S A Instrumentation and Control: Scada Review 2015 Adroit ...

S A Instrumentation and Control: Scada Review 2015

2015 Copyright Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd – www.technews.co.za All rights reserved

Adroit Technologies

End-user details Name: Leon Venter

Designation: Production Manager

Company: Opti Feeds

Phone: +27 (0)18 632 4053

E-mail: [email protected]

SI details Name: Pieter Reichert

Designation: Principal Technical Consultant

Company: Business Connexion Industrial Solutions

Phone: +27 (0)12 665 1700/2/3


Product details Product name and version: Adroit Smart SCADA Version 8.3

Vendor: Adroit Technologies

Phone: +27 (0)11 658 8100


URL: www.adroit.co.za

Application details Location: Opti Feeds, Lichtenburg, North West Province

Industry: Food and beverage

Date project started: 2013-08

Date project completed: 2014-08

Application: Batching and process control of animal feed manufacture

Server OS: Windows Server 2012

Client OS: Windows 7.0 Professional

Application statistics Tag count: 4308 PLC tags

Updates per day: Approx. 12 400 000

Disk space for one day’s updates: 8MB

Physical I/O count: 3508 * Digital

580 * Analog

Front ends: Schneider Premium PLC with remote I/O

LS PLC 220 Tags

Licences: 1 * Adroit 8.0 Master Server 2500 SP

1 * Adroit 8.0 Standby Server 2500 SP

6 * View Clients (Design and Runtime)

1 * Alarm Management and Analysis

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.adroit.co.za/



The 4308 tags are covered by the above 2500 SP (Scan

Point) licence because marshalling agents are used. A 16

bit word is unpacked into 16 digital values which consumes

a single scanned point

Scada configuration man-hours: 1920 hrs

Figure 1: System architecture

End–user responses

General

Q: Briefly describe the application including information on any pre-existing control system.

Opti Feeds has been using an Adroit 6.0 SCADA Classic solution for many years. The switch to Adroit 8.0 Smart UI

was made to allow greater flexibility and more custom programming functionality.

Q: What was the primary motivation for the project?

The previous system relied on numerous scripts to achieve the required functionality between PLC and scada and

required constant input of values by the operations staff. The main purpose of the upgrade was to eliminate all

scripting, making the system more user-friendly and ensuring long term ownership by all stakeholders.

Q: What were the main goals established for the project?

1. Reduce operator input into the system.

2. Integrate with SYSPRO for product ordering and recipe handling.



3. Eliminate the existing scripting by using standard Adroit scada functionality.

Q: In the procurement decision making process what were the primary considerations that influenced the

product selection?

There was an existing Adroit Classic installation. The Adroit Smart UI was selected because of its powerful

database/recipe handling and simple MES integration capabilities.

Q: What Project Management principles and/or methodologies did you employ as end-user to mitigate risk,

ensuring the project came out on time and within budget?

Adroit 8.0 Smart UI scada was implemented in parallel with the existing Classic UI system. This methodology

ensured that unnecessary downtime was avoided and that process components were kept in place and

functioned as normal. This approach allowed for uninterrupted production during the week, and limited overtime

work. Commissioning of the entire project was achieved without any loss of production.

Licensing, maintenance and support

Q: What upgrade agreements are in place for this application?

A Service Level Agreement with remote support, and a Technology Agreement on the scada software.

Q: How is after-sales support handled on this application?

This is provided via regular site visits and remote support by SI. Telephonic support of the scada product is

available free of charge during office hours.

Q: Do you have a documented process in place to manage, test and install OS and scada system software

patches?

Updates and patches are first fully tested by the SI in a simulated environment before being deployed to the

production system.

Integration, reporting and archiving

Q: Is the scada system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet?

Yes. The system allows for remote SLA support across a VPN to the SI, and tablet connectivity across the LAN for

the end-user.

Q: Does the system include or interface with an expert system?

No.

Q: Does the system include any form of augmented cognition (AC) or augmented reality (AR)?

No.

Q: Is the system integrated with an MES / ERP or other management reporting or control system?

Indirectly. Data is shared with SYSPRO using a SQL staging table.

Q: Has any GIS (Geographic Information Systems) functionality been configured in the application?

No.



Q: Has any asset management functionality been configured in the application (for software assets, control

system assets or for plant assets)?

No.

Q: Do you run the scada in conjunction with any other third-party application software?

Yes. In conjunction with in-line packers, post pallet application systems, micro-dosing scales and weighing

systems.

Q: Does the application include data archiving / historian capabilities with an historical data reporting system?

Yes. SQL 2008 R2 was used. The built in DataLog and DBAccess agent in the scada are used for logging, inserting,

updating, selecting and retrieving data.

Maintenance, reliability and asset optimisation

Q: Have any production benchmarking tools been configured as part of the scada system?

Yes. Target and actual values are displayed on all batching KPAs (Key Performance Areas).

Q: What maintenance, reliability, asset optimisation and/or continuous improvement criteria were included in

the user requirements specification for this project?

Closely working with the SI the specifics around the control philosophy were detailed for different departments

and captured in a URS (User Requirements Specification) and FDS (Functional Design Specification) document.

Mobile device support

Q: Are you currently using tablets, mobile phones or other smart mobile devices to interact with the scada

system?

Yes. A tablet for maintenance troubleshooting.

Q: Do you allow users to interface with the scada system via their own personal smart devices? (BYOD)

No.

End-user conclusion

Q: What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to purchase this scada product over

all others for this application?

Openness, flexibility and local support.

Q: What was the most significant change that you implemented in scada engineering practice / technology in

this project?

The scripts in the previous system were difficult to troubleshoot and maintain and caused delays in production.

The Adroit Smart UI is very flexible in regards to the built-in Spider engine which supports visual programming and

thus most of the previously scripted functionality could be replaced using this functionality in combination with

moving certain functionality to the PLC level.



Q: What single operational feature most impresses you about the product now that it is in operation?

Bi-directional data base handling between SYSPRO and Adroit 8.0 eliminated all set point inputs from the

operators and thus removed potential input errors.

Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?

The small hardware server footprint for the scada application, where a single server is used for alarming, logging,

trending, and scanning to PLCs, thus reducing overall costs.



SI responses

Project details

Q: What tools were used to minimise the man-hours taken?

The standard bulk configuration tools available in the scada

Q: Do the operator interfaces on this project use multi-touch gestures?

No.

Q: What human factors were taken into consideration as principles or development standards in the HMI

design process?

The existing design aspects, with which the operators were familiar, were carried over from the previous scada

and requirements for user input were reduced.

Q: For the graphics development process did you use standard library images, or did you have to draw images

from scratch?

Mainly from scratch but where relevant standard library images were utilised.

Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?

Comprehensive.

Q: Did you use any ‘special’ images?

Images from CAD drawings were used.

Q: Did you use any video or multimedia technology in the application?

No.

Q: What alarm management standards or best practices were adopted in configuring the scada system alarms?

EEMUA 191 and the Adroit best practices document were used as guidelines. It is planned to implement Adroit

Alarm Management and Analysis in the future.

Q: What structured processes were followed to determine expected performance under full load, and during

abnormal failure conditions?

None.

Q: What are the key physical communication layers and communication protocols employed in the system?

Ethernet over fibre and copper, wireless 802.nnn and Schneider FIP I/O

Q: What is the network speed and communications medium of the slowest link in this project’s scada network?

10Mb/s wireless communication.

Q: What is the network speed and communications medium of the fastest link in this project’s scada network?

100Mb/s fibre communication.



Q: What levels of redundancy are incorporated in this scada application?

An Adroit Hot Standby Server was implemented for redundancy at the Agent Server level.

Q: What specific custom code or scada scripts were written for this project?

None.

Project management

Q: What Project Management principles and/or methodologies did you as SI employ to mitigate risk and to

ensure the project came out on time and within budget?

No response.

Security and data protection

Q: How have authentication, authorisation and role management been configured?

Administrators, managers, maintenance and operator groups were configured on the control domain.

Q: Does the design make provision for a DMZ and firewall segregation of process (scada) network and business

networks?

No.

Q: What intrusion detection has been incorporated on the plant network(s) on which this scada system exists?

Intrusion detection is provided via AVG antivirus.

Q: Is the security model employed based on a standard?

No.

Q: In what ways is this project’s hardware architecture optimised for patch management and antivirus

management?

It is not.

Q: What configuration back-up and data archive backup methodologies have been adopted?

Configuration and data backups are performed monthly and on change.

Q: Did you use any integrated or third party configuration control system for the scada configuration during the

engineering of this application?

No.


Q: What steps were taken to address maintenance, reliability, asset optimisation and/or continuous

improvement aspects relating to this system?

Adroit SCADA SMS functionality is used for maintenance warnings on priority alarms.



SI conclusion

Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?

Response off topic.

Q: What impresses you the most about the engineering / configuration aspects of the product now that it is in

operation?

The richness and power of the Smart UI IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

Q: How would you rate the ease of use of the historical reporting system?

Extremely easy to use based on scada trending from SQL supported as standard via the DBLog and DBAccess

agents.



Vendor responses

Product

Current version Subject project - used

Product version / Module versions 8.3.1.1 8.3.1

Q: Vendor comments on product / modules?

Adroit 8.3.1.1 Smart UI is the latest released scada version from Adroit Technologies.

Power database interfacing without any scripting required. No proprietary scripting language is necessary, where

required VB.Net and C# are supported using Visual Studio as the IDE for programming and troubleshooting.

Operating systems / VMware

Product response - supported Subject project - used

Operating systems – client side run-

time? Windows 8.0 Professional Windows 7.0 Professional

Operating systems – client side

configuration? Windows 8.0 Professional Windows 7.0 Professional

Operating systems – server side? Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012

Browser based?

No modules are browser based

Browser based support is

achieved using third party

applications for multi-platform

compatibility

The Designer and Operator

applications are web-based, but

do not run in a browser

None

Front end device communications

protocols

Modbus Ethernet

Siemens Ethernet

Allen Bradley Ethernet

SNMP

DNP3

Modbus Ethernet

Does the scada system rely on Java

plug-ins to exploit the full

functionality of its core and

additional modules?

No No

Q: Vendor comments on operating systems

Response off topic.

Licensing, maintenance and support model

Q: What sort of licensing agreement options are offered?

Core scada modules and most of the 100+ drivers shipped are covered under one license. Separate licenses are

required for design and view clients. Redundancy is charged at a percentage of the Master server. Alarm

Management and Analysis, OEE/KPI and M2M functionality are purchased separately as modules.

Q: Are licences sold outright or subject to periodic (e.g. annual) renewal?

The scada licence is a once-off purchase for a particular version (e.g. Version 7 or Version 8.0).



Q: What upgrade agreements are offered?

A non-compulsory Technology Agreement, which is renewable annually, is available and provides for the latest

version of the product. A Technology Agreement (TA) provides for the latest version. Updates (e.g. minor version

7.10 to 7.11) are supplied at no cost and can be downloaded from the Adroit web site. If there is no TA in place a

percentage is charged based on the number of versions to be upgraded.

Q: What after-sales offerings iro support and maintenance are available, and which technologies are used to

deliver them?

Adroit has 10 dedicated support staff. Telephonic support during office hours is available free of charge. Off-site

support is covered under Adroit standard rates or customisable Service Level Agreements. Our 50+ registered

system integrators also offer support and maintenance options. Training is offered in house or on-site.

Q: Do you have a documented process in place to manage and test OS patches and to release scada system

software patches?

A standard internal testing procedure is used to verify and test applicable updates and patches as far as possible.

Technology incorporated

Product response Subject project

Product uses Web Services?

No

SOAP Web service connections are

supported as an interface to the

Smart UI Server

No

Cloud computing supported? Yes - Microsoft Azure No

Virtualisation models supported? Yes - Standard Virtualisation options

are supported (VM Ware) No

Multi-touch gestures supported by

OS + scada hardware + scada

software?

No No

Q: What new technology has been introduced into the product in the last 12 months?

21CFR11 security features, additional free reporting capability, enhancements of the object based model to

support OEM capability, M2M protocol extensions and many user-driven enhancements.

Integration and reporting

Q: What generic and/or product specific interfaces does the product have iro well-known MES packages?

OPC, currently busy with OPC UA, direct database interfacing, VB.NET scripting.

Q: What native historical data reporting options are available?

Adroit SCADA Intelligence reporting and analysis is a separate product that leverages the Microsoft SQL BI

platform. Users configure the data sources and other context and attributes and the solution automatically

processes the data into the warehouse and cube. This allows for easy analysis and report generation using any

tools that are OLAP aware, these include Excel and MS Reporting Services.




Q: What maintenance, reliability, asset optimisation and/or continuous improvement related modules or

capabilities does the product incorporate?

ISA 101 supported Situational Awareness wizards and controls are being launched with Adroit 8.4 (not yet

officially released). In addition the Alarm Management and Analysis reporting tools allow customers to

understand problematic alarms and this supports a continuous improvement program.

PLC configuration and programming

Q: What capabilities does the scada offer in terms of generation and/or management of PLC configuration files

or PLC application code?

MAPS (Mitsubishi Adroit Process Suite) is based on Adroit scada architecture. It is capable of generating PLC code

to the Q and L Series Mitsubishi PLCs. MAPS is an integrated solution that incorporates all the standard flexibility

and functionality of the standard Adroit scada product.

Security and data protection

Q: If the scada system generates application files that are transferred to the PLC, how are PLC virus attacks

prevented in this process?

The scada application does not generate application files. Application files are transferred from the PLC

programming tools in compiled secure format.

Q: What authentication, authorisation & role management models are available for the runtime environment?

The entire Adroit scada platform is built on the Windows security platform and model.

Unique selling proposition (USP)

Q: List the top five feature/benefit pairs that contribute to this product’s USP.

Feature Benefit

Adroit Open Architecture

Allows users to build and deliver performance-driven

manufacturing and process solutions that can be

truly integrated into the business.

The .NET client is built on .NET forms architecture

and supports embedding and use of user and third

party controls that allow users to build and deliver

integrated performance driven manufacturing and

process solutions

Scalability and flexibility of licensing

Users can choose from a range of I/O and Client

licensing options that support his needs and budget

from 30 scan points to unlimited I/O redundant

servers.

The reduced functionality, reduced cost of the new

Adroit HMI version suits many entry-level, machine

builders and standalone applications

Object based Agent architecture

Adroit’s agent architecture is unique in the world of

scada. Adroit also supports a user defined Agent

allowing customers to build their own Agents and

begin to work in their own object world



Ready for the M2M world

Adroit offers a C++ communications module matched

to an M2M driver that allows customers to quickly

and easily build customised M2M / Industrial Internet

of Things solutions

Adroit Open Architecture

Automatically registered COM/DCOM interface –

all properties of all objects are exposed to third

party applications

Adroit Application Programming Interface (API)

allows OEMs and VARs to develop Adroit add-

ons

Command Agent provides bi-directional link to

any cellular device (Get and set process

parameters, acknowledge alarms)

SNMP Manager monitors and manages network

devices (routers, switches, hubs, UPSs, printers,

modems)

Full scripting capability including client side

scripting (VB.NET and C#)

OPC Server and Client

S A Instrumentation and Control: Scada Review 2015 Adroit ...

Documents

Transcript of S A Instrumentation and Control: Scada Review 2015 Adroit ...