Blair Sooley and Carl Wills of Trihedral Engineering

Agenda VTS – Getting started Sacramento application architecture Configuration methodologies The integration environment Tags development techniques Page (display) development techniques Application navigation Custom template development techniques Application distribution and version control

VTS – Getting started

Installation One installation file includes all product features and options Single installation key per computer Key ‘unlocks’ features System integrators package includes Single seat development/runtime 4hr license Two training seats

Training Standardized training courses Operations and Configuration Advanced Configuration Downloadable Operations and Configuration (DIY) with validation by Trihedral instructor Online video tutorials Embedded product Help Files

Sacramento Application Architecture

Multi-location, centralized management (i.e. The Mothership) All tag values, display pages, alarms and scripts are synchronized across all locations Distributed Historian provides redundant data access and backup. All data available from any networked computer. Realm area filtering. Separation of an application into logical areas (e.g. Plant 1 = area 1, Plant 2 = area 2)

Mothership Advantages Application configuration from any location with a VTS Full Development license installed. Centralized security policy. Each user account provides access to one or more logical areas. Users see only local data and alarms. Reports and trends can be generated from any location.

Plant Autonomy Each location is independent of all others. Local I/O is handled by local I/O servers. Some locations have redundant I/O connectivity. Local historical data is buffered locally during WAN outages.

Application Configuration

Runtime vs. Development Environment Online change creation Try-it before you buy-it methodology Real-time change deployment No limit to the number of concurrent developers

Tag Management Sacramento database has 90,000 + tags, expected to grow to 120,000 + tags. Create/modify/delete individual tags via Tag Browser. Import/export tool for bulk tag changes Suggest standardized tag naming. Use prefix (e.g. FBT_ = Fairbairn tag. Underscore increases readability) Suggest standardized Area parameter. Use prefix (e.g. Fairbairn = Fairbairn Area) Areas are used by Realm Area Filtering.

Display Page Management Display pages located in library. Pre-defined displays for Alarms Management, Historical Data trends, Reports Generation Display sizing, placement, backgrounds, naming via Properties. All required drag and drop development tools available via configuration toolbox. Questionable data flag (‘?’) Add graphics and digital pictures to library as necessary. Suggest standardized page naming convention. Use prefix (e.g. FB_ = Fairbairn display.) Page names and tag names CAN NOT be the same.

Application Navigation Display page menu. Quick link ‘alarm bell’ to Alarms Management Page hot-boxes and hot-buttons. Forward, reverse buttons (last 10 selected displays.) Task bar page links (user specific.)

Custom Template Library Development User Drawing Methods (UDM) Create common graphics to represent combinations of graphics, tags, text, etc. Create an instance of the UDM with unique parameters. Changing UDM changes all instances of UDM throughout application. Can be copied/pasted to speed up development. Parameterized Display Pages Similar to UDM but for Display Pages.

Change Management Tools

Simplified Offline Development (Changesets) Configure app from any offline computer with VTS Full Development or SI license. Create compressed.changeset file (analagous to.zip file) of entire application, excluding alarms and historical data Send/carry file to customer site Simple import of.changeset file on runtime or development production server. Application restart NOT required for imports of tags and display pages.

Application Version Control Secure version repository. Workstation log notes last known application version running on each networked workstation. Each version details incremental changes. Changes can be merged from multiple developers. Switch to version, reverse changes as necessary.

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