FAQ - SmartScada

Which archive types of WinCC OA are possible to use with SmartSCADA?

Both types of archives available in WinCC OA (Oracle based RDB and the native History DB HDB) are supported.

How scalable is SmartSCADA?

The scalability of SmartSCADA is comparable to the scalability of WinCC OA as it is based on the same mechanisms: Distributed System, Remote UI or CTRL manager, RDB or HDB archiving. The analytics capabilities are included through a CTRL extension in the UI or CTRL manager.

When it comes to training of the statistical model Random Forest are any data duplicated after reading from archives?

No. The values read from archives are always used immediately as input for the training algorithm.

When using SmartSCADA in a distributed System, which opportunities do exist for data transfer from archives to SmartSCADA components?

Date transfer is done through the dist manager. As alternative solution for historical values it is possible to use RDB direct feature of RDB archiving when all systems log values in a central RDB archive. When the necessary values are available in local value archives no traffic over the dist managers is created.

How can the customized functions be loaded into the drop down box in the KPI definition panel (aka formula editor)?

The content of the drop down box is read from an internal DPE which must exist in the system where the KPI wizard is started from (no loading over dist). The name of the DPE depends on the actual KPI configuration. The actual KPI configuration is of data point type _SSC_KPI-Configuration. The name of the KPI configuration used is stored in global SmartSCADA configuration: _ssc_global_configuration.kpi.

How can the customized functions be defined for usage in the KPI definition?

The customized functions for the KPI definitions must be defined in the kpiFunctions.ctl file. It is located in the project view of GEDI in Libraries/SmartSCADA/kpi folder.

What value is loaded into the KPI calculation when the online checkbox in the KPI Association Panel is checked and what happens when it is unchecked?

The online checkbox allows distinguishing the means of interpretation of the value assigned to the calculation value. When it is checked, then the string in the Value column is interpreted as DPE and the _online.._value is used for the KPI calculation. When the check box is unchecked then the content of the value field in the table is passed literally to the KPI calculation.

What is the KPI context?

The KPI context is a powerful functionality to select a large number of assets to which a KPI definition should be applied. It allows selecting assets from plant model or DP in the same way.

Why do my context-based KPI instances start disabled even when I do not select the online checkbox?

KPI parameters are checked for plausibility on creation and on any execution. When using KPI context the existence of the KPI parameter is checked. When the online checkbox is missing the entry in the values table is taken literally. When the KPI definition does not allow literal strings as input, the KPI instance is automatically disabled.

Can a subset of calculation parameters in a KPI definition be used as online trigger?

No currently this is not possible.

When I press save in the Data Mining Wizard correlation panel, I see more checkboxes selected after pressing the save button than I selected before manually. Why?

The Correlation panel reloads automatically after pressing save. Then it shows all lines which contains the previously selected elements.

Is it possible to change previously calculated clusters in the Classification Wizard?

It is possible to change clusters any time. As the cluster definition is also the base for the later steps of training the Random Forest model you will get a warning when saving. Changing the clusters and the labels may lead to an invalid Random Forest model.

Is it possible to change the characteristics of clusters found automatically?

Yes. It is possible to enter new values for the cluster centers in the table or drag the corners of the radar chart to suitable new locations.

Why is a cell highlighted in the table of the cluster calculation panel of the Classification Wizard?

The highlighted values indicate that the calculated cluster center is in an alert range of the shown DPE.

Does the highlighting of the cells in the cluster center table in the Classification Wizard refer to the alert colors of the DPEs?

No. Currently only one standard color is used to indicate any violation. The cluster center will not trigger any alert. It is just an indicator for the quality of values in the table.

Does SmartSCADA work with random numbers?

For testing KPI calculations random numbers are possible. For usage in the statistics toolbox it is not working. For this purpose ETM offers a small demonstrator which contains a pattern for also showing the analytics capabilities. The demonstrator is available upon request.