Best Practice: Saudi Aramco Desktop Standards
Best Practice: Saudi Aramco Desktop Standards
1 Introduction...................................................................................... 2
2 Conflicts with Mandatory Standards................................................. 2
3 References....................................................................................... 2
4 Definitions........................................................................................ 3
5 General............................................................................................ 7
6 Interface Utility Tools....................................................................... 8
7 OSIsoft’s Standard Interfaces………............................................... 9
8 PI-Tags........................................................................................... 10
9 Instrument Accuracy versus Resolution (Precision)...................... 12
10 Data Fidelity…………………………............................................... 13
10.1 High Fidelity Data Compression Configuration.................. 13
10.2 Moderate Fidelity Data Compression Configuration.......... 15
10.3 Basic Fidelity Data Compression Configuration................. 17
11 PI Interface Configuration.............................................................. 19
12 Performance Monitoring................................................................. 19
13 Compressing Configuration vs. Archive Files Size........................ 20
Appendix A – Documentation.................................................................. 21
Appendix B – Compression Configuration – Summary........................... 23
Appendix C – Performance Tags Example (Random Interface)............. 24
Appendix D – Impact of Compression
Configuration on Archive Files Size.................................. 25
Revision History....................................................................................... 26
1 Introduction
1.2 Scope
This Practice defines configuration of attributes and parameters used for data
compression specification as well as software required to ensure data
compression is configured in standard way on the company Plant Information
Systems in Saudi Aramco plants.
1.3 Disclaimer
This SABP is not intended to detail all aspects of the configuration and does not
include adequate information to enable it to be used as an instruction manual.
The equipment manufacturer's instruction manuals and data sheets will also need
to be referenced and utilized.
In the event of a conflict between this Best Practice and other Mandatory Saudi Aramco
Engineering Requirements, the Mandatory Saudi Aramco Engineering Requirements
shall govern.
3 References
Specific sections of the following documents are referenced within the body of the
document. Material or equipment supplied to this best practice, shall comply with the
referenced sections of the latest edition of these specifications. Where specific sections
are not referenced, the system shall comply with the entire referenced document.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
Issue Date: 16 November 2014
Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
4 Definitions
This section contains definitions for acronyms, abbreviations, words, and terms as they
are used in this document.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Archive Files: Files that contain the PI data (value and time). These files,
defined by start and end times, shall be contiguous and non-overlapping.
Archive Subsystem: The PI Archive subsystem stores and serves the data after
it comes out of the Snapshot subsystem.
Zero: A zero is required for all numeric data type points to indicate the lowest
value possible. It does not have to be the same as the instrument zero, but that is
usually a logical choice.
Span: The Span is the difference between the top of the range and the bottom of the
range. It is required for all numeric data type points.
Data Archive: The Data Archive (also called just “the Archive”) is a historical
record of values for each point in the Point Database.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Exception: Exception reporting takes place on the Interface Node. The point of
Exception reporting is to reduce the communication (I/O) burden between the PI
Server and the Interface Node by filtering out “noise”.
ExcDev: The ExcDev attribute specifies in engineering units how much a value
may differ from the previous value before it is considered to be a significant
value. This is a dead band, which when exceeded, causes an exception. This is
configured for each PI Point in either the ExcDev or ExcDevPercent attribute.
ExcMax: The ExcMax (Exception Maximum) attribute sets a limit on how long
the interface can go without reporting a value to PI. After the ExcMax time
period, the interface sends a value to PI, regardless of whether the new value is
different from the last reported value.
Interface Node: Interface Nodes run PI interfaces. PI interfaces get the data
from the data sources and send it to the PI Server. Each different data source
needs a PI interface that can interpret it. Another word for Interface Node is
Scan Node.
Interfaces: Software modules for collecting data from data sources or sending
PI data to other systems.
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OPC: OPC is open connectivity via open standards (formerly known as OLE
for Process Control).
PE Points: Calculated points, PI tags that take their data from results of the
Performance Equations (PE) subsystem.
Primary Archive: The archive file that ends at the current time. All events
recorded at the current time are stored in this archive.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Scan Class: A code that PI interfaces use to schedule data collection. Scan
classes consist of a period, which tells PI how often to collect the data and,
optionally, an offset, which tells PI when to start collecting data. A scan class
can also optionally contain a code that requires that the interface use UTC time.
Tag: The unique alphanumeric string that labels a PI point – tag name.
5 General
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Where exception reporting uses a simple dead band method for filtering data,
PI’s compression testing uses a more complex method that follows the slope of
the data (the swinging door compression algorithm).
Any new or existing PI Interface shall be configured and maintained using PI-
ICU.
Requirements
● Interface Configuration Utility (PI-ICU) shall be installed on each Interface
Node running operation system minimum Windows 2000/2003/XP (either
standalone Interface Node; PI server or SCADA/DCS machine).
Note: PI-ICU Microsoft software installer file is part of PI System Management
Tool (PI-SMT) installation package.
Requirements
● Performance Monitoring Interface shall be installed on each PI Node (PI
Server).
Note: Performance Monitoring Interface Basic Microsoft software installer file is
part of PI Universal Data Server (PI-UDS) installation package.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Requirements
● PI System Management Tools (PI-SMT) shall be installed on each PI Server
home node (PI Node) and each Interface Node with host operation system
Windows 2000/2003/XP.
● PI System Management Tools (PI-SMT) shall be used for overall PI System
and interface performance monitoring.
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7.4 Buffering
8 PI-Tags
Description:
Requirements
● Pointtype Float16 shall not be used for analog values. Float32 and Float64
shall be used instead of Float16 respectively.
Note: PI Float16 values are not really floats, but integers scaled so that they can
represent fractional values.
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● Pointtype Float32 shall be used for analog values within range from
1.175494351 E-38 to 3.402823466 E+38 where acceptable precision is
7 decimal digits within this range.
● Pointtype Float64 shall be used for analog values within range from
2.2250738585072014 E-308 to 1.7976931348623158 E+308 where
acceptable precision is 15 decimal digits within this range.
● Pointtype Int16 shall be used for integer values within range from 0 to
32767 where acceptable precision is 5 decimal digits within this range.
Pointtype Int16 shall be used for values without fractions (no digits after
decimal point).
● Pointtype Int32 shall be used for integer values within range from -
2147450880 to 2147483647 where acceptable precision is 10 decimal digits
within this range. Pointtype Int32 shall be used for values without fractions
(no digits after decimal point).
Description:
Requirements
● Data series of tags with non numeric pointtype can not be compressed via PI
compression mechanism.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Description
● Accuracy
The accuracy of an instrument reflects how close the reading is to the 'true'
measured value.
● Resolution (Precision)
● Measurement Error
● Example
Temperature
Working Temperature Range -20 to 125ºC standard
Calibrated Temperature Range 25 to 150ºC
Accuracy +/- 1ºC
Resolution 0.01ºC
Pressure
Working Pressure Range 0 to 15,000 psi
Calibrated Pressure Range 200 psi to 16,000 psi
Accuracy +/- 3.2 psi
Resolution < 0.01 psi
Requirements
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
10 Data Fidelity
Purpose: Purpose of this section is to separate data to groups corresponding data fidelity.
Requirements
Tag database shall be divided to three data fidelity groups. Data are considered as High
Fidelity, Moderate Fidelity and Basic Fidelity.
-High Fidelity
Number of tags required High Fidelity data shall not exceed 3% total count of tags.
This limit can be increased as required to meet short term needs (e.g., testing,
commissioning, etc.)
-Moderate Fidelity
Number of tags required Moderate Fidelity data shall not exceed 20% total count of
tags.
-Basic Fidelity
Tags considered sufficient with Basic Fidelity data (circa 80% total count of tags).
Description: High Fidelity data configuration shall be used for Process control
data with high movements and most modeling applications (scan time in seconds).
Requirements
10.1.1 EngUnits
10.1.2 Zero
10.1.3 Span
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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10.1.4 ExcMin
10.1.5 ExcMax
10.1.6 ExcDev
10.1.7 ExcDevPercent
10.1.8 CompMin
10.1.9 CompMax
10.1.10 CompDev
10.1.11 CompDevPercent
10.1.12 Compressing
10.1.13 Scan
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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10.1.14 Step
10.1.15 Shutdown
10.1.16 Archiving
Requirements
10.2.1 EngUnits
10.2.2 Zero
10.2.3 Span
10.2.4 ExcMin
10.2.5 ExcMax
10.2.6 ExcDev
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
10.2.7 ExcDevPercent
10.2.8 CompMin
10.2.9 CompMax
10.2.10 CompDev
10.2.11 CompDevPercent
10.2.12 Compressing
10.2.13 Scan
10.2.14 Step
10.2.15 Shutdown
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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10.2.16 Archiving
Description: Basic Fidelity data configuration shall be used for entire system
(high and moderate fidelity data are excluded).
Requirements
10.3.1 EngUnits
10.3.2 Zero
10.3.3 Span
10.3.4 ExcMin
10.3.5 ExcMax
10.3.6 ExcDev
10.3.7 ExcDevPercent
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
10.3.8 CompMin
10.3.9 CompMax
10.3.10 CompDev
10.3.11 CompDevPercent
10.3.12 Compressing
10.3.13 Scan
10.3.14 Step
10.3.15 Shutdown
10.3.16 Archiving
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
11 PI Interface Configuration
Purpose: Purpose of this section is to define usage of proper number of interface copies
per machine.
More copies of specific interface can be configured and run on dedicated machine
(Interface Node). With more copies can administrator properly load balance and tune
better machine performance to avoid high peaks.
Requirements
Proper number of Scan Classes shall be configured per each interface instance
to properly balance overall performance on Interface Node.
/id - The /id parameter shall be used to specify the interface identifier (interface
instance copy).
/f - The /f parameter shall be used to define the time period (scan class) between
scans in terms of hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds. Order position of /f
parameter in start up file shall be defined in Location4 for particular tag.
12 Performance Monitoring
Requirements
Performance Counters
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Description
Archive files size configuration depends on two primary parameters: point count and
amount of online history.
Several other parameters also impact size, although the effects are much less quantitative,
and therefore it is difficult to supply specific size information. Examples of these
parameters are:
● Snapshot rate,
● Archive rate,
● Compression specification (Exception and compression)
● Archive access, and
● Non-PI activity on the system
Note: Example of compression configuration impact on archive files size is discussed in
Appendix D - Impact of compression configuration on archive files size.
Requirements:
Archive file size shall be configured to accommodate minimum of one week history.
Revision Summary
19 December 2006 New Saudi Aramco Best Practice.
2 January 2012 Minor revision.
16 November 2014 Editorial revision to transfer responsibility from Process Control to Process Optimization
Solutions Stds. Committee.
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Appendix A – Documentation
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Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
Issue Date: 16 November 2014
Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
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Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
Issue Date: 16 November 2014
Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Objective
Calculate space required for PI archive files for two different compressing configurations
and compare results.
Problem description
PI database size is 20,000 tags
20 interfaces scan events from 20 DCS every 5 seconds
Tag attribute pointtype is defined for all tags Float32
Approach
Scenario 1:
All tags are configured as High Fidelity Tags.
Compression configuration: Exception is disabled (excmax=0)
Compression is disabled (compressing=0)
Space occupied by 1 even for pointtype Float32 is 5 bytes
In 1 archive record (1,024 bytes) can be accommodated 200 events
Number of events for 1 tag per 2 years with scan time 5 second is:
(12 x 60 x 24 x 365 x 2) = 12 614 400 events / 1 tag / 2 years
Number of events for 20,000 tags per 2 years is:
(20,000 x 12 614 400) = 252 288 000 000 events / all tags
Number of bytes occupied by all events is:
((252 288 000 000 / 200) x 1,024) = 1 291 714 560 000 bytes
Required space on hard disk displayed in different units is:
1 261 440 000 kB, or
1 231 875 MB, or
1 203 GB, or
1.17 TB
Result: This is not acceptable configuration.
Scenario 2:
Tags are configured as Moderate Fidelity Tags.
Compression configuration: Exception is enabled
Compression is enabled
Usual exception ratio is 1:10
Usual compression ratio is 1:10
Result archiving ratio will be 1:100
Required disk space will be 12 GB
Result: This configuration is acceptable.
Page 25 of 26
Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-001
Issue Date: 16 November 2014
Next Planned Update: TBD Plant Information System Data Compression
Revision History
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