FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition Basic Lab

For Classroom Use Only!

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FactoryTalk Historian SE Basic Lab

Contents

Before you begin ......................................................................................................................................... 5

About this lab ................................................................................................................................................ 5

Tools & prerequisites .................................................................................................................................... 5

Document Conventions ................................................................................................................................. 6

Section 1: Introduction to FactoryTalk Historian SE ............................................................................... 7

About This Section (~10 minutes) ................................................................................................................. 7

Historian applications .................................................................................................................................... 8

Historian Architectures / Distributed Historian .............................................................................................. 9

Capturing Time-series data vs. Relational data .......................................................................................... 10

Filtering and Compression .......................................................................................................................... 10

Section 2: Configuration and Setup ........................................................................................................ 13

About This Section (~30 minutes) ............................................................................................................... 13

Configure time-series data collection .......................................................................................................... 13

Check the Health of Studio 5000 Logix Emulate ........................................................................................ 14

Check the Controller Tags in Studio 5000 Logix Designer ......................................................................... 15

Open FactoryTalk Admin Console and check Data Sources ...................................................................... 17

Verify the Historian Server .......................................................................................................................... 20

Verify the Licenses Assigned ...................................................................................................................... 23

Discover New Historian Points .................................................................................................................... 26

Modify the Points with the SMT’s Point Builder .......................................................................................... 32

Import and View the Points with the Excel PI Builder Add-in ...................................................................... 40

Section 3: Trending with FactoryTalk View SE ...................................................................................... 49

About This Section (~10 minutes) ............................................................................................................... 49

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Open View Studio ........................................................................................................................................50

Add a Trend to an Existing Display .............................................................................................................51

Section 4: Introduction to FactoryTalk Historian SE Asset Framework ..............................................59

About this Section (~10 minutes) .................................................................................................................59

Use PI System Explorer to observe the FTHAF Elements, Templates and Attributes................................59

Import and View the Elements with the Excel PI Builder Add-in .................................................................62

Section 5: Reporting with FactoryTalk VantagePoint ............................................................................66

About this Section (~20 minutes) .................................................................................................................66

Using Trend .................................................................................................................................................70

Creating a Basic Excel Report .....................................................................................................................76

Using the ThinUI to Emulate a Mobile Device .............................................................................................85

Section 6: FactoryTalk Historian SE Archive Backup ...........................................................................87

About This Section (~10 minutes) ...............................................................................................................87

Scheduling an Automatic Backup ................................................................................................................87

Testing the Scheduled Backup ....................................................................................................................89

Section 7: Optional - FactoryTalk Historian DataLink ...........................................................................91

About This Section (~15 Minutes) ...............................................................................................................91

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink....................................................................................................................91

Specifying time in FactoryTalk Historian .....................................................................................................92

Open Excel ..................................................................................................................................................95

Create a summary report .............................................................................................................................95

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Before you begin

At the conclusion of the presentation, read Section 1 – Introduction to Historian.

About this lab

Welcome to the FactoryTalk Historian Hands-On Lab! This session provides you with an opportunity to
explore FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition v5.01. 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.

Tools & prerequisites

Software programs required:
 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
 Microsoft Internet Explorer v11.0
 Microsoft Office 2016
 Microsoft SQL Server Express 2012
 FactoryTalk Services Platform v3.00 (CPR 9 SR 10)
 FactoryTalk Linx v6.00
 FactoryTalk Historian Site Edition Server Suite v5.01
 FactoryTalk Historian DataLink v5.3.0
 FactoryTalk VantagePoint v8.00
 FactoryTalk View Site Edition v10.00
 Studio5000 Designer v30
 Studio5000 Emulate v30

Hardware devices required

 None

Files required
 None

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Document Conventions
Throughout this workbook, we have used the following conventions to help guide you through the lab
materials.
This style or symbol: Indicates:
Words shown in bold (e.g., Any item or button that you must click on, or a menu name from
RSLogix 5000 or OK) which you must choose an option or command. This will be an
actual name of an item that you see on your screen or in an
example.
Words shown enclosed in single An item that you must type in the specified field. This is information
quotes (e.g., 'Controller1') that you must supply based on your application (e.g., a
variable).
Note: When you type the text in the field, remember that you do
not need to type the quotes; simply type the words that are
contained within them (e.g., Controller1).
The text that appears inside of a gray box is supplemental
“Learning Point”. The text is intended to emphasize certain key
concepts about using the product.

Note: If the mouse button is not specified in the text, you should click on the left mouse button.

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Section 1: Introduction to FactoryTalk Historian SE

Historians are a widely used tool for gathering large amounts of historical data, primarily based on time-
series data. This data is stored in large archives, and retrieved for reporting, analysis and for general real-
time and historical trending.

There are several Historian technologies using either proprietary databases, or standard relational
databases. The advantages of a relational database are the ease of data retrieval based on standard, but
the database itself is not optimized to handle these large amounts of mostly unstructured data.

We will in this section get introduced to Historians in general and the new FactoryTalk Historian specifically.
We will look at the advantages of the new Historian compared to previous and older technologies.

About This Section (~10 minutes)

In this section, we will introduce you to the new FactoryTalk Historian. In this section you will:
 What is a Historian and what is it used for
 Where does a Historian fit within the Enterprise IT solution
 What is time-series data
 What is the difference between time series data and relational data
 What are some of the advanced features of a Historian

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Historian applications
Historians are utilized across many industries and applications including, Consumer Products, Food and
Beverage, Automotive, Life Sciences, Packaging, and Material Routing.

The main application is to capture process data at high speeds and at low intervals to be able to display
trends and graphs of the data, and to be able to perform advanced analysis of the data, and to report
based on the data.

Those time-series data can then be used as a basis for various calculations, estimations, statistical
processes, quality controls, etc., throughout the processes and applications in the enterprise.

The typical Historians are Plant historians capturing data from all the equipment in a plant, and that data is
then used in mostly other specialized applications such as MES, ERP, Reporting, Visualization, Quality and
Assurance applications etc.

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Historian Architectures / Distributed Historian
Because data becomes more and more important, it is essential that systems will allow for data capture at
all levels of the Plant floor and at optimal capture rates, and it is also essential that this data becomes
available at all levels of the enterprise. This is the basic concept of Rockwell’s Distributed Historian
Strategy.

The Distributed Strategy extends the traditional Site/Plant Historian, with a Machine Level device Historian
to allow for fast and reliable data capture at the controller level, and with an Enterprise Level Historian to
aggregate all Enterprise data to a central repository making the data available at all levels of the Enterprise.

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Capturing Time-series data vs. Relational data
Time-series data is largely unstructured, and is therefore not the optimal candidate for being stored in a
relational database such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. First of all the data will require a lot of space,
given that typical technologies make every data point a record in the database, and secondly retrieving that
data given the system needs to select a lot of records for a simple trend, will take more time than traditional
relational lookups.

So in order store more data in the same space and in order to allow for very fast data capture and retrieval,
the more advanced Historians today are utilizing time-series optimized data stores, that allow for a very fast
capture rate and storage, a space optimized storage, and a very fast data retrieval rate.

Filtering and Compression

On top of the optimized storage the new FactoryTalk Historian also has an advanced filtering and
compression algorithm that further optimizes the storage capability

Exception Test
Data compression is an optional two-step process to report changes by exception and store only what is
necessary to reproduce as close to the actual raw data trend.

The first step is the Exception test. This test filters all values out that only differ slightly from the previous
value.

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When a value passes this test, that value and the previous value are reported.

Compression Test
The second step is the compression test. This test filters values out that only differ slightly from the slope
between the previous and the next value.

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When a value passes this test, the first value for the slope section and the last value are reported. This
system is also used to retrieve non archived values by interpolation between the archived start and ending
point of the slope section.

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Section 2: Configuration and Setup

In order to make it quicker and easier to configure a new Historian (or to reconfigure an existing Historian),
Rockwell Software has enhanced FactoryTalk Historian with two significant features not found in the
OSIsoft PI Historian:

1. Auto Discovery: Auto Discovery allows the system to automatically discover controllers and other data
sources without the need for the user to identify the controller name and/or address. The system will
start in the data tree within the FactoryTalk Application from where the user identifies the starting point
of the search, and discover all data sources from that point and all points in those sources.

2. Auto Configure: Auto Configure allows the system to automatically configure known points and points
based on templates that define what points to search for. This means that the system will very quickly
find only the relevant points to configure, and allow the user to configure these in one step.

About This Section (~30 minutes)

In this section you will explore the following topics:
 Configuring a new Historian Server
 Auto Discovery of tags
 Using the System Management Tools
 Using the Microsoft Excel PI Builder Add-in

Follow the steps below to complete Section 2.

Configure time-series data collection

FactoryTalk Historian is optimized to collect and analyze time-series data. Time-series data is continuously
sampled over time, and each sampled value can be saved in the database. In order to optimize the system
and minimize storage requirements, there are ways to run exception testing and compression testing on
the data, so only relevant changes to the data are stored. This way the system can store much more data
than if it was stored in a typical relational database (where typically every sampled point is stored).

In Historian, you (i.e., the discovery engine) merely select which register or tag in the control system you
want Historian to monitor, and Historian does the rest. The result is a series of data values collected over
time. The example you will use in this activity is a couple of controller points contained in an Instant Soap
project representing temperatures in mixing tanks.

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First, some terminology:
 A control system tag or memory tag refers to a name assigned to a register in the control system or
HMI.
 A data point or tag is a FactoryTalk Historian SE term which refers to a location in the control system
from which FactoryTalk Historian SE collects data. A data point/tag can be a control system tag or a
memory tag.
 A reporting tag is a Historian term for the time-series data stored in the FactoryTalk Historian Classic
database that was sampled from a single data point (or control system tag).

Configuring time-series data collection involves creating Historian collection points (historian points) and
identifying where in the control system Historian should collect the data, how often the data should be
sampled, etc.

Check the Health of Studio 5000 Logix Emulate

1. If running, verify that the Slot 2 emulated controller has both a green RUN and OK status as shown
below (if not running, see next step):

2. If not running, double-click on desktop Studio 5000 Logix Emulate shortcut and wait until Emulate is
fully running and controller RUN and OK lights are green.

3. Minimize – do NOT close – Studio 5000 Logix Emulate.

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Check the Controller Tags in Studio 5000 Logix Designer
1. Using the taskbar icon, launch Studio 5000 Launcher:

2. Under Recent Projects, select FTHDemo as shown below:

3. Using the Logix Designer, select the Controller Organizer and double-click Controller Tags:

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4. Scroll down and expand the T100_Demo_Temp User Defined Data Type (UDT) and the
T200_Demo_Temp UDT. Observe the 6 sub-elements of both tags:

5. After you have familiarized yourself with the T100_Demo_Temp and T200_Demo_Temp UDTs, close
Studio 5000 Logix Designer.

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Open FactoryTalk Admin Console and check Data Sources
We are now ready to configure our Historian to collect data from our controller. We can do this using either
the FactoryTalk Administration Console or FactoryTalk View Studio. We will use the FactoryTalk
Administration Console:

1. Using the taskbar icon, launch FactoryTalk Administration Console:

2. When prompted select the Network FactoryTalk Directory.

Learning Point: FactoryTalk Historian SE is only supported in a Network FactoryTalk

Directory.

3. Expand the InstaCorp application and the Mixing area as shown below:

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4. Expand the RSLinx Enterprise Data Server and double-click Communications Setup. Verify that
the ‘CLX1’ shortcut is highlighted on the left and the ‘1756-Lx/Em, FTHDemo’ in slot 2 of the backplane
is highlighted on the right:

Learning Point: In the interest of saving time, the FactoryTalk Application ‘InstaCorp’ and the
Device Shortcut ‘CLX1’ to the controller ‘FTHDemo’ were pre-configured for you. For more
information on creating a FactoryTalk Application, refer to the FactoryTalk Administration
Console online help.

5. In the lower right hand corner, click the Verify button to verify the connection to the controller. You
should receive a “Path to Primary device is assigned” message:

6. Click Close to close the Shortcut Verifier dialog and Click OK in the bottom right hand corner to close
the Communications Setup window (but do not close the Administration console).

7. Minimize the Administration Console and return to the desktop.

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8. Using the taskbar icon, launch the FactoryTalk Live Data Test Client:

9. At the Initial Connection dialog, click OK to Load Config file C:\Tools\Live Data Test.xml

Learning Point: This can take several seconds to initialize in the virtual environment.
Please be patient.

10. These are the 3 process variables (temperatures) we will be using throughout the remainder of this lab
exercise. Observe the Current Value column and note that only the first tag (T100_Demo_Temp.PV)
is changing relatively rapidly:

11. Also observe the Current Value range of tag T100_Demo_Temp.PV, the Current Value should be
between 60 and 150.

Learning Point: The span of all three points is 90 units (degrees). Later in the lab, this
span will be configured in the properties of each Historian tag.

12. Close the FactoryTalk Live Data Test Client.

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Verify the Historian Server
With the data server connection to the controller verified, we are now ready to verify the presence of the
FactoryTalk Historian Server and the FactoryTalk Live Data (FTLD) Interface.

1. Return to the FT Administration Console and:

 expand the Connections folder
 expand the Historical Data folder

Note the presence of an existing connection from the application tree to the Historian Server
“Production Historian” as shown below:

Learning Point: The Production Historian was created via the FTHSE Express Installation.

2. Expand the “Production Historian” and note the presence of the child “FTLD1” Interface.

Learning Point: The FTLD1 Interface was also created via the Historian Express Installation.

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3. Right-click on the FTLD1 Interface and select Properties:

4. Note that the Service Status is ‘Started’ and the Startup Type is ‘Automatic’ as shown below:

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5. Click the Stop button to stop the interface.

Learning Point: The FTLD1 Interface service was set to Startup Type Automatic via the
Historian Express Installation. We will restart the service later in the lab.

6. Select the Scan Classes tab to observe the 10 default scan classes of the FactoryTalk Live Data
Interface (and the ability to add/modify scan classes):

Learning Point: For more information on Scan Classes, click the icon in the lower left
hand corner and then select the Scan Classes link.

7. Click OK to close the Data Collection Interface Properties dialog.

Learning Point: You have now verified the settings for your FactoryTalk Live Data (FTLD)
Interface #1. It is possible to have multiple FTLD interfaces (e.g., FTLD2, FTLD3, etc.)
associated with the FTHSE server ‘Production Historian’, but using multiple interfaces on
multiple host computers is beyond the scope of this basic lab.

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Verify the Licenses Assigned

1. Select the Production Historian server and open up the properties dialog by right-clicking on the server
and selecting Properties:

2. Select the Licensing tab and verify that the FHSE.50K license supplied by the Activation Server has
been assigned:

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3. Click the icon in the lower left hand corner to display the Licensing Online Help as shown below:

Learning Point: To eliminate the 20 minute propagation delay, the FHSE.50K license was
pre-assigned for you.

4. Close the Licensing Online Help.

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5. Select the Point Sources tab and notice the absence of any FTLD Points In Use as shown below:

6. Click the icon to display the Point Sources Online Help as shown below:

7. Close the Point Source Online Help, click OK to close the Production Historian dialog.

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Discover New Historian Points

1. Return to the FactoryTalk Administration Console Explorer and expand the InstaCorp FactoryTalk
Application and select the InstaSoap Area as shown below:

2. Right-click and select Discovery Historian Points as shown below:

Learning Point: Adding Historian Points can also be accomplished via:

 The Add Individual Historian Points option above
 Using a web browser and the FactoryTalk VantagePoint Thin User Interface (ThinUI).

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3. Configure the Discovery New Historian Points dialog as shown below:

 Accept the Default scan rate (1 second)

 De-select all the data sources except Linx Enterprise
 Select the Mixing sub-area (folder) as the starting point for the search
 Select Enable data type filter
 Click Next to discover the controller(s) and configure the tags

Learning Point: We de-selected the other 3 unused sources simply to speed up the search
process. We also selected Enable data type filter to enable the default Discovery Rules
configuration (without the default Discovery Rules, 0 points will be found).

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4. The Discover Historian Points wizard will now proceed through the selected data source(s) in the area
scope defined, and find all points that match the default Discovery rule set. Wait while the Auto
Discovery finds all the Logix points matching the default discovery rules.

Learning Point: Using the default Discovery Rules, the Auto Discovery wizard will discover
1381 points in the emulated Controller and assign them to scan class 1 (1 second). Note: This
includes 71 Linx diagnostic points prefixed with “@”. However, there are far more than 1381
points are present in the emulated Controller. To discover the additional tags, you would need
to edit the default discovery rules and re-run the Auto Discovery wizard - or - perform manual
tag addition using Add Individual Historian Points wizard or the FT VantagePoint ThinUI.

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5. In the Confirm New Data Points dialog, click Confirm Points to configure the 1381 data points:

6. The system will confirm the points to be collected in the Historian (if for some reason you get an error,
see next step):

7. If for some reason you get an error confirming points, try the following:
a. Cancel/Close Discover Points dialogs
b. Close FactoryTalk Administration Console
c. Double-click on pisrvstop.bat – Shortcut on desktop, wait for all services to stop and
dialog to close itself
d. Double-click on pisrvstart.bat – Shortcut on desktop, wait for all services to start and
dialog to close itself
e. Go back to Step 1 in this section (Discover New Historian Points), and repeat steps

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8. After confirming the Points, the New Historian Point Discovery Complete dialog is displayed:

9. Click Start then OK.

Learning Point: The Historian Server has now assigned the 1381 new controller points to the
FTLD1 Interface with the following defaults:

 scan rate (1 second)

 exception (0.25)
 compression (on)

However, typically these defaults need to be changed and these changes are made using 1 of
2 options:

1) System Management Tools’ Point Builder and/or

2) MS Excel with PI Builder (formerly as known as Tag Configurator).

We will look at both options.

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10. Re-open up the properties dialog for the Production Historian Server by right-clicking on the server
and selecting Properties:

11. Select the Point Sources tab and notice that the FTLD Points In Use = 1381 (see below
Learning Point):

Learning Point: There is a slight delay before the 1381 new controller points are displayed
and a refresh may be required. To perform a refresh you must close and reopen the dialog.

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Modify the Points with the SMT’s Point Builder

1. On the General tab, click the Launch System Management Tools button:

Learning Point: The PI System Management Tools (PI SMT) provide a consolidated control
panel in which you can manage FactoryTalk Historian systems. PI SMT consists of a container
application - known as the host - and a library of plug-ins designed for specific management
tasks.

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2. Briefly examine the SMT interface, making sure the VM-DATA box is checked and paying special
attention to the System Management Tools pane in the lower left hand corner:

3. To briefly familiarize yourself with all the available plug-ins, select each of the 8 parent categories in
the System Management Tools panel and observe the icons that appear in the main window pane to
the right.

Learning Point: For more detailed information on all the available plug-ins, select Help >
Contents.

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4. Select and expand the Points category and then double-click Point Builder icon to launch the Point
Builder plug-in:

5. Within the Point Builder utility, click the Toolbar Search Icon as shown below:

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6. In the Tag Search dialog, change the Tag Mask field to *.PV (as shown below) and click Search:

Learning Point: The search should return 6 tags, but we are currently only interested in 3 of
them.

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7. Using Ctrl-Click, select the 3 Temperature related points as shown below:
1. InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV
2. InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV
3. InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing:RSLinx Enterprise:CLX1.T300_Demo_Temp.PV

8. Click OK to return to the Point Builder. Highlight the first tag and click the Rename button:

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9. We want to work with shorter point/tag names for the remainder of the lab, so rename the point to
CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV as shown below:

Learning Point: Renaming points/tags takes effect immediately (no Save required).

10. Repeat the step above for tag CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV and CLX1.T300_Demo_Temp.PV. All
3 points should now be renamed as shown below:

11. Highlight CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV and select the Archive tab as shown below:

Learning Point: For more information about the fields on the Archive tab, click the toolbar
Help button then expand Point Builder, expand Configure point attributes, then click on
Archive attributes.

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12. Perform the following tasks on each of the 3 “Demo_Temp.PV” points:
 change the Typical Value field from the default of 50 to 100
 change the Zero field from the default of 0 to 60
 change the Span field from the default of 100 to 90
 click the toolbar disk icon (Save)

Learning Point #1: The Typical Value, Zero and Span on these temperature points were
changed because they all have a range of 60 to 150 in the Controller. These changes are not
instantaneous, but are implemented by the FTLD1 Interface within about 15 seconds after
saving the edit.

Learning Point #2: When using the Point Builder plug-in, you must select, configure and save
each point individually (except for Rename). When each point is saved, you will receive a
corresponding entry confirming your changes in the Session Record pane at the very bottom of
the display:

13. Now return to the Archive Tab for CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV and make the change shown below:
 disable Compression by select Compressing Off
 disable Exception Deviation by changing .225 to 0 and Max. Time Min value from 10 to to 0

14. Click the toolbar disk icon (Save).

Learning Point: CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV is now uniquely configured for no Exception or

Compression filtering so that we can compare it to points T100 & T300 with default Exception
and Compression filtering.

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15. Now select to the Classic Tab for CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV. Make the point Polled (as opposed
to Unsolicited/Advised) by changing Location3 from 1 to 0 as shown below:

Learning Point: CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV is now also uniquely configured as Polled. The

Location3 edit above changes CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV from Unsolicited/Advised to
Polled. See the table below for the five (5) FTLD Interface locations definitions.

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16. Click the toolbar Disk icon (Save).

Learning Point: Historian points can be Unsolicited/Advised (the default), Polled, or Output.
Unsolicited/Advised points are sent to the Historian snapshot only if they are changing beyond
the Exception Deviation. Polled points are sent to the Historian snapshot even if the value
does not change.

With the T200 point changed to Polled (and Exception and Compression disabled), the
Temperature for Tank T200 will be placed in the archive every one second even if the
value does not change. This is an atypical configuration.

17. Return to the FactoryTalk Administration Console Historian Server Properties by clicking the X in the
upper right hand corner, then click Manage in MS Excel to launch Excel and use the PI Builder:
NOTE: Click Cancel if Microsoft Office Activation Wizard appears.

Import and View the Points with the Excel PI Builder Add-in

1. Click Cancel if you get Microsoft Office Activation Wizard.

2. Observe the tabs and associated ribbons located across the top of Excel. NOTE: The image
you are working on may have a different version of Excel, so colors and appearance of
following screenshots may differ slightly, but lab will still work:

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3. Select the PI Builder ribbon and observe the options available:

Learning Point: The PI Builder ribbon permits Excel to perform various tasks with points
in the Historian’s Data Server and Asset Server databases. For more information, click
Help.

4. On the PI Builder menu, select the Data Server VM-DATA as shown below:

Learning Point: Selecting the Asset Server and/or Database is not required at this time,
but will be used later in the lab.

5. Now click the PI Points button and select Find PI Points as shown below:

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6. This should return the default Tag Search dialog:

7. Click Search. This should return all the tags (points) currently configured in the Historian:

Learning Point #1: The number of tags imported into Excel (1534) exceeds the number of
tags reported earlier during Auto Discovery (1381) by 153. These additional 153 tags consist
of 143 system “health” points and 10 system “demo” points that existed in the point database
even prior to the Auto Discovery. Note: These additional 153 tags do not require activation.

Learning Point #2: Typically, you would change the defaults in this dialog to filter/limit the
number of tags imported into Excel. This is accomplished using the search features button.

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8. Select the Show Extra Search Features button as shown below:

9. Enter * for the Name and FTLD for the Point Source as shown below, then click Search:

10. This filtered search should return the same 1381 FTLD tags we previously discovered and placed
on scan:

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11. Click the OK button to display the Select Object Types and Column Headers dialog shown below:

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12. Collapse all the Column Headers and select only:
 Required Columns
 Archive
 System
as shown below:

Learning Point #1: Note the Description box above for the Archive selection. In addition to
Required Columns, we selected Archive because we want to review the common FTHSE Point
attributes made earlier using System Management Tools > Points > Point Builder.

Learning Point #2: We also selected System to illustrate the 3 point changes made earlier
using System Management Tools > Points > Point Builder.

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13. Select OK to display the Retrieve Selected Objects dialog as shown below:

14. Click Close and the worksheet should be populated with 1381 points (rows) from the Historian:

15. Note the following column headings in the worksheet:

 Column B: Name
 Column F: compdev (compression deviation)
 Column I: compdevpercent (compression deviation percent)
 Column J: excdev (expression deviation)
 Column M: excdevpercent (expression deviation percent)
 Column T: changedate

Learning Point: Refer back to Section 1 of this lab manual for more information on
Compression and Exception deviation.

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16. Create a descending sort on the data using Column T (changedate) using the steps below:
 select Column T
 select the Data ribbon, then the Sort icon:

 select Expand the selection (the default) and then click Sort

 in the Sort dialog, select changedate, Values and Z to A as shown below, then click OK:

 in the Sort Warning dialog, click the top radio button, then click OK:

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 17. The 3 “CLX1.Tx00_Demo_Temp.PV” points should be rows 2-4 as shown below:

Learning Point: These are the 3 points you modified individually a few minutes ago using the
SMT’s Point Builder plug-in. Those same changes can also be performed in Excel using PI Builder
ribbon and then exported back to the FTHSE archive database. The advantage of using the Excel
PI Builder Add-in - as opposed to the SMT Point Builder - is that you can make numerous changes
to multiple points/tags simultaneously and then export them back to the FTHSE archive database.

18. Scroll horizontally to column P (span) and you should see that all 3 points have the modified
Span value of 90.

19. Scroll horizontally to column R (typicalvalue) and you should see that all 3 points have the
modified typicalvalue value of 100.

20. Scroll horizontally to column S (zero) and you should see that all 3 points have the modified
zero value of 60.

21. Scroll horizontally to column T (changedate) and you should see that all 3 points have a time
stamp newer than all the other points.

22. We are not going to make (export) any additional tag changes at this time, so you can Exit Excel
(you do not need to save the ‘Book1’ file).

23. Return to the FactoryTalk Administration Console, close any open dialog boxes and FactoryTalk
Administration Console itself.

Section 2 Summary: In this section, you:

1. familiarized yourself with the points that will be logged by the Historian in subsequent sections

2. verified the configuration of RSLinx Enterprise

3. verified that your controller is available for data acquisition by the FactoryTalk Historian.

4. verified the Historian Server and FTLD Interface

5. performed an Auto Discovery of points and started data collection

6. used the SMT Point Builder plugin to modify points

7. used the PI Builder Excel add-In to view all the FTHSE archive points and verify the changes made in
SMT’s Point Builder

8. verified the FactoryTalk Live Data interface settings

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Section 3: Trending with FactoryTalk View SE

Unless the data captured by the Historian is viewed and used, it is of very little value. One of the main
advantages of the FactoryTalk Historian is FactoryTalk View SE integration that will allow trends in View
SE screens to be displayed based on data in the Historian instead of (or in addition to) the View data log.

By adding the Historian View trending capability, Rockwell Automation has significantly improved the
retrieval speed of trend data based on the significantly improved time series data store that the new
Historian is based on. Not only is the data store more efficient storing and compressing the data, but it is
also significantly faster in retrieving that data for visualizing it in trends.

The updated trend module in View, works just as the original does, with the main difference, that pens can
now be configured based on data in the Historian (in addition to Live Data or View SE Datalogger data).

About This Section (~10 minutes)

In this section you will explore the following topics:

 FactoryTalk View integration to the Historian

 The Trending object for FactoryTalk View that has been modified for use with Historian data

 How to add a trend to a View project and how to configure it to plot data from the Historian

Follow the steps below to complete Section 3.

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Open View Studio
1. Using the taskbar icon, launch Studio 5000 Launcher:

2. Under Recent Projects, select the InstaCorp View SE Station Network application as shown below:

3. Maximize View Studio.

4. Verify that the Production Historian and FTLD1 (FactoryTalk Live Data interface 1) are present under
the System tree in the same manner as the Administration Console:

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Add a Trend to an Existing Display
1. Open the display process overview by double-clicking the display in the Graphics folder.

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2. Select Objects > Trending > TrendPro, and click, hold, drag and drop in the screen to draw a box,
which will create a new TrendPro object at the bottom of the display as shown below:

Learning Point: The TrendPro object was introduced in FactoryTalk View SE v9.00 and
functions like the FactoryTalk VantagePoint Trend. The legacy FactoryTalk View Trend object
is still available.

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3. The Trend Properties dialog should be displayed:

4. Click the large Trend Setup button and the Properties dialog will be displayed:

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5. Click the + button in the lower left hand corner and the Select Items dialog will be displayed:

6. Expand Historical Data and select the Production Historian as shown below:

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7. Scroll down and select the 3 CLX1.Tx00_Demo_Temp.PV tags as shown below:

8. Click OK to re-display the Properties dialog with the 3 new traces:

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9. Click Close to close the Properties dialog and click OK to close the TrendPro Properties dialog and
save your 3 new pens.

10. Test the display using the toolbar Test Display icon . You may need to click and drag the
horizontal lines separating the parts of the trend display to see your actual trend:

11. Stop the display using the toolbar Edit Display icon and then Save the changes.

12. Launch the SE Client using the toolbar Launch SE Client icon . Select Run an existing
FactoryTalk View SE Client configuration file:

13. Click Run to select the default Instant Soap.cli client file as shown below:

14. Wait for the View SE client to launch completely. Once the Client is open and the Process Overview
display is rendered, the T100 temperature trace (blue) should be cycling without any user interaction.

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15. Select the Toolbar’s Stack Y-axis button as shown below. Again, you may need to click and drag the
horizontal lines dividing the parts of the TrendPro to see the trend surface area.

Learning Point: Only the CLX.T100_Demo_Temp.PV (blue) trace should be changing currently. Recall
that CLX.T200_Demo_Temp.PV (red) is being logged every second, but since the value is always 60,
the trace is flat.

16. Start the T200 temperature trace (red) cycling by clicking the green T200 Start button in the display.

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17. Wait ~30 seconds and then start the T300 temperature trace (green) cycling by clicking the green T300
Start button.

Learning Point: As observed previously using the Rockwell Software Data Client, the T100
temperature cycles continuously. The T200 & T300 temperatures are controlled with the HMI
buttons and they each cycle 3 times. There is a short delay before the traces appear because
this is historical data from the FT Historian archive (as opposed to live data from RSLinx
Enterprise Data Server).

Leave the View SE Client open, because you will need it for the remaining sections of the lab.
Close View Studio.

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Section 4: Introduction to FactoryTalk Historian SE
Asset Framework

About this Section (~10 minutes)

FactoryTalk® Historian Asset Framework (FTHAF) enables you to represent assets and processes as
FTHAF objects and structure them to provide value to your business. PI System Explorer and PI Builder
are the primary tools used to create and manage PI AF objects.

Use PI System Explorer to observe the FTHAF Elements, Templates and Attributes

1. Using the taskbar icon, launch PI System Explorer:

2. On the toolbar, select Database to display the Select Database dialog as shown below:

Learning Point #1: The FTHAF ‘Configuration’ database exists by default. In the interest of saving
time, the ‘FTHDemo’ database was pre-created for you. For more information on creating a FTHAF
database, refer to the PI System Explorer online help.

Learning Point #2: These 2 FTHAF databases do not equate to 2 SQL Server databases, rather they
are both stored within the same FTHAF SQL Express database named ‘PIFD’ that was created by the
FTHAF installation.

3. Click Close to close the Select Database dialog.

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4. The Elements explorer pane is displayed:

Learning Point: In the interest of saving time, the FTHAF model ‘InstaCorp’ was pre-configured for you.
For more information on creating a FTHAF model, refer to the PI System Explorer online help.

5. In the left hand pane, fully expand Elements > InstaCorp and click on Tanks to show all child
elements. In the right hand pane, select the Child Elements tab and fully expand the InstaSoap
Elements as shown below:

Learning Point: This very simple FTHAF model illustrates the 3 tanks in our system. Note that all three
tanks reference the Template ‘Tank’ that they were created from. For more information on Templates,
refer to the PI System Explorer online help.

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6. In the left hand pane, select Tank T100 and in the right hand pane select the Attributes as shown
below:

Learning Point: The Tank100 Temperature Value is a snapshot. To update the Value, use the
toolbar’s Refresh button.

7. Right-click on the Temperature (Temp.PV) attribute and select Trend to display the Trend dialog. If
the Start Time = ‘*-1h’ then change it to “*-1m” and click the refresh icon as shown below:

8. Optional: Click Add PI Points and add:

 CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV and/or
 CLX1.T300 _Demo_Temp.PV.

9. Optional: Click Traces and to remove a trace.

10. Click Close to close the Trend dialog.

11. Close PI System Explorer.

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Import and View the Elements with the Excel PI Builder Add-in

1. Using the toolbar icon, launch MS Excel:

2. If a Microsoft Office Activation Wizard window pops up, click Cancel.

3. Select the PI Builder ribbon and observe the options available:

Learning Point: The PI Builder ribbon permits Excel to perform various tasks with points
in the Historian’s Data Server and Asset Server databases. For more information, click
Help.

4. On the PI Builder menu, select the Asset Server VM-DATA and the Database FTHDemo as shown
below:

Learning Point: The Data Server was used previously to import FTHSE archive points.
The Asset Server and Database are used to import FTHAF components (e.g., elements).

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5. Now click the Elements button and select Find Elements as shown below:

6. This should return the default Element Search dialog:

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7. Click the OK button to display the Select Object Types and Column Headers dialog:

8. Click the OK button to initiate the import and Close the Retrieve Selected Objects dialog to observe the
imported elements and attributes:

Learning Point: These are the same Elements and Attributes you observed in PI System
Explorer. Changes can be performed in Excel using PI Builder ribbon and then exported back to
the FTHAF SQL database.

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9. We are not going to make (export) any additional element changes at this time, so you can Exit Excel
(you do not need to save the ‘Book1’ file).

Section 4 Summary: In this section, you:

 familiarized yourself with the PI System Explorer interface to FTHAF

 used the PI Builder Excel Add-In to import all the FTHAF elements created in PI System Explorer

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Section 5: Reporting with FactoryTalk VantagePoint

About this Section (~20 minutes)

FactoryTalk® VantagePoint provides unified access to virtually all manufacturing/plant data sources, and
produces web-based reports, such as dashboards, trends, X-Y plots, Microsoft® Excel reports and more
that can be used by manufacturing operators, engineers, supervisors, management and executives
throughout a plant — to manage cost, quality, production, assets and resources more effectively.
FactoryTalk VantagePoint is configured to connect to Logix and FactoryTalk Historian so users can begin
producing meaningful, pre-configured reports almost immediately.

Create Instance of the production line and Tank

1. Using the taskbar icon, launch VantagePoint Manager:

2. The left hand pane displays the VantagePoint model (tree-like structure). Select and expand the
InstaCorp folder shown below:

Learning Point #1: In the interest of saving time, the FactoryTalk VantagePoint model
‘InstaCorp’ was pre-configured for you. For more information on creating a FTVP model, refer
to FTVP Manager’s online help.

Learning Point #2: Later in this section, we’ll place tank specific reports in each of the “Tank”
folders and system reports in the ‘Reports’ folder.

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Create a FactoryTalk connector

1. In the VantagePoint model, navigate to System.Sources.FactoryTalk as shown below:

Learning Point: The FactoryTalk connector is for the ‘Production Historian’. The
FactoryTalkHistorian connector is for additional FactoryTalk Historians that are “external” (i.e.,
reside in a different FactoryTalk Directory than the FactoryTalk VantagePoint host).

2. Expand the FactoryTalk source and select Production Historian as shown below:

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3. Right-click the Production Historian and select Synchronize as shown below:

4. This will initiate the tag import process:

5. After several seconds you will see a dialog box when the import is completed:

6. Click OK to close the FactoryTalk Historian Import dialog.

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7. Navigate to System.Sources.FactoryTalk.localhost.Historians.ProductionHistorian.Tags as
shown below:

8. You should see all of the imported Historian points in the lower left hand pane.

Learning Point: These points are now available for creating Trends and Reports in
FactoryTalk VantagePoint.

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Using Trend

In this section, you will explore many of the features available in VantagePoint Trend.

Start Trend

1. Using the taskbar icon, launch VantagePoint Trend:

2. If you get the Application Run - Security Warning dialog below, click Run.

3. Navigate to System.Sources.FactoryTalk.localhost.Historians.Production Historian.Tags as

shown below:

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4. Select the toolbar’s Filter Items icon:

5. Expand the Filter by clicking the double down arrow:

6. Enter Demo_Temp in the Name field and select Contains in the Condition field as shown below and
click Apply.

Learning Point: The list of points is filtered to only show points that contain “Demo_Temp” in
the tag name.

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7. Find the following 3 points in the filtered points list and drag-and-drop them into the trace window on
the right.

Your screen should look nearly identical to the one below:

Learning Point: Notice that the Trend is static. To make the Trend dynamic, you must
select Live Mode on the toolbar.

8. On the Trend toolbar, select Stack Y-Axis and then select Live Mode to get the live trend
data.

9. Return to the FactoryTalk View SE client and click Start for both the T200 & T300 Temp Cycle.
Return to Trend and observe the traces for T200 & T300.

10. Optional: On the Trend tool bar, enable the X/Y cursors to perform trace analysis.

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Publish a Trend

Publishing is used to make your trend visible to any licensed FT VantagePoint user through a browser. It
facilitates process analysis by allowing users to share trends.

11. Using the Trend from the previous section, select File > Publish.

13. Select the MyEnterprise.InstaCorp.Reports folder as shown below:

14. In the Name field, replace “Trend 1” with “Trend - Mixing Tank Temperatures” and then click the
Publish button (as shown below):

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15. Using the taskbar icon, launch Internet Explorer to reach the VantagePoint Portal:

Learning Point: The Internet Explorer home page was preconfigured for the VantagePoint
Portal (http://localhost/VantagePointPortal/Home.aspx).

16. On the Portal menu, select Reports > MyEnterprise.

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17. Browse the tree to MyEnterprise.InstaCorp.Reports and select Trend - Mixing Tank Temperatures

18. The Trend is generated and displayed in the pane on the right:

Learning Point: The Trend is static by default.

19. Return to the FactoryTalk View SE client and click Start for both the T200 & T300 Temp Cycle.
Return to Trend and observe the traces for T200 & T300.

20. Optional: Launch other sample reports under the MyEnterprise > Samples v4 folder. When finished,
Close VantagePoint Portal (Internet Explorer). Close VantagePoint Trend (if still open).

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Creating a Basic Excel Report

In this section, you will use the VantagePoint Excel Add-in wizard to create a simple report. The wizard will
guide you through the steps necessary to bring VantagePoint’s rich data into Excel where it can be
formatted to create powerful reports.

1. Return to VantagePoint Manager.

2. Navigate to System.Sources.FactoryTalk.localhost.Historians.Production Historian.Tags as

shown below, and your list of Historian tags should appear in an “Items” area below it:

3. Drag and drop CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV from the Items area shown above into the T100 folder
under MyEnterprise > InstaCorp > InstaSoap > Mixing. After doing so, click on T100 and ensure
that the tag appears in the Items area as shown below:

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4. Navigate again to System.Sources.FactoryTalk.localhost.Historians.Production Historian.Tags

5. Drag and drop CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV into the T200 folder.

6. Navigate again to System.Sources.FactoryTalk.localhost.Historians.Production Historian.Tags

7. Drag and drop CLX1.T300_Demo_Temp.PV into the T300 folder.

8. Close (or minimize) VantagePoint Manager.

Create a Tank Temperature Report

1. Launch Microsoft Excel. If a Microsoft Activation window appears, click Cancel.

2. Select the VantagePoint ribbon and then select Insert as shown below:

3. In the Function Selection dialog, select the History option and click Next.

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4. In the Item Selection dialog, navigate to MyEnterprise.InstaCorp.InstaSoap.Mixing.Tanks.T100.

5. Select the CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV tag and move it to the right pane using the > button as shown
below:

6. Repeat Step 5 for CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV tag and CLX1.T300_Demo_Temp.PV.

7. Click Next.

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8. In the Time Selection dialog, select the Last minute from the drop down time selector and click Next.

9. In the Data Options dialog, configure the options as shown below::

 deselect Quality - Include All and select Good
 select the Data Format as Wide
 select the Skip Advanced options checkbox

10. Click Next.

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11. In the Function Options dialog, retain all the default settings and click Finish:

12. Your Excel worksheet should look very similar to the one below:

Format the Report

1. Right-click on Sheet1, select Rename and enter Mixing Tank Temperatures.

2. Right-click on the worksheet named Parameters and select Hide.

3. Click on the Mixing Tank Temperatures worksheet again.

4. Click the Quick Access Toolbar’s Refresh button to analyze data over the last one minute.

5. Save the Excel file on the desktop with the name Report - Mixing Tank Temperatures.xlsx.

Learning Point: An Excel chart can also be included this report.

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Publish the Report

1. Click the Quick Access Toolbar’s Publish button.

2. In the Report Type Selection dialog, accept the default A report with parameters and click Next:

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3. In the External Parameters dialog, select Tags and click Next:

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4. In the Report Folder Selection dialog, select MyEnterprise.InstaCorp.Reports as the location to
publish and accept Report - Mixing Tank Temperatures as the name and click Next:

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5. In the Summary dialog, select Browse to published report and click Finish.

6. Your published report should be displayed in the VantagePoint Portal. Click the “Generate Report”
button to refresh the report.

Learning Point: This report is now available to any licensed VantagePoint client. Excel is not
required on the client computer to view the report.

7. On the Portal menu, Reports > MyEnterprise. Your published Report - Mixing Tank Temperatures
should be located there (in addition to the Trend - Mixing Tank Temperatures Trend created earlier).

8. Close VantagePoint Portal and Excel.

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Using the ThinUI to Emulate a Mobile Device
1. Using the taskbar, launch Internet Explorer and select the VantagePoint Mobile tab:

2. Select Model:

3. Navigate to MyEnterprise > InstaCorp > Reports as shown below:

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4. Select Trend – Mixing Tank Temperatures as shown below:

Learning Point: This is how a trend appears on a mobile device.

5. Select Report – Mixing Tank Temperatures as shown below:

Learning Point: This is how a report appears on a mobile device.

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Section 6: FactoryTalk Historian SE Archive Backup
It’s important to backup both the FTHSE archives and the FTHAF database so that you don’t lose data and
configuration information.

Learning Point: This section on backup only applies to the FTHSE archives. FTHAF and
FTVP must be backed up separately using SQL Server backup.

All backups of the FTHSE archives during data collection are managed by the PI Backup Subsystem.
Typically, the backups are launched via the backup script pibackup.bat (located in C:\Program
Files\FactoryTalk Historian\Server\PI\adm). The pibackup.bat script can be used to start a backup from the
command line or in a scheduled task. It is highly recommended to perform a FTHSE archive backup at
least daily and to external media.

About This Section (~10 minutes)

In this section you will explore the following topics:

 Scheduling an automatic backup of FactoryTalk Historian SE

 Testing the scheduled backup of FactoryTalk Historian SE

Follow the steps below to complete Section 6.

Scheduling an Automatic Backup

1. Using a right-click on the Windows button, select open a Command Prompt (Admin).

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2. At the command prompt, enter “set PI” to display the four (4) FT Historian Environment Variables as
shown below:

Learning Point: At this time, we are interested only in the PISERVER environment variable.

3. At the command prompt, enter cd %piserver%. This command should navigate to C:\Program
Files\Rockwell Software\FactoryTalk Historian\Server

4. At the command prompt, enter “cd adm”. This should navigate to:

5. Create a manual task backup to the C:\FTHBackup folder by entering the following command at the
command prompt (or by copying from this PDF and pasting into the command prompt):

pibackup.bat C:\FTHBackup\ -install

Learning Point: This pibackup.bat command with the ‘–install’ switch automatically creates:

1. a scheduled backup task in the Windows Operating System for subsequent use.

2. the destination folder (if it does not already exist). Note: In a production environment,
the backup destination should be on external media.

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6. Using the taskbar icon, launch Task Scheduler:

7. Select Task Scheduler Library and PI Server Backup as shown below:

Learning Point: Notice that the ‘Last Run Time’ column for this Task = ‘Never’. This Task
has only been scheduled, but not yet executed.

Testing the Scheduled Backup

1. Using the Task Scheduler, right-click on the “PI Server Backup” scheduled task and select Run.
Then click the Refresh icon on the right. The ‘Status’ field for this task should change to “Running” and
the “Last Run Time” field should be updated with the current time. Note: The initial backup will take ~1
minute to complete, wait for a while and click Refresh until Status changes to “Ready”.

2. Using the taskbar, launch File Explorer:

3. Navigate to the “FTHBackup” folder in the root of C and examine the contents of that folder.

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4. Return to the Task Scheduler and repeat the Backup (step #1) again. When the task is complete,
return to the “FTHBackup” folder and notice the additional pibackupdatetime.txt file.

Learning Point: The second backup you performed created a second text file and added
new data the first (i.e., it is “incremental”). Each subsequent scheduled backup will also be
incremental (and will create another text file).

5. Return to the Task Scheduler and right-click on the “PI Server Backup” scheduled task and select
Properties. Observe the 6 tabs and the settings that can be changed to modify this scheduled task:

6. Close the PI Server Backup dialog, Task Scheduler, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer (if still
open).

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Section 7: Optional - FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

As a valuable reporting tool for Historians, Microsoft® Excel® has traditionally been the tool of choice. The
main advantage being that a lot of users know how to use Excel, and Excel adds a layer of simple
calculation and formatting options to the data.

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink is a very advanced Add-in for reporting using Excel. With the Excel Add-in,
data can become immediately available in Excel either as data in tables or as data in trends. Excel can
then be used to add further analysis on to the data, and to format the data for simple reporting.

DataLink adds a new menu to Microsoft® Excel, from where it is possible to retrieve data in various formats,
such as archived data, sampled data, time filtered data, timed data etc. The Add-in works directly with
Excel formulas and expressions, and it is possible to use either the Excel time expressions or the Historian
time expressions to identify the time intervals for the data retrieval.

About This Section (~15 Minutes)

In this section you will explore the following topics:

 Using Excel for Reporting with the Historian

 Summary reports with FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

 How to use Excel cells to configure the reports and trends (points and time line)

Follow the steps below to complete Section 7.

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink provides a live link between the Historian database and Microsoft Excel.
DataLink is installed as a spreadsheet Add-in, allowing users to quickly access real time or historical data
from the Historian. Using DataLink makes entering manual data and performing complex data calculations
a snap.

FactoryTalk Historian DataLink for Excel is built with OSIsoft's SDK product. It allows users who have
experience using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to develop Excel routines that call SDK
functions.

The FactoryTalk Historian DataLink Add-in for Excel provides users of Microsoft Excel with the ability to
retrieve data associated with points on a FactoryTalk Historian Server, directly into a spreadsheet.

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FactoryTalk Historian DataLink provides the following functions to retrieve data from FactoryTalk Historian:

 Current value

 Value at a specific time

 Tag attributes

 Evenly spaced (sampled) data

 Sampled data while a given expression is true

 Compressed (archived) data

 Compressed data while a given expression is true

 Sampled data for a user specified array of timestamps

 Data from calculations on FactoryTalk Historian tag expressions

 Amount of time while a FactoryTalk Historian tag expression was true

 Totals, minima, maxima, standard deviations, ranges, averages, counts and means for FactoryTalk
Historian points and FactoryTalk Historian expressions

 Tagname from a specified Point ID

 Tagnames from specified attribute masks

 Alias value from module database

 Property value from module database

Specifying time in FactoryTalk Historian

Absolute (a specific point in time)

 * : (NOW)

 t : 00:00:00 on the current day (TODAY)

 18-feb-05 16:00:00

Relative (time is offset from another time)

 +8h : + 8 hours

Combined

 t+8h : today + 8 hours

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dd-mmm-yy HH:mm:ss

 dd Day

 mmm Month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, …)

 yy Year

 HH Hours in 24 hour format

 mm Minutes

 ss Seconds

Example:

18-feb-05 10:43:29

"Date" fields default to the current date

"Time" fields default to 00.

Absolute Time – Other Formats

Absolute time formats

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Relative Time

Number of:
 Hours (h)
 Minutes (m)
 Seconds (s)
 Weeks (w)
 Days (d)
 Years (y)
 Months (m)

Leading sign (+ or -) is required.

No default time unit: must specify d, h, m, s, w, mo, or y

Can use fractions only for Hours, Minutes and Seconds

+2.5h, -0.5m

Relative time is most often part of a Combined time

Combined Formats

 Uses both an absolute and a relative time

 The absolute part of the time can be *, T, Y, or a day of the week

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Open Excel
1. Double-click the Excel file ‘Tank Temperatures.xls’ on the desktop. Click Cancel on Microsoft
Office Activation Wizard if it appears.

2. Note: The image you are using might have a different version of Excel than what appears in
following screenshots. The lab will still work.

3. Select the PI DataLink ribbon and observe the various functions available for use with the Historian
data. With this menu it is possible to extract Historical Data to Excel for calculations, displaying trends,
etc.:

Learning Point: In order for the Excel PI DataLink ribbon to display, you must first install
the DataLink Client from the FactoryTalk Historian SE media. However, in this virtual
computer DataLink has been pre-installed for you in the interest of saving time.

Create a summary report

1. The report template is pre-populated with logo and text, but does not have any data yet. We will
add some data points and a trend.

2. Select cell B5 and then select Compressed Data > Values for today from the PI DataLink
ribbon:

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3. In the Compressed Data dialog, enter/select the following (as shown below):
 Time Range
 Start Time to * (now)
 End Time to *-30s (now - 30 seconds)
 select Hide count
 select Show time stamps

4. Next, click the Data items(s) button to open the Search dialog.

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5. In the Search dialog, enter *.pv as shown below and click the Search icon:

6. Select \\VM-DATA\CLX1.T100_Demo_Temp.PV and click the OK button to close the Search

Dialog:

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7. Click OK again to import the data into Excel as shown below.

Learning Point: The data for Tank 100 is always changing in the controller; however
DataLink only shows you a “point-in-time” snapshot of the data that was stored in the FT
Historian.

8. Return to Excel and repeat steps 2-7 for Tank 200 (cell E5), this time selecting the
\\VM-DATA\CLX1.T200_Demo_Temp.PV tag in step 6.

Learning Point: Recall that for Tank 200, we modified it’s configuration for no exception
or compression filtering and to be Polled (as opposed to Advised or Output). Therefore,
you should receive records at 1 second intervals even if the data is not changing.

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9. Return to Excel and repeat steps 2-7 for Tank 300 (cell H5), this time selecting the
\\VM-DATA\CLX1.T300_Demo_Temp.PV tag in step 6.

Learning Point: Expect no values for T300 initially because – like T100 - this point is
Advised (as opposed to Polled) and because its temperature cycle must be started
manually using the Start button in the View SE client.

10. Click the Settings button next to the Update Icon.

11. Select Full calculate, interval of 5 seconds and click OK.

12. Click the Update icon (will turn yellow when “on”).

13. Return to the FactoryTalk View SE client and Start the cycle for Tank 200. Return to Excel and
observe the timestamps that begin to populate column E (Time) and the changing values that begin
to populate column F (Temp).

Learning Point: Return to the FactoryTalk View SE client to monitor and control the cycle
for Tanks 200 and 300. Return to Excel to observe the changes.

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14. If after you’ve started the cycle for Tank300, the Tank300 values do not start updating for some
reason, click off and then back on the top cell where timestamps should appear and then OK on
the Compressed Data dialog.

15. Optional: Observe that the most recent data is at the top of the 3 ‘Temp’ columns. This can be
changed by reversing the times specified in Step 2 to Start Time of “-30s”, the End Time to “*”.

This concludes the lab.

Thanks for attending!

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