DeltaV Version 12 Fun Facts and Features – Part 1

One of my New Year’s resolutions (and performance review goals) was to start blogging more frequently, so I thought I’d put together a series of posts about some of the new and enhanced features in the upcoming release of DeltaV, Version 12.  SIS Electronic Marshalling, Virtualization, and Batch Analytics are three big features, but I thought I'd start by covering some of the smaller, but important updates.

We’ve started taking orders for V12 and delivery is expected later this year.  So what can you expect?  Let’s start off with Microsoft OS version support.

In V12, both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 will be supported.  Not only are they both supported, they can coexist on the same DeltaV system.  Now for folks putting in a new V12 system, this isn’t that big a deal – all the workstations and servers will be the 64 bit version of the operating systems.

But customers with V11 systems that are thinking about upgrading to V12 won’t have to worry about including an OS change along with the rest of their upgrade plans.  Their 32 bit OS versions will work just fine with V12.  And down the road, if they need to expand, 64 bit OS machines can be added and will work just fine with their 32 bit cousins.

Stairway to Heaven

Many years ago, I was working a startup in Addis, LA and the process control technician explained to me the various titles for the operation’s staff.  At the top of the food chain was the title AAGLB.  I asked what it stood for.  The reply was “Almost A God-Like Being”.

So I was doing some Googling over the holiday weekend for Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts (I had some time to kill while I was smoking my ribs and brats). In addition to all the built-in, but little known keyboard shortcuts, I came across an interesting feature called GodMode.

GodMode (someone in Redmond has a sense of humor) is a searchable/clickable list of system tasks that automatically gets created when you create a very special folder on your Desktop named, you guessed it, GodMode.

Specifically, create a new folder on your Desktop and rename it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. You’ll see the icon change from the standard folder to one that’s typically associated with Control Panel. Double click on the folder and you’ll see the following:

Now you’ve got a fairly comprehensive, searchable list of system functions. Just double click on any one of them to run, or right click on one, create a shortcut, then edit the shortcut to give it a keyboard shortcut.  Hey, you're a AAGLB.

Troubleshooting Help

Not that you need another reason to upgrade your DeltaV system to version 11, but there’s a way cool app in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 to enhance troubleshooting. It’s called Problem Steps Recorder or PSR for short.

What PSR does is record your mouse clicks along with the associated screenshots to produce a complied HTML file that chronicles everything you do between the time you click Start Record until the time you click Stop Record. PSR allows you to add a comment during the session, in case what’s going on needs more explanation. Now you can share your experiences with colleagues or that tech support guy so there’s less chance for misunderstanding.

You access this nifty tool by typing PSR in the “Search programs and files” dialog box of Windows 7 (remember, once your fire it up, you can right click on its icon in the tray and select “Pin this program to taskbar” for faster access).

The UI is simple and uncluttered:

I jumped over to my DeltaV boot, fired PSR up, selected Start Record, and through DeltaV Explorer, went online with an equipment module. When I was done, I pressed Stop Record. PSR automatically packages up the session you’ve had it record into a ZIP file. Inside the ZIP is an MHT file that opens in Internet Explorer Here’s a screenshot from the PSR file of me forcing a transition of an SFC:

It’s all hyperlinked and clicking on any of the images brings up a full screen view. If you’d like to have a look at the entire file I created, you can download it here.

A big shout out to David Rehbein of Emerson in Austin for turning me on to this great tool.