Data Collector

The Data Collector is designed to connect to a multitude of current and legacy control systems. The Collector runs as a Microsoft Windows Service and collects data from the following input types:

- RS232 with specific drivers developed for Honeywell, Foxboro IA systems and the ability to create intelligent responses for time critical data handshaking.
- TCP/IP - ProcessVue acts as a Generic/Text Only printer on your network capturing messages as they are printed.
- File Monitor - Text and CSV.
- OPC A&E which is widely used by SCADA and DCS vendors world-wide.
- ProcessVue can connect to IMAC and capture the Data it has stored over the years.

Data Archiver

The Data Archiver is designed to connect to all Collectors and parse (convert complete strings into individual fields) the incoming data for writing to the SQL Database. In addition to this the Archiver has a multitude of additional features designed to manipulate the parsed data and add real value to the basic alarm string. A few of these features include:

- Powerful and flexible parsing engine
- Create rules for Alarm pattern recognition (IEC 61850)
- ODBC Push to other Databases / Applications
- Duplicate message handling
- Look-up Table function to add additional information to messages from Excel files
- Full and advanced error log
- Email notification system

SOE Web Client

Coupled with a Data Collector and an Archiver, the SOE (Sequence of Events) Web Client provides the user access to the data being collected and tools to search filter and export that data. The SOE Web client also includes an advanced Frequency Analysis tool which quickly highlights bad actors. This client is designed for those customers who just need to collect, store and search alarm data or just need a printer replacement system.

Data Analyser & Web Client

ProcessVue Analyser is built from two software components, the Analyser Service and Web Client which enhances the analysis and reporting capabilities of ProcessVue to include EEMUA 191 based KPI reports. Analyser expands upon the the existing ProcessVue database allowing it to be easily added to an existing system. Analyser adds the following functionality to the ProcessVue system:

- EEMUA 191 based KPI reports.
- Real-time Dashboards and Reports.
- Enhanced Frequency Analysis engine.
- Automated report system.

ProcessVue scales from a standalone alarm logging / printer replacement package to a company wide fully distributed system. Using the latest .NET technology from Microsoft, compatibility with both today's and future operating systems is ensured. An industry standard SQL Database ensures reliable, secure, expandable and portable data storage.
A 64 or 32 bit Service oriented architecture means super fast performance on even the largest datasets. Services use store and forward technology over TCP/IP ensuring data integrity is maintained even when a LAN or WAN connection is unavailable.
The latest Ajax 'Zero Footprint' web client technology means great performance whilst maintaining simple secure roll out over almost any IT infrastructure. All the latest web browsers are support from IE 6 to IE 10, Chrome, Firefox and even Safari.
Connectivity to 3rd party applications and systems can be made simple using the very flexible re-constructor module to send data via TCP/IP port or ODBC.
ProcessVue is VMware friendly. Together, ProcessVue and VMware offer simplified deployment and low operational costs, allowing customers to implement a flexible and scalable platform.

Overview

ProcessVue is scalable and can be deployed as a simple printer replacement or as a capable alarm management tool bringing together multiple disparate systems into one common platform. Advanced parsing rules allow even the most complex and variable data types to be formatted into single line meaningful alarm and event messages

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Data Collector

Collector is designed to connect to a multitude of current and legacy control systems. The Collector runs as a Microsoft Windows Service and collects data from the following input types, RS232 with specific drivers developed for Honeywell, Foxboro IA systems and the ability to create intelligent responses for time critical data handshaking. TCP/IP Ethernet, UDP, File Monitor Text and CSV, IMAC which is a direct connection and of course OPC A&E which are widely used by SCADA and DCS vendors world-wide

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Data Archiver

The Data Archiver is designed to connect to a Collector and parse (convert complete string into individual fields) the incoming data into record fields for writing to a SQL database. In addition to this the Archiver has a multitude of additional features designed to manipulate the parsed data and add real value to the basic alarm string

Download Brochure

Data Analyser

ProcessVue Analyser is built from two software components, Analyser Service and Web Client to enhance the Analysis and Reporting capabilities of the ProcessVue System. Analyser uses the existing ProcessVue database allowing Analyser to be added easily to an existing system. This concept allows Analyser to be either supplied initially with the installation or be added at a later stage when budgets are released. Within a few moments your data will be transformed into powerful engineering and management information

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SOE Web Client

ProcessVue SOE, or Sequence of Events, is a simple frontend Web client for the ProcessVue Data. SOE connects to the ProcessVue database using industry standard IIS windows component. This means that any user on the corporate network will have instant access to the Process Alarms from their desktop or mobile computer

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ProcessVue helps rationalise process alarms at West Burton B power station

By implementing ProcessVue's alarm management software from M.A.C. Solutions at its West Burton B gas-fired power station, EDF Energy can now perform accurate process alarm analysis on its alarm systems and has taken huge steps in rationalizing and reducing alarm loads on operators at the site.

ProcessVue solves two-way remote alarm management challenge on UK-Belgium bi-directional gas pipeline

By implementing ProcessVue's alarm management software from MAC Solutions at its Bacton and Zeebrugge gas terminals, Interconnector UK (IUK) can now perform accurate alarm analysis across multiple systems and two terminals, providing an accurate picture of the number of alarms that operators have to deal with.

ProcessVue improves alarm management and KPI reporting at biomass Power Station

By implementing new alarm management and KPI Reporting software from M.A.C Solutions UK Ltd., engineers at a UK-based biomass power station are now able to easily and quickly identify KPIs for alarm trends and to analyse the root causes of plant upsets (i.e. events that lead to a loss of production)

Gas utility company selects ProcessVue alarm management software

A major US-based natural gas distribution utility company has selected MAC Solutions' ProcessVue software suite to manage and report on process alarms across its operation.Initially, ProcessVue will interface with the gas utility company's legacy control system, which is being upgraded over the next 12 months. The gas utility company provides natural gas services to more than 150,000 customers

ProcessVue alarm management is 100% reliable at Premier Oil

ProcessVue alarm management is 100% reliable at Premier Oil By replacing an ageing, unreliable SOE printer system with MAC Solutions' ProcessVue software, Premier Oil's Balmoral facility has experienced zero software outages since it was installed two years ago. The 100% reliability of ProcessVue ensures that data from safety-critical plant is always logged, enabling engineers to identify the cause of a plant upset, including the sequence of events (SOE) leading up to this

ProcessVue improves alarm management and mean-time-to-repair at Drax Power Station

ProcessVue improves alarm management and mean-time-to-repair at Drax Power Station By implementing M.A.C Solutions' ProcessVue alarm management and printer replacement software at Drax Power Station, Selby, North Yorkshire, engineers at Drax Power Limited ("Drax") now have the ability to identify alarm trends more easily and quickly and to analyse the causes of plant upsets, should any occur, including the sequence of events (SOEs) leading up to a loss of production. George Eccleston, Lead Control and Instrumentation Engineer at Drax states: "Introducing ProcessVue to the power station has been a gradual process over the last year or so. We have 11 SCADA systems across site. Six of these SCADA systems look after the six steam turbine generators, two are associated with water treatment and common site services, and the remaining three are within our materials handling processes. All of the SCADA systems provide plant operators with real time alarm handling capability. M.A.C Solutions has supported us every step of the way, adapting and tuning ProcessVue to exactly meet our bespoke requirements."

A properly managed alarm system has become an integral and critical part of any production and process facility. EEMUA 191 since it was first published in 1999 has become the de facto global standard to which industry looks for guidance and good practise for alarm management systems. To establish a system based on the EEMUA 191 guidelines or merely ascertain if a current system is working effectively and within the guidelines alarm data must be continuously collected and analysed. With the many disparate sources of alarm data from multiple control system vendors, just collecting data can be a challenge in itself. Bringing this data into a usable form for the Control Room Operator and reporting for Alarm Managers are two distinct but equally important functions

Resources for guidelines and best practise can be found at

EEMUA Website

The Engineering Equipment and Material Users Association based in the UK, produced and published the EMMUA 191 in 1999 and updated it in 2007. The guide is not a standard or regulation, but since itâ™s first publication, EEMUA 191 has become the globally accepted and leading guide to good practice for alarm management

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HSE PDF

The Health and Safety Executive is the UK national independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness. They are an independent regulator and act in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain's workplaces

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IEC Website

The International Electrotechnical Commission is a leading global organization that publishes consensus-based International Standards and manages conformity assessment systems for electric and electronic products, systems and services, collectively known as electrotechnology. IEC publications serve as a basis for national standardisation and as references when drafting international tenders and contracts

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ASM Website

The Abnormal Situation Management consortium is a group of leading companies and universities invloved with process industries that have jointly invested in research and development to create knowledge, tools and products designed to prevent. detect and mitigate abnormal situations that affect process safety in the control operations environment

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ISA Website

In 2003 the ISA (International Society of Automation), assembled a working group to draft recommendations for practice or standards for PCS alarm systems. This work was underpinned by the recommendations of the EEMUA 191 and intended to provide clearer explanations for many of the practices within the EEMUA.. The ISA 18.2: Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries was published in 2009

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IMAC Product withdrawal

In June 2013 Honeywell announced the withdrawal from sale of IMAC citing new installations will only be offered if the customer also agrees to purchase and install their alarm management product - at additional cost. This will leave many customers who do not need the functionality of a full alarm management solution with nowhere to turn. For many, simple printer replacement and Sequence of Events recording is all that is required. So here is the situation - you have an old IMAC system that was installed a number of years ago which has performed well as a printer replacement system but you are now faced with having to upgrade the hardware to a Windows 7 based OS due to failure; or you wish to purchase another IMAC system for a new part of your plant.

The Solution

The solution is to look for a replacement product that has the same basic functionality, costs about the same, can be installed as a direct replacement - ProcessVue SOE.

MAC Solutions have over 20 years of experience with IMAC installations; being the largest reseller of IMAC in the world. In 2010 they teamed up with the original IMAC developer and started work on a replacement package knowing that IMAC's days were numbered. ProcessVue was borne and has quickly gained recognition as being the best IMAC replacement there is.

But ProcessVue SOE does not just stop at printer replacement. ProcessVue is modular and as such can be upgraded to give full EEMUA 191 based KPI analysis. This is offered as an additional functionality upgrade known as ProcessVue Analyser, rather than forcing it upon our customers.

The Method

We can supply you with a new PC pre-installed with ProcessVue; if you have your old IMAC data we have tools that allow us to import this into ProcessVue reducing data loss to a bare minimum.

We can take your old IMAC configuration files and apply them to ProcessVue. The PC we deliver is ready to plug back into the network and/or serial devices. We can even supply the same serial cards giving you complete peace of mind. The additional benefits a ProcessVue system can bring are:

- Service based architecture - not an application that needs to run in an open user account.

- Open MS SQL database - not a closed proprietary database, can be used for additional data mining.

- Full featured Web client - not a cut down version. Any machine on the same network can access ProcessVue without any additional software being installed.

- Message Parsing - Processvue can parse all incoming messages making searching and filtering easier.

- Automated reporting - Once configured, ProcessVue will send you the information you need, when you need it.

- VM friendly - Being service based, ProcessVue will happily run in a virtual environment reducing hardware costs and maintenance.

- Fully supported development environment - ProcessVue is developed using the latest software development tools allowing us to support modern operating systems.

- Upgradable to an EEMUA 191 based KPI reporting tool.

Want to know more?

Please get in touch, give us a call and we can discuss your needs and offer a solution to suit. Contact details can be found on this page.

Interfacing ProcessVue to existing IMAC systems.

ProcessVue® can also work along side IMAC if needed. We have developed an interface to IMAC allowing ProcessVue to read the data IMAC is receiving. This alows the customer to install ProcessVue completely passively - maybe for a trial.

Here's what existing users are saying about ProcessVue:ProcessVue can also be configured to feed IMAC with data. Using our Collector and Archiver; ProcessVue can supply any third party application with selective data. This could be IMAC, or maybe a paging system that alerts Engineers to critical alarms.

Test

Alarm Management

Alarm Management

Designed from the ground up, the ProcessVue system provides a consistent and intuitive user interface across all modules, resulting in shallow learning curves and reduced training costs

Data Collector

Data Archiver

SOE Web Client

Data Analyser & Web Client

Datasheets

Designed from the ground up, the ProcessVue system provides a consistent and intuitive user interface across all modules; resulting in shallow learning curves and reduced training costs

Overview

Data Collector

Data Archiver

Data Analyser

SOE Web Client

Case Studies

ProcessVue helps rationalise process alarms at West Burton B power station

By implementing ProcessVue's alarm management software from M.A.C. Solutions at its West Burton B gas-fired power station, EDF Energy can now perform accurate process alarm analysis on its alarm systems and has taken huge steps in rationalizing and reducing alarm loads on operators at the site.

ProcessVue solves two-way remote alarm management challenge on UK-Belgium bi-directional gas pipeline

ProcessVue improves alarm management and KPI reporting at biomass Power Station

Gas utility company selects ProcessVue alarm management software

ProcessVue alarm management is 100% reliable at Premier Oil

ProcessVue improves alarm management and mean-time-to-repair at Drax Power Station

Industry Standards

Background

Resources for guidelines and best practise can be found at

EEMUA Website

HSE PDF

The Health and Safety Executive is the UK national independent watchdog for work-related health, safety and illness. They are an independent regulator and act in the public interest to reduce work-related death and serious injury across Great Britain's workplaces

IEC Website

ASM Website

ISA Website

Replacing IMAC

IMAC Product withdrawal

The Solution

The solution is to look for a replacement product that has the same basic functionality, costs about the same, can be installed as a direct replacement - ProcessVue SOE.

But ProcessVue SOE does not just stop at printer replacement. ProcessVue is modular and as such can be upgraded to give full EEMUA 191 based KPI analysis. This is offered as an additional functionality upgrade known as ProcessVue Analyser, rather than forcing it upon our customers.

The Method

We can supply you with a new PC pre-installed with ProcessVue; if you have your old IMAC data we have tools that allow us to import this into ProcessVue reducing data loss to a bare minimum.

We can take your old IMAC configuration files and apply them to ProcessVue. The PC we deliver is ready to plug back into the network and/or serial devices. We can even supply the same serial cards giving you complete peace of mind. The additional benefits a ProcessVue system can bring are:

- Service based architecture - not an application that needs to run in an open user account.

- Open MS SQL database - not a closed proprietary database, can be used for additional data mining.

- Full featured Web client - not a cut down version. Any machine on the same network can access ProcessVue without any additional software being installed.

- Message Parsing - Processvue can parse all incoming messages making searching and filtering easier.

- Automated reporting - Once configured, ProcessVue will send you the information you need, when you need it.

- VM friendly - Being service based, ProcessVue will happily run in a virtual environment reducing hardware costs and maintenance.

- Fully supported development environment - ProcessVue is developed using the latest software development tools allowing us to support modern operating systems.

- Upgradable to an EEMUA 191 based KPI reporting tool.

Want to know more?

Please get in touch, give us a call and we can discuss your needs and offer a solution to suit. Contact details can be found on this page.

Interfacing ProcessVue to existing IMAC systems.

ProcessVue® can also work along side IMAC if needed. We have developed an interface to IMAC allowing ProcessVue to read the data IMAC is receiving. This alows the customer to install ProcessVue completely passively - maybe for a trial.

Advannetics

Links

ProcessVue

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