FactoryTalk Historian SE Advanced Lab
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FactoryTalk Historian SE Advanced Lab
Contents
Before you begin ........................................................................................................................................... 5
About this Lab ................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Tools & prerequisites ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Lab 1: Reporting With VantagePoint............................................................................................................ 7
Section 1: Creating a Dashboard Report from a Template .............................................................................................................. 7
Section 2: Publish and View the Dashboard from the VantagePoint Portal................................................................................... 23
Lab 2: Interface Buffering and Redundancy .............................................................................................. 26
Section 1: Interface Buffering......................................................................................................................................................... 26
Section 2: Interface Redundancy ................................................................................................................................................... 37
Lab 3: Event Framing ................................................................................................................................. 62
Section 1: Configuring PIBaGen .................................................................................................................................................... 62
Section 2: BatchView ..................................................................................................................................................................... 79
Lab 4: External Data Access ...................................................................................................................... 89
Section 1: FactoryTalk Historian OLEDB Basics ........................................................................................................................... 89
Section 2: Using Microsoft Reporting Services .............................................................................................................................. 92
Lab 5: DataLink for Reporting .................................................................................................................. 106
Section 1: Sampled vs. Compressed Data .................................................................................................................................. 106
Section 2: Archived data and Digital tags .................................................................................................................................... 124
Section 3: DataLink Trend Object ................................................................................................................................................ 128
Section 4: Filtered Compressed Function .................................................................................................................................... 134
Section 5: Time Filtered Function ................................................................................................................................................ 140
Lab 6: System Management .................................................................................................................... 146
Section 1: Exploring the Rule Editor ............................................................................................................................................ 146
Section 2: Excel Tag Configurator ............................................................................................................................................... 161
Section 3: Data collection: Polled vs. Advised mode ................................................................................................................... 175
Section 4: Performance Equations .............................................................................................................................................. 191
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Section 5: Totalizers .................................................................................................................................................................... 202
Section 6: Event triggered points ................................................................................................................................................. 213
Section 7: Basic Output Points .................................................................................................................................................... 233
Lab 7: ProcessBook for Analytics ............................................................................................................ 247
Section 1: Beyond Basic Trending ............................................................................................................................................... 247
Section 2: Dynamic Elements in ProcessBook ............................................................................................................................ 272
Section 3: ProcessBook Displays in FactoryTalk View SE .......................................................................................................... 289
Section 4: Using ProcessBook Datasets ..................................................................................................................................... 299
Section 5: SQC Charting in ProcessBook.................................................................................................................................... 315
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Before you begin
The following steps must be completed before starting the lab exercise:
1. If not already running, Start the VMware images for the lab (DATA, SERVER, and CLIENT).
About this Lab
Welcome to the FactoryTalk Historian Advanced Lab! This session provides you with an opportunity to explore more advanced
features of FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition. The following sections explain what you’ll be doing in this lab session, and what
you will need to do to complete the hands-on exercises.
FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition is a solution for optimizing your manufacturing process through the analysis of historical data.
Historian provides the capability to collect, store, analyze, and visualize data using a powerful capturing engine and a powerful
set of reporting tools (such as time-series trends, bar chart, pie chart, and tabular) and easily generate reports using Microsoft
Excel.
Lab Format
This lab is a “pick and choose” lab, with seven (7) different labs to choose from. Each lab will take about 30 min to one hour, so it
is not expected that you will finish all seven labs. You will be able to download this manual after RSTechED, for further learning
later.
Tools & prerequisites
Lab Materials
For this Hands-On lab, we have provided you with the following materials that will allow you to complete the labs in this
workbook.
Software
This hands-on lab uses the following software:
 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard SP1
 Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise SP1
 Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 9
 Microsoft Office Excel 2010 32-bit SP1
 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition R2
 FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition, pre-release of version 3.0
 FactoryTalk VantagePoint, version 4.0
 FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook, version 3.20.01
 FactoryTalk Historian DataLink, version 4.20.01
 FactoryTalk Historian BatchView Add-in, version 3.10.20
 FactoryTalk Historian ActiveView, version 3.20.02
 FactoryTalk Services Platform and Administration Console, version 2.50 (CPR 9 SR 5)
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 FactoryTalk View Site Edition, version 6.10 (CPR 9 SR 4)
 SoftLogix, pre-release of version 20
 RSLogix 5000, version 20 (CPR 9 SR 5)
 RSLinx Classic, version 2.59 (CPR 9 SR 5)
 RSLinx Enterprise, version 5.50 (CPR 9 SR 5)
 PI OLEDB, version 2010 R3
 Xcelsius 2008
Hardware devices required
One (1) “host” computer with VMware virtualization software will host three “guest” operating systems for a total of three virtual
computers in a workgroup. The VMware images are named as follows:

“DATA”: A Windows 2008 Server computer to act as a processor (SoftLogix). FactoryTalk View SE Server, RSLinx
Enterprise, RSLinx Classic, RSLogix 5000 and a FactoryTalk Live Data Interface have been pre-installed (and activated)
for you.

“SERVER”: A Windows 2008 Server computer to act as a FactoryTalk Directory and FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition
and VantagePoint Servers. Internet Information Server (IIS), Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition have also
been pre-installed (and activated) for you.

“CLIENT”: A Windows 7 Enterprise computer to act as a client for FactoryTalk Historian SE, VantagePoint and View
SE and to host the client tools: ProcessBook, DataLink, ActiveView, FactoryTalk View SE Client, Internet Explorer and
VantagePoint Portal.
Communications Overview:
Host PC
Virtual Ethernet
DATA
(SoftLogix, RSLinx,
FTView SE Server and
FTLD Interface)
SERVER
(FTDirectory,
FTHistorian SE and
FTVantagePoint
Servers)
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CLIENT
(FTHistorian SE, FT View SE
and FTVantagePoint Clients)
Lab 1: Reporting With VantagePoint
Section 1: Creating a Dashboard Report from a Template
1. Go to the CLIENT Image.
2. Start Xcelsius 2008 from the desktop icon or Start > All Programs > Xcelsius > Xcelsius 2008.
3. Click Continue when prompted.
4. Wait until all of the Xcelsius windows open, including an instance of Microsoft Excel in the lower-center of the
screen. If you get this message, wait about 30 seconds and click Retry.
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5. We will use a partially completed template and add functionality to connect to Historian tags via VantagePoint.
In the Xcelsius menu at the top of the screen, select File > Open and open C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced
Lab\Dashboard Template.xlf.
6. In the Microsoft Excel window in the middle of the screen, click on cell C3 (red cell). In the Excel VantagePoint
menu, select Insert:
7. Select History and click Next.
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8. In the VantagePoint Model, navigate to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost > Historians >
Production Historian and click on Tags. Select the InstaCorp…T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag and move it to the
right with the > button. Click Next.
9. Select Use this Range and then click New….
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10. Browse to MyEnterprise > Samples v4 > Support > Report Library > Time Periods, select the Last 1 minute
time period and move it to the right with the > button. Click Next.
11. In the Data Options window, be sure the Skip advanced options is NOT selected or “unchecked”, and click
Next.
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12. Select Average and number of samples of 1. Click Finish and wait for the spreadsheet to populate with data.
13. Click on cell C12 (green cell).
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14. Select the VantagePoint > Insert function. Select History and after clicking Next you will see this screen. We
are using the same tag, so just click Next.
15. We are using the same time range, so select Use this Range and click Next.
16. In the Data Options window, be sure the Skip advanced options is NOT selected or “unchecked”, and click
Next.
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17. This time click the Count option, change number of samples to 1 and then click Finish.
18. On the canvas area, click on Label 1.
19. On the right side of the screen in the General area (may need to click on it to give it focus), click the Link to Cell
option and click the “cell picker” button (may need to widen this window for the "cell picker" to appear).
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20. Select cell D6 and click OK.
21. Select Gauge1. On the right of the screen click the General area. Specify the Title to be Average
Temperature. Browse to select Data By Range from cell D9 and set Maximum limit to 150.
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22. Also on Gauge1, go to Appearance > Text tab and click on Value (make sure it remains "checked"). Below in
the Number Format area, change to Numeric and select 2 Decimal Places.
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23. Select Gauge2 on the canvas in the center of the screen. On the right, in the General area, specify the Title to
be Number of Values and browse to set Data By Range to cell D18 and change Maximum Limit to 1000.
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24. Resize your objects as desired and add color or other options of your choice.
25. Select View > Canvas Sizing > Fit Canvas to Components.
26. From the Data menu in Xcelsius (not the Excel menu) select Connections…
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27. Click Add.
28. Select Excel XML Maps.
29. Click Add.
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30. Select Flash Variables.
31. Click Connection 1 Flash Variables.
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32. Click Import Named Ranges. Items will be added to the Ranges: field.
33. Click the first ExcelXML Map.
34. Select the Usage tab. Turn on Refresh Before Components Are Loaded and Refresh every 30 seconds.
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35. On the Definition tab, select the “cell picker” button.
36. Select cell C3 (red cell) and click OK.
37. Select the second ExcelXML Map and set the Usage tab as follows:
38. On the Definition tab, use the “cell picker” button and select cell C12 (green cell).
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39. Close the Data Manager dialog.
40. Select File > Save As on the Xcelsius menu and save your dashboard as C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced
Lab\MyTemperatureReport.xlf.
41. Select File > Export > Flash (SWF)…
42. Save to C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab directory as MyTemperatureReport.swf.
Note: You will see the following dialog while the SWF file is being generated.
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Section 2: Publish and View the Dashboard from the VantagePoint Portal
1. From the Excel > VantagePoint menu (not the Xcelsius menu) select Publish.
2. Use the icons to browse to the SWF and XLF files. Click Next.
3. Check the TimePeriods box to allow users change the TimePeriod as a Parameter in the report (you will see
what this means when you view your report). Click Next.
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4. Browse to the Reports folder under MyEnterprise > MyPlant and name the report MyTemperatureReport.
Click Next.
5. Check the box for Browse to published dashboard and click Finish.
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6. The report should soon appear, similar to the following. Approximately every 30 seconds you should see the two
values update.
7. Note that you can select a different relative time period and click Generate Report and the gauges will reflect
that average and count.
8. Note that you can select any Absolute Time Period and the report will reflect your choice when you click
Generate Report.
9. Close VantagePoint Portal and Xcelsius.
This lab is complete.
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Lab 2: Interface Buffering and Redundancy
Section 1: Interface Buffering
1. Select the CLIENT image.
2. Open FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook.
3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
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4. From the File menu select New.
5. Select the ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File option, and click the OK button.
6. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar:
7. Select the Trend button on the toolbar:
8. Add a Trend to the Display (click-hold, drag and release)
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9. Do the following steps:

Use the Tag Search button to select the tag that ends in …T100_Demo_Temp.PV

Change the Plot Time Start to *-10m

Click OK
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10. Do the following steps:

Resize the display and trend object to appear as below.
Note: If you do not see the "long" tag name to the right of the plot surface you need to widen the Display
window and Trend object to make room for the tag name to appear.
Note: You may need to go to Build mode in order to re-size the trend

If you went to Build mode, put the display back in run mode

Verify that the value for the …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag is changing and the trend updating.
11. In order to “monitor” the buffering subsystem, there are “queue statistics” we can monitor on the computer with
the Interface that is doing the buffering. The FTLD Interface FactoryTalk Historian Server is using is installed on
the DATA image.
Switch to the DATA image.
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12. Open the Interface Configuration Utility (ICU).
13. From the Interface selection box, pick the FTLD1 interface.
14. Once selected, pick Tools > Buffering.
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15. Notice that this interface is configured to use the PI Buffer Subsystem.
16. Select Buffered Servers and notice this interface is configured to buffer data for the historian server we are
using, named SERVER.
17. Click OK on the Buffering dialog and close the ICU.
18. Open a command prompt by clicking Start > Run… and specifying to run the program cmd.
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19. Change to the path of: C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\BIN
20. Your command prompt should look similar to this:
21. Enter the command: pibufss -qs
Note: “pibufss” is the buffer service, then there needs to be a space, a “-“ (dash) followed by “qs” for queue
statistics.
22. The result of this command should be similar to the following. The first column of numbers is the “count” at that
moment. The second column is “change since last update”. Note that you should be accumulating Total Event
Writes and Total Event Reads, but no Current Queue Events at this time.
23. Leave the Command Prompt open and return to the CLIENT image.
24. Verify that your trend in ProcessBook is still displayed and the …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag is still changing.
25. Go to the SERVER image.
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26. We will simulate a Historian Server outage by manually stopping Historian. Stop your Historian Server by
selecting Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE > Stop FactoryTalk
Historian SE.
Wait for all of the services to stop and the dialog to close itself before proceeding.
27. Go back to the CLIENT image and look at your ProcessBook trend. When the Historian Server is shut down,
you will see a “break” and apparent “loss of data" and the tag identified as Disconnected.
28. Go back to the DATA image.
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29. Since the Historian Server is not available, the FTLD Interface is still collecting, but buffering the data. You
should see Current Queue Events accumulating (may take several “updates”).
30. Return to the SERVER image.
31. Restart the Historian Server by selecting Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk
Historian SE > Start FactoryTalk Historian SE.
32. While the Server is restarting (may take several minutes), return to the DATA image.
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33. See if you can “catch” when the server finishes restarting and the pibufss buffer “empties”. Current Queue
Events value should go to 0 (zero) and the “change since last” value should be negative. This may take several
minutes.
34. Return to the CLIENT image.
35. Your trend should now be updating with values.
36. If you see any gaps, you may need to use the Scroll Time tool to “refresh” the data in the trend. You can also
use this tool to scroll to a time period many minutes ago when you know the server was “down”. The trend
should be displaying data with “no gaps”.
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37. Use the Revert button to revert to current time and “live” data.
38. Leave ProcessBook and this trend running for the next section.
39. Go to the DATA image. Make sure the command window has focus and select Ctrl-C to stop the queue
statistics. Close the command window.
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Section 2: Interface Redundancy
In the VMware images being used in this lab, RSLinx Enterprise and the FTLD Interface we have been using are on the DATA
image. To demonstrate Interface Redundancy, another FTLD Interface has been installed on the CLIENT image. It is NOT
recommended in real applications that Interfaces be run on “client machines”, but for the purposes of this lab we will use an
interface on the CLIENT image as a redundant interface to the one on the DATA image.
Part A – Configuring Buffering and Initial CLIENT Interface Configuration
1. Go to the DATA image.
2. Open the Interface Configuration Utility (ICU).
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3. Use the ICU on this image to confirm the interface is running (select FTLD1 Interface from drop-down list and
look for "Running" at the bottom of the dialog)…
4. …and configured for Buffering.
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5. Close the Buffering dialog but leave the ICU open.
6. Go to the CLIENT image.
7. On the CLIENT image, we want to verify the connection to the Historian Server named SERVER. Launch the
AboutPI-SDK utility.
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8. Click on the Connections entry, the SERVER checkbox and confirm SERVER connected dialog appears at
bottom.
9. Select File > Exit PISDKUtility to close the About PI-SDK.
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10. Launch the Interface Configuration Utility (ICU).
11. Click the Create new Interface Instance from .BAT file toolbar button
.
12. Navigate to the LDInterface directory and select the FTLDInt_FTLD.bat.bak file.
Click the Open button.
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13. You will be prompted to select the Host PI Server. Select SERVER from the drop-down box and click the OK
button.
14. Note that the Interface ID is set to the default value of 1 and will be the same ID as that of our primary interface
on DATA, Interface ID of 1.
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15. Select the Service category. Change the Display name to FTLD1 and then click the service Create button.
16. Select the Buffering… command from the Tools menu.
17. Change the radio button to Enable buffering with PI Buffer Subsystem.
18. Read the messages and click OK (you will not start the service YET!)
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19. Notice you are in the Buffered Servers dialog. Select SERVER from the drop-down box. Click the OK button.
20. First, click General and then click Service on the left. Click Yes make the PIBufss service a dependancy. This
dialog would come up later before you could start the interface, but since we are finishing the configuration for
Buffering we “forced” it to appear now to get out of the way. Leave the ICU open.
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Part B - Create Shared Folder
1. We need to create a “shared folder” to store a “handshaking file” that the two redundant interfaces will use to
control their redundancy. Go to the SERVER image.
Note: A computer running a Historian Server is NOT a recommended place for this shared "handshaking"
folder. However, since it is the only image that will not be running an Interface, we will use it for training
purposes in this lab.
2. Go to Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Share and Storage Management.
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3. Click on Provision Share… on right side of dialog
4. Click the Browse button
5. Click the c$ drive and then Make New Folder button
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6. Name the folder FTH_Shared (press Enter after typing name) and then click OK
7. Click Next > several times to accept defaults until this screen. Select the second option and then Next >
Note: In a “real application”, you may wish to adjust these permissions for a different user name or group of
users.
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8. Click Next > on dialog that follows and then Create on this dialog.
9. Click Close and then close the Share and Storage Management dialog.
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Part C – Configuring Interfaces for Failover
1. Change to the DATA image which should still have its ICU open.
2. Verify the FTLD1 interface is still selected in the drop-down box.
3. Select the Failover sub-category under UniInt in the left pane.
4. Check the box to Enable UniInt Failover.
5. Select Phase 2.
6. For Synchronization File Path, browse to the FTH_Shared folder on Server (Network > SERVER >
FTH_Shared) and click Open. The file FTLDInt_FTLD_1.dat will be created in this folder.
7. Select UFO (Universal FailOver) Type of HOT.
8. Carefully confirm all following selections. When confirmed, select Apply.
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9. Read this message (we will come back later to finish the configuration) and click OK
10. Click OK (we will stop and restart the interface later)
11. Go to the CLIENT image
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12. Make the same selections on this interface as you did on the other. IMPORTANT! - In addition, select Failover
ID # 2 for this instance and Failover ID # 1 for the other instance - IMPORTANT! Verify all below selections.
13. Click Apply on above dialog
14. Click OK
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Part D – Modifying FTLD Service Properties
1. Still on the CLIENT image, go to Services by selecting Start > Control Panel > System and Security >
Administrative Tools > Services
2. Double-click the FTLD1 Service
3. Select the Log On tab, and specify to use Administrator account with password of rockwell. Click OK
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4. Read and click OK
5. Close Services, Administrative Tools and System and Security dialogs
6. Go to the DATA image
7. Go to Services (Start > Administrative Tools > Services) and make the same changes to the FTLD1 interface
on this image. Use Administrator with password of rockwell. Click OK.
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8. Read and click OK.
9. Read and click OK. You will not stop and restart the service YET!
10. Close the Services dialog.
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Part E – Finishing up and Testing the Interface Redundancy
1. Still on the DATA image, in the ICU, click the Browse button to select the “other instance”.
2. You will click the FTLDInt1 interface on the CLIENT image and click OK.
3. In the “tag area”, below where you identified the UFO Type and Synchronization File Path, right-click on the
tags and select Create UFO_State Digital Set on Server SERVER…:
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4. Click OK on this dialog.
5. Right-click on the “tag area” again and select Create all points (UFO Phase 2).
6. Click the Apply button at the bottom-right of the dialog box and click OK on the Interface Changes Require
Restart dialog box that will appear.
7. Restart the interface. Look for Ready and Running at the bottom-left of the dialog box.
Leave the ICU open.
8. Return to the CLIENT image.
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9. Select the Browse button.
10. Click the interface on DATA image and click OK
11. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the dialog box and then start this interface by clicking
12. Click Yes if asked if you would like the ICU to start the PIBufss Service.
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.
13. Switch over to the SERVER image.
14. Launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
15. Expand the Data category and select the Current Values plug-in.
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16. Use the search button to add all of the FTLDInt1_* tags to the current values monitor and click the Start
Updating toolbar button.
You should be seeing:

ActiveID = 1 – Interface Node with Failover ID#1 is currently "Primary" and sending data to Historian Server

DeviceStatus = 0 – Zero is “good” status

Heartbeats = Incrementing numbers indicate Interface Nodes #1 and #2 are responsive

States = Current “Primary” or “Backup” state of Interface Nodes #1 and #2. Under certain conditions could also
indicate “Off” or “Transition”
17. Leaving the SMT open, go to the CLIENT image and the ProcessBook: application, which should still be
running the below display from earlier in this lab. If not running, start ProcessBook and create a display with a
trend of the tag ending in …T100_Demo_Temp.PV. Ask instructor for assistance if needed. Note – at this time
you may see a “gap” in the data from when you restarted the interface on the DATA image. This was prior to
finalizing interface redundancy. The remainder of this lab will test the redundancy since you’ve completed its
configuration.
Note: Since the Interface on image DATA is currently Primary (you should have seen that with the SMT on
image SERVER), this tag being trended is coming from the Interface on image DATA to the Historian Server.
18. Switch back to the DATA image.
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19. Use the ICU to stop the Interface by clicking
.
20. Switch back to the CLIENT image.
21. There could be a short delay but then the backup interface should take over.
Does data collection continue with no "loss of data"?
22. Switch back to the DATA image and start the Interface.
23. Switch back to the SERVER image.
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24. Did the Interfaces “switch roles”? The Interface on CLIENT (Failover ID #2) is now “Primary” and the Interface
on DATA (Failover ID #1) is “Backup”?
25. Experiment with stopping a “Primary” interface to verify the “Secondary” Interface takes over, with no data loss.
Just be sure you don’t end up with both Interfaces stopped. You WILL FOR SURE lose data then! 
26. When you are finished experimenting, revert back to non-redundant conditions by:

Make sure the Interface Node on DATA (ID#1) is Primary

On the CLIENT image, stop the Interface with the ICU, then close the ICU.

Use the ICU on DATA image to de-select Enable UniInt Failover, click Apply and Restart the Interface Node.
27. On all three images, close any open applications (SMT, ProcessBook, ICU, etc).
This lab is complete.
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Lab 3: Event Framing
Section 1: Configuring PIBaGen
What You Will Learn
 How to configure the PIBaGen To Populate Batches
This exercise covers creating a PIUNIT in the module database. It can be configured to work with PIBaGen. The batch counter
can be used as the batch active and batch label tag. The phase counter will be used as a sub-batch id and label. The PIBaGen
service may need to be manually started.
Reference
The PI Batch Generator Interface (PIBaGen) collects data from the Historian Server (from the Historian Data Archive and the PI
Module Database), generates batch data and writes the batch data to the Historian Server in the Batch Database. PIBaGen is
used when there is no native interface to generate and store batch data in the PI System. PIBaGen automatically generates
PIUnitBatches, Batches and Sub Batches for each PIUnit that is configured and registered. The generated batch information can
be accessed using tools like BatchView and PI Batch Database Editor. This interface is not UniInt based and does not support
any Failover. It only populates the PI Batch Database based on PI Events and does populates only one PI Point which
represents the status of the interface.
A PIUnit represents a piece of equipment in which a product is processed in batches. The Aliases of the PIUnit define the PI
Points associated with the equipment. Each time a product is processed through a PIUnit, a PIUnitBatch is created. Since there
can be only one batch processed in a piece of equipment at any time, there can be only one PIUnitBatch associated with a
PIUnit at any time
A PIUnitBatch is the data object that encapsulates one ISA S88 concept of a batch. Here is the definition from S88: “The
material that is being produced or that has been produced by a single execution of a batch process.”
PIBaGen recognizes the start and end of the processing in a PIUnit, and therefore the start and end of the PIUnitBatch, by
changes in values of a PI Point known as “Active Point.” Starting a PIUnitBatch includes writing the start time and other
properties of PIUnitBatch like Batch ID, procedure name, product name etc., to the PI Batch Database. PIBaGen optionally also
adds the PIUnitBatch to the collection of PIUnitBatches under an object called Batch.
A Batch is used to record the production of a specific “Batch”; in practice this usually involves one or more PIUnitBatches in one
or more PI Units (one or more pieces of equipment). A Batch allows collecting related PIUnitBatches. All the Batches and
properties associated with Batches, like Product Name, Batch Recipe, etc., are stored in the PI Batch Database.
The SubBatch information is also written to the PI Batch Database by the PIBaGen interface. A SubBatch is a definable portion
of a PIUnitBatch and is always associated with a PIUnitBatch. The start and end time for each of these definable portions is
determined by a separate Active Point called “SubBatch Active Point.” Examples of S88 Sub-batches are Operations and
Phases. Every SubBatch has a name, a Heading and a collection of Sub Batches associated with it. The SubBatch collection
allows for a hierarchy of Sub Batches.
Specifying the PI Points for Active Points and all other properties of Batches, PIUnitBatches and Sub Batches is called the
“PIUnit Configuration.” PIUnit configuration is stored as Aliases and Properties in the PI Module Database. The creation and
configuration of the PIUnit is done using the PI Batch Generator Plug-in for PI SMT.
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Reference Manuals
 Batch Generator (PIBaGen) Interface to the PI System Guide
 C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\Interfaces\PIBaGen
Other Reference Manuals
 PI Server Installation Guide for information on installation of the Batch Database and PIBaGen
 PI SDK User Manual and Help file, for information on PI Batch objects and programmatically writing or editing batches and
on the PI Module Database.
 PI System Management Tools (PI SMT) online Help files, for information on using the PI Batch Generator plug-in and Batch
Database plug-in
 Batch Database Support of the PI Batch Subsystem, for information how the PI Batch Subsystem data can be supported
through PI Batch Database and PI-SDK, the impact on existing batch applications, and for techniques to move to the PI
Batch Database.
 PI BatchView User Manual, for information on viewing batches using the BatchView software.
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image.
2. Launch the Interface Configuration Utility (ICU).
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3. Click the Import Existing Interface from .BAT file toolbar button.
4. Navigate to the PIBaGen subdirectory location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk
Historian\PIPC\Interfaces\PIBaGen.
5. Open the file named PIBaGen.bat.
6. The Interface will be named: PIBaGen.
7. Change the type from none to other_non_uniint.
8. From the ICU toolbar click Save.
9. Click Yes to continue when warned that no point source has been specified.
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10. In the Service area, set Startup Type to Auto and click the Apply button
Click Yes if you get the message Do you wish to proceed without specifying a Point Source?
11. Click the Start button on the toolbar.
Click Yes if asked Do you wish to proceed with interface startup without defining scan classes?
12. Open Windows Computer Manager Services and check that the newly created PIBaGen service is running
(click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Services and look for PI Batch Generator Interface).
13. Close the Services dialog and click the Close button to close the ICU.
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14. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the directory C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk
Historian\Server\adm. Look closely for these three files which you will edit in the following steps.

pisrvsitestop.bat

pisrvsitestart.bat

pisitestart.bat
15. Right-click on pisrvsitestop.bat and select Edit from the context menu.
16. Remove the REM statement from in front of net stop pibagen.
17. Save and Close the file.
18. Right-click on pisrvsitestart.bat and select Edit from the context menu.
19. Remove the REM statement from in front of net start pibagen.
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20. Save and Close the file.
21. Right-click on pisitestart.bat and select Edit from the context menu.
22. Remove the REM statements from the PI-Batch Generator Interface block (7 total lines near the bottom of this
bat file – need to scroll down).
23. Save and Close the file. Close Windows Explorer.
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Create a new PIUnit…
1. Still on the SERVER image, launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
2. Expand the Operation category and select the Module Database plug-in.
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3. Expand SERVER and right-click on Modules and select New.
4. Name the Module Reactor Section and click OK.
Note: If you already have a module called Reactor Section, proceed using that already created module.
5. Right-click on Reactor Section module and select New > PIUnit.
6. Enter T100 into the Module Name field and click OK (not shown).
7. Assign an alias to the PIUnit, right-click on the T100 module and create a new Alias.
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8. Enter Temperature into the Alias Name field and map it to the PI Server named SERVER and tag ending in
…T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag (use the SEARCH button), and click OK.
9. Launch the FactoryTalk Administration Console (Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk
Administration Console).
10. Click Network directory, click OK.
11. In the FT Administration Console explorer, right-click InstaCorp and click Add Individual Historian Points…
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12. Select Browse Tags.
13. Browse InstaSoap > Mixing > CLX1 > Online and select the tag T100_Batch_Counter.ACC.
14. Click Add Tags(s) to List, (the selected tag will be displayed in the lower window).
15. Use similar steps to also add T100_Phase_Counter.ACC.
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16. When you click OK on the above dialog, your screen should have both tags listed such as follows. Click OK on
this dialog.
17. Close Administration Console and switch back to System Management Tools (SMT).
18. Expand the Batch category and select the Batch Generator plug-in:
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19. Select SERVER in the middle pane under Registered Units Only tab (see below graphic).
20. Select the Interface tab in the right pane.
21. Set the Configuration Module Name to PIBaGen.
22. In the middle pane, click the Save toolbar button.
23. Switch to the MDB View tab and navigate to the T100 PIUnit (SERVER > Reactor Section).
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24. Using Batch Generator plug-in, (the right hand configuration view), select the PIUnitBatches tab and configure
the following:

Set the Active Point to use the T100_Batch_Counter.ACC tag

ActivePoint Behavior to use Step and Include zeroth state (Continuous)

Set Unit Batch ID Point to use the T100_Batch_Counter.ACC tag

Change the Recovery Options checkbox to Do not recover anything.
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25. Select the PISubBatches tab and right-click on SubBatch Hierarchy.
Right click to Add New SubBatch or click the New SubBatch Configuration icon
.
26. Name the SubBatch Heating.
27. Using SubBatch configuration view, configure the following:

Set the Active Point to use the T100_Phase_Counter.ACC tag

ActivePoint Behavior to use Step and the Include zeroth state (Continuous) box is checked

Set SubBatch Name Point to Use ActivePoint value
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28. In the Batch Generator plug-in tree view, select and right-click the T100 PIUnit and Save (or use the Save icon
on the tool bar).
29. The PiBaGen interface will not monitor a PIUnit and generate batch data if the PIUnit is not registered.
Registering a PIUnit is like turning the scan option ON for a Historian Tag or Point. Right-click again on the T100
PIUnit and select Register.
30. Expand the Batch Database plug-in (see below graphic).
31. Expand the tree until you can see the T100 unit in the center window.
32. Select and right-click T100 to Search for PIUnitBatch, or click on the Search for PIUnitBatch
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.
33. Ensure that the PIUnitBatch search PIUnit field will be populated with \\SERVER\Reactor Section\T100, if not,
enter T100.
Note: if you starting the search from the top of the Batch database tree, then the PIUnit field would contain
an ‘*’. Need to replace this with T100.
34. Click OK.
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35. Expand the Batch database search results and verify that Unit Batches are being created by PIBaGen.
In the following example, there are 3 Unit Batches. The last unit batch in the list (7806) has PISubBatches 0 and 1 finished
and 2 still running (you can tell because it is selected and on the right you see End Time is "Still Running"...finished
SubBatches would have both Start and End times specified). If you do not see a “tree” with a “plus sign” (+) when you
searched for PIUnitBatch, you may need to wait several seconds and search again. Multiple search results will appear in
the same window.
Note: Up to this point you have created a PIUnit and Historian is monitoring and archiving Batch information.
The Batch information you have configured is information such as:

What triggers the start and end of a Batch and Sub Batches – their "Active Points"

Where the value of the Batch ID will come from - the "Unit Batch ID Point"

A tag’s value to monitor during the Batch cycles, the "Temperature Alias" that you created within the PIUnit
You have also seen how to monitor basic information of the Batches and Sub Batches, such as Batch IDs and Start and
End Times, from within the SMT. In the next section you will see how a BatchView add-on can be used to monitor batch
information from within a ProcessBook display.
36. Close the SMT and Administration Console (if still open).
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Section 2: BatchView
What You Will Learn
 To configure a BatchView Group in ProcessBook
 To compare a sub-batch phase against a golden batch
In this exercise, you are going to be looking at a couple of ways to visualize the batch information being generated by the results
of the previous exercise,
You will configure a simple BatchView Group trend of the batches in absolute time view. Then switch to a relative view and pick
a batch to represent a golden batch. Align a phase of the golden batch for comparison against other sub-batches
1. Go to the CLIENT image.
2. The following steps will build a basic ProcessBook display for our BatchView. Launch ProcessBook.
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3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
4. From the File menu select New.
5. Select new ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File, set the Display Name to BatchView, and click the OK button.
6. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar:
7. Select the Batch Group button on the toolbar:
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8. Click and drag a Batch Group into the empty space which covers most of the work area.
9. In the Search Parameters area, change the following:

Unit Name parameter from * to T100

Time Range and Duration to Between: *-10m and *
10. Click the Search button.
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11. From the Available Aliases pane at the bottom of the Batch group definition dialog, select the Temperature
alias and click the Add Alias -> button.
12. Select the Layout tab.
13. From the Visible Symbols pane, check the Results check box.
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14. Select the Settings tab and from the Plot Time pane, set the Absolute radio-button.
15. Click OK. The display may take a moment to retrieve all the data.
16. When the display appears, select the Run button on the ProcessBook toolbar (it may automatically be
selected). If you wish to resize the Batch object, you need to go to Build Mode (hammer icon) and then back to
Run Mode once you are ready to view the batch information.
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17. All the batches active during the last ten minutes are displayed in absolute time from the start of the first batch to
the end of the last batch.
Note: The most recently completed batch is dark red, while the still in-process batches are light green.
Note: The temperature alias is the same color as the batch that it corresponds with.
17. In the Results Panel, select a Unit Batch and click the
symbol to show the Sub-Batches.
18. In the Batch Gantt Panel (upper right) select a Unit Batch
Batches.
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and click the
symbol to show the Sub-
19. To display precise time information of a unit batch, right-clicking on Unit Batch
menu select Properties…
20. Close the Properties dialog.
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and from the context
21. Change back to build mode by selecting the Build tool on the ProcessBook toolbar.
22. Double-click on the Batch Group object.
23. Select the Settings tab.
24. From the Plot Time pane, set the Relative - Start and End Time radio-button. Enter an Offset value of -60s for
the Start time. Click OK.
25. Select the Run button on the ProcessBook toolbar.
Note: The unit batches are aligned based on their start time. Times along the x-axis are now seconds into
the batch. You should be able to easily see if some batches took longer (or less time) than others.
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26. Pick a Unit Batch that you would like to be the Golden Batch.
27. Click in the Anchor column
symbol in the results pane for that Unit Batch.
28. The batch turns yellow to indicate it is the Golden Batch. The batch will be prevented from expiring from the
search results.
29. Select the Golden Batch in the Batch Gantt chart on the right, and then click the
Batches.
symbol to show the Sub-
30. Suppose the 2nd phase of the unit batch is particularly critical for the process, you can align all the unit batches
based on their 2nd phase of the golden batch.
31. Right-click on the 2nd phase of the golden batch and select Align to every PIUnitBatch\2 from the contextmenu.
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32. Expand some of the sub batches and compare the 2nd phase against that of the golden batch.
33. Experiment with the Batch Group object as you wish. When done, close ProcessBook.
This lab is complete
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Lab 4: External Data Access
Section 1: FactoryTalk Historian OLEDB Basics
About This Section
In this exercise, you will examine some of the built-in capabilities of the FactoryTalk Historian OLEDB layer. The OLEDB layer
provides convenient access to archive data, a mechanism for performing system configuration, and the ability to perform
complex performance equation calculations
In this section you will learn how to use the PI-OLEDB Tester to examine some sophisticated functionality provided by the
OLEDB layer
Reference
PI OLEDB exposes PI data in form of tables which are grouped into catalogs as listed below:
piarchive
pibatch
pids
pifunction
piheading
pilog
pimodule
pipoint
piuser
contains archive related tables
contains batch data tables
contains PI digital state tables
contains tables representing PE functions
contains heading tables
contains the pimessagelog table
contains a set of tables representing the Module Database
contains tag configuration tables (one per point class)
contains user database tables
Documents on computer with FactoryTalk Historian Server and OLDB Provider installed
 C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\OLEDB\Doc\PI OLEDB Provider 2010 R3_EN.pdf
 C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\OLEDB\Doc\PI OLEDB Provider 2010 R3 Release
Notes.pdf
 C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\OLEDB\Tools\PI OLEDB Tester\
SampleStatements.txt
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This exercise will involve examining functionality provided by the OLEDB layer. Not only do the tables provide easy access to
some PI calculations, but there are also some custom SQL functions provided to ease calculations and translations of states.
1. On the SERVER image, launch the PI-OLEDB tester application by starting the following executable…
C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\PIPC\OLEDB\Tools\PI OLEDB
Tester\PIOLEDBTester.exe.
2. If prompted to login, select the Use Windows NT Integrated security checkbox and then click OK.
3. Select Sample Statements >> .
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4. In the Archive Statements category, there are 34 sample queries. To help understand the statement
functionality, each statement is accompanied with a short comment. Review entries to see how to handle the
following types of situations:

Translating a digital state or status

Retrieve snapshot data

Count archive entries

Work with annotations

Work with timestep interpolated data

Use SQL CASE statement
4. Click on various Sample SQL Statements and click Execute. Review results displayed at the bottom of the
dialog.
5. If you like you can try editing one of the SQL Statements or try entering one of your own, executing and
reviewing results.
6. Close PI-OLEDB Tester, Windows Explorer and/or My Computer (if still open).
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 2: Using Microsoft Reporting Services
What You Will Learn
 How to create a basic Microsoft Reporting Services report for reporting on FactoryTalk Historian data
 In this exercise you will go through the process of creating a basic Microsoft Reporting Services report which pulls data from
FactoryTalk Historian archives.
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services is a server-based reporting platform that can be used to create and manage tabular,
matrix, graphical, and free-form reports that contain data from relational and multidimensional data sources. The reports can be
viewed and managed over a World Wide Web-based connection. Reporting Services includes the following core components:
 Complete set of tools that you can use to create, manage, and view reports
 Report Server (NT Service) component that hosts and processes reports in a variety of formats. These (output) formats
include HTML, PDF, TIFF, Excel, CSV, and more.
One of the sources of data that Reporting Services can work with is OLEDB Providers. The PI OLEDB is pre-installed on the
SERVER image.
Reporting Services detailed help can be found in MS SQL Server Books Online available at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/default.mspx
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image.
2. From the Start Menu, launch the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio by selecting All
Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 > SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio.
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3. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project…
4. In the Project types list, click Business Intelligence Projects (see below graphic).
5. In the Templates list, click Report Server Project.
6. In the Name field, enter FTH MSReport.
7. Click OK to create the project.
8. The FTH MSReport solution will be displayed momentarily in VS (Visual Studio) Solution Explorer view (a
window on the right side).
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9. You need to specify the target Server URL for the project. If the properties page is not automatically displayed
when creating the report, in the Solution Explorer, right-click FTH MSReport and click Properties.
10. Set the Target Server URL to http://localhost/ReportServer (see below).
11. Click OK.
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In order to collect data from the Historian server, you need to create a connection to the Historian server. In this exercise, you will
add a shared data source via PI OLEDB.
1. Right-click the Shared Data Sources folder and select Add New Data Source
2. The Shared Data Source dialog box appears.
3. Enter PIOLEDB in the Name field.
4. Select OLE DB from the Type: drop-down list.
5. Click the Edit… button to fill in the PI OLEDB connection properties (following steps).
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6. Select OLE Provider to PI OLE DB Provider from the drop-down list
7. Enter SERVER into Server or file name field.
8. Specify Use Windows NT Integrated Security.
9. Verify that the following options are selected and entered correctly in the image below.
10. Click Test Connection.
11. Verify that the connection succeeded and click OK, and OK again
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12. Add the following to the Connection string:
;Integrated Security = SSPI
13. Verify the above configuration options and click OK.
14. After the data source is defined, Report Designer creates a dataset (you named it PIOLEDB).
15. To create a report definition file, in the Solution Explorer right-click Reports, point to Add, and click New
Item...
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16. Select Report Wizard.
17. In Name field, leave the default name Report1.rdl.
18. Click Add.
19. The Report Wizard welcome page will be displayed. Click Next.
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20. Verify the shared data source is set to PIOLEDB.
21. Click Next.
22. In the design query type the following:
SELECT tag, time, value, status
FROM piarchive..picomp
WHERE tag LIKE ? AND time >= ? AND time <= ?
ORDER BY tag, time
23. Click Next.
24. Select the report type as Tabular.
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25. Click Next.
26. In the report design table, select tag and then click the Page > button to move “tag” into the page display field.
27. Select time and click Group > to move “time” into the Group display field.
28. Select Value and Status and click Details > to move “value” and “status” into the details display field.
29. Verify that the following groups have been configured.
30. Click Next.
31. Select the default Stepped.
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32. Click Next.
33. Select the default Slate.
34. Click Next.
35. In Report Name field, leave the default report name Report1.
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36. Click Finish.
37. A view opens that contains Design and Preview tabs; the report opens in Design view (may need to click on
Design to give it focus).
38. From the Report Data window on the left, double-click on Parameter1
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39. Configure the Parameter1 properties with the following settings:

Prompt:
Tag Mask

Data type:
Text

Click OK
40. Repeat the parameter configuration steps for Parameter2 with the following settings

Prompt:
Start Time

Data type:
Date/Time
41. Repeat the parameter configuration steps for Parameter3 with the following settings

Prompt:
End Time

Data type:
Date/Time
42. From the VS design view window select the Preview tab to preview Report1.
43. Set the parameters to the following:

Tag Mask:
*T100*.PV

Start Time:
Date and Time of 5 minutes ago (for example, 4/21/2012 11:00:00 AM)

End Time:
Date of tomorrow
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44. Click View Report and observe the results.
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45. Once you made any desired edits to the report and were satisfied with its appearance, you would normally save
and deploy the project/report in order to view in a browser. These steps are not included in this lab, but the end
result would appear similar to the following.
46. Close Microsoft Visual Studio.
This lab is complete
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Lab 5: DataLink for Reporting
Section 1: Sampled vs. Compressed Data
What You Will Learn
 How to use DataLink’s data retrieval functions and what the difference is between sampled and compressed data.
FactoryTalk Historian DataLink provides many different methods to retrieve data. A fundamental difference in many of the
functions is whether you are retrieving sampled or compressed data. Sampled data is regularly spaced data where interpolated
values are returned if there is not a recorded value at a particular timestamp. Compressed data is simply the actual recorded
values that were archived. This exercise demonstrates the difference, but begins with an introduction to displaying data from
FactoryTalk Historian in an Excel spreadsheet using DataLink.
Part A – DataLink Introduction
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Launch Excel 2010 by selecting Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Excel 2010.
3. Enter text into the spreadsheet and “widen” rows as appropriate to create a spreadsheet similar to the following:
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4. Click in the cell under the text Temperature; and then select PI > Current Value:
5. In the dialog box that appears, click the Search button to the right of the Tagnames(s) field:
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6. Do the following steps:

Enter Tag Mask of *T100*

Click Search

Pick …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag

Click OK
7. Click time at left. Then, click OK.
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8. You should have the Current Value of the …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag with timestamp displayed such as the
following.
Note: If one or more of your cells filled with hash marks (##########), widen out the column(s) to make
more room for the information to fit.
9. This Current Value will not dynamically update, but notice if you press F9, whether this cell is selected or not,
the “current value” link will update (try it). Note that at times the tag’s value may not be changing for many
seconds in a row, so if the value doesn’t change when you press F9, please wait a few seconds and try again.
10. You can also click the Update button on the toolbar to cause the value to update automatically.
11. Click the Update button to stop or deselect automatic updates (Temperature value and timestamp should stop
updating).
12. Now, select the cell under the Last Minute: text and select the Compressed Data button.
Note: The “bottom half” of the button will give “preconfigured” options of “Values for yesterday”, “Values for
today” and “Values for past day”. We want to configure start and end times ourselves, so click the “top half”
of the button:
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13. Make the following entries:

Search and select the same …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag

Start Time of *

End Time of *-1m

Hide count

Show timestamps
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14. Click OK.
15. Your spreadsheet should now be showing the last minute’s worth of data from the archive.
Note: Although this tag might be configured with a 1 second scan class, based on times when the tag’s
value isn’t changing and also exception and compressions settings, there is not likely to be data archived
every second (below graphic only showing partial data).
16. Notice that pressing F9 will continue to update the single Current Value on the spreadsheet, but seems to have
no effect on updating the Compressed Data (Start Time / End Time) array.
A special key combination of Ctrl – Alt – Shift – F9 will update this and other arrays you might add, as well as the single
Current Value field. Please try this key combination to verify.
17. Like the F9 key, the Update button you used earlier will only update the Current Value field. However, if you
click Settings to the right of the Update Button, you can change to Full Calculate and also specify a time
interval if desired (minimum of 5 seconds).
18. Turn “off” automatic update (click Update button if selected to “de-select”).
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19. Select the cell under the cell containing Last 10 Values Archived and select PI > Compressed Data.
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20. Make the following choices:

Select Number of Values

Select same …T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag

Start time of *

Number of Values of 10

Select backwards in time

Show timestamps

Click OK
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21. You should see the last 10 values archived displayed. This new series of data, as well as the other data on your
spreadsheet, should update with Ctrl – Alt – Shift – F9.
Note: In the last dialog you selected a Start Time of *, which specifies “now” or “current time”. You also
selected backwards in time. This was necessary because otherwise the entry would try to show data
“ahead” of the Start Time, instead of data archived prior to the Start Time. Perhaps fine if the start time was
at some point in the past. However, by Start Time of “current” or “now”, data “ahead” of that time would
have to be data archived in the future, “predicted” by FactoryTalk Historian. FactoryTalk Historian is good,
but not that good! 
22. When satisfied with the spreadsheet results, close the spreadsheet and save to My Documents as
Temperature Report.xlsx.
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Part B – DataLink Sampled vs. Compressed Data
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. If not already running, launch Excel 2010 by selecting Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft
Office Excel 2010.
3. Open the file DL Samp Data.xls located in the lab files directory (C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab):
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4. Note the “preloaded” Start and End times in cells B3 and B4 (yours will not exactly match the below). Rather
than “static” date/times, this spreadsheet is using a formula to enter yesterday (TODAY – 1) at 9:00am as the
start time and yesterday at 9:01am as the end time. For the remainder of this lab to work correctly, this exercise
assumes your Historian Server was up and running and archiving data between 9:00am and 9:01am the day
before you are actually doing this exercise. If you do not think data was being archived yesterday between these
times, please modify the formula to sometime when data was being archived and/or consult with your instructor
for assistance. A simple option would be to use Start time of *-1m to select one minute ago, and end time of *
which would mean current time or "now".
5. Enter *-1m in cell B3 and * in cell B4. Then, select cell B2 and then use the Tag Search… command on the PI
menu.
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6. Set the Tag Mask to *Temp.PV and then click the Search button. Select the tag
InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise.CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV then click the OK button.
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7. Select cell “D26” and then use the Sampled Data button on the PI menu.
Note: If you click the “bottom half” of the button it will give you a list of pre-configured options. Click the top
half to fill-in choices yourself.
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8. Begin filling in the required parameters by clicking in the Tagname(s) field.
9. Click on cell B2 and you should see the address of that cell “fill in” the Tagname(s) field.
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10. Check the show timestamps box, and then use the same technique detailed in steps 8 & 9 to pick the following
cells:
Start Time
End Time
Time Interval
B3
B4
B5
Your dialog should appear as follows. After confirming, click OK.
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11. After you clicked the OK button, the “Sampled Data” columns should be filled in with equally spaced data points
between the start and end times.
12. Now click in cell G26 and then select the Compressed Data button on the PI menu.
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13. Select both the hide count and show timestamps checkboxes. Next, click in the desired field in the
“Compressed Data” dialog box and click the corresponding cell in your spreadsheet to fill in the dialog as follows:
Tagname(s)
Start Time
End Time
B2
B3
B4
You dialog should appear as follows. Click OK.
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14. The chart is now updated with both regularly sampled and archived (compressed) data points. Notice that you
may see small discrepancies that can appear in the sampled data when a peak happens between samples. The
archived (compressed) data provides a more accurate representation of what actually occurred than what you
see with periodically interpolated data points.
Note: If your chart is “drastically different” than the following example, you may need to “refresh” as
specified in the step below.
15. Also note the difference in quantity of source data points. If you want to refresh the data and update the chart,
you can right-click within the Compressed Data set and choose Recalculate (Resize) Function off the context
menu. You can do the same with the Sampled Data to refresh both of them.
16. Close Microsoft Excel and save your spreadsheet if you wish (it is not used later in this lab).
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 2: Archived data and Digital tags
What You Will Learn
 How to use DataLink’s retrieval of archived digital state changes to calculate simple metrics.
In the previous exercise we explored the difference in sampled versus compressed retrieval of a time-series process value. In
this exercise we use the compressed data function to retrieve state changes of a digital tag. By employing some Excel logic
functions we can quickly calculate some very basic metrics.
In this exercise we will be looking at the tag BA:Active.2 to determine the operating time percentage for a batch pump.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Launch Excel 2010 by selecting Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Excel 2010.
3. Open the file DL Comp Data.xls located in the lab files directory (C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab):
4. Select cell B2 and then type BA:Active.2 in the cell.
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5. Select cell A7 and then choose the Compressed Data button on the PI menu.
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6. Select the option button for Number of Values and checkbox show timestamps. Next, click in the desired field
in the “Compressed Data” dialog box and click the corresponding cell in your spreadsheet to fill in the dialog as
follows:
Tagname(s)
Start Time
Number of Values
B2
B3
B4
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7. After you click the OK button, the Time and Status columns should have been populated with state transition
data. Select cell C8 and enter the formula:
=IF(B7=”Active”, A8-A7, 0)
8. Copy the formula in C8 to cells C9 through C23. If status is going from "Inactive" to "Active", the cell in Column
C will contain zeros (0:00:00). If instead, status is going from "Active" to "Inactive", the cell in Column C
indicates how long the value was "Active". The simple summation and division formulas on the right will
automatically calculate a running time percentage.
9. Close Excel.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 3: DataLink Trend Object
What You Will Learn
 How to use DataLink’s Trend Object for charting time-series data from FactoryTalk Historian and Excel native data.
FactroyTalk Historian DataLink provides a Trend Object for Excel that has the capability of charting data within Excel as well as
data directly from FactoryTalk Historian. This exercise will give you experience using that object with both kinds of data.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image.
2. Launch Excel 2010 by selecting Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Excel 2010.
3. Open the file DL Trend.xls located in the lab files directory (C:\Lab files\Historian Advanced Lab).
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4. Begin by selecting cell C6 and then choose the Insert Trend command on the PI menu.
5. On the Trend Add-in Wizard dialog, first switch the radio-button to Data from PI.
Next, use the cell picker
button to select cell B5 for the Tag name.
After clicking cell B5 you need to click the
button in the Trend Add-in Wizard) .
Finally, click the Add - > button.
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6. Now switch the radio-button back to Data on worksheet.
Select the checkbox for First element is trace name.
Use the cell picker
button to select a data range of cells A8 through B17.
Click the Add - > button and then the Next > button.
7. Select the Enable updates checkbox.
Next, click the reference worksheet buttons for both the Start Time and End Time.
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8. Use the cell picker buttons to select cell B2 for the Start Time and cell B3 for the End Time.
Click the Next > button.
9. Set the optional Trend title to Tank Levels and then click the Format… button.
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10. Select the Vertical Scale property. On the Options tab, change the Format to General and the Position to
Outside Left. Click the OK button:
11. Click the Finish button on the Trend Add-in Wizard.
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12. Enjoy your interactive trend.
Trend Cursors are available just like in ProcessBook ("pull" Trend Cursor from left edge of trend - not shown in below
graphic). Mouse-over data point pop-ups are also available (as shown below).
13. Unlike a regular Excel chart, the DataLink Trend is fixed to a specific location on the worksheet.
You can move or resize the trend by selecting the appropriate option on the trend’s right-click context menu. Once you click
Move/Resize, you need to click and drag over all of the cells you want to "cover" with the moved and/or resized trend, then
click OK.
14. Close Excel.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 4: Filtered Compressed Function
What You Will Learn
 How to use the PI DataLink Calculated Data function
In this exercise you are going to use Excel and the FactoryTalk Historian DataLink “Compressed Data” function with a filter
expression to retrieve up to twenty Tank 100 temperature readings from the last two minutes which are above an arbitrary limit of
149.
The two available Compressed Data functions are:
1. Compressed Data (start time/number)

Function: PINCompFilDat

Retrieves compressed data that satisfies a filter condition.

The user determines the initial date-time and the number of values to be returned.
2. Compressed Data (start time/end time)

Function: PICompFilDat

Retrieves compressed data based on a start time and an end time that satisfies a filter condition.
For this exercise you will use the Compressed Data (start time/number) function.
Filter Expressions:
The following describes the syntax of valid filter expressions in FactoryTalk Historian DataLink.
A filter expression uses the same arithmetic operators and functions as a calculation expression. In addition, one or more
relational operators are needed.
Relational operators are:

<
less than

=
equal to

>
greater than

<=
less than or equal to

<>
not equal to

>=
greater than or equal to
Example: (abs('my:tag') >= 14.65)
The above expression evaluates to TRUE if the absolute value of the tag mytag is at least 14.65.
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To comparing digital tags, use the digital state string itself. For example: ('my.tag' = "Manual")
A filter expression may also contain logical operators such as:

AND returns TRUE if both arguments are TRUE

OR returns TRUE if at least one of the arguments is TRUE

NOT returns TRUE if argument is FALSE, and vice-versa
Example:
The following expression evaluates to TRUE if the value of the tag sinusoid is less than 45 and the square root of the value
of the tag vdf1002 is greater than 2:

('sinusoid' < 45 and sqr('vdf1002') > 2)
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image.
2. Launch Excel 2010 and open the file DataLink Filtered Compressed _Template.xls located in the lab files
directory (C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab).
3. Select Cell B3.
4. From the Excel PI menu, select Tag Search.
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5. In the search Tag Mask field type *T100*PV then click Search.
6. Select the tag: InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV.
7. Click OK.
8. The Tag Name field will display …T100_Demo_Temp.PV with the current value of that tag below (cell B4). If
the Current Value cell displays “#NAME?” or “Tag not found”, right-click on the cell, select Current Value…,
then click OK on the dialog that appears.
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9. To calculate the values for the last two minutes, enter a Start Time of *-2m in cell B5.
10. In this exercise you are using the Filtered Compressed Data Number function, so do not enter an End Time,
just leave it blank.
11. Set the Number of Values to 20 (cell B7).
12. Before adding the Compressed Data function, you will copy the tag name to the clipboard. The tag name is
long and prone to error when typing by hand.
Select cell B3. Click and drag over the entire tag name in the address bar, right-click and copy the tag name to the
clipboard (be sure from the address bar – not from cell B3). You will paste this tag into a dialog box in a few steps from
now.
13. Select cell A16 under the Start Time field.
14. From the PI menu, select Compressed Data
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15. Select the option of Number of Values. Populate the Compressed Data (Start Time / Number) dialog using
cell references by clicking the fields and selecting the required cell as detailed below:

Tagname(s):
Cell B3

Start Time:
Cell B5

Number of Values:
Cell B7
16. To determine when T100_Demo_Temp is greater than 149, enter the following in the Filter Expression field:
'InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV'>149
Note: There are single quotation marks around the tag name. Instead of typing, you may optionally paste
the tag address copied in step 12 and add the end quotation mark and >149 comparison. When copied to
the clipboard, be aware that there was already a single quotation mark at the beginning of the tag name (put
there so Excel knew it was text, not a value or expression)
17. Click show timestamps and verify the following options. When ready, click OK.
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18. Review the filtered data. You have used the Compressed Data function to show up to 20 values from the
archive for this tag, starting 2 minutes ago, but only those that are greater than 149.
19. Save your work and close Excel.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 5: Time Filtered Function
What You Will Learn
 How to use the PI DataLink Time Filtered to calculate the operating time status
In this exercise you are going to use the Excel PI DataLink “Time Filtered” function to view the status changes of a digital tag to
determine over the last day and how much time in each hour was spent in the active state. This method performs the calculation
in a single step.
You will be using the tag “BA:ACTIVE.2” to determine the active state time.
Function: PITimeFilter
 Retrieves the amount of time where an expression is true
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image.
2. Launch Excel.
3. Open the file DataLink Time Filtered _Template.xls located in the lab files directory (C:\Lab Files\Historian
Advanced Lab).
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4. Set the various time options…

Enter a Start Time of *-1d in cell B6 (one day ago).

Enter an End Time of * in cell B7 (current time starting now).

Enter a Time Interval of 1h in cell B10 (interval period for the calculation data).

To configure the Time Unit, on the worksheet, select Cell B11.
5. From the Excel Data menu, select Validation.
6. For the validation criteria set Allow field to List.
7. In the Source field enter: seconds, minutes, hours, days and click OK.
8. Select Cell B11 and click the drop down list selector icon
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and select minutes
9. Next, add the expression that will be used in the Time Filtered function. Select cell B12 and enter the below
expression.
Important Note: The first two characters are two Single Quotations, ’’. Then, there is a single quotation
after the tag name and Double Quotations before and after Active. After you enter the expressions, the
cell view only displays the 1st single quotation character. Two single quotations are required at the beginning
because the first single quote tells Excel that what follows is not a “formula”. The second single quote is part
of the “pair” that needs to surround the tag name BA:ACTIVE.2. Tag names have to be within single quotes,
same syntax used in Performance Equations.
10. Verify the settings which will return 24 time filtered values, one value per hour in a day. These values will be the
number of minutes per hour that the expression was true.
11. In the data output area, select Cell A15 under Date / Time.
12. From the Excel PI menu, select Time Filtered.
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13. For each parameter click in the appropriate field and select the required cell reference as detailed below:

Expression(s)
Cell B12

Start Time:
Cell B6

End Time:
Cell B7

Time Interval (optional):
Cell B10

Time Units:
Cell B11
Note: To be able to select the Time Units from a selected cell rather than from the drop down list, click the
cell icon

then click in the field before clicking Cell B11.
Check show start time checkbox
14. Verify the following options and then click OK.
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15. Review the Time Filtered data.
Note: The 24 listed items are the number of minutes per hour over a 24-hour period when the expression
being evaluated is true. If your Historian has not been running for very long, perhaps only the “most recent”
hour or two (bottom of the list) might be considered “valid”. Times when Historian was not actively archiving
might have the tag 100% of the time (60 minutes of the hour) in an “Active” state (you would see 60's listed)
or 100% of the time in an “Inactive” state (you would see 0's listed)
16. Modify one or more of the time parameters (i.e. Start Time, End Time, Time Interval, and/or Time Unit) and
review the data.
Right-click on cell A15 and select Recalculate (Resize) Function on the context menu
Note: If the time parameters modified result in increases in size of the output data area, (more returned
rows), then you may need to Recalculate (resize) Function.
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17. A Time Filtered expression can contain multiple conditions using the logical operators OR and AND
Modify the expression to use the AND operator by entering (remember first two characters are single quotations):
'’BA.ACTIVE.2’=”Active” AND 'Sinusoid'>30
Note the difference in the calculation of time when this condition was met.
18. Modify the expression to use the OR operator by entering:
'’BA.ACTIVE.2’=”Active” OR 'Sinusoid'>30
19. Save your work and close Excel.
This lab is complete
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Lab 6: System Management
Section 1: Exploring the Rule Editor
What You Will Learn
 How to use the FactoryTalk Historian auto-discovery wizard to locate and configure data points for collection.
In a ControlLogix processor that is running in the DATA image, there are six tag structures using a User-Defined Data type.
These structures are as follows:
Each of these structures consists of several “members”. “PV” (process variable) is one of them:
FactoryTalk Historian provides an auto-discovery wizard which can interrogate FactoryTalk directory data sources and
automatically configure their data points for collection. In this exercise we will use the wizard’s advanced rules definition to
specifically select the PV values from this group of tags for collection by the historian server.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Launch the FactoryTalk Administration Console by selecting Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software >
FactoryTalk Administration Console.
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3. When prompted, select the Network FactoryTalk Directory and then OK.
4. In the network tree, right-click on the InstaSoap area under the InstaCorp application and choose the Discover
Historian Points… context-menu entry.
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5. Begin by DEselecting the Linx Classic, Other OPC_DA Servers and HMI/Alarm Servers checkboxes. Then,
click the Edit Discovery Rules button.
6. On the following dialog box, you can use options to create or select Rules for the discovery wizard to use. You
could also create or select defined Tag Attributes. Click the Rule File Management… button.
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7. The following dialog has no rules defined. Click the New button.
8. On the following dialog, enter the Rule File Name and Description specified, then click OK.
9. Check the Active checkbox, and then click Open.
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10. You should return to the following dialog. The rule file you created should be listed as Current Rule File. Click
New to define the discovery rules that will be used.
11. The Define Discovery Rule dialog will let you define what we are going to be searching for. Define that we are
looking for ControlLogix tags that have “PV” as a member and the specific part of the tag is the .PV value by
making the selections highlighted below. DO NOT CLICK OK YET!.
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12. Now, in the Using this configuration selection box, select <New Configuration>.
13. This dialog will let us define some Tag Attributes that will be used as the tags are brought into Historian. Enter
the File Name and Eng Units selections as shown below.
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14. Click on the Archive tab, and change Span to 150. Then, click OK.
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15. The dialog should appear as follows. Click OK.
16. The Rule Editor dialog should now appear as follows. Click Save. A Close button will appear. Click Close.
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17. You will return to the Discover New Historian Points dialog box where you can select Next to conduct the
“search”:
18. You will see this window while the discovery process is performed. Discovery can take several minutes. You
should not be alarmed if several minutes go by without any points being added. We used a relatively narrow
specification for discovery in this exercise.
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19. When the discovery process is completed, you will be presented with a list of the matching points. You have the
opportunity to deselect individual or groups of points, change the scan class for individual or groups of points, or
even open a tag browser interface to add more points.
Click the Confirm Points button:
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20. The below completion dialog confirms that 6 data points were added to the historian using interface FTLD1.
Note: In this lab these six points might already be in the Historian Server for the other labs to work, so you
may be getting a message “Added 0 points to Production Historian(FTLD1)”. It will not add the points if they
already exist.
Click the OK button and then close the FactoryTalk Administration Console:
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At this point in the exercise, you have use the auto-discovery wizard to bring 6 tags into your Historian database. While using
the wizard, the choices you made caused the following:
 The six tags are from a ControlLogix controller and are from tags with members of PV and the actual tags are those that end
with .PV.
 The tags are in the Historian database with the following attributes, “modified” from the defaults:

Engineering Units of seconds

Span of 150
The remainder of this lab will have you create a Trend in ProcessBook to “test” one of the tags you may have created. You
could also use System Management Tools (SMT) to view current or recorded values for the tags.
1. Launch ProcessBook by selecting Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE >
FactoryTalk Historian Processbook.
2. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
3. From the File menu select New.
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4. Select new ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File, set the Display Name to Test, and click the OK button.
5. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar:
6. Select the Trend button on the toolbar:
7. Add a Trend to the Display (click-hold, drag and release)
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8. Click on the Tag Search… button to select the following tag:
InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV
Set the Plot Time Start to *-10 Minutes. Click the OK button:
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9. Verify that the tag is showing recording data.
10. Close the ProcessBook application.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 2: Excel Tag Configurator
What You Will Learn
 How to use the Tag Configurator in Microsoft Excel to perform bulk tag creation and manipulation.
Tag Configurator
FactoryTalk Historian comes with a useful add-in for Microsoft Excel called the Tag Configurator. This add-in shows up as the
PI-SMT menu in Excel. Using this add-in we can perform bulk tag management tasks such as creation, modification, and even
deletion. In this exercise we will be using the Tag Configurator to automatically create historian tags as well as to do bulk
modifications of tags.
1. Go to the SERVER image.
2. Launch Excel 2010 by selecting Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Excel 2010.
3. Open the file BA2 Tags.xls located in C:\Lab Files\Server\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab.
Note: The text at the top of the columns indicates what information (attribute) is contained in the cells below.
Items such as the name of the Tag, if archiving is on or off, when this tag was last changed and by who,
settings for Compression (deviation, percent and max), etc, are contained within this spreadsheet.
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4. We want to add these tags to the FactoryTalk Historian system for use in a later exercise.
Go to the Add-Ins tab and select Export Tags… on the PI-SMT menu.
5. On the Export PI Tags dialog, change to or verify that the Mode is set to Create or Edit (these tags may or may
not already exist at this point in your Server) and then click the OK button.
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6. Acknowledge the results dialog by clicking the OK button.
If newly added, these tags will start being collected within a couple of minutes.
7. Create a new workbook to work with by clicking File > New option and create a “Blank Workbook”:
8. We are going to import into Excel the tags that we discovered in a previous exercise.
Go to the Add-Ins tab and select Import Tags… on the PI-SMT menu.
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9. Set the Tag Mask to *.PV and verify the Point Source is ftld then click the OK button.
10. Acknowledge the results dialog by clicking the OK button.
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11. We want to collect six .SCA member tags so we will use the .PV tags as a template.
Begin by dragging a selection box around the six “Tag” names in column B:
12. On the Home tab, select Find & Select > Replace…
13. Configure the dialog as follows and select Replace All. Click OK on the message box that follows and close the
Find and Replace dialog.
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14. You should now have all tags listed with .SCA at the end instead of .PV.
15. Note that column Y is identified as “instrument tag” and contains the same .PV tags that column B had:
16. Use the same “find and replace” procedure to also change all of these tags to .SCA instead of .PV:
17. To create the new tags, go to the Add-Ins tab and select Export Tags… on the PI-SMT menu.
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18. On the Export PI Tags dialog, verify that the Mode is set to Create and then click the OK button:
19. Acknowledge the results dialog by clicking the OK button.
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20. Our new tags will start being collected within a couple of minutes. At this point we would like to modify the
compression parameters for all of our temperature data points. We will use the Tag Configurator to make
these changes en masse.
First we need to clear out the worksheet from our previous efforts. On the PI-SMT menu, choose the Clear Sheet
command.
21. Click Yes to confirm clearing the current sheet.
22. Select the Import Tags… command on the PI-SMT menu:
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23. This time, set the Tag Mask to *Temp.* and verify the Point Source is set to ftld then click the OK button. Click
OK again on the confirmation dialog that will appear.
24. We want to ensure that any compressed interpolated temperature value is within ± 0.6 of what the
uncompressed interpolated value would have been. We also want to have an archived value at least every
minute. To satisfy the first condition, we specify a CompDev of 0.6.
Use your copy and paste skills to change the compdev column (F), to “0.6” for all tags:
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25. Compression deviation can be entered in "Engineering Units" (compdev) or "Percent of Span"
(compdevpercent), with compdevpercent taking priority or precedence. Important to realize that
compdevpercent values will ALWAYS override compdev. So, for the compdev values to be used, we must
now delete the compdevpercent column, G, from the worksheet.
Right-click on the G column (the entire column, not just a cell), then choose the Delete command from the menu.
26. To satisfy the second condition, an archived value at least every minute, now set the compmax column, which is
now column G, to 60 (entered in seconds). Note that exception filtering occurs before compression filtering, and
this compmax setting assumes values are coming from the exception test at least every minute for the
compression max setting to have the intended effect.
27. Now, choose the Export Tags… command on the PI-SMT menu.
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28. Change the Mode to Edit and then click the OK button.
29. Click the OK button on the results dialog.
30. The changes to the tags will tag effect within a couple of minutes. Use the System Management Tools (SMT)
to verify information about the tags you’ve just edited such as the following. Ask your instructor if you are not
familiar with using the SMT at this point.

Use Data > Current Values to view Current Values

Use Data > Archive Editor to view Archived Values

Use Points > Point Builder to verify your changes of Compression Deviation of 0.6 Engineering Units and Max
Time of 1 minute (60 seconds).
31. Close Excel and the SMT.
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Changing Tag Names (not actually part of this lab…for informational purposes)
Note that many tag names resulting from using the Discover Historian Points… and Add Individual Historian Points… can
be very long, including Application, Area and Server names such as the ones you’ve just been working with in this lab:
If you don’t want to work with these long, somewhat “complex” names, one option available to you is in the SMT Point Builder.
By selecting the Rename button, you can rename the tag. All of the data previously archived will still be associated with this tag:
For example, in the dialog box below, after clicking the Rename button, the new name of T100_Temp is being given to the tag
originally named InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV:
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If wanting to change many names at once, the Tag Configurator in Excel could be very useful. However, if one attempts to
change the names in the Tag field and export the tags to Historian as an Edit, there would be errors because the exporting
function would be looking for tags with these exact names to already exist.
The example below shows the Tagname in B2 using the Rename button in the SMT Point Builder and the Tagname in B4 and
B6 edited directly in the Excel cells. The PI Tag Configurator returned 2 errors for the tagnames edited in Excel.
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Bulk-changing of tag names in Excel can but done, but what must occur is a column inserted identified as NewTag.
 Names entered into that column will be the new names for the tags, and data previously archived will still be associated with
those tags.
 If a row in that column is left “empty”, that tag name will not be affected.
In the following example, notice the NewTag column that has been added and three of the tags have new, “reduced-length” tag
names specified. When exported, all six of the tags were “edited”. But, only three of them received new names in the process
The “Instrument Tag” column, identified as column Y in the below, would remain with the original, “full” tag names. The
“Instrument Tag” setting for a tag identifies the actual address and/or location of the data:
Note: If you have had time and actually followed this procedure to change your “Demo_Temp” tag names,
please change them back as the original names will be used in future exercises. Sorry for any
inconvenience, but thanks much for your great initiative!
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 3: Data collection: Polled vs. Advised mode
What You Will Learn
 Compare Polled Against Advised Data Collection Modes
In this exercise, you will compare polled versus advised data collection modes. You will configure two separate FactoryTalk
Historian points which collect data from the same location in the SoftLogix controller, initially with no exception testing. The
point used in SoftLogix will be a “storage value” that you can write to using the Rockwell Software Data Client in order to test.
Polled Mode Collection
 Set location 3 = 0 for polled mode
 Poll the data source at scan interval
 Works with ExcMax and unchanging data
Advised Mode Collection
 Set location 3 = 1 for advised mode
 Will not work with ExcMax and non-changing data values
 Less network intensive than polled mode at fast scan rates
Part A
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image.
2. Open the FactoryTalk Administration Console, select Network directory and OK.
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3. Right-click on the Mach3 Area of Line1 of the Application MyApp.
Select Add Individual Historian Points…
4. Select Browse Tags… on the dialog box that appears.
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5. Do the following steps:

Under Mach3 > FTHistorian > Online, select Program:MainProgram

Select the StoreValue_1 tag

Click Add Tag(s) to List

Click OK
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6. Click OK on dialog that follows to add this tag to Historian.
7. In the following steps you will use Excel to create and configure two separate FactoryTalk Historian points, one
polled and the other advised mode. They will both collect data from the same location in the SoftLogix controller,
the StoreValue_1 tag. Close the FactoryTalk Administration Console and open Microsoft Office Excel
2010.
8. Select the Import Tags… command from the Add-Ins > PI-SMT menu. Import the StoreValue_1 tag (full tag
syntax: MyApp/Line1/Mach3:Mach3_Ent:[FTHistorian] Program:MainProgram.StoreValue_1) using the
following parameters:

Select:
All attributes for tag mask specification

Tag Mask :
*StoreValue_1

Point source:
ftld

Point Class:
classic

Click OK
9. After clicking OK on the ”Import succeeded”message that appears; your Excel spreadsheet should appear
similar to the following.
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10. This spreadsheet now contains the attributes for the MyApp/Line1/Mach3:Mach3_Ent:
[FTHistorian]Program:MainProgram.StoreValue_1 tag. Change/set the specific tag attributes as listed below
(do not change any attributes not listed):

Tag:
StoreValue_1_Advised

compdev
0

compdevpercent
0

compmax
0

compressing
0

excdev
0

excdevpercent
0

excmax
0
11. Copy this entire row of tag information and paste into the row below to create a duplicate row.
12. Change the attributes in this second row as follows:

Tag:
StoreValue_1_Polled

location3:
0 (polled mode)
13. Your spreadsheet should now appear as follows (some of the columns not modified are deleted in below graphic
for clarity – don’t delete them in your spreadsheet).
Note: One column that you did not change is instrumenttag. This column remains as the “source” of the
data that will be read into both the StoreValue_1_Advised and StoreValue_1_Polled tags. The contents of
this instrumenttag field is the MyApp…StoreValue_1 tag because we started by importing this specific tag
into Excel and used it as a “template” to create the other two tags (Advised and Polled versions).
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14. To create the new tags, select the Export Tags… command on the PI-SMT menu.
15. In the Export PI Tags dialog, verify that the Mode is set to Create and click the OK button.
16. Click the OK button to acknowledge the results.
17. Minimize (do not close) Excel. You will need this same spreadsheet later in Part B of this exercise.
18. Open the System Management Tools (SMT) and go to Data > Archive Editor.
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19. Select the Search icon
20. Do the following steps:

Enter Tag Mask of Store*

Click Search

Click Select StoreValue_1_Advised

Click OK
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21. You should see results similar to the below, only Pt Created and a single zero is displayed. With an Advised
tag, values will not normally come into the server unless they have changed.
22. Click on the
to open up another tab
23. Repeat Step 19 and 20 to select StoredValue_1_Polled. Initially the tags value was Pt Created, and then, after
a short delay the value was read every second. At this time, there is nothing changing the StoreValue_1 tag in
the CLX memory so every value read should be a zero (0).
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24. We now will manually change the value of the StoreValue_1 tag in the CLX processor. Open the Data Client
tool from Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Tools.
25. Select Network Connection and click the OK button.
26. Select Mach3 of Line1 of the MyApp application and click OK.
27. Click OK on the following dialog.
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28. Select the StoreValue_1 tag in the Program:MainProgram location and click OK.
29. Right-click on the tag and select Write Item(s) and then Async Write…:
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30. Type in a value of 1 and then click OK.
31. Repeat the above steps to download a 2 to the StoreValue_1 tag.
32. Repeat these steps one more time to download a 3 to the StoreValue_1 tag.
button in the SMT,
33. Now in the SMT when you select the StoreValue_1_Polled tag and click the Refresh
you will see events listed such as the following (scroll to the bottom) which include multiple instances of the 1, 2
and 3 values (still being polled every second).:
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34. If you select the StoreValue_1_Advised tag and click Refresh, you should see results similar to the following
which only contain the values “when they changed”:
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Part B
In the previous portion of this exercise, you created two tags to demonstrate differences between advised and polled tags. The
polled tag was read into FactoryTalk Historian every second, whether it changed or not. This portion looks at adding
Exception Deviation to a tag to prevent duplicate values from being read in and further demonstrates differences in functionality
between Advised and Polled tags.
1. You minimized an Excel spreadsheet that you used to create the Advised and Polled tags. Restore or
maximize the spreadsheet and do the following:

Change the excdev values to 2 (this will set “exception deviation” to 2 engineering units)

Delete the entire excdevpercent column (using “percent of span” is another way to set exception deviation. We want
to use “engineering units” instead of “percent of span”, and if we don’t delete this column the “percent of span” will
override the “engineering units”)

Change the excmax values to 120 (this will create 120 second, or two minute “windows” of values coming into the
interface node)
2. Select PI-SMT and Export tags…
3. On the following dialog, select Mode of Edit and then click OK.
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4. Select OK on the dialog that follows and then minimize Excel. Wait AT LEAST two minutes to give the FTLD
interface time to put these changes into effect. IMPORTANT TO WAIT OR YOU WILL NOT GET EXPECTED
RESULTS!
5. Use the Data Client to download values within plus or minus 2 to the StoreValue_1 tag. For example,
assuming the last value downloaded was 3, download values of 4, 5, 1 and then 2.
6. Use Refresh in the SMT to see the values last recorded to the StoreValue_1_Polled and
StoreValue_1_Advised tags. Because these downloaded values are within the plus and minus of the exception
deviation of 2, they should not appear. However, note that you have also specified an excmax of 120 seconds.
This means that if two minutes have gone by since the last value was received in the snapshot, another value
would be read in, even if within the plus or minus “deadband”. You also might be seeing a value read into the
Advised tag because of your edits of that tag…somewhat like a “refresh” of the tag’s value from RSLinx
Enterprise.
7. Leave the value of 2 in the StoreValue_1 tag for several minutes.
8. When you look at the results of the StoreValue_1_Polled tag using Refresh, you should see that even when
the value does not change, you will see a value read in at the end of the excmax “window” and a value at the
beginning of the next two minute excmax “window”. These could be considered “heartbeats”…values read into
the server even if they didn’t change.
9. When you look at the StoreValue_1_Advised tag events, you should still see a value of 3 in the tag, but nothing
further is likely to be displayed unless the value changes again after two minutes from when the last value was
read. That could take many minutes, hours, days, etc. If the value of the tag is not changing at all, the excmax
attribute value has no effect…no such “heartbeat”.
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Summaries regarding differences between FTLD Advised and Polled tags:
Advised Tags
 Timestamps comes from RSLinx Enterprise (Data Source).
 If the value of the tag changes more than the excdev, the tag will be read into the snapshot with the timestamp of when the
change occurred.
 If the value of the tag changes within the excdev, it will not automatically trigger a read into the snapshot. However, if the
value continues to change at least a small amount, new timestamps will be coming into the FTLD Interface. As a result, the
excmax attribute will have an effect by causing a new value to come into the snapshot.
 If the value of StoreValue_1 does not change at all, no values will come into the snapshot. The excmax attribute will have
no effect. So, important to realize that values that do not change for extended periods of time will not be read into the
snapshot until they do change. Could be many minutes, hours, days, weeks or longer between values coming into the
snapshot.
 At times when the tag is edited it may result in a read of the tags value into the snapshot, even if the value has not changed.
 Location 4 stores Scan Class for Advised tags. RSLinx Enterprise will only look for changes in values of this tag at this time
interval. It is possible to “miss” changes in the tag if they occur and then change back within this time interval.
Polled Tags
 Timestamps come from FactoryTalk Live Data Interface.
 If the value of the tag changes more than the excdev (exception deviation), the tag will be read into the snapshot with the
timestamp of when the tag was read.
 If the value of the tag changes within the excdev, it will not automatically trigger a read into the snapshot. However, the
excmax attribute will cause two values to be read into the snapshot, the last value at the end of one “window” and the other
at the beginning of the next “window”.
 If the value of StoreValue_1 does not change at all, since the FTLD interface is still polling the value every second it gets
new timestamps so knows when the excmax “window” ends. The excmax attribute in this case will cause the current value
to be read twice, once for the end of one “window” and another for the beginning of the next window.
 Location 4 stores Scan Class for Polled tags. The FTLD Interface will poll RSLinx Enterprise for tag values at this time
interval. It is possible to “miss” changes in the tag if they occur and then change back within this time interval.
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Sample Scenario:
Approximate Time
12:00
12:00:30
12:01
12:03
12:11
Value
20
21
22
21
5
Results from Advised tag:
Results from Polled tag:
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 4: Performance Equations
What You Will Learn
 How to use Performance Equations to perform server-side recordable instance and summary calculations.
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image:
2. Launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
3. Expand the Points category and select the Performance Equations plug-in.
4. Our first performance equation is going to be a Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion.
Click on the New toolbar button to begin creation of a new Performance Equation tag.
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5. On the General tab, set the following fields:

Name:
T100_Demo_Temp_DegC

Descriptor:
Tank T100 Temperature

Point type:
Float32

Eng Units:
Deg C
6. On the Equation tab, set the Equation to: (‘CDT158’ - 32) * 5/9.
you don’t get an error. Your actual value will differ:
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Click the Evaluate button just to make sure
7. On the Scheduling tab, change the radio button to Event-based scheduling. Change the timestamp
assignment option to timestamp of the triggering event.
Use the
button to select the tag: CDT158.
8. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Compression Max Time:
15 Min
9. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record:
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10. The next Performance Equation (PE) will combine two tank levels. Click on the New toolbar button to begin
creation of a new Performance Equation tag:
11. On the General tab, set the following fields:

Name:
BA:COMBINED_LEVELS

Descriptor:
BA 1 & 2 Combined Levels

Point type:
Float32

Eng Units:
ft
12. On the Equation tab, set the Equation to: ‘BA:LEVEL.1’ + ‘BA:LEVEL.2’. Click the Evaluate button just to
make sure you don’t get an error. Your actual value will differ.
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13. On the Scheduling tab, change the Scan class to 3 which will cause the equation to be calculated every 30
seconds.
14. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Compression Max Time:
15 Min
15. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record.
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16. The next PE will perform a totalizer summary calculation. We are going to pretend that the
T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag represents a flow rate in gallons per hour. Start by clicking the New toolbar button to
begin creation of a new Performance Equation tag.
17. On the General tab, set the following fields:

Name:
T100_Flow_1h_Total

Descriptor:
Tank T100 One Hour Effluent Total

Point type:
Float32

Eng Units:
gal
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18. We want to totalize the T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag but only when at least 95% of the readings are not suspect.
On the Equation tab, set the Equation to the following. Hint…type in as "one line" (without hitting the "Enter" key) and use
the
scratch":
button when appropriate to search for tags to fill in your equation, rather than typing the tag names in “from
if pctgood(‘InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx
Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV’, ‘*-1h’, ‘*’) > 95 then
tagtot(‘InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx
Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV’, ‘*-1h’, ‘*’)*24 else 0
Note The multiplication by 24 to convert into a per day value which FactoryTalk Historian needs. Click the
Evaluate button to make sure you don’t get an error. Actual result will differ.
19. On the Scheduling tab, change the Scan class to 2 which will cause the equation to be calculated every 2
minutes.
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20. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Compression Max Time:
0 hours and 15 Min
21. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record.
22. The last PE will totalize the amount of time that CDM158 is in the “manual” state.
Start by clicking the New toolbar button to begin creation of a new Performance Equation tag
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23. On the General tab, set the following fields.

Name:
CDM158_Manual_Percent

Descriptor:
Percent of time in manual mode over last hour

Point type:
Float32

Eng Units:
min / hr
24. On the Equation tab, set the Equation to:
timeeq('cdm158','*-1h','*',"manual")/36
Notice the single-quotes enclose tag names but the double-quotes for the literal string.
Click the Evaluate button to make sure you don’t get an error. Your actual result will differ:
Note: The timeeq function returns amount of time in seconds, so to convert to "% per hour", you are dividing
by 36 (3600 seconds in an hour divided by 100 to get "percentage" = 36)
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25. On the Scheduling tab, change the Scan class to 2 which will cause the equation to be calculated every 2
minutes.
26. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Typical value:
50

Zero:
0

Span:
100

Step:
Off

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Exception Max Time:
10 Min

Compression Max Time:
15 Min
27. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record.
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28. We want to watch some of our new Performance Equation tags.
Expand the Data category and select the Current Values plug-in.
29. Use the Tag Search… button (possibly repeatedly) to select the following tags:

BA:COMBINED_LEVELS

BA:LEVEL.1

BA:LEVEL.2

CDM158

CDM158_Manual_Percent

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV

T100_Demo_Temp_DegC

T100_Flow_1h_Total
30. Click the Start Updating button to watch the relationship between the tags:
31. Close the SMT.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 5: Totalizers
What You Will Learn
 How to use Totalizers to perform server-side recordable instance and summary calculations.
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image by checking the hostname on the background image.
2. Launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
3. Expand the Points category and select the Totalizers plug-in.
4. Our first Totalizer is going to be a T100_Flow_1h_Total tag. We are going pretend that T100_Demo_Temp.PV
represents a flow rate in gal / hour which we want to totalize over the preceding hour.
Click on the Create a new Totalizer toolbar button to begin.
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5. On the Name & Type tab, set the following fields:

Name:
T100_Flow_1h_Tot

Descriptor:
Tank T100 One Hour Effluent Total

Source Tag:
InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV

Eng Units:
gal

Point type:
Float32

Totalizer Type:
Moving Time Weighted Total
6. DO NOT reproduce what you see in the following image. If we wanted to precisely emulate the Performance
Equations configuration of writing a total every two minutes, on the Sampling tab we would select to
Periodically sample Interpolated values every 2 Minutes (again, do not make these selections…just for
informational purposes).
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7. Instead, we can achieve much more precise results by choosing to sample Whenever a new source tag event
occurs (Natural). Use this setting on your Sampling tab.
8. On the Results tab, set the following fields:

Write final results:
After a time period elapses

Results every:
1 Hour(s)
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9. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Typical Value:
50

Zero:
0

Span:
100

Step:
Off

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Compression Max Time:
15 Min
10. On the Options tab, set the following fields:

Conversion Factor:
24.0

Pct good values needed:
95
Note: The Totalizer assumes tag rate of "Units per day". Since we really are using "Units per hour", we
need to specify a Conversion Factor of 24.
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11. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record:
12. The next Totalizer will reproduce the calculation from the CDM158_Manual_Percent performance equation.
Click on the Create a new Totalizer toolbar button to begin:
13. On the Name & Type tab, set the following fields:

Name:
CDM158_Manual_Pct

Descriptor:
Percent of time in manual mode over last hour

Source Tag:
CDM158

Eng Units:
%

Point type:
Float32

Totalizer Type:
Count Events, Time when TRUE, Moving, equal to, Manual
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14. On the Sampling tab, select Whenever a new source tag even occurs (Natural):
15. On the Results tab, set the following fields:

Write final results:
After a time period elapses

Results every:
1 Hour(s)
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16. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Typical value:
50

Zero:
0

Span:
100

Step:
Off

Exception Deviation:
0.25

Compression Deviation:
0.5

Compression Max Time:
15 Min
17. On the Options tab, set the following fields.

Conversion Factor:
0.02778

Pct good values needed:
95
Note: This Totalizer will determine the number of seconds the CDM158 tag is set to "Manual" in the last
hour. Dividing by 36 would give the "percentage" of time. However, the Conversion Factor is a
"multiplication" so instead of dividing by 36 we will use the equivalent of multiplying by 0.02778.
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18. Click the Save toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record:
19. The last Totalizer will perform a block average on the BA:LEVEL.1 tag:
20. On the Name & Type tab, set the following fields:

Name:
BA:LEVEL1.STEPAVG

Descriptor:
BA:LEVEL.1 one minute block average

Source Tag:
BA:LEVEL.1

Point type:
Float32

Totalizer Type:
Summary, Block, Time Weighted, Average
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21. On the Sampling tab, select Whenever a new source tag even occurs (Natural).
22. On the Results tab, set the following fields:

Write final results:
After time period elapses

Results every:
1 Minute(s)

Write interim results:
stamped one second after start
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23. On the Archive tab, set the following fields:

Typical value:
50

Zero:
0

Span:
100

Step:
On

Shutdown:
On

Compressing:
Off

Exception Deviation:
0

Exception Max Time:
0
24. Click the Save” toolbar button and check for a success message in the session record.
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25. We want to watch some of our new Totalizer tags. Expand the Data category and select the Current Values
plug-in.
26. Use the Tag Search… button (possibly repeatedly) to select the following tags:

BA:LEVEL1.STEPAVG

BA:LEVEL.1

CDM158

CDM158_Manual_Pct

CDM158_Manual_Percent

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV

T100_Flow_1h_Tot

T100_Flow_1h_Total
27. Click the Start Updating button to watch the relationship between the tags. Note that one or more tags may
show a value of Configure at this time. This “initial value” is normal if a totalizer tag has not calculated a value
yet.
28. Close the SMT.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 6: Event triggered points
What You Will Learn
 How to configure Event Triggered Reads
FactoryTalk Historian tags can be configure to be read in “polled” or “advised” modes. In general, if “polled”, tags would be read
every certain time interval (like once per second). If “advised”, a change in that tag’s value will trigger a read (the tag's value with
a timestamp actually being "sent" from RSLinx Enterprise to the FTLD Interface). In this exercise, you will examine event
triggered reads which take place only when a specific change is detected in a separate, “triggering” tag.
Event triggered reads can be configured to operate in one of four modes:
 Anychange
 Increment
 Decrement
 Nonzero
Part A
In our first contrived example, assume that you have a batch process comprised of three phases (1, 2, and 3). There is also a
zero (0) phase that indicates the process is in a stopped state. Phases progress in order from 0 to 3 and back to 0. In this
scenario, you have a process variable that you want to record at the beginning of every running state. To accomplish this, you
are going to use the “Increment” event trigger mode.
In this first section, you will configure the collection of the phase indicator which will be the trigger.
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image.
2. Launch the FactoryTalk Administration Console.
3. Select Network directory, then click OK.
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4. In the Administration console explorer, right-click InstaCorp, and click Add Individual Historian Points…
5. Click Browse Tags….
6. Browse InstaSoap > Mixing > CLX1 > Online and select the tag: T100_Phase_Counter.ACC.
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7. Click Add Tags(s) to List, (selected tag will be displayed in the lower window) and click OK.
8. Click OK.
Note: The new tag just added to the FT Historian will have the name InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx
Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Phase_Counter.ACC
9. Close Administration Console.
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In this second section, you will configure collection of the start of phase parameter. This parameter will actually be the tank
volume which you will assume is not already being collected all the time.
1. Launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
2. Expand the Points category and select the Point Builder plug-in.
3. Using the Point Builder SMT plug-in, click on the Search toolbar button.
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4. Enter a Tag Mask of *T100* and then click the Search button.
5. Select tag: InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV.
Note: BE SURE TO PICK "VOLUME", NOT "TEMP"!
6. Click OK.
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7. Highlight the entire name and overtype a new name of T100_Phase_Start_Vol.
8. Set the Exdesc (Extended Descriptor) field to the following.
Note: EVENT must be UPPERCASE!:
EVENT='InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx
Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Phase_Counter.ACC' Increment
9. Select the Archive Tab and configure the following attributes:

Compressing OFF

Exception testing off by setting Exception Deviation and Exception Max Time both to zero
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10. Select the Classic tab. Set Location 3 to “0” (to identify as Polled or Event Trigger Input point).
Note: A "1" is the default and represents Advised mode.
11. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
12. Expand the Data category and select the Current Values plug-in.
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13. Using the Current Values SMT plug-in, click on the Search toolbar button.
14. Enter a Tag Mask of *T100* and click the Search button.
15. Select the following tags:

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Phase_Counter.ACC

T100_Phase_Start_Vol
16. Click OK.
17. Using the Current Values SMT plug-in, click the Start Updating toolbar button.
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18. While the phase counter stays the same, observe the following:

T100_Demo_Volume.PV changes

T100_Phase_Start_Vol remains at its previous value
19. When the Phase Counter increments, observe the following:

T100_Phase_Start_Vol is set equal to T100_Demo_Volume.PV
20. When the Phase Counter rolls over from 3 to 0, observe the following:

T100_Demo_Volume.PV changes

T100_Phase_Start_Vol remains at its previous value and does not get updated
Note: Only when T100_Phase_Counter increments does the T100_Demo_Volume.PV get "copied" into
T100_Phase_Start_Vol
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Part B
In our second example, you will assume you have a reserve coolant tank. When the tank is being depleted, you want to
correlate the temperature of an exothermic reactor vessel. When the coolant tank is being filled or is steady-state, you are
unconcerned with the tank temperature. In this example, you will use the “Decrement” mode. For this part of the exercise, you
will pretend that you are not already collecting the tank temperature all the time.
1. Expand the Points category and select the Point Builder plug-in.
2. Using the Point Builder SMT plug-in, click the Search toolbar button.
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3. Enter a Tag Mask of *T100* and then click the Search button.
4. Select tag: InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV.
Note: BE SURE TO PICK "TEMP", NOT "VOLUME"!
5. Click OK.
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6. Click on the TEMP tag in the upper window, and then in the General tab below highlight the entire tag name and
overtype a new name of: T100_Draining_Temp.
7. Set the Exdesc (Extended Descriptor) field to the following.
Note: EVENT must be UPPERCASE!
EVENT='InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx
Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV' Decrement
8. Select the Classic tab.
9. Set or verify Location 3 to 0.
10. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
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Visualize the tags from examples 1 and 2 to see if they are working correctly using ProcessBook by following these steps:
1. Select the CLIENT image.
2. Open FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook.
3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
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4. From the File menu select New.
5. Select the new ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File option, enter name of Event Triggered Read and click the OK
button.
6. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar:
7. Select the Trend button on the toolbar:
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8. Add a Trend to the Display (click-hold, drag and release)
9. The Define Trend dialog will appear. Select the Tag Search button.
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10. Select the Tag Mask to *T100* and click Search.
11. Select the following two tags:

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Phase_Counter.ACC

T100_Phase_Start_Vol
12. Click OK.
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13. Rename Plot-0 to Phase Increment.
14. Set the Scale radio button to Multiple Scales.
15. Set the Plot Time Start to *-5m.
16. Click on the New Plot button.
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17. Rename Plot-1 to Volume Decrement.
18. Use the Tag Search button to select the following two tags:

InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Volume.PV

T100_Draining_Temp
19. Set the Scale radio button to Multiple Scales.
20. Set the Plot Time Start to *-5m.
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21. On the Display Format tab, check the Markers checkbox.
22. In the Plot drop-down box, select the Phase Increment plot.
23. Check the box for Markers.
24. Click OK (not shown below)..
25. If necessary, select the Run button on the ProcessBook toolbar.
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26. Below is an example of the results you should be seeing. If your Phase Increment trend is not showing the pens
both using “full scale” (ranging from bottom to top of trend), go to Build mode, double-click on the trend and click
“OK” on the dialog to refresh the configuration.
In the Phase Increment trend, you should be noticing the incrementing of the “trigger” tag is causing the other tag to be
read. The tag is not read when the “trigger tag” decrements. In the Volume Decrement trend, the “trigger tag”
decrementing caused the other tag to be updated. While the “trigger tag” is incrementing, the other tag is not read.
27. Close ProcessBook.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 7: Basic Output Points
What You Will Learn
 How to configure an outpoint point using the source tag method
In this exercise, you are going to look at FactoryTalk Historian’s basic output point capabilities. This capability should be avoided
for real-time control purposes where an HMI using a FactoryTalk Live Data connection is much more appropriate. It is useful for
scenarios where complex calculations are performed by FactoryTalk Historian and the results are handed back to the HMI or
control system for possible further action.
This exercise will specifically explore a scenario where you have a tank effluent stream which is being discharged back into a
local river. Government regulations do not regulate the spot temperature of the effluent, but they do set restrictions based on the
5 minute time-weighted average of the effluent temperature. Extra stream processing must be performed when the 5 minute
time-weighted average exceeds 106 degrees. Because the time-weighted average calculation is more sophisticated than you
are comfortable programming in the controller, FactoryTalk Historian will take care of this calculation and pass the result back to
the controller for further action.
Reference
Output Tags
 Set location 3 = 2 for output mode
 Source Tag specifies the source of the data to be sent.
 Instrument Tag specifies the destination of the Source Tag value
 Data transfer is triggered when Source Tag value changes and snapshot entry updated
In the first part of this exercise you will configure a Totalizer to perform the time-weighted average calculation.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image.
2. Launch the System Management Tools (SMT).
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3. If not already selected, click SERVER.
4. Expand the Points category and select the Totalizers plug-in.
5. Using the Totalizers SMT plug-in, click on the Create a new Totalizer toolbar button.
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6. Set the totalizer name to T100_TWA_Temperature.
7. Click the tag search button to the right of the Source Tag.
8. Enter a Tag Mask of *T100*.
9. Click the Search button.
10. Select tag: InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise: CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV.
11. Click OK.
12. Verify the above selected Source Tag.
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13. Under the Name & Type section, set the following:

Change the Summary Calculation from Block to Moving.

Change the Summary Calculation from Total to Average.
14. Select the Results Tab.
15. Under the Details section, set the Results every to 5 Minute(s).
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16. Select the Archive tab and configure the following attributes:

Exception Deviation to 0

Compression Deviation to 0.1

Exception Deviation Max Time to 0

Set the Compression Max Time to 15 Minutes
17. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
18. Minimize the SMT.
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In the next section you are going to configure the output point for data collection to automate the configuration of most of the
parameters. Later, you will change it from data collection to output mode.
1. Launch the FactoryTalk Administrator Console.
2. Select Network directory, then click OK.
3. In the Administration Console explorer, right-click InstaCorp, and click Add Individual Historian Points…
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4. Click Browse Tags….
5. Browse InstaSoap > Mixing > CLX1 > Online and select the tag T100_TWA_Temp.
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6. Click Add Tags(s) to List, (the selected tag will be displayed in the lower window).
7. Click OK.
8. Click OK again. The new tag just added to FT Historian will have the name
InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_TWA_Temp.
9. Close the FactoryTalk Administration Console.
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In the next section you will modify the newly configured tag to be used for output instead of input.
1. Return to the minimized SMT application.
2. Expand the Points category and select the Point Builder plug-in.
3. Using the Point Builder SMT plug-in under the Points category, click on the Search toolbar button.
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4. Enter a Tag Mask of *T100*.
5. Click the Search button.
6. Select tag: InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_TWA_Temp.
Note: Do not accidentally load the similarly named T100_TWA_Temperature totalizer.
7. Click OK.
8. Verify the previously selected tag name.
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9. Use the Tag search
button next to the Source tag field.
10. Select the tag: T100_TWA_Temperature.
11. Click OK.
12. Select the Classic tab.
13. Change Location3 to 2. This configures the tag as an Output tag. Whenever the value in the Source Tag field
changes (the Totalizer tag, T100_TWA_Temperature), it will be sent to the Instrument Tag
(T100_TWA_Temp in CLX1).
14. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
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The time-weighted average values should now be written down to the controller. To verify, you are going to use the Rockwell
Software Data Client to read the value from the controller.
1. Launch the Rockwell Software data client by selecting Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software >
FactoryTalk Tools > Rockwell Software Data Client.
2. Select FactoryTalk.
3. Select Network and click OK.
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4. Expand $Global, select InstaCorp and click OK:
5. Change the Update Rate to 1000 (ms) and click OK.
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6. Expand the tree InstaCorp > InstaSoap > Mixing > CLX1 and click Online.
7. In the right-hand view, click on the T100_TWA_Temp tag.
8. Click OK.
9. Verify that the value is being updated regularly. As an “output tag”, T100_TWA_Temp in the controller is being
written to by Historian. The value is coming from the value of tag T100_TWA_Temperature, and the value is
being written every time T100_TWA_Temperature changes.
10. To better confirm what is happening, you could display the current value of T100_TWA_Temperature in the
SMT while also watching the above Data Client.
When you see the value of T100_TWA_Temperature change in the SMT, very soon afterwards in the Data Client you
should see that same value written to T100_TWA_Temp.
11. Close the SMT and Data Client.
This lab is complete
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Lab 7: ProcessBook for Analytics
Section 1: Beyond Basic Trending
What You Will Learn
 How to build basic trends in FactoryTalk ProcessBook and use the multi-trend layout options.
Part A – Single-page ProcessBook
1. Select the CLIENT image.
2. Launch ProcessBook by going to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE >
FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook..
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3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
4. From the File menu select New.
5. Select the ProcessBook (.piw) File type. Give your new ProcessBook workbook the name of Trends and click
OK.
6. Again, click on the File > New option.
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7. Select the ProcessBook Entry type and then click the OK button.
8. Set the entry Label to Basic Trends and select an entry Type of Text. Click the OK button.
9. Again, click on File > New.
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10. Select the ProcessBook Entry type and then click the OK button.
11. Set the entry Label to Simple Trend and select an entry Type of Display.
Set the Level to 2 and click the OK button:
12. You should now have a ProcessBook workbook that looks similar to the following.
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13. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar.
14. Select the Trend button on the toolbar.
15. Drag a box in some empty space to create a trend.
16. On the General tab, click the Tag Search… button:
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17. Set the Point Source to ftld and click the Search button:
18. Select the …TI100 tag and click the OK button.
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19. Set the Start time to *-5 Minutes and then click the OK button.
20. You should now have a simple interactive trend:
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Multi-Trend Layout
Now that you have some experience building a basic trend, we will use these skills to create multiple trends arranged together.
1. Again, click on File > New.
2. Select the ProcessBook Entry type and then click the OK button.
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3. Set the entry Label to Multi-Trends and select an entry Type of Display.
Set the Level to 2 and click the OK button.
4. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar.
5.
5. Select the Trend button on the toolbar.
6. Drag a box in some empty space to create a trend.
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7. Do the following steps:

Set the Plot name to Level.

Use the Tag Search… button to select the tag …T100_Sim_Vol
[refer to previous section for detailed steps].

Set Plot Time Start to *-5 Minutes.

Do NOT click the OK button.

Last, click the New Plot button.
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8. Do the following steps:

Set the Plot Name to Temp.

Use the Tag Search… button to select the tag …TI100
[refer to previous section for detailed steps].

Set Plot Time Start to *-3 Minutes.

Do NOT click the OK button.

Last, click the New Plot button.
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9. Do the following steps:

Set the Plot Name to T100.

Use the Tag Search… button to select both tags …T100_Demo_Temp.PV and …T100_Demo_Volume.PV
[refer to previous section for detailed steps].

Set Plot Time Start to *-50 seconds.

Do NOT click the OK button.
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10. On the Display Format tab, select Level from the drop-down and uncheck the Value Scale Inside Axis option.
Do NOT click the OK button.
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11. On the Layout tab, fill in the following values:

Row:
1

Col:
2

ExRow: 1

ExCol:
1
These settings will cause the first (bottom) row to contain two columns (trends) and the additional second row to contain one
column (trend).
It is now safe to click the OK button. The only time you can access the Layout tab is during the initial creation of a new
trend. Once the trend is completed, you cannot go back and edit the layout.
The end result will be three “separate” trends which can be edited individually.
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12. You should now have a lovely multi-trend.
13. Click on the Save toolbar button.
14. Save the processbook as Trends.PIW in My Documents.
15. Close the Displays and Trends.PIW processbook file.
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Part B – Multi-page ProcessBook
1. Create a new ProcessBook (.piw) File and give it the name of Production Data. Click OK.
2. With the Production Data ProcessBook open, select Tools > Preferences.
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3. On the General tab, uncheck the Prefer Run Mode option (if not already unchecked). This will keep the
processbook from going into “Run mode” as items are added. Click OK when finished (not shown).
4. Your processbook may have entered Run mode if your Run Mode Bias option was on prior to step 3 above.
Put the processbook in Build mode by clicking on the build icon in the tool bar.
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5. In the last section, you always used the New button to add entries to the processbook.
This time, select the Insert menu and then Text.
6. Enter Label of Tank Levels and click OK.
7. Again, select Insert > Text and this time enter a Label of Tank Temperatures.
8. One more time, select Insert > Text and enter a Label of Miscellaneous
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9. When finished, your processbook should appear as follows.
Note: The three tabs creating individual “pages” of your processbook:
10. Click on the Tank Levels tab to bring that page forward.
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11. Select Insert > Display:
12. Enter a Label of Tank 1 and change the Level to 3 which will result in indenting the display name on the page a
couple of times. Then, click OK.
13. A “blank” processbook display will appear.
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14. As you did in Part A of this exercise, add a Trend to this display using ControlLogix tag that ends in
…T100_Sim_Vol. Use a Start Time of *-2 Minutes.
Your display should appear similar to the following (may need to “widen” your trend for the long tag name to appear on the
right side such as in the below example):
15. Close the Tank 1 display. It will ask you if you want to save changes, be sure to click Yes:
You will actually be saving your entire processbook .PIW file (the display is embedded in it).
Save to My Documents.
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16. Your processbook should now appear as follows, with a Display named Tank 1 under the Text of Tank Levels:
17. Select Insert > Display again and name the new display Tank 2.
Do not bother putting a trend or anything else on the display for now.
Close and save it.
Your processbook should appear as follows, with Tank 2 above Tank 1:
18. Obviously, if that is what you intended and prefer there is no need to change anything.
However, if you want to change the order you could select View > Outline.
Instead of Book mode, your processbook would then appear as follows:
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19. If your processbook appears in this way, with Tank 2 above Tank 1, first select Tank1 and then click the arrow
up button.
The order should be changed.
20. If you go back to View > Book mode, your processbook should appear as follows (you may need to click the
Tank Levels tab to bring that page forward):
21. You may have noticed that the tabs on the right-hand side of the processbook are appearing in reverse order of
how we entered them, with Miscellaneous on top and Tank Levels on the bottom.
To reverse that order, go back to View > Outline mode. Select the individual lines of text that you added and use the
arrow up and arrow down buttons to move the order to match the following:
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22. When you go back to View > Book mode, the tabs will now be in the order you’ve specified:
23. Click on the Miscellaneous tab and select Insert > Link / OS Command.
Configure the dialog box as follows. Use the Browse… button to select notepad.exe from the directory C:\Windows (will
need to look for “all files”, not just .piw or .pdi files)
Set Level to 3. Click OK when all other settings are made. Notepad will automatically open, you can close it.
24. When your processbook is in Run mode, you now have a link to open Notepad in case you wanted to enter
some notes and save them, or open previously written notes that were saved as .txt files in case you want to
read them (try it!).
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25. Add another link on your Miscellaneous processbook page to launch Microsoft Excel.
The path to Excel on your computer should be C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE.
Note: As a possible enhancement, when Excel opens you could have it automatically open a particular
workbook if your link is configured similar to the following (this example assumes C:\Production Report.xls
actually exists – it does not at this time - and is a valid Excel workbook – is not at this time):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE14\EXCEL.EXE" "C:\Production Report.xls"
26. As time allows, experiment with your processbook file adding items such as:

Add one or more displays to the Tank Temperatures page

Additional lines of Text as “headings” or “section dividers” on the pages

Change order tabs are displayed and/or order of items on pages

Launch additional applications from your processbook, such as the Windows Calculator, Paint, etc.
27. Save your processbook file and close ProcessBook. Also close any other applications that might have opened
during this exercise, such as Excel or Notepad.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 2: Dynamic Elements in ProcessBook
What You Will Learn
 How to use dynamic elements in ProcessBook displays to create sophisticated displays.
Besides simple trends, you can also use dynamically updating elements in ProcessBook displays. These are live elements
whose properties change with time. This exercise will give you the opportunity to work with the following:
 Dynamic Text Value
 Dynamic Bar Graph
 Multi-State Symbol
PART A – Edit Zero and Span of Tag with the SMT
In this exercise you will be using the tag “T100_Sim_Vol” in the ControlLogix processor to control some dynamic elements in
ProcessBook. The value of this tag in the controller is ranging between 0 and 120. In the Historian Point that is associated with
this tag, it is important to verify that the “Zero” and “Span” setting for this Point are correct.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Open the System Management Tools (SMT).
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3. Select the SERVER Server if not already selected, then open the Points options and select Point Builder.
4. Select the Search icon.
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5.
Set Tag Mask to *Sim_Vol*, click Search, select the …T100_Sim_Vol tag and then click OK:
6.
Select the Archive Tab and verify Zero is set to 0 and Span to 120. If not, make required changes.
7.
Click Save.
8.
Close System Management Tools.
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PART B – ProcessBook Dynamic Elements
We are going to modify an existing ProcessBook display which contains a tank diagram. First we will add a dynamic value to
show the exact tank level. Then we will add two multi-state symbols to act as high and low level alarm lights. Finally, we will use
a dynamic bar graph to visually display the level on top of the tank.
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Launch ProcessBook by going to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE >
FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook..
3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
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4. Use the Open icon on the toolbar to open the file PB Dyn Elem.PDI located in the lab files folder (C:\Lab
Files\Historian Advanced Lab\).
5. Select View > Toolbars… and turn on the Formatting Toolbar. Click Close.
6. Click in a “blank area” of the display to “unselect” any objects. Because nothing is selected yet, we can set the
default color properties for everything drawn in the future. Click on the “Drawing Color” toolbar button (if “grayed
out”, click somewhere “blank” on the display to give it focus first):
7. Set the default Line color to black and then click the OK button.
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8. If in Run mode, switch to build-mode and activate the Value toolbar button.
9. Click on the background to the right of the tank to initiate the dynamic value dialog.
10. Click on the Tag Search… button.
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11. Change the Tag Mask to *Sim_Vol* and click the Search button. Select the …T100_Sim_Vol tag and then
click on the OK button.
12. Click on the OK button.
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13. Now select the static Text toolbar button.
14. Click just above the dynamic level value and type the text Level.
15. Now select the Ellipse toolbar button.
16. With the Ellipse tool, use click-and-drag to draw two small circles next to the tank.
You can force a circle by holding down the Shift key while you drag.
17. With the default build cursor, click on the upper circle to select it. Then click on the Multi-State Symbol
toolbar button.
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18. Click on the Tag Search… button to select the …T100_Sim_Vol tag. Review step 11 for the details of tag
selection. Change the Color for State 1 to green (State 2 will default to red). Change the Values for State 1 to
be “<= 90. Finally, click the OK button:
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19. Repeat steps 17 & 18 for the lower circle. This time however, specify a Values for State 1 of <= 10. Specify the
color of State 1 to be red, and that of State 2 to be green. Use the State drop-down box to select the state to
edit. Click OK when done.
20. Select the Bar toolbar button.
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21. Using the Bar tool, drag a rectangle which exactly covers the box portion of the tank.
22. Click the Tag Search… button to select the tag …T100_Sim_Vol, then click OK:
23. With the Bar object you just drew still selected, click the Drawing Color toolbar button:
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24. Change the Line and Background colors to None and then click the OK button:
25. Click on the stem of the stirrer and on the Arrange menu, choose the Bring To Front command.
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26. Repeat step 25 with the Stirred tank label. You will have to click more than once (slowly, not double-clicking) to
select the text label beneath the Bar we added on top.
27. Save the ProcessBook file.
28. Click the Run button (although you might have noticed things updating in the “build mode” anyway) and observe
the function of the display and Dynamic Elements you’ve added.
29. Exercise continues with next section (leave your display open and in Run mode)
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PART C – More with ProcessBook
1. In ProcessBook, select Tools > Preferences.
2. Select the Trend tab and review the items listed. These settings determine the “Default” settings for trends
added to ProcessBook displays:
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3. Change the “Start Plot Scale” from *-8 Hour to *-5 Minutes (need to "type it in" if not on dropdown list):
4. Click OK to accept the changes and close the Preferences dialog box.
5. If you wanted to add a trend to your current ProcessBook display, you could do so with the standard trend button
you’ve used several times already (don’t actually do this).
6. Instead, this time click on the …T100_Sim_Vol value on your running Processbook display.
7. Be sure that your display is in the Run mode. If not, change to Run mode and then re-click on the
…T100_Sim_Vol value. Then, click the Trend Display icon on the toolbar (not the Trend tool you’ve previously
used!).
8. You should get an instant “Ad Hoc” trend of the selected tag.
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9. Close the “Ad Hoc” trend. Click the value again and then click the Point Attributes icon:
10. You should get a Point Attributes window for this tag as follows:
11. Close the Point Attributes window
12. Add two additional Value objects to your display assigned to tags of your choice:
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13. Go back to Run mode if your editing took you to Build mode. With all three values “selected” (either “rubberband” the cursor around them or use “ctrl-clicks”), create an Ad Hoc trend.
14. With all three values “selected”, select Point Attributes. You should see a drop-down list letting you select each
of the tags, one at a time, to view their attributes.
15. Save and close the ProcessBook file.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 3: ProcessBook Displays in FactoryTalk View SE
What You Will Learn
 How to extract individual ProcessBook displays from a ProcessBook workbook and embed them inside a FactoryTalk View
SE display.
FactoryTalk Historian ActiveView provides the ability to embed fully interactive ProcessBook displays in any ActiveX container.
ActiveView provides a utility to extract individual displays from a ProcessBook workbook. It also produces an HTML file which
attempts to recreate the general structure of the original workbook file.
PART A – Using ActiveView via Internet Explorer
1. Verify you are on the CLIENT image.
2. Launch ProcessBook if not already running.
3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opened at default:
4. Use the Open icon on the toolbar to open the file Trends.PIW which you created in an earlier exercise and
saved to My Documents.
If you did not complete the earlier exercise, instead open the PBDEMO.PIW file located in C:\Program Files
(x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\Server\PIPC\Procbook\en.
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5. Leaving open the Trends.PIW file, open the EXPORT.PDI file located in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\Server\PIPC\ACVIEW\WebDev
6. Specify an Export Path of C:\Temp and then click the OK button.
7. When completed, click the Close button.
Note: This Temp folder on the C:\ drive has been created ahead of time and is a "shared folder". This will
allow you to access these files from the SERVER image a bit later in this exercise.
8. Close the EXPORT.PDI file, the Trends.PIW file and ProcessBook itself.
9. Go to the SERVER image:
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10. Open up Computer, Network and then Temp on Client:
11. These are the files the EXPORT.PDI application created in the CLIENT C:\Temp folder. Select all files, right
click and select Copy:
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12. Go to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot, right-click (there will be some other files/folders there) and select Paste
13. The copied files should now appear in this directory. These files will be used by the ActiveView Server to
provide the ProcessBook displays to ActiveView clients.
14. Return to the CLIENT image:
15. Open Internet Explorer.
16. Set the address to: http://SERVER/PBhome.htm
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17. Click on the Simple Trend.
Note: That the first time you use ActiveView per session you may see a blank white box or one containing
“connecting” message while it tries to connect to the historian server. This is normal. Just wait several
seconds while the connection is established.
18. After the connection is established, the ProcessBook displays will display and be fully interactive. You can
switch to other displays without experiencing the initial connection delay.
19. Close Internet Explorer.
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PART B – Using ActiveView in a FactoryTalk View SE Display
1. Still on the CLIENT image, we will use ActiveView to embed a ProcessBook display in a FactoryTalk View SE
display. Launch FactoryTalk View Studio.
2. When prompted, select the Site Edition (Network) application type and click Continue.
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3. Open the InstaCorp application.
4. Once the application is fully open, open the MixingHMI display named process overview by double-clicking on
its entry.
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5. Use the ActiveX Control object to draw a box in some empty space.
6. Select the PI ActiveView Control from the list and click the OK button.
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7. Double-click on the ActiveX to bring up the configuration dialog.
8. Leave the entry on the Server Ini tab blank. Go to the Display URL tab and enter a Display URL of:
http://SERVER/MULTI-TRENDS.PDI. Click the OK button (not shown below).
Note: If you did not complete the earlier exercise and exported the PBDEMO.PIW instead, use a URL of:
http://SERVER/Pulp Prep.PDI:
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9. After clicking OK on above dialog, switch the FactoryTalk View display to test mode by clicking on the Test
Display toolbar button.
10. You now have a fully interactive ProcessBook display embedded in FactoryTalk View.
After you have experimented with the display, close all the applications.
This section of the exercise is finished.
11. Close FactoryTalk View Studio and save changes.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 4: Using ProcessBook Datasets
What You Will Learn
 How to use ProcessBook’s data sets to produce values and trends based on locally calculated data.
FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook data sets provide a means of producing locally calculated data. Data sets can perform
flexible calculations on dynamic data which can be trended or displayed like any other historian data point. The calculations are
local to the ProcessBook workbook and provide an ideal place to prototype calculations which once finalized can later be moved
to server side calculation mechanisms like performance equations.
PART A – Calculations on Single Tag
1. Verify that you are on the CLIENT image:
2. Launch ProcessBook by going to Start > All Programs > Rockwell Software > FactoryTalk Historian SE >
FactoryTalk Historian ProcessBook..
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3. Close the ProcessBook demo file that opens at default.
4. From the File menu select New.
5. Select new ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File, set the Display Name to Test, and click the OK button.
6. Select the Data Sets… command on the Tools menu.
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7. In the Data Sets dialog, click on the New button and choose the PI Calculation sub-type.
8. Set the data set Name to LEVEL and the Description to Tank Level. Set the Tag or Expression to the tag
“SINUSOID” and the “Interval” to “1h” then click the OK button:
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9. Close the Data Sets dialog by clicking the Close button.
10. Change to build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar (your ProcessBook may already be in build
mode).
11. Select the Trend button on the toolbar.
12. Drag a box in some empty space to create a trend.
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13. Use the drop-down to the right of the Tag Search… button to select a PI Calculation:
14. First, select LEVEL from the Data Sets list.
Next, select from the Columns the Average, Minimum, and Maximum columns (use Ctrl-clicks).
Finally, click the OK button:
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15. Change the Start Time to *-12 Hour and then click the OK button:
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16. Examine the effect of the data set calculations on the SINUSOID tag. Notice how the summary calculations that
we selected are performed on an hourly basis as configured by the “Interval” setting. (note that the below trend is
showing 12 hours of data…if your Historian Server has not been constantly archiving data over the last 12 hours,
your trend may have only a portion of such data).
17. Save, then close the Test display.
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PART B – Calculations With Multiple Tags
We will now explore using Data Sets to perform custom calculations utilizing multiple tags.
1. Use the Open icon on the toolbar to open the file Data Sets.PDI located in the lab files folder (C:\Lab
Files\Historian Advanced Lab):
2. If you get the following dialog, it is because this ProcessBook file was last working with a Server named VMHIST.
That is not the server we are using, so we will replace that server name with the server named SERVER by clicking OK.
3. Again, select the Data Sets… entry on the Tools menu.
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4. Notice that the Data Sets dialog does not show the “LEVEL” data set you created earlier. This is because the
data set we previously created is local to the file in which it was created.
Click on the New button and choose the PI Calculation sub-type.
5. On the PI Calculation Data dialog, set the following values, then click OK.

Name:
PRODUCTA

Description:
%Product A

Tag or Expression:
'CDT158' / ('CDT158' + 'BA:TEMP.1') * 100

Calculation Interval
10m

Value Column Name:
% Product A
Note: if your cursor is still in the Tag or Expression field, you may need to click outside of that field (into
another field) for the expression to be “tested” before the Value Column Name field will appear). Click OK.
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6. Back in the Data Sets dialog, click on the Close button:
7. Verify in the build mode by selecting the Build button on the toolbar:
8. Click on the Value toolbar button.
9. Use the Value tool and click on the area beneath the % Product A label.
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10. Select PI Calculation from the drop-down to the right of the Tag Search… button.
11. Select PRODUCTA from the Saved Data Sets list. Next select %ProductA from the Data Set
Columns list.
Finally, click the OK button.
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12. Click the OK button:
13. Notice that the tank outlet now displays the current percentage of Product A (your value will differ).
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14. With the Build cursor selected, double-click on the empty Plot-0.
15. Select PI Calculation from the drop-down to the right of the Tag Search… button:
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16. Select PRODUCTA from the Saved Data Sets list. Next select %ProductA from the Data Set Columns list.
Finally, click the OK button.
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17. Click the OK button:
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18. Now you can enjoy a live updating trend of the calculated product A percentage (your trend may not have as
much data as shown below).
19. Close ProcessBook.
This section of the lab is complete
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Section 5: SQC Charting in ProcessBook
What You Will Learn
 How to use the PI SQC add-in to configure control charts in ProcessBook and perform common SQC calculations.
The PI SQC (Statistical Quality Control) add-in for ProcessBook provides a client side SQC mechanism for FactoryTalk
Historian. With the add-in, users can flexibly configure SQC control charts. These charts can have advanced filtering, perform
SQC statistical calculations, and even check data points against SQC alarm conditions.
1. Verify that you are on the SERVER image:
2. Launch Microsoft Office Excel 2010.
3. Click the Open option and open the file ProcessBook SQC Setup.xls located in the lab files folder (C:\Lab
Files\ Server \ Lab Files \ Historian Advanced Lab\):
4.
Choose the Export Tags… entry on the PI-SMT menu under Add-Ins.
5. On the Export PI Tags dialog, verify that the Mode is set to Create and then click the OK button.
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6. Acknowledge the results dialog by clicking the OK button.
7. Close Excel.
8. Go to the CLIENT image and launch ProcessBook.
9. Close the PIDEMO.PIW file that opens at default.
10. Open the file SQC.PDI located in the lab files folder (C:\Lab Files\Historian Advanced Lab\)
11. Click OK to select the SERVER Server:
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12. Verify that you are in Run mode and then explore the interactive SQC chart. If you are getting a message in the
middle of the chart indicating “Not enough samples”, just wait 2-3 minutes until it goes away and the SQC charts
have "data".
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13. Click and drag a rectangle on the data plot to zoom in to the selected area.
14. Click the Revert Time Ranges toolbar button to undo the zoom.
15. Double-click on the chart control to maximize it. Double-click on it again to return it to its original size and
location.
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16. Use the One Time Period Back and One Time Period Forward toolbar buttons to scroll through the data (may
have to wait a few minutes if you get a No or not enough data points or Not enough samples message).
17. Use the Scroll Time bar to free scroll through the data.
18. Use the set time range button to look at a specific period of data.
19. Set the time span from *-4 Hour to * and click the OK button.
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20. Use the Trend Cursor to explore the data values. Once you click the Trend Cursor tool, you may
need to click and drag the cursor (like a vertical bar) from the right edge of the trend area.
21. Double-click on the Exercise 1: [Individuals] title bar to bring up the Statistics Window.
Note: That this will only work if there are enough values for a “bell curve” to be drawn such as shown
below…if this won’t work for you, wait a minute or so and watch for the curve to appear:
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22. Examine the various statistics and information available, eventually selecting the Plotted Data option and click
on the Save Data To File button:
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23. Save the data as sqcdata.txt in the My Documents folder:
24. Close the Statistics Window and open the sqcdata.txt file in Notepad.
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25. When you are done examining the available statistics, close Notepad and close the ProcessBook display file
and save changes (DO NOT close ProcessBook itself).
26. Click on the New toolbar button:
27. Select new ProcessBook Display (.pdi) File, set the Display Name to XBar, and click the OK button.
28. Switch to Build mode and then click on the SQC Chart toolbar button.
29. Drag a rectangle on the background to create an SQC Chart.
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30. On the General tab, set the following fields.

Chart Title:
XBar Control Chart

Chart Type:
X - Bar

Chart Tag:
stationary1
31. After clicking OK on the above dialog, click the Save toolbar button.
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32. Click the Save button to save this display to My Documents.
33. Take some time to explore your recently created SQC chart. When you are ready, use the Save As… command
on the File menu.
34. Set the new name to Moving Avg.PDI and then click the Save button:
35. Double-click the chart to return to the configuration dialog (must be in Build mode):
36. On the General tab, set the Chart Title to Moving Avg Control Chart.
Next change the Chart Type to Moving Average.
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37. On the Sample tab, set the Sample Size to 5 and then click OK:
38. Click the Save toolbar button.
39. Take some time to experiment with the SQC chart. Be sure to go to Run mode to see any updates.
40. When ready, first close the current PDI (Moving Avg.PDI). Then, reopen the XBar.PDI file.
41. Use the Save As… command on the File menu.
42. Set the new name to XBar Time Sampled.PDI and then click the Save button.
43. Double-click the chart to return to the configuration dialog (must be in Build mode).
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44. We want to change the sampling algorithm. We want to take two samples every ten minutes starting on 5 and 6
minutes after the hour. On the Sample tab, make the following changes:

Calculation Basis to “Time”

Calculation Period to “00:10:00”

Sample Period to “00:01:00”

Start Time of Sample to “00:05:00”

Finally, click the OK button:
45. Put the display in Run mode. Initially you may not have enough samples and it may take some time for the chart
to start showing data. Experiment with the chart as desired...you may want to "come back later" (if time permits)
to view data in the chart. When ready to proceed, click the Save button on the toolbar and close Processbook.
This lab is complete
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Publication XXXX-XX###X-EN-P — Month Year
Supersedes Publication XXXX-XX###X-EN-P — Month Year
Copyright© 2012 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All rights reserved.