xMII Study

[Former Member]

Hi All,

I am trying to collect some notes on Shop floor integration to SAP ERP System. Some forum members said it is better to post this msg here. I would like to get feedbacks from the industry which would be highly valuable.

1) How are the <b>connections</b> ( <i>can we generalize them..? if the list of protocols are large</i> ) made in xMII from the devices (PLC, Robotic arms, Valves..etc)!?!

(pls let me know what should a device vendor implement to make an xMII connection if he does not have an MES system )

2) What kind of interface does all / most of the MES offer for the xMII ?

3) Is there any standard that xMII would like to follow for interfacing devices which cannot support OPCxxx standards..or what should the gateway provide xMII for a consistent data exchange ?.

We are currently involved in an evaluation phase of an interface for shop floor and the ERP system and I am trying to do some ground work on it. Any help would be highly appreciated.

cheers

Domnic

[Former Member]

Domnic,

Here is some answers to your questions:

1a) Connectors can be split up into two implementation types: native and 'UDS'.

<u>Native</u>

Native connectors are ones that have some sort of Java interface that the xMII server can manage and talk to directly, these are mostly classical database (with some exceptions) systems.

<u>UDS</u>

The UDS (or Universal Data Servers) are (<i>ironically</i>) specific Windows based components that talk to particular historians and SCADA packages (OLEDB being the only one that deviated from this model). The UDSs then interface to xMII directly through a custom protocol.

1b) Nothing in xMII or the UDSs interface directly to devices (PLC, Robotics, etc) instead a third party is expected to fill in this gap. The UDSs of the xMII server directly would then communicate to this third party system.

The 'standard' interfaces that the UDSs talk to are OLEDB, OPC DA (2.05A, 3.00*), and OPC HDA (1.20). If the vendor want's to bypass an MES system and talk to xMII, I would suggest creating an OPC server (we have only seen a few customers do this themselves though).

2) I don't quite understand the question here... I'm assuming that you mean what interfaces should be exposed by the MES server to allow xMII access? If so then they are the three I just described: OLEDB, OPC DA(2.05A), OPC HDA(1.20).

3) xMII is very extensible and if there is no OPC standard that meets your needs there are always workarounds or other options that can be explored. Really it comes down to how the system is implemented.

Just some notes on Erwans post:

<i>plug and play</i> is not the right term, there is some configuration required for these connectors to work correctly, but one configured they generally do allow good visibility into the third party systems.

Lastly, the list given by as "currently supported" systems.connectors seems a little off, for example:

- The xMII UDSs <b>DO NOT</b> support <i>all</i> OPC specifications, currently only OPC DA 2.05A and OPC HDA 1.20 are implemented. Furthermore some of the servers here are accessed through the OLEDB, OPC DA and OPC HDA UDSs, these interfaces are supported, but the 'servers' themselves are not. For example we do not have a Honeywell PHD server in house and can not validate that the interface works. That said, if you have a problem we will still try to help.

- Microsoft Excel is not included in this list (and for all you nay sayers, yes the OLEDB UDS is used to get this data, but we also support the app).

Martin

• - this is expected in a future release

[Former Member]

Hi

See Note 943237 - xMII Currently Supported Systems/Connectors

Other terms

xMII; UDS; UDC; SQL; Tag; IDBC; ODBC; OLEDB; Datasource; Database

Reason and Prerequisites

Connectors provide a #plug and play# means to interface process, production or business systems into xMII. Connectors understand the communication requirements and capabilities of these systems and expose their information into the xMII infrastructure. Once these systems are connected (a process that only takes minutes) xMII extracts, aggregates and analyzes this information and presents it in a secure, focused, and personalized view to users inside and outside your organization. Access to timely and accurate operational information lets users make better decisions more quickly, increasing the responsiveness and competitiveness of any organization.

Solution

The following is a list of systems/connectors currently supported by xMII:

Plant Automation [HMI/SCADA, Batch and Control systems]

- Ci Technologies Citect

- Iconics Genesis32

- InBatch

- InControl

- Proficy iFIX

- Moore (Siemens) APACS

- Rockwell RSView32

- RS Batch

- Siemens WinCC

- USDATA FactoryLink

- VisualBatch

- Wonderware InTouch

Plant Automation [Distributed Control Systems]

- ABB INFI90

- AspenTech IP21, Cim/21

- Emerson Delta V

- Foxboro I/A

- Historians Plant Process Historians

- Honeywell PHD

- Honeywell TDC3000

- Proficy Historian (formerly iHistorian)

- OSI PI

- Rockwell RS SQL

- Wonderware IndustrialSQL

Relational databases [xMII Database Connector (IDBC)]

- DB2 on AS400

- DB2 on NT* (Native Connection)

- Microsoft Access

- Microsoft SQL Server* (Native Connection)

- MySQL

- ORACLE* (Native Connection)

- Sybase*

- Any ODBC or JDBC compliant data source

Standards-based Connectors [xMII offers a number of configurable connectors that support industry standards.]

- IDBC (Configurable to any ODBC-compliant data source)

- OPC (Compatible with any OPC server)

- XML (Mappable to any XML schema)

MES Systems [Manufacturing Execution Systems]

- Camstar InSite

- CIMNET InfoLink, Folders

- DataSweep Advantage

- Fastech FACTORYworks

- Honeywell POMS

- Mountain Systems Proficy

- Wonderware InTrack

CMMS [Computerized Maintenance Management Systems]

- Cayenta Mainsaver EAM

- Datastream MP2, MP3 and MP5

- PSDI Maximo

- Wonderware Avantis

LIMS [Laboratory Information Systems]

- Beckman iLIMS

- LabSystems SampleManager

- PE Nelson SQL *LIMS

If you do not see the datasource that you are trying to connect to please log a message in the SAP Support Portal with the datasource details.

[Former Member]

Very speedy reply

[Former Member]

We aim to please

[Former Member]

Hi Martin,

i like this thread, because it gives a very good overview about the connectors in xMII and also the OPC standards that are supported. That's the reason why I watch this I thread. I hope you will update it time by time or move the connector stuff to the xMII wiki.

Ciao

Martin