Hello All,

Can we customize format specification file with multiple object types in single .fmt file.

For example can we use multiple objects like Alias, Module, Channel, card etc in single format specification file.

Thanks and regards:

Rakesh

KPIs help gauge cybersecurity at Saudi Aramco

Emerson Exchange News — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 21:23:23 GMT

Jim Montague

Just like other parameters and processes in control and automation, cybersecurity can also be measured to determine correct and effective action.

"We implement a lot of controls in our plant, and cybersecurity is very new in comparison, but we still have to consider it," said Khalid Al-Ghamdi, engineering consultant, Process Automation Systems division, Process Control and Systems department, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco). "Management mainly asks, 'Are we safe?' So we buy some cybersecurity software, but we still scratch our head because we're not completely certain."

Al-Ghamdi presented "Measuring effectiveness of operations technology (OT) cybersecurity controls" at the 2019 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Nashville, Tenn.

Why and what?

To develop a successful cybersecurity program and protections, Al-Ghamdi reported that several questions must be answered, namely: Why measure? What to measure? How to measure? And who needs to do what?

"Cybersecurity has to be justified by some increase in revenue, and we're in a world of key performance indicators (KPIs), so we have to measure to manage and evaluate the effectiveness of cybersecurity control implementations," explained Al-Ghamdi. "We also have to measure cybersecurity because it helps transform technical jargon into business-friendly terms, keeps management involved, turns good data into good decisions, justifies investments if needed, and builds a foundation for KPIs about cybersecurity."

Al-Ghamdi added that cybersecurity metrics should be focused on things users want to measure, and deciding where to focus should be based on previous assessments of gaps and regulatory requirements or policies. "If you don't know where to focus, then start simple, capitalize on available expertise, go for some quick wins, and use an iterative model," said Al-Ghamdi. Some of these regulatory requirements and guides include:

IEC 62443, Industrial Network and System Security;
NIST SP 800-53, Security Controls;
NIST SP 800-55, Performance Measurement Guide for Information Security; and,
NIST SP 800-82, Guide to Industrial Control Systems Security.

Individual applications, facilities and organizations decide what cybersecurity metrics to measure based on technical, procedural and/or environmental controls, such as number of incidents, incident response procedure (IRP), door access controls, etc. "They also decide what to measure based on business impacts," added Al-Ghamdi. "These can include industrial control system/operations technology (ICS/OT) group vs. enterprise metrics, and compliance vs. gaps."

"Once applicable KPIs are established and their data is gathered, they can be aggregated to come up with one number that's easy to understand, such as a percentage level of cybersecurity that can be compared." Khalid Al-Ghamdi, engineering consultant, Saudi Aramco

How to measure

Al-Ghamdi reported there are at least five basic steps needed to develop and implement an effective cybersecurity program. They include:

Identifying metrics by deciding on business goals; knowing your audience; starting small and building as you evolve; choosing scalable metrics that are understandable to non-technical audience; and, making sure any given metric answers a question for decision-makers.
Identifying required data sources to populate metrics; building a baseline of existing resources, such as number of servers, printers, workstations, network devices, etc.; and, using the baseline for all metrics.
Implementing metrics by automating collection of data wherever possible; building an Excel sheet for constituent parameters and formulas, such as number of backups and total supported systems; and, preserving collected information for each metric.
Presenting results by consolidating all relevant information into a report; presenting information in a graphical format; making metrics clear to the intended audience; and, ensuring sustainability of the collected data.
Adjusting and updating metrics by gauging progress after one year (at most); seeking audience feedback for improvements; adjusting underlying formulas to scale—and recognizing that 100% cybersecurity isn't the primary objective.

"Complete cybersecurity can't be the goal because it can't achieved—potential probes, intrusions and attacks are always evolving," said Al-Gahmdi. "This means cybersecurity must be always evolving, too, and KPIs must be measured month to month."

In addition, Al-Ghamdi recommended using the following eight KPIs and matrices for OT cybersecurity in a given environment:

How many cybersecurity incidents occur during one year?
What percentage of the setting has backups available?
What percentage of the environment is in compliance with patching policy?
How well is the endpoint protected by antivirus software, an intrusion protection system (IPS), etc?
What percentage complies with international best practices, such as firewalls or network configuration hardening?
How many cybersecurity awareness sessions were conducted in one year?
How many disaster recovery and cybersecurity drills were conducted during one year?
How many active system administrators are there?

"Once these and other applicable KPIs are established and their data is gathered, they can be aggregated to come up with one number that's easy to understand, such as a percentage level of cybersecurity that can be compared," added Al-Ghamdi. "For instance, if you're 88% cybersecure one month and 86% cybersecure the next month, you can drill down to find out what needs to be addressed. However, because people tend to relax over time, each facility also needs cybersecurity awareness sessions and drills. Plus, they also need to have enough plant administrators for cybersecurity, so one is always around when needed."

Al-Ghamdi also suggested using a simple formula for network security, which he defined as: Network security = (# of network devices with hardened configurations / total # of network devices) x 70% + (# of certified firewall policies / total # of firewall policies) x 30%

Once the results of these KPIs and other statistical indicators for cybersecurity are collected, Al-Ghamdi advised assigning tasks for addressing them to several primary job descriptions and departments that can be established, including:

Chief information security officer/governor of risk compliance (CISO/GRC);
Plant administrators;
Network management systems (NMS) administrator;
Security operations center (SOC)/security information event management (SIEM); and,
Responsible, accountable, consulted, informed (RACI) model.

"It's also essential to keep going with cybersecurity," concluded Al-Ghamdi. "Once we populate our KPIs and other tables, we can see where problems are happening and manage them. However, because this is a learning curve, we also have to go back every six months, and see what else we have to do. It helps to remember that it took process safety about 140 years to push into the process industries and become mature, and cybersecurity is still at an early stage."

Basic Functional Safety Question

Jim Cahill — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 13:20:30 GMT

Hi all, I received this non-SIS specific question in an email that I wanted to open up to the EE365 community for your thoughts... thanks!

As an SIS integrator, I was confused about the failure rate calculation of the SIS system. Clients always ask for a failure rate calculation for the configured SIS when the sensor and final element are not in supply scope of the SIS integrator.

An SIS always consists of many SIFs in a single station, and the SIL verification shall be based on a single SIF, which means only the components used in the SIF loop shall be included in the PFD calculation.

I suppose that the failure rate which client asked for is to verify the SIL of SIS and to be used for SIF loop verification. Then the question is, should I calculate the SIS failure rate based on all safety related components including CPU, IO modules and barrier/relay which installed in the SIS, or just simply calculate the components which covered by a most complicated SIF?

How to change the "Active Time" from seconds to hours of the Detail Display?

Romel Rosero — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 19:44:22 GMT

Hi everyone Emerson Staff Team and others in the industry,

I have a question: How to change the "Active Time" from seconds to hours of the Detail Display? We are counting in seconds the operation time of a motor but the textbox may be is to small to show up the real value.

Your comments will be apprecciate.

Best Regards,

Romel R.

Create asset tracking analysis for long range battery powered solution

gerrad32 — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 10:42:15 GMT

Hi,

We are the packaging company which is working on asset tracking to keep the parcel package to be work in track but problem is we are looking for software which are easy to work with long range wireless battery power solution asset tracking sensors, as of now we are using the referred software by the company.

But still need some suggestion about sending the data to some trending cloud platform.

Any leads will be much grateful.

Nutrien Sees Deeper, Processes Better with HCD Interfaces

Emerson Exchange News — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 15:23:21 GMT

There's always more to see and focus on—especially when developing and improving human-machine interface (HMI) displays and screens to help operators understand their applications and make the process they control run better.

This was the main incentive behind the advanced interfaces, faceplates, tabs and other features designed, developed and implemented by Dave Sosulski, DCS systems coordinator, and his colleagues at Nutrien's Cory Potash plant in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The mine has 350 employees and produces about 800,000 metric tons of potash per year. Nutrien is reported to be the world's largest producer of crop inputs and services, and resulted from the merger of PotashCorp and Agrium at the beginning of this year.

"We wanted to update the pop ups and faceplate packages on our interfaces, so we're not just showing the faceplates but also more of the data points behind them," said Sosulski. "Using human-centered design (HCD) for our interfaces is more scientific, objective and driven to a certain purpose. We simply want to present data to our operators that will enable them to self-train, drill down faster and more efficiently, and make better, faster decisions."

Sosulski presented "An Advanced Human-Centered Design (HCD) Analog Input Faceplate (with Trending Events and Diagnostics)" this week at the Emerson Global Users Exchange in San Antonio.

Easing the transition

Despite the potential benefits of HCD for interfaces, Sosulski recommended that operators and other users be consulted on redesigns, and eased into accepting and using the new displays and their enhanced capabilities. The main faceplate features on interfaces at Nutrient's Cory mine include high and low alarms, operational ranges, hover help, events, equipment trips, details page, operator notes and trips.

"HCD means increased productivity with easy transition to new faceplates, more information to make decisions, and preserving information across shifts," added Sosulski. "HCD also means that simplified information can be understood faster by allowing operators to see what's going on at a glance, and recognizing patterns instead of reading and interpreting values."

For example, when seeking to improve an analog input (AI) faceplate, Sosulski explained it's useful to follow the example of an analog thermometer. "Everyone understands a thermometer, so an AI faceplate should also be obvious and work well," said Sosulski. "Some starting points for HCD in our case included not cutting off the device description line at the top, defining if the middle arm was high or low, and indicating when the alarm came in. Now, we have a three-line device description that includes location, so the operators and technicians know where to go to fix it."

To help smooth operator acceptance of their new HCD-based faceplates, Sosulski added they were allowed to use either the new-look or old-look interfaces for a while before the new-look became the default and the old-look was removed. "We also added metric units, but kept the British units, and showed both for a year," he said. "As a result, the operators were able to accept the new units in their own time, and weren't forced to do it. So, when metric became the default it wasn't a problem, and many didn't even notice."

New-look interface

Beyond three-line descriptions and flexible units, Sosulski reported that Nutrien's new-look interfaces include dark green backgrounds voted on by the operators, alarm priorities and times, and features that coincidentally turned out to be very similar to Emerson's DeltaV Live interfaces.

"We had a veteran operator who knew what all the production numbers meant, but he couldn't train others how to do it, and never passed down that know-how," said Sosulski. "As a result, we learned that, if an alarm indicates where a process shouldn't be, then we also need to show where the process should be. That's why we present the operating range as a white vertical bar, and added trip points as a black vertical bar with a yellow outline, so it would show up against the green background. Good HCD can show what's going on without numbers."

Sosulski added that that Nutrien's trip bar also shows what other devices may trip as a result of the first event, and users can hover over it to show what happened earlier. Likewise, the new interfaces have tabs with shortcuts users can employ, and switch quickly between data points, rather than repeatedly drilling down and backing out.

"Tabs let users go right to the data they need without leaving the faceplate," he added. "The Help tab lets them self-train about updates and descriptions. The Alarm tab includes both device and area alarms. The Details tab has I/O diagnostics and module diagnostics with operating limits and trips. It indicates any problems in succession from the workstation to the controller to the card to the I/O. And, the Events tab is cool because it shows the last 100 events by day, week or month for all of us that spent too much of our careers trying to find out what happened on last night's shift. Now, the interface path is a lot easier, and people can see what's going on for themselves."