Reporting systems and OPC servers

December 2003 PLCs, DCSs & Controllers Products & Solutions

Interfacing plant and machine control systems with reporting systems is a fairly complex issue that eTX Data Services simplifies - by breaking the solution into the three major parts listed below.

Interface

Kepware's KEPserverEX OPC Server is employed as the interface standard. (OLE for process control or object linking and embedding for process control). OPC is admittedly not the perfect interface for all applications - however, for data logging and plant reporting purposes, it is definitely an effective option for both end users and system integrators.

Data historian

The eTX Data Historian, with its OPC Client interface easily communicates with the control system's OPC Server. Once configured, the historian will log the required data to the selected MS Access, MS SQL or Oracle database.

Reporting tools

Interfacing and storing data from the user's process or machine is a relatively simple process but extracting this data and providing meaningful reports is a complex task. The eTX solution breaks this into another three sections, each having its own data extraction and reporting tool to satisfy the various user needs.

a. Easy extraction of the necessary data into MS Excel. Once the accurate historical data is in the spreadsheet, the options for creating complex reports are numerous.

b. Extraction of the historical data into a trending and scada-type environment to either quickly create a troubleshooting tool, or create complex applications to track the client's machine, process, quality, maintenance, costing, etc.

c. Creating Web-based reports and publishing them on a website for remote access and viewing over the company intranet or the Internet.

Based in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, eTX Data Services is able to supply the various software and interface components or a turnkey solution from a company's machine reporting requirements systems, logging thousands of process tags. The reporting system components provide a cost effective system to satisfy most reporting requirements. Due to the modular nature of the system and the use of standard databases, the customer's ERP system can also easily access the data for use in the accounts, maintenance, quality and production modules.

For more information contact Neil Upfold, eTX Data Services, 083 325 4139 or 031 765 5320.

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