EcoStruxure TM Process Expert - FAQ – End User
Compatibility, Migration
1.
I am an existing End- User customer. Can I upgrade an existing control system to EcoStruxure
Process Expert?
An upgrade from an existing "standalone" control system to EcoStruxure Process Expert requires a certain degree of re-engineering of the control system in EcoStruxure Process Expert. There is no tool to provide this upgrade automatically. But Schneider Electric provides services offer to perform that upgrade.
Note that when performing such an upgrade, the objective would be to do more than a 1 for 1 code migration, and to upgrade the simple “flat” code to the object-oriented structure from EcoStruxure Process Expert, which will enable you to benefit of additional functionalities such as navigation services."
2.
I am an existing end user or system integrator and I have built my control standards using UAG.
For my next project, I would like to maintain these standards. Is it possible for me to convert them to use with EcoStruxure Process Expert?
Yes, this is possible although there is no “push of the button” automated tool available. The standards must be converted into EcoStruxure Process Expert objects. Schneider Electric can provide a Service to allow a painless conversion from UAG standards to EcoStruxure Process Expert standards. This needs to be analysed case by case. Anyway, the evolution cost from UAG to EcoStruxure Process Expert will be lower than to any competitor offer.
Features - Deployment and Execution
3.
How will the user diagnose an issue on a running system and resolve it with EcoStruxure Process
Expert?
Through the status of the objects that are displayed on pages of the operator station, the operator gets a first level of diagnostic. He can be helped through the object faceplates, which can provide additional information about failure conditions and interlocks that are not fulfilled to run the process correctly. The Situational
Awareness library provides contextual information that helps the operator to focus on the essential information on the screen, like alarms with the criticality, abnormal situation.
Then advanced diagnostic feature can provide additional help to diagnose the process. This service to diagnose the control system is called "Navigation Services". EcoStruxure Process Expert can provide navigation services in Operation, enabling access to any information related to a graphical element selected on a SCADA page that represents an object instance. With this service, the user accesses the program that controls these objects
(control facet), to "navigate" from one object instance to another that is linked to the selected one, access to documents. All the alarms are organized in a tree reflecting the application description, helping the user to identify which area of the control system is arising; the failure or warning.
4.
Do I have to stop my Operating System while upgrading it?
Yes, it is necessary to stop the system to upgrade EcoStruxure Process Expert to a newer version. EcoStruxure
Process Expert provides the tools to migrate the application to newer versions with a minimum of effort.
5.
Can I prepare the modifications (Version N+1) of a running control system while it is running the
Version N to deploy later?
Yes, it is possible. EcoStruxure Process Expert allows you to plan modifications and deploy them later, it is also possible to perform on-line modifications. The user can prepare the modifications in their office, creating the version N+1 of the application. Then they go on site and connect the engineering station to the controller (to the version N). "Deploy changes" command allows the user to connect in on-line mode and perform the updates in the controllers. The user can decide to deploy all the changes or only a subset of them (the user has the list of changes and they can decide what must be downloaded). Another way is to prepare the modifications on site with the engineering station while EcoStruxure Process Expert is running and deploy the changes at the appropriate point in time.
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