Event synchronized reporting in process control systems

• US 8,874,461 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• 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: Caldwell, John M., Felts, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Gurkanwaljit
• Application Number:
  US13/688,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20130085795A1
• Time in Patent Office: 698 Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.36
• 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 synchronizing work shift information in a process control system of a process control plant, the method comprising:

executing, by a processor of a computing device in communicative connection with an event historian database of the process control system of the process plant, computer executable instructions stored on a memory of the computing device to;

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

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

generate a work change control system event for each work change that has occurred, each work change including a time stamp, and each work change;

i) being indicative of a change in the process control plant from a first work shift to a second work shift, and identifying the first work shift and the second work shift, or

ii) being indicative of a change in the process control plant from a first work group to a second work group, and identifying the first work group and the second work group; and

cause the work change control system event for the each work change to be recorded in the event historian database of the process control system, the event historian database configured to store one or more events that have occurred and that correspond to process data generated by executing a control strategy to control an operation of a process in the process control system, the process control system having one or more control modules in conjunction with one or more function blocks at one or more field devices that perform one or more physical functions in the process plant to execute the control strategy, and the work change control system event and the one or more events corresponding to the process data generated by executing the control strategy being subject to a same data access interface; and

causing, by the computing device, an event synchronized report to be generated, the 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, that transpired during an instance of occurrence of the at least one work group or the at least one work shift, and the at least one entry obtained from a centralized database of the process control system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the centralized database is at least one of:

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

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer executable instructions to generate the work change control system event comprise computer executable instructions to generate, 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.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the computer executable instructions to generate the work change control system event comprise computer executable instructions to generate, 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.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer executable instructions to identify the at least one work shift and to identify the at least one work group comprise computer executable instructions to identify the at least one work shift and to identify the at least one work group via a user interface of the process control system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer executable instructions to identify the at least one work shift and to identify the at least one work group comprise computer executable instructions to obtain an identification of the at least one work shift and to obtain an identification of the at least one work group from a different database.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, by the computing device, an indication of a reporting time interval, and wherein causing the event synchronized report to be generated based on the work change control system event comprises causing the event synchronized report to be generated based on the work change control system event, wherein the work change control system event at least partially occurred during the reporting time interval.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the event synchronized report including at least one synchronized value to be generated comprises causing the event synchronized report to be generated, the event synchronized report including at least one of:

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