Aveva NET Fundamentals Guide
Aveva NET Fundamentals Guide
Fundamentals Guide
4.7.7
AVEVA Solutions Limited
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AVEVA NET Fundamentals Guide
Contents Page
............................................................................................................ 1-1
1 Introduction
Assumptions
..................................................................................................................................... 1-1
Guide .....................................................................................................................................
Structure 1-1
2 AVEVA............................................................................................................
NET Architecture 2-1
Key Features
..................................................................................................................................... 2-1
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Core Components 2-1
............................................................................................................
3 Enterprise Content and Configuration Management 3-1
Why Enterprise
.....................................................................................................................................
Content and Configuration Management? 3-1
Content
.....................................................................................................................................
and Configuration Management Systems 3-2
Purpose
.....................................................................................................................................
of Data and the role of Configuration Management 3-3
Primary
.....................................................................................................................................
Elements Managed 3-3
What does
.....................................................................................................................................
the Term 'Item' Imply? 3-4
What is
.....................................................................................................................................
Item Data? 3-4
What is
.....................................................................................................................................
a Configuration? 3-5
Identification of an Entity
................................................................................................................................. 3-5
What is
.....................................................................................................................................
Configuration Management? 3-5
Configuration Identification
................................................................................................................................. 3-6
Configuration Control
................................................................................................................................. 3-6
Configuration Status Accounting
................................................................................................................................. 3-6
Configuration
.....................................................................................................................................
Identification 3-7
Identification Process
................................................................................................................................. 3-8
Documents
................................................................................................................................. 3-8
Configuration
.....................................................................................................................................
Control 3-9
Change Management
................................................................................................................................. 3-9
Configuration
.....................................................................................................................................
Status Accounting 3-10
Configuration
.....................................................................................................................................
Audit 3-10
Reasons
.....................................................................................................................................
for Content and Configuration Management System 3-11
Benefits
.....................................................................................................................................
of Content and Configuration Management System 3-11
4 AVEVA............................................................................................................
NET Portal Overview 4-1
Integrated
.....................................................................................................................................
Project Execution (IPE) and Integrated Asset Managemant (IAM) 4-1
What are
.....................................................................................................................................
the Major Capabilities of AVEVA NET Portal? 4-2
Data Integration
................................................................................................................................. 4-3
Application Integration
................................................................................................................................. 4-3
Document Management
................................................................................................................................. 4-4
Data Warehousing
................................................................................................................................. 4-4
An "Engineering Portal"
................................................................................................................................. 4-5
Collaboration Platform
................................................................................................................................. 4-5
Information Cross Referencing
................................................................................................................................. 4-5
Overarching Workflow
................................................................................................................................. 4-5
Application Development Platform
................................................................................................................................. 4-6
What Solutions
.....................................................................................................................................
and Benefits Does AVEVA NET Portal Deliver? 4-7
What.................................................................................................................................
are the Generic Benefits? 4-7
What Can
.....................................................................................................................................
AVEVA NET Portal be Used For? 4-8
............................................................................................................ 5-1
5 SVG Specification
SVG Documents
..................................................................................................................................... 5-1
Requirements
.....................................................................................................................................
and Recommendations 5-1
Recommendations and Notes on Styling
................................................................................................................................. 5-2
An Example SVG File
................................................................................................................................. 5-4
Further Restrictions
................................................................................................................................. 5-5
............................................................................................................
6 Associative Object and XML Schema 6-1
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal Associations 6-1
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal Association Types 6-2
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal Classes 6-4
Class .....................................................................................................................................
Library or R.D.L. 6-4
Upper.....................................................................................................................................
Ontology and Other System Classes 6-5
Context
..................................................................................................................................... 6-7
Unclassified
.....................................................................................................................................
Objects and the Class UNKNOWN 6-7
Alias Identifiers
..................................................................................................................................... 6-8
Objects Common to Two or More Projects
................................................................................................................................. 6-8
Multiple
.....................................................................................................................................
Classification 6-9
Permissible
.....................................................................................................................................
Associations 6-9
Attributes
..................................................................................................................................... 6-10
Attributes Applied to an Object
................................................................................................................................. 6-12
Attributes Stored in Datasets
................................................................................................................................. 6-13
Documents
.....................................................................................................................................
and Files 6-14
Revisions
.....................................................................................................................................
and Succession 6-15
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal Datasets 6-16
Menusets
.....................................................................................................................................
and Breakdown Nodes 6-18
Collaboration
.....................................................................................................................................
and Mark-up 6-19
Import
.....................................................................................................................................
Templates and Incremental Update 6-20
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal Access Control 6-21
Associations
.....................................................................................................................................
and Templates 6-22
AVEVA
.....................................................................................................................................
NET Portal XML Schema Reference 6-45
Reference
.....................................................................................................................................
Data Library (RDL) 6-49
............................................................................................................
7 Glossary of Terms 7-1
Definitions
..................................................................................................................................... 7-1
1 Introduction
AVEVA NET provides extensive enterprise content management (ECM) and best-of-breed enterprise
configuration management functionality in a single integrated environment. This unique set of
functionality enables the delivery of a range of intelligent information management solutions that
makes sure the efficient capture, management, storage and distribution of all types of information
about the products, assets and/or processes across
and beyond the enterprise. These solutions result in improved operational effectiveness and customer
service, reduced operational costs and enhanced regulatory compliance and safety.
Built on a modern n-Tier architecture and the Microsoft.NET framework, AVEVA NET provides
several key benefits including interoperability and scalability across an enterprise.
This guide is written for Administrators and Users of the AVEVA NET product suite, and includes
information on enterprise content and configuration management principles. In addition to defining the
design principles behind the AVEVA NET system, a Glossary of Terms explain the terminology and
fundamental 'best practices' rules used in the system.
1.1 Assumptions
AVEVA NET Workhub combines the latest Internet standards with a range of unique, objectcentric
information management capabilities, thereby enabling controlled, real-time access to correct and
consistent information, irrespective of geographical location.
By separating product and project data from the applications that create it, AVEVA NET Workhub
provides a neutral data management platform for through life product support. This ultimately protects
the huge intellectual and commercial investment made in designing and constructing large-scale
facilities, by allowing data to be accessed, evolved and shared throughout the asset's entire
operational lifetime and, where required, reassembled, revised and reused in future designs.
AVEVA NET Dashboard is the default user interface for accessing and interacting with information
controlled and managed by AVEVA NET Workhub. It provides a customisable, browser-based
workspace which allows users and administrators from all the organisations and departments
involved in project execution or plant operations to access and work with the information they need.
Through a range of intuitive user-interface features and functionality, the Dashboard provides facilities
to configure how information is arranged and presented to different users, to control what tools are
used for visualising and creating or editing information, and to manage real-time interaction and
collaboration between multiple parties. In its default configuration, Dashboard encompasses the
basic application components below:
Enterprise Explorer - provides the principal mechanism for organising and navigating product and
project data. A variety of features are provided which allow information sets to be defined, and their
associated structures to be represented as conventional explorer-based hierarchies. Structures
can be created for any class of data held in (or referenced by) AVEVA NET Workhub, and both
public and private 'folders' can be defined.
Content Explorer - acts as a secondary navigation aid by displaying a series of categorised links
to the various sets of information which describe the current object and its associations. When an
object is selected, the Content Explorer presents a hyperlink-style list of data sets or documents
pertaining to the currently selected item, plus any metadata defining the nature and/or status of
the information represented by the link. Selecting an entry in the Links pane opens the
corresponding data set or document in the content viewer, using appropriate viewing technology.
Content Viewer - hosts data entry screens, project documents and specific applications accessed
by the user. Each item is displayed as a separate tabbed page and there is no limit to the number
of items that can be simultaneously accessed.
The Content Viewer incorporates standard data presentation and editing media such as form-, grid
and list-based property views, as well as more specialised viewing components for visualising and
collaborating on schematic and spatial (CAD/CAM) models. In addition, it also supports interaction
with standard Microsoft Office products such as Microsoft Excel, Word and Project. In addition to the
functional components above, AVEVA NET Dashboard provides a number of run-time-based
configuration capabilities that allow administrators and/or individual users to customise their
workspace. For example, the various panes making up the Dashboard support resizing, rearranging
and redocking, whilst explorer folders and grid-style data views can be configured to automatically
display specific data and documents of interest to the user. To facilitate internationalisation of
AVEVA NET Dashboard, all GUI components including menus, dialogues, messages and prompts
can be reconfigured to support the required local language.
Function Question
The configuration of the item/product/assets I work with -what
Configuration Identification do they consist of, how do they interface with other systems
and what data underwrites them?
Configuration Control How do I control changes to my item/product/assets?
What changes have been made to the item(s)? What records
Configuration Status Accounting
are maintained?
Does the item conform to the stated needs and is it reflected
Configuration Verification (Audit)
in the supporting data (documentation)?
Enterprise Content Management and Enterprise Configuration Management are two separate but yet
complimentary disciplines required by enterprises to streamline their business processes, improve
employee productivity and customer satisfaction, make sure regulatory compliance and enhance
safety.
Enterprise Content Management systems are effective in capturing, managing, storing and delivering
content across an enterprise. However, this content does not exist in isolation - it is created to
support a business process, record a transaction or to describe a product, asset or process. The full
value of content is therefore better understood when it is "in context" to what it relates to thereby
giving it relevance and allowing users to understand its meaning.
Configuration Management involves the identification of the products, assets and processes,
including requirements that drives the business. This includes their structure or "make-up" and all
associated documents and records.
The value of an integrated content and configuration management solution is that it not only provides
the ability to manage content throughout its life cycle but it does so "in context" to the products,
assets, processes and requirements that the content relates to. This results in enhanced access to
information, comprehensive change management and vastly improved integrity of information.
These elements can be used individually to address a specific business problem or collectively to
implement an enterprise configuration management process that makes sure that conformance is
maintained between the requirements that drive an enterprise, all its products/assets and all
documents/content that underwrite these.
The full power of an integrated system is that content can be related to the requirements, processes,
products, assets, projects, organisations, locations, people, etc that define an enterprise
environment enabling the effective communication and management of change throughout the
organisation and greatly enhanced access to and integrity of information. This enables different
users, performing different functions to all access a common set of information, thereby eliminating
multiple silos of information and greatly enhancing productivity.
Information and business theory tell us that data, combined with the analysis of this data, provides
us with information. The judgment of information is synonymous with making decisions.
Data may be capture, preserved and presented in structured or unstructured form. Structured implies
management of the data in an identified and addressable manner, typically as found with databases.
Unstructured data implies non-addressable content and is typically found in electronic files such as
from word processors or image files. Unstructured data is often referred to as content.
An Enterprise-wide Content and Configuration Management system makes sure that the correct data
(documents, drawings, records, metadata, etc) is available, and easily accessible when required, at
the place required, in the correct format required by the user of the data (man or machine)."
The primary elements defined and managed in an enterprise content and configuration management
system are items, data/documents and work. This concept is shown in the figure below.
Item data defines the things that is worked with, what they consist of, and how they are made up.
This data needs to be managed in a computer intelligible format so that computer-to-computer
transfer and human interpretation is possible.
Data referenced and stored under the control of the system includes all relevant data and
documents about the 'items' of the enterprise.
Work elements define the work people need to perform, to create and maintain data/ documents
about the products. Human interaction with product data needs to be carefully controlled, monitored
and tracked.
"ITEM" is a generic term that refers to the following entities in the enterprise:
Hardware or software which is either designed, manufactured, installed and supported, and/or
Assets which are procured, installed and maintained to conduct business, and/or
An enterprise content and configuration management system can be used to model andmanage data
about any or all of the above items, especially where business efficiency can be improved by doing
so.
In the enterprise, business is conducted with or around items by people performing work for which
they require data about the item. The most logical way to access data about the 'item' is through a
model (or definition) of a product, process or asset in such a system.
Item Data Types - The data underwriting an item varies considerably depending on the type of
business conducted by the enterprise, and can include the following:
Historical Data such as Test Reports, Inspection and Audit Reports, Failure Reports,
Business Data such as Marketing and Sales Reports, Program Management Information.
Item Data Media is generated, maintained and used by many different business processes in the
enterprise. To maximise business efficiency, all business processes need quick access to the
correct data in the required format at the most appropriate place. Item data (or information) can exist
in many different forms (media), such as:
Scanned images,
Computer application data files on hard or removable disks, tape or other media (e.g.
spreadsheets, word processors, CAD/CAM data and software source files),
Microfilm,
Stored video,
Audio recordings,
References to models that are used to convey information to the end user.
The requirements of an entity's end-use determine its functional and/or physical characteristics (i.e.
the entity's configuration). The configuration of the entity makes it what it is, giving it the specific
physical, functional and other measurable characteristics, which make it suitable for use.
3.7.2 Item
In the context of Configuration Management, the above entity is called an Item. The item can be
hardware, software, a process or a function, or a combination of these, configured for an identifiable
end-use.
A configured end-use item can be a singular item like a screw, a valve or a resistor, or a complex
piece of equipment like an aircraft, or a complete plant, or a process like brewing beer or performing
a maintenance operation or even an insurance policy.
In the context of content and configuration management, the configured end-use item is called an
end-item or primary ITEM.
Configuration Management is a formal discipline with established methods to maintain the integrity of
items throughout their life cycle.
Function Question
Configuration Status Accounting What changes have been made to the item(s)?
To identify and record the configuration of an item, including all associated data, which supports the
identified configuration. Configuration identification comprises the following:
Identifying components,
Establishing suitable types of data and documents, which describe the item.
These aspects are necessary to satisfy an identified data and document need to create, use,
support and/or dispose of item. The identification process is supported by:
Issuing prime identifying numbers and other descriptive and control attributes to items and
documents associated with the defined configuration,
To record and report the data needed to manage configured items effectively. It includes the
following:
Maintaining the status of proposed or approved changes, deviations and waivers to approved
configurations.
To verify the physical and/or functional compliance of a configured item with its associated
The most important entities used by AVEVA NET are physical items, virtual items (functional),
documents and work orders. Once these entities have been defined and identified, the next step is to
relate them to one another. The following relationships can be defined between these entities:
Relate physical items to physical items in a physical breakdown structure (refer to Product
Breakdown Structures),
Relate relevant documents to applicable physical items and virtual items (refer to the relevant
headings dealing with the relationships between physical items, virtual items and documents),
Relate virtual items to virtual items in a functional/process breakdown structure (refer to Virtual
Item Children),
Relate physical items and virtual items (refer to Virtual Item/Physical Item Relationships).
The following diagram shows the process of identifying items and documents, and identifying the
relationships between items and documents and between items and items.
3.9.2 Documents
Documents are entities, which can underwrite physical items or virtual items, that is documents
related to a physical item, or virtual item should describe aspects related to the item. If a specific
document describes aspects related to more than one physical item or virtual item, the document
should be related to all applicable physical items and virtual items.
Although the diagram does not show it, the user can relate the same document to more than one
physical item and/or virtual item.
A document may consist of any number of child documents; for example, a Technical Guide may
include a circuit diagram and an assembly drawing.
AVEVA NET also enables the user to define child documents for a specific parent document, for
example, references or attachments to a document.
AVEVA NET Workhub enables the user to control the configuration of 'items', using the following
functions:
Configuration Control involves the systematic evaluation, co-ordination and approval or rejection of:
Proposed variations to the configuration item (physical and virtual) and its associated
documentation.
Configuration Control also shows the user who holds a particular document, and who needs to be
updated after a change has been implemented.
The following diagram illustrates how Configuration Change Control affects the configuration of both
the design (recipe) to build and the status of items, which are already built, called baselines
(photos).
The configuration change effect analysis process makes sure that all possible effects of a proposed
change are highlighted before any decision is taken. This analysis can be used to help determine the
impact including cost of the proposed change resulting in better decision-making.
Status Accounting (diagram above) is the process of recording, storing and reporting a specific event,
which influenced the defined configuration, e.g. modifications, deviations or waivers, etc.
The user can keep complete trace-ability of the product through the as-built baseline, and the
deviations and waivers approved for a specific item serial number.
Configuration Verification is a manual process where the user verifies that data and documents,
which describe the item, correlate with the actual item, or vice versa.
AVEVA NET provides all the data to conduct a physical and functional configuration audit against a
product, or any part of a product.
If there are discrepancies between an item and the data content of its related documents, the user
will have to determine:
Whether the data or documents are correct and the item varies from the stated needs. If the data
or documents are incorrect, they must be changed.
Whether the item complies with the needs and the data or documents are incorrect. If item does
not conform to the specified needs, the user will have to decide whether to accept, reject or rework
the item. The user can also define a deviation or a waiver for the item.
Today's enterprise environments are complex to manage and control due to rapid change.
Unstructured content, typically represents over 80% of the information within an organisation, is
growing rapidly and generally is poorly managed.
People need rapid access to information that they can rely on in order to effectively perform their
duties.
Today's processes and products are developed simultaneously by more than one group, or using
concurrent engineering processes in order to reduce time to market.
The need to track changes to items and documents under development, in production, deployed in
the field and being maintained is critical in order to maintain control.
The need to promulgate correct item data to various business processes and other management
systems, which require product configuration data.
All forms of content can be managed and controlled throughout its life cycle.
Users can get rapid access to accurate information in context to their roles.
Analysis of configuration and/or data change impact on performance, cost and schedule.
Valid data and documentation is always available as a result of the configuration management
process.
The latest version of the data is always available, in the correct format - it is entered only once,
and can be used as many times as required.
The unique combination of the web component portal architecture of AVEVA NET Portal, and its
Enterprise Information and Workflow Model (EIWM) greatly increases value and reduces risk by
ensuring that implementations can evolve from simple early implementations in a predictable and
cost-effective way. This approach supports pragmatic implementation of extended enterprise
collaboration and workflow management, and exploitation of lifecycle knowledge management
aspirations.
A major source of time, cost and delay on projects is associated with the management of change
and error checking. Point solution software replacing manual tasks may have improved the individual
task, but did nothing to allow tasks to be executed in parallel, sharing data, ensuring consistency
and with minimum errors.
To drive down the time, cost and effort involved in project execution it was necessary to integrate the
applications, to share the data, to be data-centric (not e-paper centric). For AVEVA this meant
integrating and passing high-quality, high integrity data between the applications within the AVEVA
suite. For instance the Model Object Manager checks the integrity and consistency between 2D
P&ID and the 3D design, or material take-off data is sent from AVEVA Plant to AVEVA VPRM for
purchase requisition purposes.
How would this wealth of integrated engineering data be shared with the rest of the organization?
How could users (potentially from partners or customers) in other parts of the world securely
collaborate on global projects?
How could non-technical users, browse the wealth of data in a logical, intuitive manner, without
necessarily the need for the source application?
How could over-arching information and workflow management principles be applied to the data set
as a whole?
How could the same principles and benefits be applied as a whole if the customer was using an in-
house or 3rd party product instead of one of the integrated AVEVA applications?
How could the wealth of engineering data be turned over to an operator for use as a
commissioning, operations and maintenance support tool, without needing the source
applications?
How could the engineering data be maintained in an 'evergreen' state to make sure safe, timely,
How could the Owner-Operator work with global outsourced engineering partners on long or short-
term support contracts and still make sure the integrity of the engineered asset, including for
regulatory purposes.
To answer these and many other operational questions were the reasons for AVEVA NET Portal's
development.
For an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company, integration of the tools and
applications used during the capital execution phases of a project is referred to as - Integrated
Project Execution or IPE. For an Owner-Operator (OO) company integration of the tools and
applications used during the operational phases of a plant asset is referred to as Integrated Asset
Management (IAM).
There are a number of major differences between these approaches. The first, and most obvious
difference is the tools and applications that need to be integrated. For an EPC, it is typically design,
engineering and project control tools. For an OO it is typically ERP, asset care and document
management systems.
Another major difference is the user applications that are required from an integrated data set. For
instance a P&ID may be used by an engineering company to make sure design integrity, a
construction company may use the same document for construction and commissioning
sequencing, an operator may use it for maintenance isolations. These are three examples of different
applications that may be applied to the same data set (or indeed e-paper).
A third difference between IPE and IAM is the end-user focus. An EPC deals primarily with the plant
logic, so a tag number and logic hierarchy will be typical access points. For an operator, asset
numbers and system hierarchies may be more useful. These are by no means the only views and
drill downs required, but serve to illustrate the differing views of the same data set that is required by
EPC and OO.
So, integrated data, and a single point of access to it by any authorized party, in a form most to the
task at hand, securely, from any part of the organization, any part of the globe are the main tenets
for AVEVA NET Portal.
AVEVA NET Portal provides the access hub to and from other systems through AVEVA NET Portal
Gateways which will be described later.
AVEVA NET Portal can be deployed using any or all of the functional components indicated below.
In most cases it is typical for an EPC to use AVEVA NET Portal in a 'document management' type
of environment, moving towards an 'engineering portal' and then on to a 'data warehouse' in an
evolutionary mode as the business demands and skills dictate. Though it is quite possible for an
organisation to start with application integration and data warehousing as key start points. Flexibility,
adaptability, evolution and pragmatism are foundational principles of AVEVA NET Portal program.
AVEVA's core software application products: AVEVA Plant, AVEVA VPE and AVEVA VPRM are
already significantly integrated. It was therefore not the intention to immediately replace these
integrations with another methodology. Nor was it AVEVA's intention to engineer a completely
proprietary integration framework, as some of its competitors had done.
A consolidated, validated, single source of data, i.e. a data warehouse, is a laudable goal. However,
many projects, particularly in their early phases do not have the time, energy and capital to do the
necessary data modelling research in order to reap the benefits of a data warehouse later in the
project (e.g. at handover). These projects need to be able to start with larger packets of data, (e.g.
documents) and gradually evolve over the project to finer and finer granules of data (e.g. a data
warehouse) as the needs, and demands of the project dictate.
Consider also, many applications today provide flexible user definable attribution and workflow. While
this may seem advantageous to the user community and provide applications that very closely fit
local working practices and procedures, this very flexibility causes tremendous problems for data
integration on global projects. If the same product has not been implemented the same way in all
offices on all projects, the vendor provided application plug-ins and data exchange tools (to such as a
framework, backbone, bus or warehouse) may not provide the confidence in data integrity as was
first envisaged.
Then consider data ownership and rules of succession. The engineer's brain is a remarkable tool. It
can deal with errors; analyse and make judgements on the validity and correctness of data. So,
consider data, perhaps the same granule of data on two different data sheets. In a database
application such as AVEVA VPE the rules of ownership and succession are part of the applications
core. But in a situation where the two data sheets were not managed by the same application, the
framework consolidating the data would need to first name the data elements the same (to establish
that they are indeed holding values about the same thing), establish the rules by which the data was
checked-out and replaced, who had the rights within what stage the potential conflict. Now consider
these rules across every data element created during a project, and it is not hard to see why many
small projects cannot accept data warehouse technologies early in their lifecycle.
AVEVA needed a new, open, pragmatic, approach to data integration: an approach that allowed the
business to store data in fine or coarse granules appropriate to the task at hand; allowed projects to
evolve from coarse granules to fine granules. But still allowed engineers to work with data from many
sources, challenge, confirm and be confident in its integrity.
A key factor in successful engineering projects is that of managing change. It is a well known fact
that process plant information is very highly inter-related and inter-dependant. What would on the
face of it seem a very small an innocuous change can have significant and serious impact on
projects.
To reduce the risks associated with change, or indeed to eliminate the errors associated with data
re-entry and duplication, it is advantageous for us to move to single data entry. That is, enter once
and use many times. However, being able to identify each and every point where that data has been
used, has up until now been a significant effort all of itself. Added to which, engineering is not as
some would have us believe a 'real time' activity.
Engineers work to milestones with data of known quality, and integrity. They need to be made aware,
through such mechanisms as publish and subscribe, but cannot be working with constantly updating
data.
Document Management has, over a number of years, become largely accepted. However there are
still substantial variations of capability between 'office' and 'engineering' document management
systems. Many AVEVA customers have anything from implementations of document management
systems, such as Documentum and FileNET, to in-house developed deliverable management
systems (largely tied in with Work Breakdown Systems project management), to Internet hosted
exchange systems, to no systems at all.
The AVEVA NET Portal document management capabilities are harmonious with all of the above.
AVEVA NET Portal, as with many other data warehouse products in the engineering IT space, is
developed utilizing the EPISTLE and ISO 15926 data modelling and reference data library concepts.
Objects (plant objects) and associations (relationships) form the fundamental concepts of AVEVA
NET Portal. Data capture from source systems, such as some of the most popular plant design and
engineering tools is provided by AVEVA NET Portal XMpLant. Rigorous data mapping and validation
rules can be applied to data presented to AVEVA NET Portal to make sure high quality, high
Engineering applications are traditionally, not only highly specialized requiring specialist skills but
also access to proprietary desktop software. Being able to provide access to the wealth of
engineering data to managers, purchasers, field maintenance engineers etc., whether internal to the
company, or to suppliers, partners and customers around the globe, without them needing to have
the source application on their desktop is a goal for the "engineering portal" The "Engineering Portal"
concept is subtly different to the Data Warehousing concept above. With the latter all data is
consolidated in a single place. That is not to say that it is a single source of data, since it is
duplicated from the source, and therefore rigorous update and revision handling mechanisms need to
be in place. The "Engineering Portal" however, may have some duplicated data (since not all
application data can be shared over the internet efficiently), but not all data is duplicated. As such
this concept is a single source of access to the data, as opposed to a single source of data.
When organizations were large vertically integrated and localized communication between functions
was relatively simple. Where a project team or asset is geographically dispersed across time zones,
companies and source technologies collaboration is not as simple. Parties require a common
interface to locate, comment, share and communicate changes to the 'engineering asset', the source
data (either in a data warehouse, document management system or engineering portal domain).
As indicated in Application Integration above, process plant engineering (and indeed any other data
associated with the plant) is highly inter-related and inter-dependant. Engineering change impact
analysis, or plant configuration management rely on knowing 'where-used'\ and 'used-on'. Not just
between plant objects, but where those objects appear within document records and visa versa.
There have been many attempts at this kind of indexing and referencing. But these have either been
manual (as such when a new revision of data appears the links break), or have been produced semi
automatically by technology companies that may not have the heritage of engineering to comprehend
the complexities (and as such a partially complete or questionable link calls all of the links into
potential disrepute).
Many applications today have very sophisticated workflow models, organizing and moving data from
user to user in accordance with an establish business procedure. This could be seen as an
opportunity for a project management system to fill a gap, or for a generic workflow modelling tool.
However, when applied to global, internet, multi-partner, multiapplication projects, a more generic tool
to bring the collaboration process together would seem to be a better fit.
High quality, high integrity, highly accessible, highly configurable, highly available engineering data is
an asset that can be put to many uses. A P&ID for example in the design world could be seen as a
single document. However this single document can and does get put to many uses: construction
sequencing, tag out and lock out installation, hydraulic test points, commissioning, hazard and
safety analysis etc. let alone for ongoing engineering work. Utilizing highly available toolset (.Net) on
top of a high quality data set provides the ability to develop many new applications (that may have
previously been stand alone applications using proprietary databases).
The AVEVA NET Portal solution to meet all of the challenges indicated above is a blend of a number
of technologies and standards.
EPISTLE / ISO 15926, for the basic modelling and object/classification principles.
XML for universal means of storage and transport of data across the internet.
Microsoft .Net for the underlying application framework and collaboration mechanisms.
AVEVA NET Portal offers all the benefits and opportunities of successful integration of business
information and applications, with extensible scope and a completely flexible, scalable and
distributable architecture. Many of the benefits are simply those of exploiting good knowledge
management and accessibility, independent of any particular applications, but the key benefit of
AVEVA NET Portal is that such benefits can be achieved in a pragmatic and evolutionary way from
simple beginnings.
Better asset information management can save a significant percentage of total lifecycle cost of
ownership in both the asset creation and asset operation areas. In some phases users can spend
over 30% of their time simply finding and accessing reliable information, and in other phases as
much of 80% of time is spent handling and managing information one way or another.
Typically, individual operations have justified investment in better information access on only a few
moments saved per engineer per document or minutes per day, even where the information itself
remains potentially inconsistent and poorly integrated. Where additional management and visibility of
information integrity and consistency is also achievable, the savings in decision support effort quickly
mount up.
The risk created by poor information access and / or decision support is often cited also as a major
contributor to the risk of plant unavailability, sub-optimal operation or, in the extreme, loss of plant
integrity. Similarly, poorly auditable information records are seen as a compliance risk, with health &
safety issues and statutory licenses to operate being a key concern for most asset operators.
All these savings created simply by better access, integrity and consistency of information still imply
mainly human decision processes. Achieving these qualities also opens up the potential for further
efficiencies through more automated decision support applications, and better collation of
management "dashboard" overviews.
As well as these enormous cost saving and risk avoidance factors, there are also significant new
benefits for suppliers, contractors and owner-operators in the capital asset market places.
Issues like business globalisation, M&A activities and ubiquitous communications technologies, lead
to demands and expectations that disparate resources and information can be deployed and
exploited remotely, in flexible and economic ways, with new arrangements between business
partners and centres of excellence. Many such opportunities have taken on fashionable B2B, e-Biz
or e-Collaboration guises in the recent climate, but the business logic is real whatever the flavour of
the buzzwords, and whether or not the underlying core business operations remain essentially
unchanged.
The support for remote distribution also extends opportunities for further managed IT services
outsourcing as well as ASP and remote information management services.
Another set of benefits arises from re-use and novel use of information.
New or additional services or products are enabled, which make new use of existing information.
Typically equipment suppliers may offer pre-sales selection, design or cataloguing services, or
remote after-sales monitoring, spares and support services, or contractors may offer additional
operations phase engineering support services. In return such suppliers or contractors get the benefit
of real operational feedback and consolidation of knowledge and logistics across multiple assets and
customers.
Some will discover information brokering opportunities, and all parties will achieve Customer
Relationship Management type benefits. Another consequential opportunity in having increased
accessibility of, and confidence in, reliable customer (or supplier) information is support for shared
risk and reward arrangements leading to more optimal business operations. The benefit of better
business integration itself.
AVEVA NET Portal can be used for the solutions that follow.
This provides an information access and decision support solution, with single point access and
visual integration of disparate information, whatever their sources and inherent level of workflow
integration or consistency. Presentation through the intuitive portal interface, configurable to the user
context, provides all the basic benefits of enhanced information access.
Together with mark-up and comment creation, communication and associated workflow functions,
this provides a cost-effective collaboration solution, involving both document and application data
sources, whatever their actual level of integration. With the addition of reporting and visualisation
tools, an effective management information solution is also provided.
This simple portal implementation demands little if any additional effort to workflow-integrate
applications and sources of information yet provides immediate benefits. Being an implementation of
the AVEVA NET Portal Technology it also provides a sound basis to evolve into more sophisticated
business integration solutions, as longer-term aspirations become aligned with ongoing operational
needs and opportunities.
With the disparate information sources either remaining federated, or being consolidated into a
common persistent repository, (depending on contractual lifecycles of the applications involved), this
provides a solution to the problem of organising information at key handover phases in the asset
lifecycle. This provides capability for either transferring such a managed warehouse into ownership of
the owner operator, or transfer of consolidated information into O&M phase applications, or both.
For example, the contractor creating the asset information gets the information access benefits
during the creation phase, and the owner operator gets the benefits of accessibility and consistency
of information immediately the asset is handed over, whether or not the "warehouse" implementation
is adopted in the O&M phase, or whether such information is imported into existing O&M phase
systems.
With essential procurement functionality provided either by AVEVA Engineering IT's PRM
application, or by customers existing choice of procurement systems, the integration of a supplier
gateway feature to the collaboration portal provides for a private exchange e- Procurement solution.
The same gateway approach can extend to integration with other available marketplace or public
exchange, with or without adaptors to alternative third-party procurement applications.
The web-centric component architecture enables evolution of such a solution in either or both of two
directions, once a critical mass of information is thus integrated and managed by AVEVA NET
Portal.
Firstly new functionality provided by either new application development or by third party applications
can add new value to the information asset enhancing the knowledge base and relating the
information to best-practice / business process models and applications.
Secondly, the web-centricity makes sure that exploitation of the knowledge base is not limited by
geographical distribution of business resources, or by new business arrangements with partners or
contractors offering or requesting new services or new risk sharing arrangements.
The above solutions represent only examples enabled by AVEVA NET Portal, but most importantly
each can be considered in terms of evolution from earlier simpler solutions. Each is itself extensible
in scope towards the ideal of full asset lifecycle knowledge management, supported by plug-and-play
workflow integrated business applications, independent of the suppliers of those applications.
Other applications of AVEVA NET Portal technology include, but are not limited to:
Supplier/Collaborator Exchange
Regulatory Compliance
As more and more application information sources are workflow integrated using AVEVA NET Portal
technology rather than simply visually integrated through the portal, the more the solution is actually
managing asset information over more of the lifecycle, even where such information remains
distributed around originating applications.
The web-centric component architecture enables evolution of such a solution in either or both of two
directions, once a critical mass of information is thus integrated and managed by AVEVA NET
Portal.
Firstly new functionality provided by either new application development or by third party applications
can add new value to the information asset enhancing the knowledge base and relating the
information to best-practice / business process models and applications.
Secondly, the web-centricity makes sure that exploitation of the knowledge base is not limited by
geographical distribution of business resources, or by new business\arrangements with partners or
contractors offering or requesting new services or new risk sharing arrangements.
The above solutions represent only examples enabled by AVEVA NET Portal, but most importantly
each can be considered in terms of evolution from earlier simpler solutions. Each is itself extensible
in scope towards the ideal of full asset lifecycle knowledge management, supported by plug-and play
workflow integrated business applications, independent of the suppliers of those applications.
Other applications of AVEVA NET Portal technology include, but are not limited to:
Supplier/Collaborator Exchange
Regulatory Compliance
As stated, AVEVA NET Portal is quite simply a set of generic software components with a common
architecture and model. The key features which make AVEVA NET Portal special
are as follows:
First, AVEVA NET Portal is web-centric. The architecture is web-enabled at every level and within
each component, the most appropriate standard web-based technology having been selected before
implementation. This includes a common "Portal" framework to deliver access and navigation to any
desktop, but also web-implementations of all middleware management components. There are thus
no significant legacy technology compromises in the integration architecture, which in any way
constrain the scalability or distribution options of the information and applications supported.
Secondly, the Enterprise Information and Workflow Model (EIWM) - the integration model embedded
in the AVEVA NET Portal middle-ware components and interfaces, is completely generic and
standards-based, being defined by the minimum of fundamental concepts and supported by
completely extensible libraries of reference entities and data schema (structures). Furthermore this
generic model covers not only information content storage and communication but also supports
completely generic task, document and business process workflow and metadata capabilities.
Thirdly, AVEVA NET Portal is entirely unique, not just in the Process Industries domain, but
probably in any implementation, in rigorously adopting both the above architectural and modelling
principles simultaneously. As a consequence, the componentisation of software functions enables
complete separation between efficient coding of the core functions and the capture of business
workflow rules and information constraints as extensible reference data. This makes sure that not
only does the scope of lifecycle information have unlimited flexibility and evolutionary extensibility,
but the scope of applications, the uses of the information and the organisational and geographical
distribution of business arrangements, can similarly evolve from early, small scale, lower risk
implementations.
Fourthly, the downside is minimal. Whilst this level of flexibility will always make sure reduced
maintenance, upgrade, migration and ongoing lifetime ownership costs generally, there is usually
risk and a price to pay in the cost and lead-time for configuration and customisation of specific initial
implementations. With AVEVA NET Portal however, this drawback is avoidable. On the one hand,
wherever possible, pre-configured (but nevertheless customisable) application product package
solutions or toolkits are offered. Here the application development itself reaps the benefits of standard
component re-use and availability of cost-effective development toolkits. Typically, on the other hand
where, after business analysis and system design, the customer's business problem is not solved
simply by selection of pre-configured application packages, the componentisation itself enables
evolutionary implementation with early benefits. Furthermore the implementation itself benefits from
the fact that the components are highly standardised and re-usable, and that a wider range of
development and integration tools are available competitively.
As indicated earlier the model and architecture are the features, which give AVEVA NET Portal its
unique distinguishing qualities. In the sense described here they are closely related.
The model, the Enterprise Information and Workflow Model (EIWM), covers workflow or behaviour
metadata, as well as information content. The architecture, as described here, is concerned with the
distinct functions performed on that information, and does not itself determine the physical software
component breakdown and distribution, the latter being driven by additional performance and
scalability factors in any given implementation. Appropriate choice of standard web technologies for
those components, makes sure this deployment flexibility.
The information, the business rules, and the core functionality are independent of each other. Only
generic information types, structures and information management rules are "hard-wired" into the
core. Business-specific types, structures and rules are handled separately, and all interfaces
between these components are web-enabled in a standard way using a standardised Enterprise
Information and Workflow Model.
Reference Model
This uses a generic, industry-standard, associative model of fundamental concepts and relationship
types, supporting ISO-15926 Part 2, also known as the EPISTLE Core Model (ECM).
Template Library
This is an extensible library of recognised XML Schemas, defining standardised re-usable data
structures. These range from the smallest communication packages, or Molecular Templates, to
highly structured documents or publishable information sets. These schemas include both
information content and metadata content. The information content schemas cover mapping by
reference to the ECM and ERDL specialisations and names, structured according to asset
breakdowns and workflow (publish and subscribe) patterns. The metadata content covers such
aspects as ownership and access rights, versioning and business workflow status, validity and
consistency, validation rule references and parameters, workflow behaviour rule references and
parameters. (This metadata content is also mappable to the ECM and ERDL where appropriate.) The
XML Template implementation model used closely supports the concepts being proposed for
standardisation as ISO-15926 Part 7, as well as de facto standard e-Business schema registrations
and protocols (BizTalk, RDF etc.)
The AVEVA NET Portal architecture exploits standard web technologies at all levels and supports
XML description of information at all interfaces to the middle tier. At these interfaces, all "XML in
Motion" is defined in terms of the EIWM above. Internal communications at interfaces between
components within the middle tier are also mappable to the same EIWM, though not necessarily
implemented in this form, depending on performance, scalability and distribution demands of the
implementation.
All the key functional services in the middle-tier are distinct software components in order to support
the web centric distribution requirements and the scope of metadata content of the EIWM.
5 SVG Specification
The following section describes the guidelines that the user must follow when using the SVG
specification within AVEVA NET.
SVG must be structured with interactivity in mind and it should be possible to add behaviour to the
SVG using XSLT and embedded metadata.
The SVG namespace must be present on the root element and it should be the default namespace
i.e. xmlns=http://www.w3.org/2000/svg.
If there is any use of xlink then the xlink namespace must be included on the root element i.e.
xmlns:xlink=http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink. It is recommended that this namespace always be
included whether xlink is used or not.
Any content not in the SVG or xlink namespaces must be in a custom namespace.
The width and height attributes must be present on the root <svg> element. The use of percentages
must be avoided. Explicit units may be specified if they are one of mm, cm, in, px. If units are not
specified then the width and height must be in mm; (note that px will be taken as mm).
The viewBox attribute must be present and must not be of a different aspect ratio than the width and
height attributes. This attribute allows the SVG document to be embedded in another. A different
aspect ratio makes the calculations of coordinates in user space very difficult.
If the preserveAspectRatio attribute is present on the root <svg> element then it must have the value
of 'xMidYMid meet', (which is the default).
The use of a single <g> element to scale the entire document should be avoided. The viewBox
attribute should be used to define the user coordinate system for the SVG.
There should be no script or built in behaviour within the SVG document. This includes the use of the
<a> anchor element and declarative animations.
There are several methods available for styling of SVG elements. Presentation attributes and style
attributes on an element, internal or external CSS stylesheets and Entities. Indeed, all of these
methods may be used together.
Presentation attributes have least precedence; CSS stylesheets have a higher precedence followed
by style attributes. The highest precedence is given to styling rules that style an element by id.
Elements may have more than one class name in their class attributes, each delimited by a space.
The order in the list is not important but the closest CSS class rule for a given style attribute takes
precedence. Entity references may be used for presentation and style attributes, (by extending the
DTD), which allows the styles to be kept in one place whilst still using presentation/style attributes
on elements. (Adobe’s SVG viewer renders fastest when style attributes are used).
Dynamic Effects
AVEVA recommends that the user applies styling with style attributes only.
To get dynamic effects during interaction with the SVG the user must use the inheritance for styles.
To some extent, this also requires that the user must structure the SVG with interaction in mind.
Elements that might form part of an interaction should be grouped using a <g> element and styled
using a style attribute on the <g> element. Where necessary, child elements should have overriding
style attributes. Interactive feedback, such as changing the stroke colour on a mouseover event, can
then be both fast and easily scripted.
Note: Changing the stroke colour on a mouseover event will be standard behaviour in AVEVA NET
Portal for all <g> elements that have the vnet:id metadata described below and they must
have an explicit stroke style or attribute. An explicit stroke is required because of the use of
XSLT to dynamically add the behaviour to the SVG as it is served by the Web Server. If an
internal stylesheet is used then the style element must have a type attribute of text/cssand its
contents be enclosed in a CDATA element.
If an internal stylesheet is used then the style element must have a type attribute of text/css and its
contents be enclosed in a CDATA element.
This should be enclosed in a <metadata> element that is a child of the element in question. (Note
that the <metadata> element is in the SVG namespace). This would normally be the first child of
a <svg> or <g> element and there should only be one child <metadata> element. The markup it
contains should be in a namespace declared on its root <svg> element; it isn’t essential that it is
on its root <svg> element but this means that namespaces are only declared once.
In the AVEVA NET Portal, engineering Ids are in the namespace xmlns:vnet=”http://
www.aveva.com/VNET” and appear in the SVG thus:
<metadata><vnet:id>90GMM10CL002</vnet:id></metadata>
This makes it easy to add behaviour specific to AVEVA NET Portal into the SVG, in the form of
JavaScript and tooltips etc, on the fly using XSLT.
Note that one of the things that will be added to the svg on the fly is a <rect> element the size of
the root <svg> element’s viewBox. This is given a fill colour by the presentation layer but will have
a fill of none when printed, (by using a CSS media rule and an internal stylesheet).
Styling on every element will slow down rendering and increase file size dramatically.
Avoid using elaborate filter effects and other facilities that adversely affect rendering speed.
Using many <line> or <path> elements to build a single shape will not give an acceptable result
where the lines butt, especially when zoomed/scaled. Use a single <path> element to get the
correct joins, (e.g. mitering), between path components.
Not closing paths properly will not give an acceptable result where the start and end of the path
butt. Use the z closepath command to get the correct join.
Note: This example is given purely to illustrate some of the points and requirements made
above:
<g style="stroke:darkblue;">
<metadata>
<vnet:id>one</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<circle cx="20" cy="20" r="5" style="fill:lightblue;stroke-width:1;"/>
</g>
<g style="stroke:none;">
<metadata>
<vnet:id>two</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<circle cx="25" cy="40" r="5" style="fill:darkred;stroke-width:1;"/>
</g>
<g style="stroke:green;">
<circle cx="50" cy="40" r="5" style="fill:silver;stroke-width:1;"/>
</g>
<g>
<metadata>
<vnet:id>four</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<circle cx="50" cy="20" r="5" style="fill:darkgreen;stroke:lightseagreen;
stroke-width:1;"/>
</g>
<g style="stroke:yellow;">
<metadata>
<vnet:id>three</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<circle cx="30" cy="60" r="5" style="fill:none;stroke-width:1;"/>
</g>
<g style="stroke:orange;">
<metadata>
<vnet:id>five</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<circle cx="60" cy="60" r="5" style="fill:none;stroke-width:1;pointer-
events:all"/>
</g>
<g style="stroke:skyblue">
<metadata>
<vnet:id>six</vnet:id>
</metadata>
<ellipse cx="50" cy="80" rx="20" ry="10" style="fill:lemonchiffon;
stroke-width:1"/>
</g>
</svg>
Neither of the <symbol> and <use> elements are supported by the translator AVEVA NET
Portal uses to translate SVG into ZGL. The ZGL file is currently used for markup and
collaboration of the document
An Association is link between two Objects that can be followed from one Object to another and
there is no limit to the number of Associations an Object may have. Here is an example of one
Object which refers to another Object:
All Associations are bi-directional so that they can be followed in either direction from one Object to
another. Most Associations read differently depending on the direction in which they are followed and
this is shown in the diagrams by an arrow. (For simplicity in later diagrams the text is shown only in
one direction.)
An Association can exist only for as long as the two linked Objects exist and if either of them is
deleted AVEVA NET Portal automatically deletes the Association.
About twenty built-in Association Types have so far been defined. This list shows the most frequently
encountered associations and how they are typically used:
An Object may only be classified using a pre-defined Class from the Class Library, also known as
the Reference Data Library or R.D.L. AVEVA NET Portal comes supplied with a Class Library of
classes that have been found useful in practice. However, it is not necessary to use the Standard
Class Library as supplied and the user can add classes or create a whole custom Class Library to
suit the job in hand.
When customising a Class Library there are some restrictions. A number of system classes are
defined as subclasses of the AVEVA NET Portal SYSTEM class and they cannot be deleted. The
upper levels of the class hierarchy are system defined and the functionality of AVEVA NET Portal
depends on this basic framework known as the Upper Ontology. Any new Class must directly or
indirectly be a subclass of one of these built-in classes.
It is not possible to delete a Class that is currently in use as an Essential or Incidental classification
of any Object. All such Objects must be deleted before the Class can be deleted.
6.6 Context
An Object Identifier must be globally unique across an entire database. By default, objects have
identifiers in the Global or null Context. For an object in this default Context the object ID must be
globally unique. When a Context is specified, an ID only needs to be unique within the namespace
represented by that Context. Any ID can serve as the Context for any other Identifier. In this next
example, a PUMP is given an ID in the context of the ID of a PLANT:
If the ID of an object is unique within the database, it can be referred to by its short ID, for example
“P-101”. To make sure that an ID refers to a single object the Context must be supplied as well:
“WCP|P-101”. Context is not limited to just one level but can be chained without limit.
Note: The use of the convention used in AVEVA NET Portal of a vertical bar | to separate the
Context from the ID (however this is not valid in the AVEVA NET Portal XML Schema).
Note : The use of Context in AVEVA NET Portal should now be regarded as mandatory. It is in any
case unavoidable when one database contains information from two or more PLANTS or
PROJECTS to prevent clashes of identifier between the two sets of data. In a AVEVA NET
Portal Import Package it is necessary to declare a Root Object and the ID of this object is
normally used as the Context for all the objects in that Import Package.
A fully registered AVEVA NET Portal Object has at least one Identifier and at least one Class.
Objects may exist without a Class but this usually only occurs as a transitional state during data
import. For example, to store an Association between two objects it may be necessary for the
AVEVA NET Portal System to create an object on-the-fly before the full details about that Object
have been imported. In a fully populated database unclassified objects would normally be regarded
as an error and evidence of some problem with data import.
Unclassified objects are reported as if they are classified as UNKNOWN. The UNKNOWN class may
also be used to search for unclassified objects.
An AVEVA NET Portal Object may have more than one Identifier:
A common example, as shown here, is when PDMS has been used on a project and it is desirable
to identify an object with the PDMS form of the name as it appears on PDMS ISOs as well as the
name appearing elsewhere in the project.
Identifiers can be added and deleted at any time but an Object must always have at least one. The
last remaining Identifier cannot be deleted without deleting the Object itself.
When an object has more than one Identifier, one of them is designated as the ‘Preferred Identifier’
and is the first Identifier given to the object. This is the identifier normally displayed in the AVEVA
NET Portal Dashboard. However the object may still be referred to and search for using any of its
Identifiers.
The AVEVA NET Portal Admin Tool can be used to select a different Identifier as the Preferred
Identifier.
An object that is common to two separate plants should be given two identifiers, each with the
Context of the respective Plant. It does not matter whether the ID is the same or different in each
context provided the combined identifiers consisting of Context + ID are unique within the AVEVA
NET Portal Database.
In this example, the object has an Incidental Classification of FIRE HAZARD as well as an
‘Essential Classification’ of PUMP. When objects are shown in classified lists in the AVEVA
NET Portal Dashboard such objects will be listed twice – once under each class (whether the
classification was Essential or Incidental).
An object may have any number of classes and classifications may be added at any time.
However, when an object has more than one class, these classes ought to be compatible. For
example, an object might be classified as both a ROTARY PUMP and as the PRIMARY FEED
PUMP. It would not make sense for an object to be classified as both a ROTARY PUMP and a P&ID
DIAGRAM though AVEVA NET Portal currently has no built-in checks to prevent this.
The AVEVA NET Portal System permits Associations to be created only where that Association has
been pre-defined as a Permissible Association between objects of such classes. Any of the classes,
both Essential and Incidental classifications, contribute to the set of Permissible Associations
A Permissible Association is defined in the Class Library as an Association between two classes:
In this example, any object of type DOCUMENT CONTENT may have a ‘refers to’ Association to any
Object of type EQUIPMENT. However, this does not automatically permit the Association in the
reverse direction. If this is required (unlikely in this case) a second Permissible Association must be
created.
Note: For the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard to function properly, all documents should be sub-
classed directly or indirectly from DOCUMENT CONTENT even in a customised Class Library. Thus
the refers to Association above would be permitted for all documents types.
6.11 Attributes
AVEVA NET Portal Objects may have Attributes. An Attribute is defined as a class in the Class
Library which determines both the name and the data type of the Attribute wherever it is used – the
same Attribute definition can be used for many classes. Every Attribute is directly or indirectly a
subclass of the CHARACTERISTIC class:
The QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTIC class allows the user to create attributes classes with a
string, real, integer or date data type:
These data types control AVEVA NET Portal Attribute searching when doing an advanced find.
Specifying the data type for a characteristic gives the possibility to do query like: searching for notes
created before a specific date (in this case the data type needs to be Date) or searching for
documents where the revision is higher than 3 (in this case the data type needs to be Integer or
Real).
In AVEVA NET Portal attributes created using the QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTIC class are also
known as “Characteristic attributes”.
As well as simple typed attributes, i.e. Characteristics, attributes may have Units. Attributes with
Units are known as Properties and are based on the PHYSICAL PROPERTY class. A property has a
Name/Value pair but also a Unit Of Measure (UOM).
Attribute Value = 40
UOM = barg
There are no Units Of Measure defined by default and so they must be defined before any
PropertyClasses are defined.
The user must define a System of UOM and then define a UOM class.
A definition of a PropertyClass can then be created that makes use of a UOM (refer to AVEVA NET
Portal XML Schema Reference).
A Measure may have many units. A Measure of Length may have units of m, cm, mm, km, mile,
furlong, chain, ft etc.
A Measure will have a base Unit and all other units will supply a scale factor to convert that unit into
the base unit. Note that this is only used internally for comparisons during searches. A UOM will
only be returned as it was entered into the system. A UOM will never be converted into another UOM
for any other purpose.
Some Units require a Constant as well as a scale for converting to the base unit; an example is
Degrees Centigrade to Fahrenheit. For this purpose a Constant may also be defined for a UOM. In
this case the constant will be added after the scaling has been applied.
Note: The Base Unit for a Measure is the UOM that has no Scale and no Constant definition.
This is the case for all objects which are classified as a class or a subclass of INFORMATION.
Attributes are added to a class by an Attribute Template. An example of a built-in AVEVA NET
Portal class with an Attribute Template is the DATASHEET class:
When an object of this class or any of its subclasses is created, an Attribute Template Instance is
automatically created and assigned to the object. So for example, here is an object of class
EQUIPMENT DATASHEET which is a subclass of DATA SHEET:
This is the case for all objects which are NOT classified as a class or a subclass of
INFORMATION, for example “PUMP”.
An object can have multiple datasets. They can be created in multiple ways:
Here are the different steps to follow to be able to store attributes in datasets:
Create Attribute Template for each Dataset created: So all objects which have this type of dataset,
will automatically have this attributes created and assigned to this specific object dataset.
Populate attributes with values; here is an example of an object of class PUMP with 2 datasets:
This information model distinguishes the logical Document Content from the physical representation
of that Content – usually a FILE object. As an example, an Isometric might be available in two
formats: as an svg file and as also as a VizStream zgl file. The AVEVA NET Portal dashboard
displays an svg file in preference to the VizStream format but the latter must be used for mark-up.
The Document Content and the physical File are represented in the database by separate Objects
linked by an ‘is fulfilled by’ Association.
It is important to notice that Associations such as refers to are between the DOCUMENT CONTENT
object and the PUMP – not between the FILE object and the PUMP.
An object with the same ID as an object already in the database but with a different Revision name is
created as a Successor to the existing object. This is normally only appropriate for documents
though there is in fact no restriction to prevent this mechanism being used with any class of object.
The AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard by default shows the latest Revision – this being chronologically
the most recent successor created in the database. AVEVA NET Portal does not interpret the
Revision name in anyway: it is a just a string that could be a name or a number.
The user has no control over the sequence of Revisions other than by the order in which they are
introduced into the AVEVA NET Portal Database.
A Dataset is an object containing attributes as a set of name-value pairs stored as a single XML
string within the AVEVA NET Portal Database. The important feature of a Dataset object is that the
attributes do not have to be pre-defined in the Class Library and they have no data type.
A Dataset is usually given an Identifier based on the ID of the object for which it is a dataset. It is
possible to use a non-unique name such as ‘Plant Dataset’ in the Context of the owning object.
However in practice this has been found undesirable for performance reasons as it leads to a very
large number of objects with the same ID in the AVEVA NET Portal Database.
Note: Dataset classes should always be sub-classed from the Class DATASET even in a
customised Class Library.
This shows the situation after the update with the deleted objects greyed-out. The P&ID and PUMP
P-102 are still referenced so remain whereas PUMP P-101 is no longer referenced has been deleted.
The presence of is a template referring to associations has maintained the existence of the P&ID
object, its identifier and classification throughout the update.
An object is removed from the public domain by associating it to a security access group object with
the security access group association type (“is in security access group”/ “is a security access
group for”). The protected object is then only accessible by users who are indirectly associated to
that object through a security access group. Note that several security access groups may be
associated to an object, and a user gains access to the object by being associated to any of these.
The above models illustrate how objects and associations are organised and instanced for specific
purposes or functions. This is not the limit of associations that can be created or used. Indeed the
whole notion of ISO 15926 is to create a fully flexible model that can be used to represent any data
object or association. In most data warehouse implementations however, this is typically at a very
granular level. To improve the ‘human readability’ and the systems ‘repeatability/reuse’ of these
objects the idea of templating these objects and associations together is finding acceptance as a
preferred modelling method.
Templates in AVEVA NET Portal are in two categories, Atomic Templates (AT) and Molecular
Templates (MT). An AT is indivisible semantically and normally forms the smallest usable building
block of objects. A MT is indivisible by business implementation, and represents logical groups of
objects that are typically familiar to an end user.
The following pages describe typical AT’s and the context in which they are typically used.
Descriptive Name
<Object>
<ID>PID 113</ID>
<Name>Fuel System Diagram</Name>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
</Object>
Context
<Object>
<ID>PID 113</ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
</Object>
Nested Context
<Object>
<ID>PID 113</ID>
<Context>
<ID>Design Documents</ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
</Context>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
</Object>
Association
<Object>
<ID>PID 410</ID>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
<Association type="refers to">
<Object>
<ID>150-PD-125</ID>
</Object>
</Association>
<Object>
Alias Identifier
<Object>
<ID>PID 410</ID>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
<Association type="is identified by">
<Object>
<ID>P&ID 410 Sheet 3</ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<Revision>B</Revision>
<Name>Fuel System Sheet 3<Name>
</Object>
</Association>
</Object>
Document File
<Object>
<ID>PID 113</ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<ClassID>P&ID</ClassID>
<Association type="is fulfilled by">
<Object>
<ID> PID_410_SVG </ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
</Object>
</Association>
</Object>
Attributes
<Object>
<ID>PID_410_SVG</ID>
<ClassID>FILE</ClassID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<Characteristic>
<Name>InfoLocator</Name>
<Value>/vs/IPE/P&IDs/P410_Sht_3.svg</Value>
</Characteristic>
<Characteristic>
<Name>InfoType</Name>
<Value>application/zgl</Value>
</Characteristic>
</Object>
Inline Dataset
<Object>
<ID>P100</ID>
<ClassID>PUMP</ClassID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<Association type="has dataset">
<Object>
<ID>P100 Data Set</ID>
<ClassID>VPD DATASET</ClassID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<Characteristic>
<Name>Bore</Name>
<Value>200</Value>
</Characteristic>
<Characteristic>
<Name>Material</Name>
<Value>Stainless Steel</Value>
</Characteristic>
</Object>
</Association>
</Object>
Import Template
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<vl:VNETList
xmlns:vl="http://www.aveva.com/VNET/List"
xmlns="http://www.aveva.com/VNET/eiwm">
<Template><ID>VPE P&ID</ID>
:
<Object>
<ID>PID 113</ID>
</Object>
:
</Template>
</vl:VNETList>
This example is defining the SI system of units of measure, and is also defining two UOM classes,
one for Metre (m) and another for Centimetre (cm). (The Definition is intended to be a description of
the UOM).
<UnitOfMeasure>
<UOMClassID>Centimetre</UOMClassID>
<Scale>0.01</Scale>
</UnitOfMeasure>
</MeasureClass>
Here a Length Measure is defined with its base UOM as Metre and another UOM of Centimetre. Note
the Scale factor to convert the Centimetre to the base unit Metre.
<PropertyClass>
<ClassID>LENGTH</ClassID>
<ParentClassID>PHYSICAL PROPERTY</ParentClassID>
<ClassName>Length</ClassName>
<Definition>Length</Definition>
<MeasureClassID>Length Measure</MeasureClassID>
</PropertyClass>
To import an Object that uses this Property
<Object>
<ID>TestObject02</ID>
<Context>
<ID>IPE</ID>
</Context>
<Property>
<Name>LENGTH</Name>
<Value>10</Value>
<Units>cm</Units>
</Property>
</Object>
If Units are not provided then the Property will not gain the Base Unit but will be set to Null.
If a Characteristic is supplied for an attribute that is actually a Property then it will gain the Base Unit
for the Property.
EIA SearchResults will return an empty <Units/> element for Properties that have null Units to match
the EIWM schema.
The following is a listing from the AVEVA NET Portal RDL. This listing has been edited to remove
many leaf nodes, replaced with >>>. Please refer to the AVEVA NET Administration Guide on
details of how to review and modify the RDL.
OBJECT
CHARACTERISTIC
PHYSICAL PROPERTY
SYSTEM OF UOM
UOM
OTHER QUANTITY
QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTIC
Author
AuthorRole
Body
Category
Creation Date
DataSetBody
Datasize
Date
Desc
End Date
EXPANSIONRULE
InfoLocator
InfoType
InfoDMSType
InfoDMSLocator
InfoDMSCheckAccess
InfoDMSAccessLocator
Max Errors
Modified Date
PREFERENCE
SEARCHROOTS
UserRole
Start Date
Status
UNICODECOMMENTTEXT
XSLT
STATE / STATUS / DOMAIN
CLOSED
LOGICAL (& OTHER PHYSICAL) OBJECT
ACTIVITY
EVENT
FACILITY
ROLE
INFORMATION
NOTE
CHANGE REQUIRING NEW ACTION
ERROR REQUIRING CORRECTION
NOTE FOR INFORMATION
PROBLEM REQUIRING INSTRUCTION
QUESTION REQUIRING RESPONSE
DATASET
VPD DATASET
VPE DATASET
DOCUMENT CONTENT
PRIMITIVE ENCODED INFO
TEMPLATE
ATOMIC TEMPLATE
MOLECULAR TEMPLATE
DOCUMENT TEMPLATE
ORGANISATION
PERSON
PROJECT
Contractor
Discipline
MATERIALISED PHYSICAL OBJECT
ARTEFACT
ASSET
FILE
NATURAL OBJECT
MATERIAL
7 Glossary of Terms
The glossary identifies and defines terminology used in the context of Object Data Management. The
definitions relate to the functionality of AVEVA NET, and do not necessarily correspond with
standard definitions.
The user should also refer to the following online documentation provided by Microsoft:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc307431.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165911.aspx
7.1 Definitions
.NET Framework
Wildcard for a database query in Oracle and Microsoft’s SQL Server and MSDE databases
{}
n - Tier
Multiple computing layers usually comprising of data layers, application layers and presentation
layers.
Access
A level of access assigned to documents and to users defined in the System. Access is normally
provided with view and print functionality in EDMS and copy distribution for hard copy access.
Access must also imply that actions controlled by permissions can only be performed on documents
where access is granted, either individually or at group level.
ActiveX
A set of technologies that enables software components to interact with one another in a networked
environment, regardless of the language in which they were created. ActiveX is built on the
Component Object Model (COM).
Admin Tool
Application for browsing and editing the AVEVA NET Portal database (for Issued data only).
A query mechanism that’s supports searching for objects by Class/ ID/ Association to other objects.
Any of the identifiers of a AVEVA NET Portal Object with more than one; secondary rather than the
preferred identifier.
Annotation
To put comments and red lines on documents either electronically or on hard copy.
Architecture
Archive
The removal of historical or inactive System managed document's electronic files and/or hard copies,
and the storage of these files or hard copies offline or in designated archive locations.
Archiving
The removal of redundant or obsolete information objects from an on-line access system to an off-line
storage device for safekeeping.
The act of archiving includes the creation of records which identifies the information object, the
archiving event and its relevant information such as date and archiving authority, as well as the
destination archive media and location. The archive system allows access to archive records and the
retrieval of archived information under specified conditions.
Information objects may include electronic files, database records or physical media such as
microfilm or paper.
Storage devices may include digital, analogue or physical devices such as magnetic tape, magnetic
or optical disk, or filing cabinets for physical media.
Archiving Policy The act of pre-defining for a specific class of information the archiving
criteria for invoking an archiving event as well as predefining the archiving requirements. Archiving
requirements are also denoted by the term retention.
Archiving criteria may include specific or combinations of criteria such as the expiration of the
specified on-line availability period for the information object, a change in status of the object, by
specific user command, etc.
Requirements for the archiving event may include the pre-definition of the destined archiving storage
media, archiving device and location, archiving period, disposal instruction, etc.
As-built Baseline
As-built Configuration
The As-Built Configuration reflects the exact make-up of a complete main equipment by a set of
serialized items arranged in accordance with a user-defined serial number structure through all
levels.
Each individual serialized item is underwritten by a Object Baseline which completely covers the
exact configuration of the serialized item, including all its underwriting documents and associated
data.
The underwriting documents and data supporting the As-Built Configuration can include the following:
Configuration changes,
Modifications, and
Build History.
When a serialized component item is removed from a main equipment item serial number structure
(for replacement by another serialized component item), all associated attributes, references to other
AVEVA NET objects, as well as associated documentation, remain associated with the removed
(replaced) component item. The As-Built configuration of the complete main equipment is inherently
updated.
As-designed Baseline
As-maintained Baseline
Asset
This object is made up of a combination of the physical item and serial item combination with its own
set of attributes and relationships.
Code layered over the AVEVA NET Portal Object Manager that converts AVEVA NET Portal COM
Objects to an XML representation.
Association
A bi-directional link between two Objects, the basis of navigating a AVEVA NET Portal Database.
Association Type
User definable types of link that can created between AVEVA NET Portal objects (see also
Permissible Association).
Atomic Template
The smallest unit of storage in a AVEVA NET Portal database (e.g. an Object or Association).
Attributes
Describing the identified object or the relationship. Such descriptive attributes may include the
title for a document, the unit of measure for an item, or identifying the relationship between a
child item and a parent item such as the quantity of a child item being used in the parent item.
Controlling applied business logic and user interaction to the manipulation of metadata about the
identified object. Such controlling attributes may include the status for document as approved, or
the status for a physical item as obsolete.
Depending on the control conditions set for a specific attribute value, applied business logic may
control the way in which the business logic and/or user-interface behave.
In the example above, if the document control attribute has been set to "approved", business
logic may disallow change to the document and force the creation of a new revision for the
document.
Setting indexing criteria and parameters for the object or object relationships to allow search and
finding of the object or object relationship. Such indexing attributes may include descriptive and
controlling attributes.
Attribute Template
A user-defined set of Attributes for a AVEVA NET Portal Class and its subclasses (analogous to an
OO Class definition).
AVEVAOPE.dll
Software supporting a COM API to the AVEVA NET Portal Object Manager.
Back-up
The process of copying a set of files to a secure medium to be used for data recovery in case of
system or data loss.
Typical customer environments have formal procedures for daily, weekly, and monthly back-ups.
Baseline
An approved and documented reference point formally designated by the user at a specific, time
during the life cycle of an entity. In AVEVA NET these entities maybe a virtual group, physical item
or tag.
This reference point constitutes the complete and current approved configuration identification of the
specific entity, including its associated underwriting documents, data and interfaces to other entities.
When a baseline is declared in AVEVA NET, a baseline document is created by the system.
Approval of the baseline document constitutes the declared configuration of the entity at a point in
time. Any subsequent changes to the data and documents covered by the baseline will be subject to
configuration control.
The baseline maybe used for controlling future changes, as input to a following phase, or to
consolidate and document the results from the preceding phase.
Generic Baseline
Item Baseline,
Object Baseline
AVEVA NET can identify multiple baselines, serving different purposes, for an entity.
DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT APPROVAL, ITEM BASELINE, OBJECT BASELINE, OBJECT DATA and
OBJECT LIFE CYCLE.
Baseline Definition
Basket
In AVEVA NET Modeller, a collection point that can be used to gain quick access to a list of objects
without having to search for them every time they are needed. Any objects placed into the Basket
remain there until they are removed or the Basket is cleared.
Batch Number
An identifier, which, together with an item prime identifier (part/item number), identifies a quantity of
the same item that has been processed as one group i.e. fabricated).
Batch quantities are always associated with batch numbers, which are allocated to maintain records
against the item number/batch combination. This can include:
Object baseline,
Items identified in batches are managed in the same way as serialized items. A batch number is
typically allocated to a quantity of the same item for which:
When the item cannot be distinguished as a set of individuals (e.g. a volume of a liquid chemical).
Book-in
Book-out
Bootstrap.exe
BootstrapInstances.xml
BootstrapClasses.xml
BreakdownNode
A second tier node in the Tree-view with a customisable definition of how it expands.
Business Process
A process in the enterprise which fulfils a specific requirement associated with the objectives for
conducting business.
Examples of business processes are Marketing and Sales, Design and Development, Materials
Management, Quality Assurance, Finance and Administration, etc.
Callout Code
User-written code written in C# or VB.NET invoked by the Import Server during import processing.
Change
In the context of AVEVA NET, change can be effected on item/object approved configuration, data
and documents, i.e.:
The alteration or modification to an item such that its current defined configuration, and thus
associated functional and physical characteristics, are permanently changed - this action will
result in the identification of a new item or item version
and/or
The changing of item descriptive data, or the contents of a document for the purpose of correction -
this action will result in the creation of a revision change of the document and/or item's baseline.
Formal change and the recording thereof is only implemented on approved items and documents.
Change Control
A process performed by AVEVA NET to identify all related objects and data associated with an
object which is a candidate for change.
The change effects analysis report forms the prime input to the user, to identify affected prime
objects and to perform an impact analysis.
A document that authorizes and instructs a change to item configuration(s) component(s), or data or
document(s), in response to a change request.
COs identify all affected items and may also identify related items affected by the change.
Additionally, metadata about the change is also defined, e.g. change class, requisitioner, approver,
project, etc.
A CO is generally the authorizing document for a change, and identifies the responsible persons or
organizations, change instructions, affected items and documents, and schedules.
When a change is authorized to be implemented on an existing item deployed for operational use,
the Change Order can be described as a Modification Order (MO).
A document requesting changes to the configuration of an item, and/or changes to its descriptive
data, or document metadata or the contents of a document.
Customers, vendors, suppliers or any member of the object owning organization such as engineering
or manufacturing may submit CR's.
Characteristics
A list of additional user-definable data fields which can be associated with all main and secondary
objects in AVEVA NET.
See ATTRIBUTES
Characteristic Class
Check-in
The process of placing or returning new or changed documents electronic files under control of the
System. If a new revision of a document is being created, this procedure usually initiates a review/
approval process.
Check-out
The process of recording, under system control, that a document's electronic source file(s) is under
revision and that the source document, regardless of its media, is not available, but may be viewable
with adequate warnings.
Circulation
The action of routing one document from person to person for a defined reason.
Class
A type that defines interfaces of a particular type of object. A class defines the properties of the
object and the methods used to control the object's behaviour.
Class Library
Also known as the RDL or Reference Data Library containing user-configurable Classes.
Classification
The action of assignment of a hierarchical set of attributes to any object to allocate secondary
identifying data which can be applied for:
Grouping together and reporting a range of objects with a similar or exact classification, as
specified.
Client/Server
Computer architecture in which the users (clients) are connected through a network to a database
(server). The client provides the user interface to the server, to access or maintain data.
The server maintains the databases and processes requests from the client to extract data from or
update the databases. The server also controls the application's integrity and security.
The AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard running in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser.
Client-side
Collaboration
Communication between AVEVA NET Portal users (see Online/ Offline Collaboration).
An API for populating and querying the AVEVA NET Portal Database that supports both the AVEVA
NET Portal Dashboard and the AVEVA NET Portal Admin Tool (See also .NET API).
COM+
Community
The term used to denote an AVEVA NET collection of data, users, groups and permissions. A
community name is a label that a user chooses when logging in to AVEVA NET. There may be a
choice of several on the drop down list on the AVEVA NET login screen. Individual communities may
be located in one physical database or on several different servers.
When accessing one community a user may not simultaneously access the information from
another community from that workplace session.
Component
One of the child objects that make up a parent object in a single level. As a component can be
decomposed into next-lower components, it may also be defined as a parent object in its own right.
Compound Document
Documents can be related to one another in a hierarchical parent-child relationship. The user can
define this relationship as follows: the component document, which also exists as a stand-alone
entity, is part of the parent document (for example, where a circuit diagram is
Compound document relationships enables the user to create document trees, and provide trace-
ability on document references.
The use of computer based tools (applications) to assist in the design, drafting, and physical layout
of mechanical and electronic objects.
The use of computer based tools to assist in one or more aspects of the object design and
engineering analysis process, such as finite element analysis and mechanism analysis from initial
design to testing.
The use of computer based tools to program, direct and control objection equipment in the fabrication
of manufactured items. CAM includes applications that support manufacturing engineering, such as
NC programming, process planning, factory layout, and simulation.
The use of computer based tools to aid in the software engineering process. CASE tools are used in
software design, database design, requirements tracing, code objection, testing, document
generation and other software development activities.
See ERM
Concession
See WAIVER
A systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of objects and their related processes,
considering all manufacturing, support and end-use requirements during the design phase of the
object's life cycle.
This approach makes sure that the developer, from the outset, considers all elements of the object
life cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost schedule and user requirements.
Configuration
The planned or existing breakdown of an entity by the number, nature, arrangement and interfaces of
its components, to conform to designated functional and/or physical characteristics.
The designated functional and/or physical characteristics of the entity (the configuration of the entity)
are determined by the requirements of the entity's end-use. It is thus the configuration of the entity
that makes it what it is, giving it the specific physical, functional and/or other qualitative
characteristics making it suitable for use to satisfy a need.
In the context of Configuration Management such an entity is referred to as an item. The item can be
hardware, software, a process or a function or combinations of these, configured to represent or
achieve an identifiable end-use item.
A configured end-use item can be a singular item like a screw, a valve or a resistor, or a complex
piece of equipment like an aircraft, a complete plant, or a process like brewing beer or performing a
maintenance operation.
Configuration Audit
Configuration audit is the process of verifying an item for compliance with its identified configuration,
as constituted by its associated documentation. Configuration audit is performed through:
Configuration Control
The process and procedures that manage how changes are proposed, reviewed, approved and
recorded, and then incorporated into an item and its associated documentation.
Change control in AVEVA NET maybe implemented on physical items, tags, virtual items in its
groups, and documents.
Configuration control is a part of overall configuration management, and uses review and release
processes which involve the systematic recording, proposal, evaluation, coordination, approval and
implementation, or rejection of:
Proposed changes to data and/or documentation which underwrite the configuration of items, or
Proposed variations to a configuration item and it's associated data and documentation.
Formal Configuration Control is only performed after approval of an item, its baseline, and/ or the
approval of a document.
Performing a change request effects analysis to ascertain which other objects and associated data
are possible candidates for change.
Performing an impact analysis which quantifies and qualifies the change impact on costs,
schedule, performance, benefits, contracts, etc.
See also BASELINE, CHANGE, CHANGE EFFECTS ANALYSIS, CHANGE ORDER, DATA,
DOCUMENT APPROVAL, ITEM APPROVAL and MODIFICATION.
Configuration Identification
The act of uniquely identifying an item according to its functional and physical characteristics,
including all it's underwriting data and documents. Configuration Identification includes the following
actions:
Determining the types of documentation and data required for each item to completely underwrite
such an item,
Issuing numbers and other identifiers to be affixed to items and documents for unique
identification,
Maintaining descriptive and control attributes associated with items and documents,
Releasing items and their associated data and documentation in terms of defined baselines.
A configuration item is identified in AVEVA NET with a prime identifier and a version number.
Configuration Control - To control changes to the configuration of items and/or their related data
and documentation.
Configuration Status Accounting - To record and report the status of item identification and
changes to items, data and documents.
Configuration Verification - To verify item configuration and associated data and document
integrity through audit.
Configuration Status Accounting is the process of recording and reporting the status of item
identification and changes to items, data and documents. It includes configuration changes and
change implementation status, modification status, deviations and waivers for an item, with
references to supportive data and documentation.
Configuration Verification
Connection Pooling
Connection String
A set of parameters needed for the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard or Admin Tool to gain access to a
AVEVA NET Portal Database.
Container
An object with ‘Parent/Child’ relationship to other Objects. Any class of object can be a ‘container’ -
the associations that create the relationship.
Content
In the context of Datasets. A relationship showing the attribute groups, attributes and values
Content Explorer
The web-part in the bottom-left-hand corner of the AVEVA NET Portal dashboard containing detailed
information about the currently selected object of interest.
Content Folder
An object created by the Import Server and played in the Tree-view corresponding to a folder in a
Staging Area.
Content Viewer
The web-part on the right-hand-side of the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard where documents are
displayed.
Context
Effectively a namespace. Any AVEVA NET Portal object ID may serve as the Context for any other
object ID.
Copies
Cross Reference
A secondary identifier (number) that can be associated with prime objects, i.e. documents, physical
items and virtual items. The cross-reference type is user-definable. Examples of cross reference
types are:
NATO Number,
Catalogue Number,
The user can use any defined cross-reference number to access a primary object in AVEVA NET.
AVEVA NET also maintains cross-references to manufacturers and their numbers allocated to the
object.
Customization
The acts of modifying or extending an AVEVA NET system by writing additional modules or routines
that are added to, extended or replace standard system functionality.
The part of AVEVA NET Portal that a user interacts with, running in a Browser on the Client
machine.
Data
Recorded detail, of any nature, about an object, regardless of the medium or characteristics of the
detail, which is defined, created, stored, maintained and distributed for providing input to man or
machine for interpretation purposes.
See also DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT METADATA, ITEM, ITEM METADATA, METADATA, OBJECT,
OBJECT IDENTIFICATION and OBJECT DATA.
Data Compression
Encoding of electronic data to take up less storage space. For example, short names in fixed length
fields waste a lot of space. A simple method called run length encoding converts the spaces into a
code that indicates how many blanks follow.
Data compression can be performed by two major techniques, namely statistical or dictionary. The
Huffman coding and LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) methods are widely used examples of each
respectively.
Data Cleansing
The process of checking and correcting data to maximise its useful information content.
Checks carried out by the Import Server with the help of optional user-definable Callout Code.
Software that controls the organization, storage, retrieval, security and integrity of data in a
database.
It accepts requests from the application and instructs the operating system to act in accordance with
requests involving the input of, change to, deletion of, reading of, manipulation and transferring of
appropriate data.
Dataset
A collection of attributes and their values relating to, and associated with an object in AVEVA NET.
The dataset is contained in a specialized Document which provides versioning and default
configuration & values.
See also DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT METADATA, ITEM, ITEM METADATA, METADATA, OBJECT,
OBJECT IDENTIFICATION and OBJECT DATA.
A collection of arbitrary name-value attributes stored as an XML string in the AVEVA NET Portal
database.
Decompress
Design
The process of defining and documenting the architecture, components, interfaces and other
physical and functional characteristics of a system or component to satisfy an enduse.
Design (DGN)
Deviation
A written authorization, granted before the manufacture of a physical item, to depart from a particular
performance or design requirement of a specification, drawing or other document, for a specific
number of units or a specified period of time.
A deviation record will be maintained by AVEVA NET as part of the item's build history.
Distribution
The action taken in transmitting a document or set of documents to one or more persons. Generally
copies of documents on any media are distributed for a defined reason and tracked.
Distribution List
A standard list of persons and/or organizational units which is associated with a document(s), for the
distribution or circulation of document copies. The distribution list is user-definable and re-usable.
See also DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT COPIES AND MASTERS, ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT and
PERSON.
Document
A document is an identified collection of data, grouped and structured so that it can convey meaning
within a context to man or machine. This collection of data is constituted by the document content
The content may be of a physical or electronic nature embedded and preserved in an associated
media such as paper, a computer data base, solid-state device, microfilm, optical devices, etc.
The preserved data is used interchangeable with the term information, or document content, or
record.
The document object is identified for the purpose of controlling the promulgation of the object to man
or machine, where the embedded collective data is applied in the process of interpretation.
The document object is represented in AVEVA NET by the document master record.
As managed entities in AVEVA NET, documents are identified in accordance with the conventions of
document numbering, revision, and title. The degree of document change control is determined by
the user.
A document object may exist with or without reference to the document source.
Document Approval
The action taken by a user to approve a document record maintained by AVEVA NET. Only
documents identified as subject to Change Control can be approved. Document approval implies the
locking of document metadata to change.
An approved document's metadata can only be changed through authorized configuration control
procedures.
Document Class
A document class represents for a specific document type, or family of document types, a set of
common attributes, permissions and required relationships for the document with other objects
including documents, as well as systems actions to be performed during the life cycle of the
document.
It depicts the properties that must be specified, as well as the methods for create, maintain and/or
control, associated with the document type.
The class acts as the template from which an instance of a document master record iscreated.
The instance contains the actual data associated with the specific document.
Document classes can be represented in a hierarchical form, which may allow complete orselective
Document Content
The ‘logical’ document, not the physical ‘file’ of that Document; all AVEVA NET Portal document
classes must be sub-classed from the class DOCUMENT CONTENT.
A document copy is an object, which represents the existence of a real-world managed document in
a specific media and location.
The document copy object may be described and controlled by attributes such as the copy number,
status of the copy, etc.
A singular document object may have many document copies in different media, i.e. electronic file,
paper and microfiche.
Real world managed document objects are stored and distributed as document copies.
A master document is the source from which copies of the document are made. When a document
is affected by change, the master document will be updated.
AVEVA NET allows the user to identify only one master document, but many copies. The user can
define the media for a document master as well as for each copy. For example, the master
document can be kept as an electronic file, copy one of the document as a paper copy and copy two
as microfiche. A document master and its subsequent copies can be allocated to locations, to
identify where the document is kept.
Only copies of a document can be distributed. The availability of document copies is managed by
AVEVA NET, i.e. whether a copy has been issued, is available for distribution, or whether it has
been lost or destroyed.
Document-document Relationship
Documents can be related to one another in a hierarchical parent-component relationship. The user
can define this relationship as follows: the component document, which also exists as a stand-alone
entity, is part of the parent document (for example, where a circuit diagram is also used in a
maintenance manual).
Document-document relationships enables the user to create document trees, and provide trace
ability on document references.
AVEVA NET warns the user when a parent or component document is identified as being affected by
change of all the related parents and components during the change effects analysis.
When a document has been defined with components in a Contained In relationship, the following
rules apply:
The parent document cannot be approved unless the component documents are also approved.
When a component document is under change, the parent document will also be under change.
When a component document's revision is stepped, the parent document's revision must also be
stepped.
Document Folder
A virtual item object that functionally represents a subject through a collection of documents - the
document folder is not regarded as a document in itself.
Document Holder
Denotes the instance of a document copy issued to a user. Such user can be man or machine.
Identification of the holder may include the holder location, the document copy record and the reason
for holding the document.
Document Indexing
The recording of the document prime identifier and associated attribute values as metadata that
represents the document master record, the purpose thereof to uniquely and unambiguously identify
the specific document.
The document class determines the attribute set and range of attribute values to be maintained as
indexing data.
The sum of defined attributes and its specified values to the document constitute the index to the
document object which is applied in describing, searching, finding and controlling the document.
The discipline, associated processes and infrastructure that provide for secure and controlled receipt,
storage, access, maintenance and distribution/promulgation of all data sets managed by AVEVA
NET. Document management is the interface between users and object data, to provide controlled
and optimum access to object data.
Represents the metadata instance of a real-world managed document. The instance contains actual
data about the document object in accordance with the document class. The document master
record represents all indexing and control data about the document object.
Document Media
Document media denotes the format, method and device whereby document content is embedded for
preservation, access and promulgation.
Device may include optical, magnetic, solid state, paper, film or other devices capable of
preservation of document content.
Document media is directly associated with the document copy whereby the document copy it
denotes the instance of the document content in a media at a location.
Document Metadata
A document number which, together with the document revision, constitutes the document's prime
identifier.
Document cross-references.
When a document is approved, the metadata cannot be changed unless the document is declared
as Under Change, through defined configuration control procedures.
Document location.
Document copies.
Document Links
Propagated from - the component document is derived from the parent document (for example,
where a lower level specification document is derived from a higher level specification document).
Document Number
A prime identifier associated with the document object for the purpose unambiguously identifying the
specific object as a singular entity. The prime identifier is unique to the document object and cannot
be duplicated.
The document number may be allocated manually by the user, or automatically by the system. The
document number may be visible or transparent to the user.
The format of the document number is irrelevant and bears no significance to applied business logic.
The document number may consists of several data fields which in combination constitutes the
unique identifier for the document, i.e. document reference + document revision.
Document Object Model; software presenting an object oriented API to an XML document
Document Permissions
As per the defined requirements of the user, suitable rights allocated to the user by the system
administrator to access and/or use system functions in document creation, maintenance and/or
usage.
This includes access to the document master record and/or -content as well as transactions and/or
applications which allow the user to add, change, delete and/or view metadata or document content.
Detailed granularity of permissions may be collected into categories of permissions, e.g. edit
includes the ability to add a document record, edit attributes and delete a document record.
A user permission profile is usually directly associated with the document class.
A pre-defined permission set of a typical user profile as applicable to a specific document class.
Upon election of a document to the class, the permissions granted to user for the specific document
will default to the document permission template for the class.
Document Plan
The document plan defines the documentation requirements for a particular object. It identifies the
documents and the CI which it underwrites, with respect to the concluding baseline for the specified
program/project phase.
It can also include the identification of responsible persons or organizational units with planned dates
for completion.
A set of folders storing user documents (usually after reformatting) so that they can be accessed by
the AVEVA NET Portal Server for display in the AVEVA NET Portal Content Viewer.
Document Requisition
A request for a document or set of documents to be transmitted to one or more persons. Only copies
can be distributed for a defined reason and can be associated to a distribution list. Holders (persons)
are linked to the documents transmitted.
Document Revision
See REVISION.
The defined access and permission record created for a specific document. The document security
certificate can result from the document permission template, or be manually defined by the user, or
a combination of thereof.
Every document has a security certificate which regulates per user the overall rights of access,
document master record and/or -content maintenance.
Document Source
An identified and controlled instance of the document media which is stored for the purpose of
preserving the document, and/or applied in the process of creating and/or copies of the document.
The document source is described and controlled by its attributes, i.e. the document copy may be
identified as the master copy an electronic media in a word processor format.
All document copies, replications and files, regardless of media and format, are
For an approved and revision controlled document, document source will be replicated and applied for
the creation of the new revision document - approved document source is never changed.
A reference to the storage/preservation device and its location to which the document source is
embedded.
Documentum
Dumb Document
dwg File
Effectivity
An user-specified value, typically identified as a date or serial number(s), which denotes the
applicability of a specific condition on an item or document. Examples are:
The effectivity date of a document or item, i.e. when it is suitable for use,
A service that allows users and organizations to communicate electronically. It can include
distribution of formatted documents and messages to mailboxes (special computer files) and
notifying users of incoming mail. AVEVA NET uses e-mail to route action notifications.
Enterprise Information and Workflow Model – the information Model (strictly speaking the
The XML schema for files that the AVEVA NET Portal Import Server is able to process; can be
exported by the Admin Tool.
Electronic Source
This term refers to any digital media that represents the document object identified in the EDMS.
This source can consist of one or many files and can also contain different file formats to support
rapid access for the consumer.
A item of information introduced by an element <name> in angle brackets and terminated by </
name>.
Engineering Workstation
See WORKSTATION.
Enterprise
A business entity which is related by a common interest or objective in a object, or group of objects,
and associated business processes. An enterprise may also logically include a network of
subcontractors involved in the common object.
Enterprise Explorer
The web-part in the top-left-hand corner of the AVEVA NET Portal dashboard mainly occupied by the
Tree-view.
Equipment List
A Process Industry document providing a definitive list of Project Equipment and their identifiers.
Equivalents
A term which denotes the validity of exchanging an identified physical item with another identified
physical item. There are three types of equivalent:
Interchangeable item - where an interchangeable item is equivalent in fit, form and function to
the item for which it is exchanged.
It can be used without selection of fit or performance, or without alteration to the item or adjoining
items, except for adjustment.
Replacement item - where a replacement item is equivalent in function but differs physically from
the item for which it is exchanged. Installation of the replacement item may require additional
drilling, reaming, cutting, etc. to the item or adjoining items.
Substitute item - where a substitute item can only be used under specified conditions or in
particular applications, without alteration to the item or adjoining items.
Facility
A ‘logical’ or design object – such as an object in PDMS that is ’fulfilled by’ a physical Asset in the
built plant.
Factory Acceptance Test – a test carried out at the supplier’s premises (c.f. SAT).
An AVEVA defined code for a separately priced product feature licensed using FlexLM.
File
These are the basic components of the document. A file may be a TIFF image, CAD file, HTML,
PDF, Word document, AVI sound bite, movie or software source code, for example.
Note: At this level there is no mention about files, since a file is a type of file with a relationship to
another file. Note, the use of page as a description for this object is not appropriate since a word file
may contain multiple pages, or a multi-page TIFF file is a single file with multiple image pages.
A physical representation of a Document (e.g. in a file) as compared with the logical content of the
document. AVEVA NET Portal file objects are usually of class FILE.
A simple query mechanism in the Enterprise Explorer web part for finding objects by ID and/ or Class
with optional % and _ wildcards (See also Advanced Find).
Fit
The ability of a physical item to physically interface or interconnect with or become an integral part of
another item.
See also FIT, FORM AND FUNCTION, ITEM and PHYSICAL ITEM.
Fit, form and function imply the functional and physical characteristics of an item as an entity,
covering all characteristics of the elements making up the item.
Folder
Firstly as a 'parent' document with the same characteristics as a regular document, but also
containing relationships to 'child' documents (Compound Document).
Form
The shape, size, dimensions, mass, weight, and other visual parameters which uniquely characterize
a stand-alone physical item. For software, form denotes the language and media.
See also FIT, FORM AND FUNCTION, ITEM, PHYSICAL ITEM and SOFTWARE.
Folder.vnet file
An XML file in a Staging Area folder supplying default metadata for all the files in that one folder.
The ability to create an index based on the content of documents. This function allows text string
searches to be made in conjunction with regular indexing methods.
A unique identifier for a AVEVA NET Portal object complete with the Context e.g. ContextID|ObjectID
(c.f. Simple ID).
Function
See also FIT, FORM AND FUNCTION, FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ITEM, PROCESS,
VIRTUAL ITEM and TAG.
Functional Characteristics
Measurable performance parameters and design constraints, including operational and logistic
parameters and their respective tolerances, that quantify the behaviour of an item within its specified
operational environment. Functional characteristics include all performance parameters, e.g. range,
The formal examination of the functional characteristics of a configuration item or process, before
acceptance, to verify that the item or process has achieved the requirements specified in its
functional and allocated configuration documentation.
Functional Item
General Arrangement Drawing output by PDMS DRAFT. Can be made intelligent by running special
AVEVA NET Portal Appware.
Generic Baseline
Generic Baselines give the user the flexibility to define what objects should be included in the
baseline, i.e.
When created, a Baseline is a Document containing a list of objects that were found as a result of
following the rules in the Baseline Definition. All the objects are shown as they were at the time the
Baseline was created, including Non Approved objects (which may have changed after the snapshot
was taken)
A user interface to a computer program that includes windows, menus, dialogue boxes, icon palettes
and other point-and-select command selection methods, and the use of graphics to present and
manipulate data.
GUIs contrast with text and forms based user interfaces found on "dumb" terminals and in mini and
mainframe based computing systems.
Group
An identified group of users who are designated through a range of specified permissions to create,
maintain and/or use information records and/or information objects of specific types within the
specified scope of a business process.
Repetitive creation, maintenance and/or use of information records and/or objects of the same type
by a specific line-of-business application.
The user within the community allocates specific permissions to the community object which,
unless specified otherwise, allow the inheritance of such permissions.
User-interaction to information records and objects specific to the community, i.e. user-interfaces,
queries and reports.
Exclusive ownership and/or access to information records and objects, or specified sharing thereof
with other communities.
Handle (DB)
An internal system ID possessed by every AVEVA NET Portal Object, Class, Association etc.
Handover
The stage in a project when the plant and its documentation are passed to the Owneroperator: point
in a project where AVEVA NET Portal has much to offer.
Hardware
Synonym for physical items, such as plant equipment, support equipment, weapons, aircraft, ships,
tools, computers, vehicles, and their components such as mechanical, electrical, electronic,
hydraulic and pneumatic parts. Computer software and documentation are excluded.
Horizontal Relationship
A term used in the context of AVEVA NET to depict a parent/component relationship of either
physical or virtual items, i.e. the physical breakdown of a object for physical items, or the functional
breakdown of a object for virtual items.
AVEVA NET only allows items of a specific kind, i.e. either physical items or virtual items, to be
related in Horizontal Relationships. Relationships between virtual items and physical items are
created through Vertical Relationships.
hit File
A file containing identifiers and X, Y co-ordinates used to make an otherwise ‘dumb’ document
‘intelligent’.
Hotspot
The format used to transmit information between the Web Server and Browser on the Client
machine.
Identifier (ID)
Every AVEVA NET Portal Object has at least one Identifier containing an ID, optionally a Context,
and optionally a Revision name/number and a longer descriptive name.
Import Controller
Part of AVEVA NET Portal supporting the user interface that the user interacts with to launch and
monitor an import session; connects to a AVEVA NET Portal Import Server.
Import Engine
Import Package
Definition of a repeatable Import unit linking a specified AVEVA NET Portal Database, Staging Area
and user preferences.
Import Server
Software that reads XML files to populate the AVEVA NET Portal database and processes user
documents and stores them in the AVEVA NET Portal Document Repository.
Incremental Update
An update to the AVEVA NET Portal database involving as little as one new or modified file in the
Staging Area.
Installed Item
A concept associated with the definition of a tag. It identifies the specific physical item that has been
installed to fulfil the required function designated to the tag.
The installed item can only be one of the designated preferred physical items as denoted by the tag
definition.
InstallShield
Instrument List
A Process Industry document providing a definitive list of Instruments in the project and their
identifiers.
Intelligent Document
A user document supporting picking and highlighting in the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard (possibly
after reformatting).
Internet Information Services – the Microsoft system running on the AVEVA NET Portal Server
supporting web sessions.
Used to throw clients off the server and re-initialise some web services (may fix AVEVA NET Portal if
all else fails).
Automatically termination of a connection between Client and Server. By default this is set to 20
minutes.
Intranet
A set of interconnected machines supporting web access but not visible to the wider Internet.
A sample AVEVA project; one of the AVEVA NET Portal test Staging Areas containing documents
and XML files.
An International Standard that is the basis of the information model used in AVEVA NET Portal.
Issued Data
Data for browsing in the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard (c.f. Working data).
Item
A non-specific term used in AVEVA NET to denote any system, subsystem, set, group, unit,
assembly, subassembly, part, accessory, process, service, function, tag, etc.
AVEVA NET manages two types of items, namely Physical Items and Virtual Items. See also
CONFIGURATION ITEM, FIRMWARE, HARDWARE, ITEM CLASSIFICATION, ITEM-ITEM
RELATIONSHIPS, OBJECT, OBJECT IDENTIFICATION, PHYSICAL ITEM, SOFTWARE, TAG and
VIRTUAL ITEM.
Item Approval
The action taken by a user to approve an item record maintained by AVEVA NET. Item approval
implies the locking of item metadata to change. An approved item's metadata can only be changed
through authorized configuration control procedures.
See also CHANGE, CONFIGURATION CONTROL, ITEM, ITEM METADATA and METADATA.
Item Baseline
An item baseline represents a complete identified item on a single level. AVEVA NET defines and
controls an item baseline through the identification of a baseline document, which represents the
An item baseline can only be created if the item is approved, and will only include approved
documents related to the item.
Approval of the item baseline document constitutes the declared configuration of the item, and any
subsequent changes to the item metadata or documents covered by the baseline will be subject to
configuration control. An approved item baseline constitutes Item Release.
Item Classification
See CLASSIFICATION.
Item-item Relationships
The hierarchical relation between items in a parent-component relationship to depict the configuration
of the parent item, or the items associated with it. Three types of item-item relationships are
supported by AVEVA NET:
Horizontal relationships between items. For physical items, this denotes a object breakdown
structure and, for virtual items, a functional or process breakdown.
Vertical relationships which denote the relation of a virtual item with a physical item.
Item links which denote the relationship of a physical item to another item, other than for defining
a configuration.
See also CONFIGURATION, HORIZONTAL RELATIONSHIP, ITEM, ITEM LINK, PHYSICAL ITEM,
OBJECT BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE, VERTICAL RELATIONSHIP, VIRTUAL ITEM and VIRTUAL
ITEM BREAKDOWN.
Item Link
A user-definable item-item relationship. This item-item relationship does not represent the physical
configuration of a parent item with its component item (as is the case with a object breakdown
structure), but is the association of one physical item to another physical item.
Connected To, depicting the physical connection of a pipeline to, for example, a pump.
Test Equipment, identifying the test equipment required for a hardware item.
Tools, Jigs and Fixtures, identifying the tools, jigs and fixtures required for the fabrication of a
hardware item.
Equipment Schedules, identifying the range of items required for a specific main equipment to
perform a specific mission.
See also ITEM-ITEM RELATIONSHIPS, ITEM METADATA, PHYSICAL ITEM and OBJECT
BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE.
Item Metadata
An item number which, with the item version, forms the item's prime identifier,
Item links.
When an item is approved, the above metadata cannot be changed unless the item is declared as
Under Change through defined configuration control procedures.
Item location.
Item Release
JavaScript
Keywords
One or many named attribute(s) that can be allocated to an object for the purpose of collectively
grouping or tagging for query purposes.
KKS
International standard covering the structure of Identifiers of Process Industry assets and documents.
Legacy System
In-place computing and application systems that exist within an enterprise to perform defined
functions and tasks.
Examples of legacy systems are a Financial Management System, Materials Requirement Planning,
Inventory Management, Maintenance Management, Computer Aided Design, etc. Most legacy
systems depend on data provided by Object Data Management for their function.
License Demon
License Manager
Life Cycle
A generic term covering all phases of acquisition, operation and logistic support of an object,
beginning with concept definition and continuing through disposal of the object.
Conceptual phase,
Production phase,
Disposal.
Line List
A Process Industry document providing a definitive list of pipelines / piping segments and their
identifiers.
List Gateway
Unreleased AVEVA NET Portal software for converting data held in spreadsheet form to the XML
format that can be processed by the AVEVA NET Portal Import Server.
List - Parts
List - Tags
Communication facilities allowing locally connected computer systems, workstations and terminals
to interact. Ethernet is the dominant LAN for workstations.
Localisation
The process of converting text to a local language – not yet attempted for AVEVA NET Portal.
Location
A location is an identifiable entity in AVEVA NET that can be associated with an object to denote its
physical position. The location can be a site, area, place or spot where the object is installed,
stored, deployed, etc. Locations can be allocated to the following objects:
Persons,
Organizations,
Physical Items,
Documents,
Serialized items,
Tags.
The user can classify locations to denote the type of location, such as Document Location, Item
Installed Position, etc.
Main Equipment
A physical item which, as a stand-alone entity, performs an end-function to achieve the objectives of
a defined mission. Main equipment can have the following characteristics:
It is a complete composite system which can be decomposed into subsystems and lower
identifiable and maintainable physical items, and/or
See also ITEM, PHYSICAL ITEM, SERIAL NUMBER, SERIAL STRUCTURE and SERIALIZED ITEM.
Markup
The process of adding graphics and text to an existing document; only supported in AVEVA NET
Portal for documents that have been converted to VizStream Format. See ANNOTATE.
A controlled index of data, including number, titles and issue status of all configuration identification
documentation, which is required to adequately reflect the defined identification of an item.
A methodology and system used to plan and manage manufacturing operations. The BOM for
objects released to manufacturing is a key input to an MRP System Database.
Menuset
A ‘root’ node collection of BreakdownNodes in the tree-view, linked to a ‘Top Object’. Which
Metadata
Data pertaining to an object which is stored, created, manipulated, controlled and made available to
users for the purpose of describing, finding and controlling the object.
Metadata includes identifiers and attributes associated with objects, for example, a drawing number
and the title is metadata about a drawing.
This definition differs from that used by information systems professionals as a definition of a
databases underlying schema.
MetaModel
Microsoft Data Access Components. (AVEVA NET Portal depends on the right version being
installed).
Micro-Server
Portable Server the size of a book used for AVEVA NET Portal demonstrations.
Microsoft MergeMSM
Microsoft Merge Module – a mechanism for delivering a set of software components as one unit.
Modification
The act of physically changing the approved configuration of an established item, i.e. main equipment
and/or main equipment components which have been manufactured, deployed and/or supported.
A modification alters the functional and physical characteristics of the item, and can be done
As a design deficiency corrective action, i.e. to improve safety, reliability, maintainability, etc., or
To change the characteristics of the item to make it more suitable for a specific mission.
Infrastructure, i.e. persons, organizations, equipment and other facilities employed in the use and
support of the item,
A modification can only be made through the formal procedures of configuration control.
Molecular Template
Free to use version of Microsoft SQL Server (with a limitation on the number of concurrent
connections).
The longer descriptive name that is an optional element of a AVEVA NET Portal Identifier.
Name-Value Pairs
Named Relationship
An object relationship where the relationship is described by one or more attributes and its
values.
For relationship created between objects, it is necessary to identify the type of relationship.
When objects of the same kind are related, a default relationship type may apply over the complete
relationship continuum, i.e. physical items related in parent child relationships through multi-level
may be termed as a Bill-of-Material relationship.
When specific relationships are applicable between dissimilar objects, the relationship may be
described by singular or multiple attributes for indexing and control purposes, i.e. a named
relationship, i.e. a person object related as author to a document object.
Clicking on the + sign in a Treeview to follow selected Association(s).to see the next tier of Nodes.
Notes
A AVEVA NET feature which allows the user to create free text, i.e. remarks, instructions,
messages, etc., in a word processor style, and associate the note with a prime object. The note can
be passed to other AVEVA NET users through e-mail if required.
A AVEVA NET Portal Comment analogous to a ‘Post-it’ referring to any number of objects and which
may optionally contain a marked-up document.
Object
An entity identified in and/or controlled by AVEVA NET, to achieve the goals of Object Data
Management. AVEVA NET manages two classes of objects:
• Primary Objects which include physical items, tags, virtual items and documents. Combinations
of these objects are used to define and control a object.
• Secondary Objects which include persons, organizational units, changes, modifications, waivers,
deviations, distribution lists notes, work orders, tasks and locations. The user can relate these
secondary objects in a specific logic to the primary objects, to identify or underwrite a specific
condition or relationship.
Any object is characterized by a prime identifier, attributes and, when required, relationships with
other objects.
A AVEVA NET Portal database entity with at least one unique identifier and optionally a
classification.
Object Identification
Creating horizontal relationships from the identified object to other objects to describe the
configuration of the object, if required.
Creating vertical relationships from the identified object to other identified objects to describe its
association with such objects, if required.
Creating links from the identified object to other identified objects to describe its association with
such objects, if required.
Object identification must be done in such a way that the object is uniquely identifiable, and so that
users can interpret and apply the object's associated data and relationships for a specific use.
Object Baseline
In the context of AVEVA NET, a object baseline for a selected root object groups together the latest
revisions of objects and documents within a defined Object Breakdown Structure.
Object Baselines can be given meaningful names, e.g. Manufacturing Data Pack for Experimental
The hierarchical breakdown of an object into its components in a specific configuration, through
sufficient levels to show the logical make-up of the complete object group in a specific context.
The user can define various Object Breakdown Structures for the same item, depending on the
intended end use of the defined breakdown, i.e.:
A breakdown for an item that shows how it will be fabricated and assembled for production
purposes (a Production Breakdown Structure), or
A breakdown for the same item that shows how it will be maintained (a Maintenance Breakdown
Structure).
A defined Object Breakdown Structure forms the basis for AVEVA NET to assemble, control and
report all associated item data and documents for a complete object, or any part of the object.
AVEVA NET uses the Product Breakdown Structure as a default breakdown structure. This
breakdown structure represents the Product Bill of Material or parts list.
If required, the user can define and apply any other breakdown structure.
Object Data
A generic term for a set of data that uniquely defines and underwrites a complete object for its
intended use. It defines what a object is in terms of human and/or machine interpretable data, with
enough detail to be able to design, manufacture, install, maintain, apply or use the object, or to
provide complete trace ability to any configuration controlled events associated with the object.
Object data is the common denominator for all business processes in the enterprise, and can be
broadly divided into the following categories:
• Configuration Data, i.e. data that describes the make-up of the item.
This data is created during the design phase of the object, and is applied during the objection,
operational and support phases of the object. It includes bills of material, assembly drawings,
circuit diagrams, etc.
• Management Control and Support Data, i.e. data that describes actions that must be performed
around the object.
This data is generated during the design phase of the object and is applied during the operational
and support phase of the object. It includes test procedures, work instructions, maintenance
manuals, training manuals, Logistic Support Analysis Records (LSAR), etc.
• Analytical Data, i.e. data which qualifies and quantifies the object's theoretical physical and
functional characteristics.
This data is generated from theoretical evaluation calculations in the design phase of the object, to
optimize object design. It includes Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects and
Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Reliability Analysis, Simulation, Logistic Support Analysis (LSA),
etc.
• Historical Data, i.e. data which qualifies and quantifies and records events associated with the
object which, in the future, can be useful to interpret or prove past conditions.
This data is generated during the objection, operational and support phase of the object. It includes
Test and Qualification Results, Failure Reports, Certificates of Conformance, Acceptance
Certificates, Inspection Results, etc.
AVEVA software layered over a commercial DBMS to provide AVEVA NET Portal functionality.
Object Registration Template; a unique ID optionally with a Context ID (namespace), and a longer
descriptive Name but with a mandatory Classification.
Object Relationship
The creation and maintenance of a record, which depicts an association of objects to other objects.
The relationship record is created such as to allow bi-directional access, i.e. if A is related to B, then
by accessing B the relationship to A is detectable.
When objects are described in relationships to one another, the following terminology apply to the
objects:
When an object A is configured from two components B and C, B and C are child objects to parent
object A. In this example, the relationship of A to B and C is also described as a single level
relationship and is reported as a single level object list for A.
As per example above, B as child object to A, can also be a parent to child objects D and E.
When cascaded from parent A to child objects D and E, the term multi-level relationship is used
and reported as a multi-level list object list for A.
When a continuum of relationships of the same objects is defined by any combination of one-to-
many, many-to-one, or circular reference to objects, it is termed a network.
A specific way of interpreting object configuration data. Different object structure views are used for
different disciplines such as design assembly, manufacturing assembly, purchasing, documentation,
maintenance, etc.
Obsolete
Any document that is no longer 'in use' can be defined as obsolete. This implies that it is no longer
valid for use and is purely available for reference or historical purposes.
Operational Status
Used in association with a tag to identify its operational status, i.e. Planned, Operational,
Abandoned, Removed.
Offline Collaboration
Online Collaboration
Communication between logged-in AVEVA NET Portal users enabled by the VizStream
OPE
Organizational Unit
An organization associated with the activities of Object Data Management. Organizational units are
typically associated with the responsibilities of creating, changing or using data maintained by
AVEVA NET.
Organizational units can also be associated with persons in a specific role, and can be hierarchically
structured in a parent-component relationship to depict a complete definition of an enterprise.
See also COMPONENT, DATA, ENTERPRISE, OBJECT, OBJECT IDENTIFICATION, PERSON and
OBJECT DATA MANAGEMENT.
Pages
AVEVA NET can identify the individual sheets of a document, to control the revision of each
individual sheet. When one raises the revision of an individual sheet, one must raise the revision of
Parts List
The parts list identifies and describes the child physical items, i.e. parts, associated with a parent
physical item, i.e. assembly.
The parts lists depict the quantity for each part in relation to the parent assembly. The parts list also,
where applicable, denotes the associated tag where it used in terms of the parent item.
The tag list is managed document in AVEVA NET. A tag list may also have a corresponding
parts list depicting the single level bill-of-material for the parent tag.
Password (DB)
A new licensing model from AVEVA based on software usage; another name for Token based
Licensing.
pdf File
A document format from Adobe with limited support in AVEVA NET Portal (picking is supported but
not highlighting).
Permissible Association
A user-specified association between AVEVA NET Portal Classes defining an association that is
permitted between AVEVA NET Portal Objects of these two classes.
Permissions
The assignment of permissions in AVEVA NET which authorizes users to use the various functions.
This includes access to transactions and authorizing users to add, change, delete and/or view data
maintained by AVEVA NET.
See also ACCESS LEVEL, DATA, SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR USER and USER GROUP.
Person
An identifiably human object associated with the activities of creating, changing or using object
master records or object content but without any direct access or privileges to the system.
See also DATA, OBJECT, OBJECT IDENTIFICATION, ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT, OBJECT DATA
MANAGEMENT and WORKGROUPS.
Physical Attributes
Quantitative and qualitative expressions of item features, such as composition, dimensions, finishes,
form, fit, and their respective tolerances.
Physical Item
An item which can be identified as a single stand-alone entity with specific physical and functional
characteristics. It can be procured, stored, distributed, fabricated, assembled, maintained, applied,
etc. A physical item can be broken down into other physical items (components) in accordance with
a specific configuration.
Items such as plant equipment, support equipment, weapons, aircraft, ships, tools, computers,
vehicles, and their components such as mechanical, electrical, electronic, hydraulic and pneumatic
parts, are classified as physical items.
Physical item identification may also be extended to its application in a specific location fulfilling an
identified function by means of the tag object.
The term Hardware can also be used as an alternative to Physical Item. Software items (other than
document software files) and firmware are handled by AVEVA NET as physical items.
A concept associated with Tags. Denotes the number (quantity) of physical items that are required
by the tag. The typical quantity is one.
plt File
A PDMS PLOT file – the format used for PDMS ISOs and DRAFT GA drawings.
Software to which the AVEVA NET Portal Import Server delegates the processing of a particular file
format.
An earlier name for the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard (the name is still visible in the installed
software).
It refers to the physical item designated to fulfil the function required by the identified tag
A range of preferred physical items maybe specified for use by the tag. AVEVA NET requires this
range of physical items to be prioritized.
Prime Identifier
AVEVA NET is insensitive to the format of prime identifiers, and does not rely on the intelligence
embedded in the prime identifiers for its operational logic.
A typical example of a prime identifier is the item number allocated to an item, or the identification
number of a person.
The input for a process can be a defined command, data, items, or conditions, and/or combinations
of these. The required outputs for a process are quantified and qualified parameters by standards,
specifications, next process interface and/or expectations, or combinations of these.
A process is also associated with the terms throughput, efficiency, reliability, status, etc.
A defined input, process and output is referred to as a function. Processes and functions are
identified and managed by AVEVA NET as Virtual Items.
Technology and methodology used within an enterprise to identify, organize, access, maintain and
control data related to its products. Product data management is applied over the complete life cycle
of the object, and has the following objectives:
To identify and maintain all object data and documents related to the object, and/or manage the
creation of object data.
To manage orderly change to a object in terms of its configuration and associated object data.
Manages controlled and orderly change to item configuration and item data,
Work Management which manages the work that persons and organizational units perform when
creating, maintaining and changing object configurations and associated object data.
The integrated management of all data related to a object in the context of the enterprise. Within the
enterprise, different pieces of object data are created and maintained by a variety of tools, and are
stored in files and databases which reside on multiple electronic media.
Product information management integrates the data creation, requirements and usage of multiple
legacy systems used to design, analyse, manufacture and support a object throughout its life cycle.
See also ENTERPRISE, LEGACY SYSTEM, OBJECT DATA, OBJECT DATA MANAGEMENT and
OBJECT LIFE CYCLE.
Program Management
The planning, directing and controlling of resources to achieve specific program or project objectives.
Program management tracks and reports factors such as technical, cost and schedule performance
against set budgets.
Work associated with a program is generally defined and executed within the framework of a work
breakdown structure which identifies the associated tasks and activities in a logical breakdown.
It includes the identification of required resources and the allocation, authorization and control of
work performed by these resources within set budgets.
Project Management and Object Management are synonyms for Program Management.
Project
This object serves the purpose to give "ownership" to objects as well as to provide additional "group"
security options and can be related to most objects in the system.
Project Context
A string included as a place-holder in AVEVA NET Portal import files that is replaced by the ‘Top
Object’ ID during processing by the AVEVA NET Portal Import Server.
Project Management
Purge (DB)
Reducing the size of a database by eliminating all the archived entities (those marked as deleted).
Quality
The degree to which a system, component or process meets specified requirements or customer
expectations.
A planned and systematic approach to make sure that a object conforms to established technical
requirements.
See also QUALITY ASSURANCE, TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT.
Queue
A list of activities/work steps that were submitted for execution to a group people or resources.
RealityWave
Redline
To annotate a graphic or text object by placing comments either on the original or on overlays with
the original.
Reference Counting
Used in AVEVA NET Portal to delete an object or association when the number of template
references to it drops to zero.
Database management systems that maintain data records and indices in tables. The user can
create and maintain relationships across and among the data and tables.
This status signals the start for complete control (freezing of metadata) and often heralds the start of
Records Management activities.
Repository
AVEVA NET's computerized data storage area. System rules and processes control storage of data
in AVEVA NET repositories.
Retroview
Third-part software used for displaying photo-grammetry images in AVEVA NET Portal.
Review
A process in which one or more persons verify defined and/or changed documents and/or data to
determine whether the definition and/or changes have been correctly performed.
Review2XGL
AVEVA NET Portal Utility for converting PDMS Review format files to VizStream format.
Review-OE
AVEVA software component for rendering 3D images now replaced in AVEVA NET Portal by
VizStream.
Revision
Revision levels are defined and updated according to configuration management change control rules.
The number of revisions on a document indicates how many changes have been done to the
document to correct its data.
The document number of a document plus its revision number forms the unique prime identifier for
that document.
See also CHANGE, CONFIGURATION CONTROL, DATA, DOCUMENT and PRIME IDENTIFIER.
The Role that can be created and assigned to a User by a User who has the Administrator Role; the
User Role controls the appearance of the Tree-view.
The top node in the Treeview, a Menuset, usually linked to a ‘Top Object’ of class Project or Plant.
rvm File
rvz File
Scalability
Sectionalisation
Security
The rules that restrict access to, and manipulation of, a document master record and/or the
document content.
Security encompasses the terms authentication and authorization where authentication refers to
determining the identity of the user attempting the access, and authorization refers to determining
the set of privileges available to the user, i.e. permissions.
Serial Number
An identifier which, together with an item prime identifier (part number/item number), identifies an
individual physical item where a quantity of the same item has been processed as one group (i.e.
manufactured).
A serial number is allocated to an item for maintaining records against the individual item, and can
include:
A object baseline,
Build history,
It is an entity with functional and physical characteristics which must be measured to determine
and record suitability for use.
A user-definable structure which denotes the hierarchical breakdown of serialized items in a main
equipment, in a parent-component relationship. The serial number structure forms the backbone for
deriving the as-built configuration of main equipment.
Serialized Item
A specific single physical item identifiable through the combination of an item number/serial number
combination.
Items identified in batches are managed in the same way as serialized items by AVEVA NET.
See also AS-BUILT CONFIGURATION, BATCH NUMBER, BUILD HISTORY, DEVIATION, MAIN
EQUIPMENT, MODIFICATION, PHYSICAL ITEM, OBJECT BASELINE, SERIAL NUMBER, SERIAL
NUMBER STRUCTURE and WAIVER.
User defined container of AVEVA NET Portal objects that will survive an update run.
Sheets
See PAGES.
Shoebox
Simple ID
The ID string for a AVEVA NET Portal object without a Context – if not unique this may refer to more
than one object.
Single Level
The term Single Level implies any parent object, at any level of the hierarchy, seen with its direct
(one level lower) associated child objects (components).
Parts Lists and Tag Lists are examples of single level lists.
See also COMPONENT, OBJECT, PARENT, PARTS LIST and TAG LIST.
Snapshot
See BASELINE.
Snapshot Update
Complete regeneration of a AVEVA NET Portal Database from a Staging Area; the update
Software
A combination of associated computer instructions and computer data definitions which enables
computer hardware to perform a specific task.
• The executable software which is loaded into a programmable device for machine interpretation (i.e.
firmware) as a physical item.
Spicer Tools
Utilities for converting a range of document formats, including MS Office, into VizStream format. (Not
currently available for use with AVEVA NET Portal)
SQL Server
SRP
The AVEVA NET Portal test Staging Area based on the PDMS SAMPLE database.
Staging Area
Hierarchy of folders and files defining a complete set of project information for importing into AVEVA
NET Portal.
A methodology for defining and marking up the content of electronic documents. It provides
structured documents to a specific standard.
Status
The status defines the following groups of information to be used to describe or control documents:
Life Cycle:
Draft status,
Validated status,
Revision:
Historic status,
Obsolete status,
Control:
Records' status,
Archived status,
Structured Vector Graphics - an XML format used by AVEVA NET Portal for displaying schematics
documents.
Adobe software used in AVEVA NET Portal for displaying svg files.
Superseded
Any document that is set aside and is 'replaced by' another is regarded as superseded. This implies
that a document has been replaced by a newly referenced document and any reference to the
System Administrator
The person who sets up, manages and customizes AVEVA NET to meet the needs of the
enterprise. It includes the identification of users or user groups, and the management of access and
permissions to data.
See also DATA, ENTERPRISE, OBJECT DATA MANAGEMENT, USER and USER GROUP
Tag
The tag object represents as a single and unique entity the combination of a defined physical item
performing a specified function in a specific location.
In order to preserve the uniqueness of a tag, it is always identified in the context of an entity to which
the tag is associated, i.e. a plant, or a unit, or assembly. In AVEVA NET this entity is referred to a
the primary physical item.
AVEVA NET manages all three these dimension in consideration to the tag, namely what the tag
should do (function represented by a virtual item), what physical item should perform the function
(preferred physical item) and where its should be performed (Location)
AVEVA NET also provides the ability to track history relative to the tag in terms of physical items
fitted. Such tracking maybe accomplished to serial number.
Depending on the user environment, the tag object is also known as a component, plant item, asset,
or as tag.
A tag is a uniquely identified position in a process network performing a specific function through a
specific item at a point in time. A tag management system should thus be able to manage both what
can be used in a specific tag position and what is currently fitted in the tag position.
See also PHYSICAL ITEM, PREFERRED PHYSICAL ITEM, LOCATION, SERIAL ITEM and
VIRTUAL ITEM.
Tag State
Used in association with a tag to identify the status of its descriptive data, i.e. under change, or
latest approved
Tag List
The tag list identifies and describes the child tags associated with a parent tag.
The tag list is managed document in AVEVA NET. A tag list may also have a corresponding
parts list depicting the single level bill-of-material for the parent tag.
Tag Prototypes
AVEVA NET provides the capability to copy a user identified set of data and documents associated
with a tag to a workspace for the purpose of change without affecting the existing tag and its
associated data and documents.
Once the associated document and data changes have been implemented and approved it may then
be rolled back to update the associated tag.
This capability is typically applied where design work is required on an existing plant item
without influencing the existing deployed item and its data and documents.
Tag (XML)
Task
A small portion of work to be performed within a work order. Work is normally broken down into
smaller portions to manage each portion more effectively.
Each task is allocated to a responsible person who has to perform the work within a specific time
frame or schedule and within an allocated budget.
Task Delegation
The process whereby the responsible person for a specific task authorizes someone else to
complete the task or part of a task on behalf of him. The original responsible person retains the
responsibility to make sure that the task has been fully completed before signing of the task.
See also DATA, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT, OBJECT DATA and OBJECT
DATA MANAGEMENT.
Test Scenario
A succession of AVEVA NET Portal Notes with the same ID but with different revision numbers.
Timeout (IIS)
A relatively new licensing model introduced by AVEVA based on logging software usage in units of
time, analysed later for billing purposes.
Top Object
The AVEVA NET Portal object, usually of Class ‘Plant’ or ‘Project’ providing the Context for
information within a Staging Area.
An approach to quality, including object and process quality, but extending to virtually anything done
by an organization for external and internal customers (what marketing does for manufacturing, for
example). Its aim is to encourage an enterprise-wide emphasis on quality and doing the job right the
first time.
Transaction
See also.
Transmittal
A communication standard for connecting computing systems. It includes interactive, file and mail
interchange standards.
See also CLIENT/SERVER, LOCAL AREA NETWORK and WIDE AREA NETWORK.
Tree-view
AVEVA NET Portal component for navigating a hierarchical view of the network of
Type Classification
classification, as specified.
Typical
Unclassified Object
A AVEVA NET Portal object without a classification – treated as if it were of Class UNKNOWN.
Underwrite
Used in the context of configuration identification where data and documents are created, recorded,
maintained and controlled to fully identify an item.
Unicode
Internal character representation used by AVEVA NET Portal that is capable of representing most
languages.
Prior to Units of Measure being introduced into AVEVA NET Portal attributes of an object consisted
of 2 parts - a name (of the attribute) and a value (of the attribute for this object.)
These attributes are implemented as Characteristics in the Portal (This detail is not apparent in the
dashboard, but can be seen using the Admin Tool). As an example of this type of attribute.
With the introduction of UOMs to AVEVA NET Portal an additional implementation of attributes is
introduced - the Property (as opposed to Characteristic.) A Property consists of 3 parts - a name, a
value and a UOM for example:
Universal Naming Convention – a name for a file that can be used in place of a URL provided the
machine on which it resides is on the same network.
UNKNOWN Class
The pseudo AVEVA NET Portal class of unclassified Objects that can be used in a ‘Find’ query for
unclassified Objects.
Upper Ontology
The fixed part of the AVEVA NET Portal Class Library, built by the AVEVA NET Portal
Bootstrap.exe, from which all user-defined Classes must be sub classed.
User
An identifiable human object, which has access to the system by virtue of rights and permissions,
allocated for the purpose of creating, maintaining and/or use of object master records or object
content.
See also ACCESS LEVEL, DATA, PERMISSIONS, PERSON, SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR, USER
User-Defined Attribute – data handled in AVEVA NET Portal as name-value pairs in an XML Dataset
string.
User Group
A group of users who have the same access to AVEVA NET. These users can create, maintain or
view data by virtue of the rights allocated to the user group.
The system administrator can allocate AVEVA NET system and data access rights and permissions
to a user group.
Validate
The end action after the review process taken by a 'Creator' and 'Designated User' to confirm that the
contents of a document are 100% accurate.
Version
Item versions enable the user to identify variations of a basic item configuration. Identification of a
new version of an item configuration does not affect the baselines of current existing versions of the
same basic item.
Versions can be applied to both hardware and software. The allocated part number and the version
form the unique prime identifier for the physical item.
Vertical Relationship
A term used within the context of AVEVA NET to depict the relation between a virtual item and a
physical item.
For example, the virtual item Hydraulic System may have references to physical items Pump XYZ
and Pipe ABC.
View
Graphical objects are generally presented in raster format. View applications allow the user to zoom,
pan and otherwise modify the display of an object.
Virtual Item
An item of a functional nature which, as an integrated or single entity, cannot be identified as stand-
alone and tangible. It cannot perform or achieve an end function without associated physical items
and/or human involvement.
Alternatively, a virtual item is any other item that does not conform to the definition of a physical
item. A virtual item has functional characteristics which can only be achieved through physical items
and/or interaction with persons.
The association of a virtual item with a physical item is created through a vertical relationship. A
virtual item is associated with a person through the allocation of responsibilities (persons or
organizational units) to the virtual item.
Typical examples of virtual items are a hydraulic system or manufacturing process. Functions and
processes are typically identified as virtual items.
As with physical items, a virtual item can also be broken down into component virtual items by
creating horizontal relationships between virtual items, or between the parent virtual item and its
components, to define a complete process or functional breakdown. This breakdown is called a
Virtual Item Breakdown Structure. A virtual item breakdown structure can only be defined in the
context of a Virtual Item Group.
A virtual item with its end-function can only be identified in the context of an overall enditem, e.g.:
The context (or end-item) within which a virtual item's function is identified, is termed the Virtual Item
Group. In the examples above, Aircraft XYZ and Company ABC are Virtual Item Groups.
VizStream
Third Party Software from RealityWave for streaming data, especially 3D data, to a AVEVA NET
Portal Dashboard.
VizStreamComment
The AVEVA NET Portal object supporting Online Collaboration Sessions – displayed in the
Comment List Control.
VBScript
vnet File
File with a .vnet suffix, paired with another file of the same name, supplying metadata as an XML
string (e.g. Class name, Document Name).
Waiver
A written authorization to accept a physical item which, during manufacture, or after inspection, is
found to depart from specified requirements, but is considered suitable for use as is or after repair by
an approved method.
The customer typically allots waivers to the contractor to avoid losses due to scrap, possible rework
and schedule slippage.
A waiver record will be maintained by AVEVA NET as part of the item's build history.
Warehouse Manager
Web-enabled
Software, of which the AVEVA NET Portal Dashboard is an example, which is used through a
Browser such as Internet Explorer.
Wildcards
A recent version of the Windows OS which will require some re-implementation of AVEVA NET
Portal.
Windows Authentication
The mechanism on which AVEVA NET Portal depends to provide secure access to the AVEVA NET
Portal Database.
The Microsoft software underpinning the AVEVA NET Portal Object Summary and Tag Summary
features.
A WBS is a mechanism for breaking work (generally related to a specific program) into smaller
elements (i.e. tasks and activities), which can be used for assigning resources, budgets, schedules,
etc.
Working Data
Data that has been imported into an area of the AVEVA NET Portal database but not yet Issued for
general use.
Work Flow
Workflow is the tasks, procedural steps, organizations or people involved, required input and output
information, and tools needed for each step in a business process. A workflow approach to analysing
and managing a business process can be combined with an object oriented approach, which tends
to focus on documents, data, and databases. In general, however, workflow management focuses on
processes rather than documents.
Workhub
Assigning resources to identified work, and authorizing, monitoring, controlling and reporting the
performing of this work within defined schedules, cost and technical requirements.
An authorized legal document between a project manager and another person authorizing the person
to perform a specific task, within a specific budget and schedule.
A work order will result in the supply of finished task. A work order, when placed on objection to
manufacture goods, will result in the supply of goods.
Work-pack
See also
Workplace
The name for the standard AVEVA NET interface that is provided with the product. It includes several
views (or navigation tabs) of the system including General Navigator, Enterprise Navigator, Search
Navigator and Revision Control Navigator.
Work Task
See TASK.
Workgroup
Any group of persons working towards a common goal as a team. An enterprise will typically have a
number of workgroups involved in a object development program.
Workstation
A system consisting of a computer, a set of applications or tools, and integrated interactive graphics
capabilities, primarily used by one person.
A workstation typically provides the interface between the user and a database.
XGL File
XMpLant
Software licensed for use with AVEVA NET Portal for mapping Process data from one format to
another.
XSLT
Used to convert XML from one format to another using a specification itself written in XML.
ZGL File