Easy Formula Management

One of the features in DeltaV version 13 is an easier way to manage recipe formulas.  When there are dozens of formulas with hundreds of parameters for a given recipe, viewing and editing the values wasn't all that easy prior to V13.  We now have the ability to copy, edit and paste formula values with Excel.

First, let’s take a look at a recipe I have in my demo system appropriately named DEMO_WITH_TRAINS along with its 4 configured formulas:

I can right-click on the recipe and select Edit Formulas:

The interface in DeltaV Explorer looks like this:

From here, I can change any of the values just by typing into the fields (remember the values contained within the <> are default formula values).  But instead of 10 parameters and only 4 formulas, I could have a lot more, making this a less than ideal interface.

So now with V13, I can select everything and copy it, including parameter names and descriptions to the clipboard:

Open up Excel and paste the data in (I added the green highlight):

You can make any required changes to any of the formula values.  What you can’t do is add a recipe parameter (that’s pretty straight forward, right?) or add a new formula (maybe not so obvious – I’ll come back to that in a minute).  You could create a master formula Excel file and use a different worksheet for each recipe.

When you’re ready to bring the changes back into DeltaV, highlight the data cells (some or all of the green highlighted data), hit CTRL-C, then go back to the formula dialog in DeltaV Explorer, select the EXACT same size range of cells, right click and select Paste (or CTRL-V).  If you don’t make the destination range the exact same size as the source range, you’ll get this type of error message:

If you need to add a new formula, right click on the recipe object and select New Formula:

Fill in the new formula dialog box as necessary:

Now editing the formula values will include your new formula:

There is one final step you have to do in order for the new formula to show up in DeltaV Operate – back in the DeltaV Explorer view, right click on the new formula and select Properties:

You need to check the “Operator can load” box which will then cause a Yes to appear in the “Release to production” column in the Explorer view.

Not To Alarm You, But Here's How to Generate An Audit Report

Alarm Management is a big focus of DeltaV version 13, helping our customers become compliant with ISA 18.2, which provides a roadmap for compliance across all stages of alarms, from identification to implementation and management of change.

One of the tools we’ve included in V13 is an Alarm Audit Reporting tool, allowing you to compare alarms as they are currently set online in the controllers to how those alarms are configured in the DeltaV database.

Accessing the tool first requires you to launch the System Alarm Management application from the DeltaV Explorer toolbar:

I’ll have to come back to the System Alarm Management application in a future post.  For now, once the app appears, click on the left most toolbar button or File, then Manage Alarm Reports…

The Alarm Reports interface looks like this:

So let’s create a differences report for the entire system – click on the green + button.  I’ll give the report a name, accept the default location and select Difference Report before I hit OK:

The next dialog box allows you to select the types of alarms to include and some filtering.  I’ll pick only Enabled Alarms, Process Alarms and All Functional Classifications:

The next dialog is where you get to add specific locations to the report.  You can specify areas, nodes, logic solvers, units, or even specific modules.  The All check box allows you to pick all of any of the above categories (except modules).  Since this is a system-wide differences report, I’ll check the All box for Areas:

Finally, you’ll get to the Schedule Task dialog – you’ll see it’s not yet scheduled, but using the drop down under Schedule Task, you can select the desired frequency – Once, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.  Now you don’t have to schedule a report – you can leave it as Not Scheduled and you’ll be able to run it on demand from the Manage Alarm Reports view.  For this example, I’m going to leave the report as Not Scheduled:

Now here’s an important safety tip – if you hit cancel on any of these dialog boxes, it’s going to take you all the way back to the Manage Alarm Reports view L - just be careful. 

After hitting OK from above, your report will show up in the first row of the Manage Alarm Reports view.  I’ll go ahead and select it to show you how the other toolbar buttons highlight.  You can also get some of the choices by right clicking on the report:

Select Run from the menu, and wait until the Last Result column shows Completed:

Now use the View report button on the toolbar or the right click selection to see the results:

So out of 84 process alarms, I’ve got one difference between the controller and the database – my high alarm on LIC101 is configured for 90, but the online value is 95.

Both an XML and HTM file are generated when you run a report, so it’s highly portable.  And you don’t have to be inside the Alarm Report application to generate reports.  There’s a command line executable in the DeltaV/bin directory named SAMAlarmReports.exe – there’s a full explanation of how to use the executable in the help file associated with Alarm reports.

So a great use example would be to automatically generate a differences report as part of your plant’s shift turnover procedure – using, of course, DeltaV Logbooks.  Another use would be to generate a runtime report for a specific unit or units at the beginning or end of a batch.