You may find much more information about System Auditor if you search the
archives for Foxray. There have been a number of threads of very positive
feedback. I'll still use this as an opportunity to add my thoughts. We
purchased system auditor mid last year, I don't think I've closed it since.
Automated Documentation:
-We automate our plants, why not automate the monotonous parts of our own jobs?
-Automatic creation/maintenance of nest list (point list)
*Automatically generates list by CP/Baseplate
*Provides simple way to add an maintain area and enclosure information
*For us this replaced a database that we maintained with the same
information. The downfall is the database was not linked to the programming.
Now the nest list provided by System Auditor is gospel. If it's programmed,
it's shown and always up to date. Points listed as spares are certainly
spares. This makes it easier to confidently clear out obsolete wiring.
*We also maintained I/O point information on drawings. This is another
database that isn't linked to programming so over the course of decades it gets
harder to trust the information, now System Auditor is our gospel and the
drawings show generic termination information, not specific points. System
Auditor is easy to tweak user privileges so anyone at our plant has read only
access so they can get to this information quicker than they could our drawings
or database. We can also attach the wiring drawing directly to the blocks in
System Auditor, providing a one-stop-shop for our electricians/techs as they
troubleshoot
Understanding/Troubleshooting/Editing Block Configuration and SEQ programming:
-Using source path is nice... seeing both backwards and forwards from control
points in System Auditor is amazing.
-See all connections to sequence logic, forward and backward, including
external references
*Prior to system auditor my favorite thing to do (note sarcasm) was to add a
connection to e.g. BI04 on a calc block, then repair the madness I caused when
some unknown sequence code used an external reference to set BI04 and crashed
out because it was now secured. I got really good at using grep in the korn
shell to check for this, but it's instantly visible in System Auditor
-See the displays that touch the blocks you're editing
*My second favorite thing to do prior to system auditor was to make changes
to logic, check it out, think you have it, and two weeks (or months) later get
a call from an operator about some smurfed display. System auditor lists all
the displays that touch the block you're looking at.
-Sort out complicated logic
*My current project is upgrading physical I/O as well as block logic and
programming a system that was installed in 1988 and has been continually
upgraded. Just as with any system that sees this many incremental changes, it
gets really complicated. On this project alone System Auditor has paid for
itself, I would spend much more time (=money, opportunity costs not doing other
projects) unraveling it with the old tools than what it takes with System
auditor
-Preview new logic
*Same concept as above, after you make changes you can visually see it update
in System Auditor (by waiting for collectors to run or forcing them to run
after you're done). I'm humble so I'll be the first to admit I make mistakes,
it's much quicker to catch them with System Auditor.
*Also, the calc block simulator in System Auditor is an excellent tool. It
makes check-out much faster, you can drive the input values, change steps,
watch the accumulator, get all your what-if checks done, all before you program
the real calc block.
Management of Change, User Privileges
-At the most basic level you can see what was changed, when it was changed, and
add comments wherever you please to help those that follow you or your future
self
-It has the ability to require approvals of changes made by defined management
levels if you are in an environment that requires a MOC process.
-I have given many users read only access to System Auditor who we would not
allow in the engineering environments. Those interested in how the system is
configured can get all the information they need and we can maintain control of
the foxboro engineering environments to only the users that are approved to
configure.
With all that it's important to say we are still using ICC, FoxView/Foxdraw
v8.4. I don't know enough about EVO to speak to how valuable System Auditor is
on a system with EVO. I know there are ways to get all the info above with
tools/scripts/being awesome at DCS systems, but I'm not there yet so SA was
worth every penny to me. We're also hiring new engineers and if they don't
have Foxboro experience SA makes an excellent teaching tool, they can be much
more comfortable poking around knowing there is zero risk of an errant click.
I do remember there was option to install System Auditor with a trial license
to evaluate it before ordering, we skipped that step and have no regrets.
Hope that helps,
Chad
-----Original Message-----
From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of slim notslim
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2017 11:18 AM
To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: SPAM-AD: Re: [foxboro] System Auditor finding extraneous displays
HI;
i have not a response for ur a question but i have a question to all about the
system auditor, i want to know what can i do with this application ? is it
helpfull ? in a presentation its look like FOXCAE is it true ? what the good
think in this system auditor ? please help the system auditor can be installed
as a evaluation in our site to see it working before to decide to buy or no ?
thanks to all
happy year 2017 LOL
2017-01-04 22:19 GMT+01:00 Currano, Joe <Joseph.Currano@xxxxxxx>:
System Auditor is finding displays in more folders than specified in
Foxray.icc file on the AW. It's possible there was an error in the
Foxray.icc earlier but it is correct now (for several weeks) and these
extra fv files still show in SA.
If I delete them from the DISPLAYS table using Advanced Query, will
they be gone for good? I'm guessing not, because they are listed in
the AWXXXX.output file. Should I delete the .output file and let it
refresh them all?
-Joe
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