Reviewer details
Name: Details withheld at reviewer request
SI details
Name: Maarten Raimond
Designation: Software engineer
Company: Megadrive Automation
Phone: +27 (0)21 981 4363
E-mail: [email protected]
Product details
Product name and version: VIZNET Information Portal 4.1
Vendor: Adroit Technologies
Phone: +27 (0)11 658 8100
E-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.adroit.co.za
Application details
Industry: Food and Beverage
Location: Paarl, Western Cape
Application: ERP/Logistics. Production scheduling and materials tracking
Server OS: MS Server 2003
Client OS: MS XP Embedded
Application statistics
Tag count: 750
Front ends: 25 PLCs
Licences: 1 Adroit SCADA; 750 tag licence; 23 VIZNET client licences; 1 VIZNET server licence
End–user responses
General
Q: Briefly describe the application including information on any pre-existing control system.
The shop floor system tracks manufacturing process materials used and produced and updates the ERP system accordingly. VIZNET operator clients run a front-end application on plant floor touch screen stations. Information regarding production output is recorded, barcodes are generated for product tracking, labels are printed and products are barcode scanned. Production schedules and orders are automatically sequenced and displayed on the plant floor stations according to the machine centres to which they are assigned. This information is obtained from the existing MS Dynamics NAV system. A VIZNET server is used as an information portal between the shop floor system and the ERP system via a SQL database.
Licensing, maintenance and support
Q: What licences have been purchased for this application?
The application uses an Adroit SCADA 750 tag licence, VIZNET server licence and 23 VIZNET client licences.
Q: What upgrade agreements are in place on this application?
None.
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 application runs on an intranet. The clients run under terminal services sessions from a terminal server. This architecture allows for full remote control or just simple viewing of the application running on the plant floor.
Q: Do you run the scada in conjunction with any third-party application software (Other than MES)?
Yes. Kepware OPC, MS SQL Server, MS Dynamics NAV.
Management reporting and integration
Q: Does the application include data archiving/historian capabilities with an historical data reporting system?
Yes. The application uses Qlikview BI mining tools on top of MS SQL.
Q: Is the system integrated with an MES/ ERP or other management reporting or control system? (eg, Baan, SAP, SYSPRO…)
Yes. MS Dynamics NAV.
Q: Who performed this management system integration and was any additional software development needed to accomplish this?
Integration involved collaboration between end-user IT and the SI. Additional development was required to process data acquired from the application; most of this was done with .NET scripting.
Q: Have any production benchmarking tools been configured as part of the scada system?
We are completing a Qlikview dashboard which will report on shop floor performance vs. standard and vs. general operational efficiency measures.
Q: Has any asset management functionality been configured in the application (for software assets, control system assets or for plant assets)?
No.
Q: Has any GIS (geographic information systems) functionality been configured in the application?
No.
Q: Are you currently using tablet PCs or mobile phones to interact with the scada system?
No.
End-user conclusion
Q: What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to purchase this product for this application?
The procurement decision was based on ease of use, interoperability and the fact that the investment would be future-proofed because development is based on the .NET framework and open-architecture.
Q: What single feature most impresses you about the product now that it is in operation?
Interoperability.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
Scalability.
SI responses
Project details
Q: Approximately how many man-hours did the scada configuration take?
500 man-hours.
Q: What human factors were taken into consideration in the HMI design process?
The operator interface uses a touch screen and therefore design considerations with regard to size and usability were important factors in the overall look and feel (usage) of the application. Combo box type click/select was key to the ease of use and no manual operational data input. Manual input used onscreen keyboards only to input filter values.
Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?
.NET based standard windows components and colours were used.
Q: Did you use any video or multimedia technology used in the application?
No.
Q: What alarm management standards or best practices were adopted in configuring the scada system?
No alarming was configured in this application.
Q: What structured processes were followed to determine expected performance under full load, and during abnormal failure conditions?
All operator stations are running remote terminal server sessions. The servers have power backup and data backup procedures. The operator stations can therefore be switched off and be interrupted at any time, in any way, and a session can be continued by logging back into the terminal service session.
Q: What are the key physical communication layers and communication protocols employed in the system?
Ethernet over copper for the intranet and RS232 for printers and scanners.
Q: What levels of redundancy are incorporated in this scada application?
The applications were configured across 2 servers; VIP and SQL installation on one, and Terminal Services on the other one.
Q: What specific custom code or scada scripts were written for this project?
.NET scripting was used as part of the interface where the VIZNET Spider scripting engine was not sufficient.
Security and data protection
Q: How have authentication, authorisation and role management been configured?
Windows security was used for application level security, where roles were handled within the application according to a resource management table from the ERP system.
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?
None.
Q: What configuration backup and data archive backup methodologies have been adopted?
We have a company standard methodology which we adopted. Because the system is mainly server based, the management of these activities follows standard IT backup procedures.
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: What impresses you the most about the engineering/configuration aspects of the product now that it is in operation?
The VIP server handles all operator runtime applications, development, and also OPC/Adroit and SQL (to MS Dynamics NAV) transactions. Engineering can be done from any remote PC with minimal configuration required.
Q: What impresses you most about the architecture?
The obvious advantages of using a terminal services architecture running the VIZNET operator application are rapid, centralised deployment. An update to the shop floor operator application can be installed on all the ‘thin clients’ by updating the server only. Terminal services also reduces the network bandwidth that is required to access data from the remote computer; all SQL queries happen on the server only and datasets do not get transferred across the network. Only data in the form of screen views is transmitted.
Vendor responses
Product
Q: Vendor comments on product/modules?
The present version of Adroit is v7 and of VIZNET is v4.1. We expect to release Adroit v8 during 2011.
Operating systems/VMware
Adroit applications operate on Microsoft platforms and all our products are Microsoft Certified.
Licensing, maintenance and support model
Q: What sort of licensing agreement options are offered?
Products are priced on a standard pricing model. Site-wide and group-wide flexible pricing models are also available.
Q: Are licences sold outright or subject to periodic (eg, annual) renewal?
Licences are purchased outright. An annual maintenance agreement is optional.
Q: What upgrade agreements are offered?
Patches and upgrades are free within versions. Upgrade model is based on a percentage of the current list price and dependent on how many versions behind the current release the customer is.
Q: What after-sales offerings iro support and maintenance are available, and which technologies are used to deliver them?
Product and services maintenance contracts are completely flexible and a contract can be provided to meet customer requirements.
Technology incorporated
It is possible to use third party design products such as Expression Blend to produce XAML vector-based controls.
We found WCF lacking in certain performance criteria for larger real-time applications like Scada. We continue to monitor the technology.
Management reporting and integration
Q: What native historical data reporting options are available?
The SCADA Intelligence product offers historian, BI and reporting capability through Microsoft Reporting Services.
Q: What product specific interface does the product have iro well-known MES packages?
A native interface to Shopware IT.
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?
Mitsubishi Adroit Process Suite (MAPS) offers complete integration into the Mitsubishi range of PLCs. Scada graphics objects mapped to IEC Function blocks.
Security and data protection
Q: If the scada system generates application files that are transferred to the PLC, how are Stuxnet style PLC virus attacks prevented?
N/A.
Q: What authentication, author-isation and role management models are available?
Windows Security model.
Unique selling proposition (USP)
Q: List the top five feature/benefit pairs that contribute to this product’s USP.
* Open architecture: Allows customers to build and integrate even the most complex control and business requirements.
* Extensible Adroit Smart Client: The Smart UI is an Internet enabled client built on Windows Forms that supports client side scripting and 3rd party controls.
* Redundancy: Active clustering technology makes large solutions 24/7/365 capable and robust.
* Ease of use: Can be used on small and simple to extremely complex applications.
* South Africa’s #1 scada: Best-in-class support with access to the highest level of technical resource.
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