Reviewer details
Name: Details withheld at reviewer request
SI details
Name: Engineered by vendor
Product details
Product name and version: FAST/TOOLS R9.02
Vendor: Yokogawa Electric Corporation
Phone: +27 (0)11 831 6300
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.yokogawa.com
Application details
Industry: Natural Gas Production
Location: Assen and surounding regions, Drenthe, The Netherlands. Application management, 200 gas production sites comprising 750km of pipeline, 14 compressor stations and 180 wells over a large geographical area
Application statistics
Tag count: 10 000 of which 30% analog and 70% digital
End-user responses
General
Q: Briefly describe the application including information on any pre-existing system?
Pre-existing scada system in place was Fast/Tools R6.0 which was installed in 1996. This system has been upgraded in 2008/2009 to Fast/Tools R9.02. The database migration was done online without any data loss, while the graphics were manually converted and optimised to the latest HMI technologies.
Licensing, maintenance and support
Q: What licences have been purchased for this application?
Redundant scada server licences for the main site called ACC (Assen Coordination Centre) comprising two main server clusters and two utility server clusters. Furthermore, six redundant scada server licences for the regional control centres supporting full local control capability in case communications with the main location ACC fails, 10 operator station licences (three in Assen and one in Hoogezand) and six at the other locations and 15 Web HMI Clients.
Q: What upgrade agreements are in place on this application?
Upgrades are to some covered under a paid annual product support fee.
Q: How is the after-sales support handled on this application?
This is covered under a paid annual service contract that includes both on-site and remote desktop/telephone support.
System architecture
Q: Is the scada system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet? If so, what level of remote monitoring and control is configured?
The Fast/Tools system is integrated to NAM Intranet. By nature Fast/Tools systems deliver full remote control by Web Clients that is restricted by NAM user access policies according to its operations philosophy.
Q: Do you run the scada in conjunction with any third-party application software (other than MES)?
Yes. OsiSoft PI (Plant Historian) and Energy Components (Energy demand forecasting and gas trading).
Management reporting and integration
Q: Does the application include data archiving/historian capabilities with an historical data reporting system?
Real-time historian function and daily production reports are standard available and done in the Fast/Tools scada systems. Fast/Tools is also used for long time historian (currently up to two years).
Q: Is the system integrated with an MES/ERP or other management reporting or control system (eg, Baan, SAP, SYSPRO, …)?
Yes, through Energy Components.
Q: Who performed this management system integration and was any additional software development needed to accomplish this?
Yokogawa developed an additional interface to Energy Components to accomplish this.
Q: Have any production benchmarking tools been configured as part of the scada system?
No.
Q: Has any asset management functionality been configured in the application (for software assets, control system assets or for plant assets)?
Overall system health monitoring on IT infrastructure including servers, network connections, field units and operator stations).
Q: Has any GIS (geographic information systems) functionality been configured in the application?
No.
Conclusion
Q: In the procurement decision making process was the total cost of ownership (TCO) considered?
Yes. Vendor lifecycle policy, investment costs, maintainability and usability.
Q: What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to purchase this scada product for this application?
Existing installed base and upgrading to new technology and features.
Q: What single feature most impresses you about the product now that it is in operation?
The productivity of the new graphical editor environment.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
The multitier architecture in combination with Fast/Tools native support for high availability computing with auto/manual option, which delivers the capability to have application redundancy and an auto/manual fall back mechanism for full local control in case of emergency.
SI responses
Project details
Q: Approximately how many man-hours did the scada configuration take?
10 000 man-hours.
Q: What human factors were taken into consideration in the HMI design process?
NAM standards according to Shell DEPs and the operator preferences and experiences with the previous system.
Q: For the graphics development process did you use standard library images, or did you have to draw images from scratch?
Both! Furthermore, existing graphics were converted and translated to templates.
Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?
Very comprehensive, easy to extend and to create new images.
Q: Did you use any ‘special’ images (eg, photographs, 3D images, specialised dashboards, etc.)?
Not desired by the end-user for this application.
Q: Did you use any video or multimedia technology used in the application?
Not desired by the end-user for this application.
Q: What alarm management standards or best practices were adopted in configuring the scada system?
According to the alarm management standards defined in the previous system which could be easily adopted by Fast/Tools.
Q: What structured processes were followed to determine expected performance under full load, and during abnormal failure conditions?
Yokogawa’s high demanding FAT/SAT procedures.
Q: What are the key physical communication layers and communication protocols employed in the system?
Ethernet, BUS/FAST, OPC and XML.
Q: What levels of redundancy are incorporated in this scada application?
Multiple client (1+n) redundancy, server redundancy, database redundancy, web server redundancy, full network redundancy and fall-back/disaster recovery concepts.
Q: What specific custom code or scada scripts were written for this project?
SemaPhone integration for alarm paging.
Security and data protection
Q: How have authentication, authorisation and role management been configured?
This has been incorporated in the application and seamlessly integrated with the OS.
Q: Does the design make provision for a DMZ and firewall segregation of process (scada) network and business networks?
In accordance with NAM and Shell security standards.
Q: What intrusion detection has been incorporated on the plant network(s) on which this scada system exists?
In accordance with NAM and Shell security standards.
Q: What configuration backup and data archive backup methodologies have been adopted?
Server, hard disk redundancy and media backup philosophy.
Q: Did you use any integrated or third party configuration control system for the scada configuration during the engineering of this application?
N/A.
SI conclusion
Q: How would you rate the ease of use of the historical reporting system?
Easy and very functional.
Q: What impresses you the most about the engineering / configuration aspects of the product now that it is in operation?
The ease of use and rich capabilities of the new graphical editor.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
Its stability and reliability in large scale high demanding and critical applications.
Vendor responses
Product
Q: Vendor comments on product/modules?
Fast/Tools is a future proof state-of-the art and platform-independent scada system that is supported by Yokogawa’s strong lifecycle policy that secures purchaser investments over a long period of time. Latest Web technologies are built in to further reduce TCO.
Operating systems/VMWare
Licensing, maintenance and support model
Q: What sort of licensing agreement options are offered?
Licences are scalable on both Server and Client side and are to a large extent based on system size with some module options.
Q: Are licences sold outright or subject to periodic (eg, annual) renewal?
Licences are a once-off purchase for a particular version of the software.
Q: What upgrade agreements are offered?
Patches are free, version upgrades are partially covered by an annual product support fee or maintenance contract when applicable.
Q: What after-sales offerings iro support and maintenance are available, and which technologies are used to deliver them?
* Maintenance, tuning and upgrades.
* Performance tuning.
* Cyber security services.
Technology incorporated
* The product is Java-based and OS independent. It does not need to make use of Microsoft specific technologies.
Management reporting and integration
Q: What native historical data reporting options are available?
Fully native historical reporting functionality is default available next to the option to use third party reporting packages.
Q: What product specific interface does the product have iro well-known MES packages?
Various interfaces are available using XML, OPC and ODBC.
Security and data protection
Q: What authentication, authorisation and role management models are available?
This has been incorporated in the applications or is seamlessly integrated with the OS.
Unique selling proposition (USP)
Q: List the top five feature/benefit pairs that contribute to this product’s USP?
* Provides corporate-wide solution that integrates new and legacy scada equipment.
* Flexibility – choose equipment and systems based on price/performance rather than compatibility with installed base.
* A single solution that is suitable for both local and enterprise-wide applications.
* Minimal hardware infrastructure investment required and operating system upgrades (platform independent).
* Everything can be managed from a single window at the desktop without the need for local instalments and licence management (zero deployment).
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