PLANT INFORMATION AT THE DESK-TOP-EXPLOITING CORPORATE IT INFRASTRUCTURE

A generic solution to the problem of collecting and analysing batch pl ant data from different control systems has been developed using Micro soft's front and back office product set, It offers low-cost exploitat ion due to world-a ide company standardisation on the MS Office produc t set. A standard set of event message types have been defined which a re now generated automatically by different control systems used in ZE NECA. All events are collected in real time and the batch data server configures itself automatically by analysing the data collected to det ermine product names, batch identities, unit names, operation names, p hase names, etc. Plant data is loaded into normalised SQL server data tables whose structure is independent of the original batch control sy stems. A standard client application has been developed in MS Access w hich allows users to analyse single and multiple batches and relate pr ocess measurements to batch events. It is tightly integrated with othe r components of MS Office and data can easily be exported into spreads heets or documents. Validation effort required for specific applicatio ns of the validated product set is minimised as it configures itself f rom the underlying data. The batch data server acts as an inter-face b etween the proprietary world of batch control systems and corporate st andards for information technology. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.