Reviewer details
Name: Gert Bezuidenhout
Position/designation: Managing director
Company: Specialist System Engineering (SSE)
Telephone: (012) 663 4331/2/3/4
e-mail: [email protected]
Product details
Vendor: Adroit Technologies
Contact person: Karin Fouché
Product name and version: Adroit scada Version 4.2 / 5
Telephone: (011) 781 3513
e-mail: [email protected]
URL: www.adroit.co.za
General
Q: What industry (eg mining, food and beverage, automotive) is the scada being applied in? Describe the application briefly.
A: The scada is being applied in the water and sanitation industry.
Q: Who did the system integration?
A: Specialist System Engineering (a registered SI of Adroit Technologies) carried out the system integration in conjunction with the personnel of Johannesburg Water.
Q: Approximately how many man-hours did the integration take?
A: Utilising radio communications, the implantation of the entire water telemetry system was staggered over a period of 11 months with the scada component of the project equating to approximately 260 man-hours.
Q: How is the after-sales support handled (eg remote-dial-up, e-mail)?
A: The Technology Agreement signed with Adroit, provides access to telephonic support and call-out services, free access to software updates and version changes. All support calls are logged via a support database and continual monitoring and feedback on the problem and the progress of its solution is provided via e-mail or fax.
Q: What sort of licensing agreement is used on the system? Does one licence cover all modules, or can the user only buy those modules that he wishes to use?
A: The licensing investment is based exclusively on the number of I/Os that are being read from the scada system, meaning that internal I/O tags are unlimited and not priced in the scada package. All systems are fully functional and not modular specific.
System architecture
Q: How many tag points / I/O does the installation have? Analog? Digital? Maximum possible?
A: There are 5000 tag points configured for active clustering (full redundancy system) with three remote nodes for engineering and business management carried out by the Opus reporting and analysis software that works in conjunction with the Adroit scada. Both analog and digital signals are scanned with no limitations on the share between digital-analog inputs.
Q: What operating system is the scada running on (eg Windows NT, Unix)?
A: Windows 2000 professional platform.
Q: What impressed you most about the architecture? Open standards, wide range of drivers, the ability to upgrade, etc? Please elaborate.
A: The architecture is based on open technology and thus compatible with various 'shrink wrapped' packages, satisfying any future requirements for additional drivers or functionality. The easy to use system enables unconstrained software development to support change making the system highly adaptable and scalable.
Q: Is the system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet? If so, does the configuration allow simple remote monitoring, or is it configured to allow full remote control? If not, what level of intranet/Internet control does the scada allow for future use?
A: The mimics and trends are published on the backbone of the company's intranet for monitoring purposes only, allowing dissemination of telemetry data to operational personnel throughout the organisation.
Even though control is possible via remote networks using the Adroit scada system, it is not the policy of Johannesburg Water to utilise this functionality on the water storage and pumping facilities.
Q: What sort of redundancy is built into the system?
A: Redundancy is ensured by the use of a full hot standby system with active clustering.
Graphics
Q: Describe the graphics development process - eg did you use standard library images, or did you have to draw images from scratch?
A: The Adroit scada's graphics are extremely simple and easy to use both when employing or editing images from the standard library images and in creating your own images.
Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images?
A: It is a comprehensive library that is constantly being expanded by Adroit, system integrators and fellow end users.
Compatibility
Q: Did you run the scada in conjunction with any third-party application software? Describe.
A: Run in conjunction with the Adroit scada is the OPC software distributed by SSE to complete telemetry system.
Q: Does the scada allow for the user to create scripts to perform specific tasks? Describe.
A: Yes. Scripts are necessary to maintain the integrity of the complete system during the switchover.
Management reporting
Q: Is a trending and historical data reporting system included? Please elaborate.
A: Yes. Trending is available and currently configured for 60 days on the Adroit user interfaces. Storage of user interface trending as well as all current and historical data is housed in a SQL server database.
Q: Is a management reporting system included in the package?
A: No, but Adroit Technologies management reporting tool, Opus, has been implemented at Johannesburg Water and works hand-in-hand with the Adroit scada system, as well as with all other scadas.
Q: Is the scada system integrated into a management reporting or control system (eg SAP, Baan)?
A: Yes, Opus, a shrink-wrapped (off the shelf) Web portal, is utilised to retrieve live and historical data in order to manipulate and produce technical and management review reports. This user friendly process enables management to access up-to-date reports via the intranet once the report templates have been created.
Conclusion
Q: What impressed you the most about the system? What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to employ this scada, rather than another (eg, ease of use, support from the vendor, upgrade path, redundancy features)?
A: The Adroit scada system's flexibility and connectivity to other reporting and storage systems is extremely impressive. Being locally based, Adroit Technologies has developed a close working relationship with Johannesburg Water and SSE, they are always accommodating when it comes to issues of development and customisation of the system and are just a phone call away.
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