GE Intelligent Platforms

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1 GE Intelligent Platforms End-user details Name: Details not provided by vendor SI details Name: Ziggy Govender Designation: Director Company: RKA Consulting Phone: +27 (0) Product details Product name and version: Proficy ifix5.8, Proficy Historian 5.5 Proficy Plant Applications 6.2 Proficy Workflow Vendor: GE Intelligent Platforms Phone: +27 (0) URL: Application details Location: North West Province, South Africa Industry: Mineral processing Date project started: Date project completed: Application: Scada upgrade on platinum concentrator Server OS: Windows 7 Professional Client OS: Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit Application statistics Tag count: Updates per day: 39 Million updates per day, 4500 tags per second Disk space for one day s updates: 500MB per day (with internal compression) Physical I/O count: Approximately 5000 Front ends: 5 * Siemens S7 400 PLCs

2 Licences: 2 * GE Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix Servers 4 * GE Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix Clients 10 * GE Proficy HMI/SCADA ifix/pa Web Clients 1 * GE Proficy Historian Enterprise Edition 1 * GE Proficy Workflow 1 * GE Plant Applications Efficiency 1 * GE Plant Applications Quality Scada configuration man-hours: 320 Figure 1: System architecture End user responses General Q: Briefly describe the application including information on any pre-existing control system. Upgraded Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix to a newer version and installed a Proficy Historian together with Proficy Plant Applications Efficiency module, Plant Applications Quality module and Proficy Workflow. Q: What was the primary motivation for the project? To monitor downtime and track quality. Q: What were the main goals established for the project? To integrate all production data into Proficy Historian.

3 To track and log all plant downtime for reporting and continuous improvement. To track material quality for yield and profitability reporting. Q: In the procurement decision making process what were the primary considerations that influenced the product selection? Ease of integration and open architecture with minimal impact to production during upgrade. Q: What Project Management principles and/or methodologies did you employ as end-user to mitigate risk, ensuring the project came out on time and within budget? None. Licensing, maintenance & support Q: What upgrade agreements are in place for this application? Upgrades are covered under a paid annual maintenance agreement: GE GlobalCare. Q: How is after-sales support handled on this application? Support is covered under a paid annual support agreement and includes remote access via VPN, telephone support and support. Q: Do you have a documented process in place to manage, test and install OS and scada system software patches? We are guided by the vendor s support notifications of critical patches and possible problems. Architecture, integration, reporting and archiving Q: Is the scada system integrated onto an intranet or the Internet? The SCADA System is integrated into the company intranet. Internet access is via a VPN connection. Remote clients have read-only access to the system. Q: Does the system include or interface with an expert system? The application operates in conjunction with Mintek s Floatstar. Q: Does the system include any form of augmented cognition (AC) or augmented reality (AR)?

4 Q: Is the system integrated with an MES / ERP or other management reporting or control system? Q: Has any GIS (Geographic Information Systems) functionality been configured in the application? Q: Has any asset management functionality been configured in the application (for software assets, control system assets or for plant assets)? In a future project phase the system will be integrated with IBM Maximo Asset Management system via modules in GE Proficy Plant Applications. Q: Do you run the scada in conjunction with any other third-party application software? Q: Does the application include data archiving / historian capabilities with an historical data reporting system? Yes, using GE Proficy Historian the end-user has customised reporting. Using the Historian and Plant Applications as source, reports are built in Fluid Reports from Blue Nickel Solutions. Q: Have any production benchmarking tools been configured as part of the scada system? Mobile device support Q: Are you currently using tablets, mobile phones or other smart mobile devices to interact with the scada system? Read only access is available on Android and Apple devices. Q: Do you allow users to interface with the scada system via their own personal smart devices? (BYOD) Certain privileged users are permitted to interface via their personal tablets, using the GE ProficySCADA and GE Mobile applications.

5 End-user conclusion Q: What was the predominant feature (or features) that made you decide to purchase this scada product over all others for this application? The upgrade path from an existing Proficy base. Support from the vendor and SI. Q: What was the most significant change that you implemented in SCADA engineering practice / technology in this project? None. Q: What single operational feature most impresses you about the product now that it is in operation? Invalid response. Q: What impresses you most about the architecture? Open standards, a wide range of drivers, the ability to upgrade, and the ease with which the architecture scales from a simple client-server to a multi-tier application.

6 SI Responses Project details Q: What tools were used to minimise the man-hours taken? This was an upgrade from earlier ifix SCADA version so the existing graphics could be used and updated. Q: Do the operator interfaces on this project use multi-touch gestures? Q: What human factors were taken into consideration as principles or development standards in the HMI design process? The project maintained the plant s existing standard colour usage, whilst trying to accommodate operator preferences. Q: For the graphics development process did you use standard library images, or did you have to draw images from scratch? The existing project library was used. Q: How would you describe the library of graphic images? Comprehensive. Q: Did you use any special images? Q: Did you use any video or multimedia technology in the application? Q: What alarm management standards or best practices were adopted in configuring the scada system alarms? We reused the existing methodology which consists of deviations from set points grouped by area and priority. Q: What structured processes were followed to determine expected performance under full load, and during abnormal failure conditions? We simulated various system failures to ensure the redundant components worked as expected.

7 Q: What are the key physical communication layers and communication protocols employed in the system? Profibus and Ethernet over copper and fibre. Q: What is the network speed and communications medium of the slowest link in this project s scada network? 100Mbit/s over copper. Q: What is the network speed and communications medium of the fastest link in this project s scada network? 1Gbit/s over copper and 1Gbit/s over multi-mode fibre. Q: What levels of redundancy are incorporated in this scada application? Each of the two Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix servers has a redundant server which takes over the processing if the primary system fails. Each operator station client has the ability to be used to operate the entire plant. The Proficy Historian uses a store and forward mechanism to buffer data when the network links are down. When the network link is restored the data gets forwarded to the Historian Server. Collector redundancy is a technology that is used to supply one data set from a redundant SCADA Server pair to a Historian Server. Q: What specific custom code or scada scripts were written for this project? Some custom scripts were used to give operators the ability to input downtime reasons for the GE Plant Applications Server. Project management Q: What Project Management principles and/or methodologies did you as SI employ to mitigate risk and to ensure the project came out on time and within budget? None.

8 Security and data protection Q: How have authentication, authorisation and role management been configured? We used the SCADA system s internal mechanism for authentication and role management. Remote access is controlled via the company s internal IT policies and systems. Q: Does the design make provision for a DMZ and firewall segregation of process (scada) network and business networks? The SCADA network and the business network are linked via a firewall which is managed by the company IT department. The SCADA network is managed by the C&I team. Q: What intrusion detection has been incorporated on the plant network(s) on which this scada system exists? We used Symantec Endpoint protection on the SCADA networked computers. Q: Is the security model employed based on a standard? Q: In what ways is this project s hardware architecture optimised for patch management and antivirus management? Patch or OS updates and SCADA updates are loaded on the primary system first and after two week of stable operation are loaded on the backup systems. A similar process is followed on the antivirus systems. Automatic updates are disabled. Q: What configuration back-up and data archive backup methodologies have been adopted? Currently date-stamped backups are made to a separate server when changes are done on the systems. We will incorporate a solution using Subversion at a later stage. All configurations and settings are further backed up to an off network server. Q: Did you use any integrated or third party configuration control system for the scada configuration during the engineering of this application? Invalid response.

9 SI conclusion Q: What impresses you most about the architecture? The scalability and flexibility of the system. The architecture allows the customer to expand and configure minor additions online without disrupting plant operations. The open standards used make it simple to incorporate third party applications which require plant data. Q: What impresses you the most about the engineering / configuration aspects of the product now that it is in operation? The system stability and usability. Q: How would you rate the ease of use of the historical reporting system? It s very easy to extract and process data from the Historian into reports. The system allows for a wide range of 3rd party client tools including Excel, OLEDB clients and OPC HDA clients.

10 Vendor responses Product Product version / Module versions Current version Proficy ifix 5.8 Proficy Historian 5.5 Proficy Plant Applications 6.2 Proficy Workflow Subject project - used Proficy ifix 5.8 Proficy Historian 5.5 Proficy Plant Applications 6.2 Proficy Workflow Q: Vendor comments on product / modules? Enhanced Graphics, Performance, and Scalability Proficy HMI/SCADA-iFIX now supports dynamic resolution for graphics, including more efficient rendering and reduced CPU footprint. This capability allows support for deploying Proficy ifix graphics on widescreen monitors, LCD TVs and different aspect ratio screens, as well as the ability to move Proficy ifix graphics from one resolution to another. Existing customers can re-use their existing screens so that their investment is protected. With Proficy ifix 5.8, end-users can decide when and how many graphics they want to convert. Proficy ifix 5.8 does not convert existing graphics by default only when end-users choose to convert. Improved Reliability and Security Proficy ifix 5.8 provides enhanced failover capabilities: Higher speed of alarm distribution on failover Improved maintenance mode Support for I/O driver access timeout on failover For improved security, Proficy ifix 5.8 offers: Proficy ifix networks support encrypted authentication keys Webspace sessions support 256-bit encryption and have a sandboxing feature. This provides the capability to whitelist applications for Webspace sessions to prevent unauthorized access.

11 Enabling real-time operational intelligence With Proficy ifix, end-users can publish to the SOA model, making the information available to the Proficy Application Server and Proficy Mobile. ifix also supports read/write functions to Proficy ifix from Proficy Workflow. Proficy Historian for SCADA included in ifix Every version of Proficy ifix is delivered with Proficy Historian for SCADA. It comes with 2500 buffered tags for real-time trending and a 200-day circular buffer. Proficy Historian is the foundation for advanced analytics. New operating system support The Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix 5.8 release provides support for Microsoft Windows 8 and Server It also supports SQL Server Currently ifix will not support Environment Protection for Proficy ifix Graphics in runtime while running on Windows 8 and Server It will be made available soon through a SIM. Unified WebSpace The new version of Webspace remote access client provides a single server to render Proficy HMI/SCADA ifix, Proficy HMI/SCADA CIMPLICITY and Proficy Plant Applications displays. Operating systems / VMware Product response - supported Subject project - used Operating systems client side run-time? Windows Server 2008 R2 64- bit Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit Operating systems client side configuration? Windows Server 2008 R2 64- bit Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit Operating systems server side? Windows 7 Professional (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows 7 Professional 64- bit Browser based? Not answered Not answered 52 industry standard device protocols included, including: Arcnet Ethernet Ethernet Front end device Profinet communications protocols Profibus DeviceNet serial RS232/485 Does the scada system rely on Java plug-ins to exploit the full functionality of its core and additional modules? No No

12 Q: Vendor comments on operating systems Microsoft IIS, Windows Mobile, Mobile OS, ios and ipad client support. Licensing, maintenance & support model Q: What sort of licensing agreement options are offered? There is a license for each product i.e. Proficy Historian, Proficy Plant Applications and Proficy HMI/SCADA-iFIX. Client Access licenses are ordered separately for each product. Q: Are licences sold outright or subject to periodic (e.g. annual) renewal? Licence is a once-off purchase for a particular version. Q: What upgrade agreements are offered? SIMs (update) are offered free of charge. We offer a support and upgrade contract, GlobalCare, which covers all new releases of the products sold. Q: What after-sales offerings iro support and maintenance are available, and which technologies are used to deliver them? Support is covered under a paid annual support agreement, GlobalCare, and includes new version releases, desktop remoting, and telephone support. Q: Do you have a documented process in place to manage and test OS patches and to release scada system software patches? Invalid response. Technology incorporated Product response Subject project Product uses Web Services? Majority of modules Some modules Cloud computing supported? Proficy Historian is Hadoop ready and enables site to store all data on a cloud-based GE server No Virtualisation models supported? All our products can run on Virtual No Machines Multi-touch gestures supported by OS + scada hardware + scada software? No No

13 Q: What changes have been introduced into the product in the last 12 months? Proficy Historian Analysis 5.5 Analyse tag data in trends, save and share your analyses, create and share reports on data Visualize, analyse and collaborate on Proficy Historian Alarms & Events Create displays in context of your plant structure Proficy ifix 5.2 Enhanced performance and scalability Greater security RtOI ready New OS support Integration and reporting Q: What generic and/or product specific interfaces does the product have iro well-known MES packages? SOA, OPC DA, OPC AE, OPC HDA, OLEDB. BusinessTalk for SAP. All certified except for OPC HDA. Q: What native historical data reporting options are available? Proficy Historian Analysis, RTIP, MS Excel, OLE DB, OPC HDA. 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? SCADA tags can be exported to a CSV file and then imported to a PLC programming environment. Security and data protection Q: If the scada system generates application files that are transferred to the PLC, how are PLC virus attacks prevented in this process? Invalid response. Q: What authentication, authorisation & role management models are available for the runtime environment? Level security (Users) is built into the both Proficy ifix and Proficy Plant Applications.

14 Unique selling proposition (USP) Q: List the top five feature/benefit pairs that contribute to this product s USP. Feature The Proficy suite offers integrated combination from the HMI/SCADA to the MES and Workflow The Historian and MES functionalities can be deployed and layered seamlessly on top of the existing application Proficy is easy to use, implement and maintain Access to the application is provided by role, anywhere, any time through a wide choice of clients. Free access is provided from mobile devices like tablets Powerful security features are standard, off-the-shelf Benefit Data flow is seamless from real time operational data to historical storage to analytical information like efficiency and quality. Workflow allows encapsulating, securing and automating work processes for increased repeatability, security and complete process integration Proficy provides the ease of integration and open architecture which has minimal impact to the production process Reduces the overall time to solution and the cost of maintaining the application The common Proficy Vision client provides time saving in operation and includes mobility at no additional cost Highly secure solutions through features such as encrypted authentication key for the Proficy HMI/SCADA - ifix network, which supports 256-bit encryption and a sandboxing feature for Webspace sessions