Event Synchronized Reporting in Process Control Systems

• US 20100082396A1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems Incorporated (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Felts, Christopher J., Caldwell, John M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,666 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-executable instructions for event synchronized reporting in an process control system are disclosed. Events may be synchronized by a synchronization parameter, whose instances of occurrence may be non-contiguous in time. Examples of synchronization parameters may include a work shift, a work group, an individual'"'"'s on-duty time, a logged-on period of an individual, the execution times of a process control entity, a batch run type, and a procedure or sub-unit of a batch run. Instances of occurrence of the synchronization parameter may be recorded into a process control event database. Event synchronized reports may contain at least one synchronization value based on both the instances of occurrence of the synchronization parameter as well as historical process control data. Data from various historian databases may be accessed from process control system tools and integrated into a single report.

Claims

1. A method of reporting synchronized events in a process control system, comprising:

obtaining a synchronization parameter;

extracting, from an event historian database of the process control system, first data for a first event corresponding to the synchronization parameter, the first event occurring over a first time interval;

extracting, from the event historian database, second data for a second event corresponding to the synchronization parameter, the second event occurring over a second time interval and the first and the second time intervals are non-contiguous; and

generating an event synchronized report for the synchronization parameter, the event synchronized report including at least one synchronized value based on the first and the second data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining historical process control data for the first and the second time intervals, the historical process control data being at least one of:

historical continuous process data, historical discrete event process data or historical batch process data,

wherein generating the event synchronized report comprises generating the event synchronized report including the at least one synchronized value, and the at least one synchronized value is based on the first data, the second data and the historical process control data, and

wherein the at least one synchronized value is one of;

an aggregate value, an average value, a percentage, or a total count.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the historical process control data comprises obtaining the historical process control data from a centralized database of the process control system different from the event historian database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the synchronization parameter comprises obtaining, as the synchronization parameter, at least one of:

a work shift, a work group, an individual, or a logged-on time period of the individual.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein obtaining the synchronization parameter comprises obtaining, as the synchronization parameter, at least one of:

the work shift, the work group, the individual, the logged-on time period of the individual, an executing process control entity in the process control system, a run of a batch process type, or a procedure or sub-unit of a specific batch run.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a synchronization parameter event record in the event historian database corresponding to at least one of:

a start time or a stop time of the synchronization parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the first data comprises extracting a start time and a stop time of the first event, and wherein extracting the second data comprises extracting a start time and a stop time of the second event.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the second data for the second event comprises extracting the second data for each of a plurality of events, and wherein a time interval of at least one of the each of the plurality of events is non-contiguous with the first time interval.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling a generation of the event synchronized report, or

generating the event synchronized report per a user request.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

obtaining the synchronization parameter comprises obtaining a first synchronization parameter and a second synchronization parameter;

extracting the first data for the first event corresponding to the synchronization parameter comprises extracting first data for the first event corresponding to the first and the second synchronization parameters,

extracting the second data for the second event corresponding to the synchronization parameter comprises extracting second data for the second event corresponding to the first and the second synchronization parameters, and

generating the event synchronized report for the synchronization parameter comprises generating the event synchronized report for the first and the second synchronization parameters

11. A method of synchronizing work shift information in a process control system of a process control plant:

identifying at least one work group in the process control plant, the at least work group including at least one individual,

identifying at least one work shift in the process control plant scheduled for the at least one work group;

generating a work change control system event for each work change, each work change including a time stamp and corresponding to a change in the process control plant from;

a first identified work shift to a second identified work shift, or

a first identified work group to a second identified work group;

recording the work change control system event for the each work change in an event historian database of the process control system, and

generating an event synchronized report including at least one synchronized value based on the work change control system event and at least one entry corresponding to historical data for a process control entity of the process control system, the at least one entry obtained from a centralized database of the process control system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the centralized database is at least one of:

the event historian database, a continuous historian database, or a batch historian database.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the work change control system event comprises generating, as the work change control system event, at least one of:

a start time of an identified work shift,

an end time of the identified work shift,

a start time of an identified work group,

an end time of the identified work group,

a start time of a work period of a specific individual,

an end time of the work period of the specific individual,

a start time of a logged-on period of the specific individual, or

an end time of the logged-on period of the specific individual.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein generating the work change control system event comprises generating, as the work change control system event, at least one of:

the start time of the identified work shift,

the end time of the identified work shift,

the start time of the identified work group,

the end time of the identified work group,

the start time of a work period of the specific individual,

the end time of the work period of the specific individual,

the start time of a logged-on period of the specific individual,

the end time of the logged-on period of the specific individual,

a start time of an execution period of a specific process control entity in the process control system,

an end time of the execution period of the specific process control entity,

a start time of a batch run type in the process control system,

an end time of the batch run type,

a start time of a procedure or a specific batch run, or

an end time of the procedure of the specific batch run.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the at least one work shift and identifying the at least one work group comprises identifying the at least one work shift and identifying the at least one work group via a user interface of the process control system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the at least one work shift and identifying the at least one work group comprises obtaining an identification of the at least one work shift and an identification of the at least one work group from a different database.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining a reporting time interval, and wherein generating the event synchronized report comprises generating an event synchronized report based on a work change control system event that at least partially occurred during the reporting time interval.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein generating the event synchronized report including at least one synchronized value comprises generating the event synchronized report including at least one of:

an aggregate value, an average value, a percentage, or a total count.

19. An event synchronized reporting system for use in a process control plant having a process control system, the event synchronized reporting system comprising:

a computer having a processor and a memory;

a historian database accessible by the computer; and

an event synchronizer stored on the memory of the computer and adapted to be executed on the processor, wherein the event synchronizer is adapted to;

obtain a synchronization parameter,

the synchronization parameter being a parameter of the process control system having instances of occurrence of a measurable time duration,

wherein a first instance of occurrence of the synchronization parameter and a second instance of occurrence of the synchronization parameter are non-contiguous over time;

generate a first event corresponding to at least one of a start time and an end time of the first instance;

generate a second event corresponding to at least one of a start time and an end time of the second instance;

record the first and the second events in the historian database;

generate an event synchronized report for the synchronization parameter, the event synchronized report including at least one synchronized value based on;

data associated with the first event,

data associated with the second event, and

historical data corresponding to a process control entity in the process control plant, the historical data generated during at least one of the first or the second instance of occurrence of the synchronization parameter.

20. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, further comprising the computer further having a user interface, and wherein the event synchronizer is adapted to at least one of:

obtain the synchronization parameter via the user interface,

obtain the start and end times of the first and second instances via the user interface, or

obtain a report time interval for the event synchronized report, wherein at least a portion of the first instance and at least a portion of the second instance each occur during the report time interval.

21. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, wherein the event synchronizer is further adapted to generate the event synchronized report including the at least one synchronized value, wherein the at least one synchronized value is one of:

an aggregate value, an average value, a percentage, or a total value.

22. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, wherein the synchronization parameter comprises a work group, a work shift, an individual, or a logged-on time of the individual.

23. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 22, wherein the synchronization parameter further comprises an executing process control entity in the process control plant, a batch run type, or a procedure or sub-unit of a specific batch run.

24. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 23, wherein the executing process control entity comprises one of:

a physical process control entity, a logical process control entity, or an alarm.

25. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, wherein the event synchronizer is adapted to:

obtain more than one synchronization parameter; and

generate an event synchronized report for the more than one synchronization parameter,

wherein the at least one synchronized value is based on data associated with the first and second events of the more than one synchronization parameter and the historical data corresponding to the process control entity.

26. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, wherein the event synchronizer is adapted to obtain, from at least one other database accessible by the computer, at least one of:

the synchronization parameter,

the start and end times of the first and second instances of occurrence of the synchronization parameter, or

a report time interval for the event synchronized report, wherein at least a portion of the first instance and at least a portion of the second instance each occur during the report time interval.

27. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 19, wherein the historical data corresponding to the process control entity is obtained from a different centralized database than the historian database.

28. The event synchronized reporting system of claim 27, wherein the different centralized database is one of:

a continuous process historian database, a discrete event historian database, or a batch historian database.

29. A computer-readable storage medium in a process control system in a process control plant having computer executable instructions thereon for performing steps of:

obtaining work shift information corresponding to a work shift in the process control plant, including a work shift identifier, a work shift time period, and a work shift schedule;

storing the work shift information in a centralized database of the process control system;

generating, based on the stored work shift information, a work shift event for each instance of occurrence of the work shift; and

recording the work shift event in the centralized database of the process control system.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising computer executable instructions for performing steps of:

retrieving the work shift event from the centralized database;

retrieving historical, continuous process information;

combining the retrieved work shift event and the retrieved historical, continuous process information on a synchronized report, the synchronized report including at least one synchronized value based on at least a portion of the retrieved historical, continuous process information corresponding to the work shift event; and

generating the synchronized report.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising computer executable instructions for performing steps of:

retrieving the work shift event from the centralized database;

retrieving historical, discrete event process information;

combining the retrieved work shift event and the retrieved historical, discrete event process information on a synchronized report, the synchronized report including at least one synchronized value based on at least a portion of the retrieved historical, discrete event process information corresponding to the work shift event; and

generating the synchronized report.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the computer executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining the work shift information corresponding to the work shift comprises computer executable instructions for performing a step of obtaining the work shift information corresponding to the work shift, the work shift corresponding to at least one of:

a work group, an individual, a logged-on period of the individual, an executing process control entity in the process control plant, or a batch production run of a specified type.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the computer executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining the work shift information corresponding to the work shift comprises computer executable instructions for performing a step of obtaining work shift information corresponding to more than one different work shift.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, further comprising computer executable instructions for providing a user interface, and wherein the computer executable instructions for performing the step of obtaining the work shift information comprises computer executable instructions for performing a step of obtaining the work shift information via the user interface.