Proficy* SmartSignal

Sentinel
Product Documentation
PD-SNTL-5.5 R.0
June 2013
 Proficy* SmartSignal Sentinel

Contents
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Audience ...................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Product & Release Applicability .................................................................................................. 1
1.4 Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 1

2.0 Common Usage Themes ............................................................................................................. 2

2.1 Context Menus ............................................................................................................................ 2

2.2 Copying and Exporting Data ........................................................................................................ 4
2.3 Grouping Columns ....................................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Filtering Columns ......................................................................................................................... 6
2.5 Pinning, Undocking, and Auto-Hiding Panes ............................................................................... 7
2.6 Keyboard Shortcuts ..................................................................................................................... 9

3.0 Main Advisory View Tab............................................................................................................ 10

3.1 Hierarchy Explorer ..................................................................................................................... 10

3.2 Advisory View ............................................................................................................................ 14
3.3 Last Out Tab ............................................................................................................................... 24
3.4 Displaying Additional Advisory View Tabs ................................................................................. 25
3.5 Shield features ........................................................................................................................... 26
3.6 Updating the Advisory Status .................................................................................................... 27

4.0 Charts ....................................................................................................................................... 31

4.1 Selecting the Charts to Display .................................................................................................. 31

4.2 Chart Panes ................................................................................................................................ 34
4.3 Navigating the Charts View ....................................................................................................... 43
4.4 Displaying Big Charts ................................................................................................................. 49
4.5 Chart Reporting ......................................................................................................................... 52
4.6 Shield Assets .............................................................................................................................. 53

5.0 Journal ..................................................................................................................................... 57

5.1 Creating a Journal Entry ............................................................................................................ 57

5.2 Viewing the Journal ................................................................................................................... 58
5.3 Selecting Journal Columns ......................................................................................................... 61

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5.4 Journal Columns ........................................................................................................................ 62
5.5 Journal Rows .............................................................................................................................. 63
5.6 Filtering and Sorting Journal Data ............................................................................................. 63
5.7 Grouping Journal Entries ........................................................................................................... 64
5.8 Copying and Exporting Journal Data ......................................................................................... 64
5.9 Journal Columns ........................................................................................................................ 64

6.0 Metrics...................................................................................................................................... 66

6.1 System Level Metrics ................................................................................................................. 67

7.0 Contact Information ................................................................................................................. 77

7.1 GlobalCare ................................................................................................................................. 77

7.2 Training ...................................................................................................................................... 77

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 Proficy* SmartSignal Sentinel
Copyright © 2000-2013 GE Intelligent Platforms. All rights reserved.

GE and the GE Monogram are trademarks of the General Electric Company, Incorporated. Proficy is a trademark of GE
Intelligent Platforms Inc. SmartSignal, the SmartSignal logo, SmartSignal SHIELD, EPICenter and CycleWatch are
trademarks of SmartSignal Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc.

All other product names and marks identified throughout this book are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
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written permission of GE Intelligent Platforms. Information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

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1.0 Introduction
The Sentinel application provides flexible advisory monitoring for the critical equipment on which
your operations depend. It builds on SmartSignal’s early failure detection, with capabilities that
support you throughout the advisory management lifecycle. In analysis, there are capabilities that
will allow you to apply your expertise and quickly determine a course of action. Sentinel will support
your workflow as your team works together to apply this insight. And it will record the outcomes and
capture what you learn, in a growing knowledge base that will help you improve over time.

This document provides a user manual to describe the interfaces and capabilities of the Sentinel
application.

1.1 Scope
This document provides information on the features for all types of SmartSignal Asset types.

1.2 Audience
This document is intended for SmartSignal Analysts, SmartSignal Administrators, and SmartSignal
Engineers.

1.3 Product & Release Applicability

Proficy* SmartSignal 5.5.

1.4 Overview
Sentinel consists of two views of the advisory data – a Main Advisory View tab and a Last Out tab.
The Main Advisory View tab provides flexible options for viewing the advisory data, including adding
data, grouping and arranging it, and filtering to the information that’s important to you. The Last Out
tab gives a permanent, automatically updating view of the very latest advisories to occur. New
advisories are automatically added to the top of the list, ensuring you’re on top of everything and can
focus on the highest priority issues.

The Charting option allows you to view charts for selected assets from the Main Advisory View tab or
the Last Out tab. Sentinel charting is fully dynamic, with the ability to add and manipulate charts for
full context to the advisory right at your fingertips.

The Journal logs all the system events and user actions to record issues on your equipment and your
interpretation of them, plus your solution infrastructure and item changes. It provides extremely
efficient access to this spectrum of information through searching, sorting, filtering capabilities and a
comprehensive set of system Metrics provide you various statistics, configuration, and performance

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information. Pointing out the data quality and processing issues you need to know about gives you
confidence a robust solution is available to guard your assets and aid your expert interpretation.

This document describes these capabilities in detail. Sentinel also features a powerful set of common
usage paradigms that repeat as themes throughout the application interfaces. These are then
discussed separately. Sentinel is a very powerful, easy to use application, and this document
contains everything you need to become a power user right away.

2.0 Common Usage Themes

Several usage themes repeat throughout the application, which let you access and interact with your
solution data. This section is not comprehensive of each feature available within Sentinel, but will
explain several of the repeating usage themes. These include:

 Right-clicking to access numerous options from a context menu

 Grouping data to organize the grids according to your preferences
 Pinning and undocking interface panes
Further details are provided in the following sections, which discuss the different application
capabilities and options in detail.

2.1 Context Menus

Sentinel provides all the key information you need, right at your fingertips, and never more than a
few mouse clicks away. There is also an exceptionally powerful suite of options available for you to
access, arrange, and manipulate information as you wish. Menu-driven navigation is done by
accessing context menus, available by right-clicking virtually any item on the application. To see the
actions which can be taken for items within Sentinel (such as a node in the asset hierarchy or an
advisory in the advisory grid), simply right-click the item. A context menu will be displayed showing
the valid options for the selected item, some with sub-menu options.

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As an example, one might right-click on a hierarchy node to add a Journal entry for that node, such
as for a Unit entering an outage:

Navigation to the different elements of the Sentinel application can also be performed from the
context menus. For example, you can invoke charts or the Journal from the selected interface node,
as shown below.

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2.2 Copying and Exporting Data

Within Sentinel, data can be selected in the following ways. In order to copy, the selected cells must
be in a rectangle.

 Click and drag the mouse over the cells.

 To select a cell of data, click the cell.
 To select non-contiguous cells, hold the Ctrl key and click each cell. Non-contiguous
selections must form a rectangular “shape”.
 To select contiguous cells, hold the Shift key and click the first and last cell.
 To select a row of data, click the row selector (the first cell in a row).
 To select non-contiguous rows, hold the Ctrl key and click the first cell in each row.
 To select contiguous rows, hold the Shift key and click the first cell in the first row and click
the first cell in the last row.

Virtually any data you see in Sentinel can be copied out to the clipboard. This includes the different
grids, in which you can select cells to copy out via right-click, as shown for Advisory Messages in the
Advisory View below.

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In addition, the entire grid you have selected can be directly exported to an Excel spreadsheet. A
summary report of the current advisories on your equipment with data included and arranged as
you have selected, are produced upon a right-click.

Beyond the different grid data, you can even copy out the hierarchy to the clipboard, as shown
below.

2.3 Grouping Columns

When you invoke a Sentinel grid pane, the information will initially be displayed as a flat list. To
provide greater insight, you can group the information in just the way that you wish, by any selected
grid column. Multiple levels of grouping are supported, as will be described. Grouping is available
within the following Sentinel grids:

 Advisory View tab

 Journal
 Metrics
NOTE: Grouping is not supported by the Last Out grid, as the Last Out capability is intended to always
place the most recent advisory firings at the top of the list.

To perform the grouping function, drag and drop a selected column header to the overall header bar
above the grid. The grid items will then be shown as a list, arranged by the selected grouped data,
with each grouping collapsed. To expand a grouping, click the arrow . The items in that grouping will
be displayed indented.

The following image shows the Advisory View grouped by Asset.

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To perform multiple levels of grouping, simply drag additional column headers to the overall header
bar. A secondary grouping will then be performed, for example by Asset, then Advisory Status.
Advisories are then grouped by Asset, and secondarily by state. The header shows the context of
your grouping selections by building a little hierarchy, showing the chosen arrangement of how you
wish to view the data.

To remove the grouping, drag the grouping column back to a desired location in the column headers.
You can move the column anywhere within the grid of columns. Black arrows will appear to show
you where you are about to drop the column by releasing the item you are dragging. To move the
column back to its default location, drag the group off the screen.

2.4 Filtering Columns

As with grouping columns (Section 2.3), data in Sentinel grid panes can be filtered. Clicking on the
filter icon ( ) in a column header will display a dropdown list that allows selection of which entries in
the grid to view. You can select All, only blank entries, only non-blank entries, select a specific entry
for that column, or select custom filtering (See section 2.4.1). Only rows matching the selection will be
displayed.

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2.4.1 Custom Filtering

When selecting “Custom” as the filtering option, the Custom Filter window will be displayed. This
allows for building of a more complex filter on the data displayed in the grid. Multiple conditions can
be specified, each by selecting the type of comparison to use, and the value to compare to.

The dropdown box at the top, “Filter based on” allows selection of “Any” or “All”. If multiple conditions
are selected, “Any” would display rows that match any of the selected conditions; “All” would only
display rows that match all of the selected conditions.

2.5 Pinning, Undocking, and Auto-Hiding Panes

The default screen layout in Sentinel can be customized, allowing you to work more efficiently. The
panes in Sentinel can be spawned, pinned, undocked, or hidden to appear as a “fly out”. Some panes
are pinned in place by default, while others are hidden by default. This section describes these
different capabilities.

A “pinned” pane is defined as one that is anchored to a certain frame on the application window. It
will then statically appear in the workspace. You can tell that a pane is pinned by the pin icon,

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appearing in the “pinned down” position (pointing downward) as shown highlighted in the red box
below.

Unpinning a pane, by clicking on the pin icon, allows you to auto-hide the pane in the workspace. The
name of the pane will then appear in the border bar, and the pane can be invoked from this hidden
state, mouse over its name in the bar. It will then fly out from its hidden state for you to use. This
feature is shown conceptually in the following image.

When you have unpinned a pane, this will be indicated by the relevant pin icon pointing horizontally.

Pinned panes can be also undocked from their anchored location and moved about your workspace
as you wish. They can be arranged in a standalone fashion outside the frame of the Sentinel
application. This option can be particularly effective for users employing multiple video monitors. You
can also re-dock them in different locations in the Sentinel frame. If you wish to dock it to the top of
the Sentinel workspace, drag it such that the cursor hovers over the red circled “target”, and release.
You can also double-click the title bar of the window to re-dock it.

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2.6 Keyboard Shortcuts

Sentinel has a number of useful keyboard shortcuts you can use to access common functions. The
table below lists the area of the application to which the shortcut applies, the keystroke actions, and
the function they’ll provide.

Area Action Function

Any Apps Key Show Context Menu
Advisory View Ctrl+A Select All
Advisory View Ctrl+I Show Advisory Properties
Advisory View Ctrl+Alt+F Toggle Row Sizing
Advisory View Ctrl+Alt+S Toggle Advisory State Text Visibility
Advisory View Ctrl+F3 Invoke Charts from Advisory ID in Clipboard
Advisory View Right Arrow Key Select First Cell if No Selected Cell
Advisory View Space Key Toggle Advisory Check
Applicable for active advisory select cell only.
Advisory View Ctrl+C Copy Selected Grid Cells to Clipboard
Advisory View Ctrl+Alt+C Copy Selected Cells to Clipboard - Break Cells
This inserts a carriage return between each cell that is
copied to the Clipboard.
Any Explorer Ctrl+N View Node Properties
Any Explorer Ctrl+M View Metrics
Any Explorer Ctrl+I View Internal Tags for Asset nodes only.
Any Explorer Ctrl+Shift+C Copy Selected Nodes Text to Clipboard with Ids
Tag Explorer Delete Key Remove Selected Nodes.
Asset Explorer This may be desirable if you have chosen to add some
nodes - for instance, assets to an Asset Explorer.
Chart View F12 Send charts to Add-On
Chart View Delete Key Delete selected chart
Chart View Ctrl+Delete Key Delete all charts
Ctrl+D
Chart View End Clear CrossHairs/Turn Show CrossHairs Off
Chart View Ctrl+R Toggle residual chart below main chart
Big Chart
Chart View Ctrl+Shift+R Show residual chart for all charts
Hierarchy panes Copy menu Copies the node’s GUID to the clipboard
(Selected) + Shift

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3.0 Main Advisory View Tab

The Main Advisory View tab allows you to view and track advisories on your equipment and
corresponding data. By default, the data will be constantly refreshed. To preserve a static view,
uncheck the “Live Update” check box.

The Main Advisory View tab is the default view when opening Sentinel. It consists of two main panes,
the Hierarchy Explorer and the Advisory View. The third pane, Advisory Action, allows you to change
the status of advisories and record Journal entries with your interpretation and assignment of the
advisory in your mitigation workflow. Upon invocation of Sentinel, the Hierarchy Explorer is pinned to
the left of the window and Advisory Action is unpinned at the bottom of the window, to appear as a
fly out.

3.1 Hierarchy Explorer

The Hierarchy Explorer displays the Asset Hierarchy as it was implemented during the design of your
SmartSignal solution. The hierarchy nodes traverse along the following path:

Root Node  Asset Group(s)  Asset  Mode  Model  Tag

To display the advisories for an asset, mode, model, or tag, expand the root and asset groups until
the particular item you want to view is displayed. Clicking on this node will then filter the Advisory
View for the advisories from that node and its children.

To display only the nodes in the hierarchy that have current advisories, select the On Watch option.
The default is to display the complete asset hierarchy (selected with the All option).

Within the Hierarchy Explorer pane, you can employ the following options via the right-click
paradigm:

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 View– (Charts, Journal Entries, Last Hour Server Events, Internal Tags, and Metrics.)
 Show (Live, Checked Out, Inactive Tags)
 Collapse All
 Expand All
 Sorting the Hierarchy
 Copying the Hierarchy
 Remove
 Delete
 Rename
 New (Journal Entries)
 Properties

To select more than one node, hold the Ctrl key and click each node to select. To select a range of the
hierarchy, hold the Shift key and click the first and last node.

3.1.1 View

3.1.1.1 Charts
See Section 4.1 Selecting the Charts to Display for details.

3.1.1.2 Journal
See Section 5.2, Viewing the Journal for details

3.1.1.3 Last Hour Server Events

The last hour of server events can be displayed for selected nodes within the hierarchy at the asset
level or above.

1. To view the last hour of server events, right-click on an asset node or above in the hierarchy.
2. From the context menu, select View.
3. From the View menu, select Last Hour Server Events. The last hour of server events will be
displayed within a custom Journal window.

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3.1.1.4 Internal Tags (e.g. Operating Mode criteria)

In the Main Advisory View tab, the Internal Tags option is available only for asset nodes in the Asset
Explorer and Hierarchy Explorer.

1. To view the Internal Tags for an asset, right-click an asset node in the hierarchy.
2. From the context menu, select View.
3. From the View menu, select Internal Tags.

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3.1.1.5 Metrics
See Section 6.0, Metrics for details.

3.1.2 Show

Assets can be filtered using the Show button.

 Live: Shows all assets

 Checked Out: Shows just the assets that are checked out.
 Checked out Related Live: Shows the assets that are checked out and their live counterparts
 Inactive Tags: Shows all tags, regardless if they are collecting data or not.

3.1.3 Collapsing and Expanding Nodes

To expand or collapse single nodes within the hierarchy, click the arrows next to each node.

To expand the entire tree, right-click off the tree within the pane or on the top level node and select
Expand All.

To collapse the entire tree, right-click off the tree within the pane or on the top level node and select
Collapse All.

To expand a node using the menu:

1. Right-click on the selected node.

2. Select Expand All. All nodes below the level you selected will be expanded.

To collapse a node using the menu:

1. Right-click on the selected node.

2. Select Collapse All. All nodes below the level you selected will be collapsed.

3.1.4 Sorting the Hierarchy

By default, the hierarchy is sorted to reflect its original design ordering.

1. To perform a sort, right click on the hierarchy.

2. Select Sort.
3. Select from the following options:
 Ascending: Sort by ascending alphabetic order.
 Descending: Sort by descending alphabetic order
 Default: The default sort, per the original solution design.

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3.1.5 Copying the Hierarchy

For general information on this topic, see Copying and Exporting Data.

The Hierarchy panes have specialized copying options:

 All: Copy the entire hierarchy.

 Selected: Copy only the selected node in the hierarchy. Pressing the Shift key when selecting
this option will also copy the node’s GUID.
 Visible: Copy the hierarchy nodes that are currently expanded.
 In View: Copy only the part of the hierarchy that can be currently seen on the display.

3.1.6 Adding a Journal Entry

This option allows you to add a Journal entry note for the selected node. For further information on
this topic, see Creating a Journal Entry.

3.2 Advisory View

The right pane in the initial view displays the advisories for the node selected in the hierarchy and its
children.

By default, the data displayed will be constantly refreshed. To maintain a static view without
refreshing the data, uncheck the Live Update checkbox. To refresh the data manually, when Live
Update is not selected, click the Update button. The Update button can also refresh the data before
the next polling cycle when the Live Update checkbox is checked.

3.2.1 Filtering Advisories

To filter the list of advisories by status, at the top of the list, select the Show options:

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If you select all status options, all advisories will be displayed. Additional filtering is available (see
Filtering and Sorting Advisory Columns).

The Advisory View pane allows filtering of data by cell. To select data within a cell to use as a filter,
right-click on the cell. From the context menu, select Filter by Selected Cell’s Values. The filter will
then be set to display only those advisories that match the value in the selected cell. To clear the
filter, right-click on the cell and from the context menu, select Clear Filters > Selected Cell’s Values.

3.2.2 Mouse over Information

Various cells of the advisory grid provide additional contextual information right at your fingertips via
pop-up upon mouse over. An example of data shown by hovering over the Advisory Message column
is shown in the following image.

An example of information shown when hovering over the Advisory Status column is shown in the
following image.

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3.2.3 Using the Menu

The View menu available from the Advisory View context menu allows you to:
 Display charts for selected advisories. See Viewing Charts.
 View the Journal for selected advisories. See Viewing the Journal.
 Display the Rule Properties dialog box for an advisory. See Section 3.2.3.1 Displaying the Rule
Properties dialog box.
 Display the Priority Transitions dialog box for an advisory (When advisories are caused by
diagnostic rules).

3.2.3.1 Displaying the Rule Properties dialog box

The Rule Properties dialog box displays the details for the rule that fired the selected advisory.
1. To display the Rule Properties dialog box, right-click on the advisory to view.
2. Click the View option. From the View menu, select Rule Properties.

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3. To close the dialog box, click the X at the upper-right hand corner.
3.2.4 Columns

3.2.4.1 Default Columns

When you invoke Sentinel, the following columns will be shown in the initial grid, in the following
order:

 Advisory/Row Selection (for state changes)

 Advisory Status
 Asset
 Advisory Message
 Density
 Count
 Last Data Collection
 Last Occurrence
 First Occurrence

3.2.5 Advisory Grid Columns

The following table provides a list and description of all the columns which can be added to the
advisory grid. The associated internal machine IDs are not listed in this table, but can also be selected
to view. Not all columns will have data, depending on the type of asset that is viewed.

Column Description
Action Category The category of the action code
Action Code The specific action code
Action Note Note entered by the user
Action User User that took the action on the advisory

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Column Description
Action User ID The action user ID.
Advisory ID The advisory ID.
Advisory Message The message for the advisory, defined by the Rule that created
it.
Advisory Status The status of the advisory.
Asset The name of the asset.
Asset Blueprint The name of the asset blueprint.
Asset Blueprint ID The asset blueprint ID.
Asset Group The name of the asset group.
Asset Group ID The asset group ID.
Asset Path Displays the path for the asset from the asset hierarchy.
Asset Time Zone The time zone for the asset.
Asset Time Zone Configured The time zone for which the asset is configured, through the
Time Zone Conversion feature.
Asset Time Zone Offset The offset of the time zone for which the asset is configured and
the Source time zone.
Asset Times DST Adjusted If the asset timestamp has been adjusted for daylight savings
time, this box will be checked.
Checked Out The box is checked if the corresponding asset is checked out
Checked Out - Non-Production The box is check if the corresponding asset is checked out but is
not in the production state
Checkout Asset ID The checkout asset ID.
Checkout User The user that has the asset checked out
Checkout User ID The checkout user ID.
Count The number of advisory events that have fired for this advisory.
Current Actual The current Actual value of the signal.
Current Estimate The current modeling Estimate for this signal.
Current Residual The current Residual reading (the Actual minus the Estimate).
Current Residual Direction If the actual minus the estimate result is negative (the current
estimate is greater than the current actual), the residual
direction will be down. If the current actual is greater than the
current estimate, the residual direction will be up.
Deferred Until (Local) (UTC) If the advisory has been deferred, displays the time when it will
no longer be deferred.
Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.

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Column Description
Density The number of advisory events divided by the number of
observations since the first advisory event firing will yield the
Density percentage.
First Occurrence (Local) (UTC) The time when the advisory was first recorded.
Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.
Fit Indicates the fit defined for this Rule. The fit is an integer, or
expression evaluating to an integer, that represents the advisory
Fit. A valid range for Fit is 0 to 100.
Last Data Collection (Local) The date and time that data was last collected from the asset.
(UTC) Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.
Last Occurrence (Local) (UTC) The last date and time that the Rule fired which caused this
advisory event. This column can be displayed using any of the
following time zones.
Last Occurrence :This time is displayed using the time zone
configured for the asset.
Last Occurrence (Local): This time is displayed using the time
zone local to the client machine.
Last Occurrence (UTC): This time is displayed using the
universal time zone.
Last Occurrence Actual The actual value at the time of the last occurrence
Last Occurrence Estimate The estimate value at the time of the last occurrence
Last Occurrence Residual The residual value for the advisory (the advisory actual minus
the advisory estimate).
Last Occurrence Residual If the actual is a higher value than the advisory, the direction is
Direction positive (pointing up). If the actual is a lower value than the
estimate, the direction is negative (pointing down).
Last Status Change (Local) The last date and time that the status changed for this advisory.
(UTC) Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.
Last Updated (Local) (UTC) The last time that the asset data was updated.
Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.

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Column Description
Mode The operating mode name for the tags creating this advisory
event. For advisory events based on asset tags, this column will
be blank.
Mode Blueprint Displays the mode blueprint name only for modeled tags.
Mode Blueprint ID The mode blueprint ID.
Model The model name for the tags creating this advisory event. For
advisory events based on asset tags, this column will be blank.
Model Blueprint Displays the model blueprint only for advisories based on
modeled tags.
Model Blueprint ID The model blueprint ID.
Observation Count Since First The number of data pulls that occurred since the advisory was
Occurrence first posted
Owner The person assigned to managing the advisory.
Owner User ID The owner ID.
Priority Indicates the Priority of the advisory, as defined in the Rule that
created it.
Rule The name of the rule that fired.
Rule ID The rule ID.
Source Tag The datasource from which this tag obtains its values.
Tag Alias The name of the Tag for the Rule that fired.
Tag Description The description for the tag.
Tag ID The tag ID.
Tag Units The units that this tag uses when displaying its values.

3.2.5.1 Pinning Columns

The number of columns available to view in the Advisory View pane may extend beyond the
displayed area. To view the additional columns, use the scroll bar to scroll to the right. To pin an
Advisory View column to the left side of the grid, click the push-pin icon for that column . The
column will stay visible but will be moved and anchored to the left of the grid when horizontally
scrolling to the right. To unpin the column, click the push-pin icon again . It will remain in its
position on the left of the grid where you had previously pinned it.

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3.2.5.2 Adding Columns

Tremendous context is available to your advisories via a large number of columns which you can add
to the advisory grid. These can be added by invoking the Column Chooser icon, as shown in the
image below, or selecting the Column Chooser from the right-click context menu, invoked from
anywhere in the advisory grid.

From the list of columns, select the columns to add to the display. You can either drag and drop a
column onto a desired location on the grid or check it in the chooser table to have it placed in a
default location. If you include the ID columns, the list of columns will greatly increase. ID columns
show the GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers) assigned to every object in Sentinel. See Understanding
the Advisory Grid Columns for a full listing and description of the various columns that are available
to you.

3.2.5.3 Saving Custom Column Selections

The grouping and custom columns that have been selected can be saved. One selection can be
saved for each user on each installation. Note that each machine user installs their own instance of
Sentinel, and the configuration settings are per machine / user installation. If a user logs into their
machine with their domain login and logs into Sentinel with the same login, their custom

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configuration will still be unique to them. If multiple users use the same machine/installation, the last
user who saved the columns will overwrite any previous saves.

1. To save the columns, right-click the advisory list.

2. From the context menu, select Save Custom Columns.

The next time that a user logs into Sentinel on the same computer, the order and the column
selection that was saved will be loaded. If the user that saved the columns uses a different computer
to log in to Sentinel, the layout last used by the user on that computer will be loaded.

Custom columns can be saved for the Main Advisory View tab and separately for the Last Out tab.
The Advisory View settings will preserve the grouping you have selected.

If you manipulate the columns and wish to revert to your saved configuration, right-click on the grid.
From the Show menu, select Custom Columns. If this menu option is not available, you have not
saved custom columns. An option allows you to revert to the system default columns if you wish.

3.2.5.4 Advisory Grouping by Columns

In the Advisory View pane, in addition to seeing the advisories as a flat list, you can group by any of
the displayed column headers. For information on grouping assets, see Grouping Columns.

3.2.5.5 Hiding and Rearranging Advisory Columns

Advisory grid columns can be hidden and shown as desired.

1. To hide one column, click a data cell in the column to hide. To hide more than one column, hold
down the Ctrl key and click a cell of data in each column to hide, or click and drag the mouse
over the cells in each column.

2. Right-click the advisory list.

3. From the context menu, select Hide Selected Column(s).

4. To re-display the columns, use the Column Chooser (see Adding Advisory View Columns).

You can also rearrange the columns in the grid as you wish. Simply drag and drop them to the
desired place on the grid. Black arrows will guide you to the location where you may currently drop a
column you are dragging. This feature is shown for the Advisory Message column in the following
image.

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3.2.5.6 Filtering and Sorting Columns

To sort the Advisory View by a desired column, click inside the column’s header. Sorting is supported
in all of the grid columns. The direction of the sort will be indicated with an arrow, as shown in the
following image. Click again to change the direction of the sort; the arrow will flip to indicate this
change.

To sort by more than one column, hold the Shift key and click the sort arrow for the first column to
sort. Continue to hold the Shift key and click the additional columns to use for sorting. The grid will be
sorted in the order of the selections.

To filter using a column, click the filter icon . A list of items to use as a filter will be displayed.

Select the item to use as a filter. The list will be filtered displaying only those items that match the
filter criteria. When a filter has been selected for a column, the filter icon is shown as filled .

To remove the filter, re-select the filter icon and select All or select another item to use as a filter.

If you switch to another node in the asset hierarchy, the filter is not cleared and will still be in effect. If
no advisories are shown in the Advisory View pane, remove the filter or select a new filter.

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3.2.6 Viewing the Advisory Properties

The Advisory Properties dialog box displays a summary of an advisory.

1. To view the properties for an advisory, use one of the following options:
 Right-click the advisory. From the context menu, select Properties.
 For the active cell or row, press Ctrl-I.

To copy data from this dialog box, first select the data to copy. Right-click and select Copy Selected
Cells. This data will be available in the clipboard to paste.
3.2.7 Copying and Exporting Advisory Data

For information on copying and exporting data in the advisory grid, see Copying and Exporting
Data.

3.3 Last Out Tab

The Last Out tab is a companion to the Main Advisory View tab. While the main view provides many
flexible options for arrangement and display of advisory data in the grid, the Last Out tab is intended
to always show the very latest advisory firings at the top of the list. As such, it is always sorted by
Last Occurrence and lacks options for filtering and grouping. When Live Update is enabled, the list is
continually updated, ensuring that you don’t miss a thing.

Other capabilities of the Last Out tab are similar to those for the Main Advisory View tab, including
the ability to copy and export data (see Copying and Exporting Data), the mouse over functionality,
pinning columns, the ability to add, hide, and rearrange columns, plus the ability to change advisory
states (see Updating Advisory Status).

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To display the Last Out list, click the Last Out tab. Note that the column headers are rendered in gray
instead of blue as on the Main Advisory View tab, to distinguish the lack of grid manipulation
capabilities in Last Out.

3.4 Displaying Additional Advisory View Tabs

To display additional Advisory View tabs, click the + icon . A new tab will be displayed after the
last tab with a number in parentheses indicating how many tabs are displayed. Note that the Last
Out tab may not be spawned like the Advisory View.

To display the additional Advisory View tab in a pop-up window, right-click the tab header and select
Show in Pop-up Window. The tab will be displayed in a pop-up window. This window can then be
arranged on your screen with the initial Advisory View, allowing you to select different grid content,
filter settings, etc. between the two. The initial Main Advisory View tab cannot be displayed in a pop-
up window.

To return a pop-up window to a tab view, right-click the tab in the pop-up window and select Dock
As Tab. The additional Advisory Views may be closed if desired. The Main Advisory View and Last
Out tabs cannot be closed however.

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3.5 Shield features

Shield provides some specific functionality in the Main Advisory View within Sentinel.

Shield provides the ability to write diagnostic rules that aggregate single-tag rules and can reference
multiple tags in a single rule, at calculated Priorities. Added Sentinel Advisory View columns include
the diagnostic Priority and Component on which the diagnostic has been identified.

3.5.1 Diagnostic Columns

The Advisory Message column indicates the diagnostic for each component. This column exists in all
SmartSignal core product default interfaces; in Shield it contains the diagnostic itself rather than a
Rule message. If you hover the mouse over the diagnostic column, the system displays the
contributing tags for the diagnostic. These contributing tags participated in the firing of this
diagnostic. Active diagnostic rules are shown for each. Note that, as described in Section 4.2.1.1, you
can choose Tag Name, Description, or Source Tag for this display. The following figure shows
examples of these features.

3.5.2 Priority Transitions

Shield provides a graphical view of how the priority for the diagnostic changed over time.

1. To display the Priority Transitions dialog box, right-click on the advisory to view. This can be
done from the Main Advisory View, Journal, or Chart View
2. Click the View option. From the View menu, select Priority Transitions.

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For each Priority Transition, if you hover the mouse over the transition, the system displays the time
range of when the diagnostic was at this Priority level and the contributing tags at the time of the
transition.

3.6 Updating the Advisory Status

Using the Advisory Action pane, you can update the state of an advisory or create a note that will be
saved as a Journal entry. Whenever the status for an advisory is changed, a Journal entry for the
advisory is created. Various actions are available, along with free-text note entry and a powerful list
of Action Codes.

Action Codes provide advisory management and workflow support, as well as powerful knowledge
capture and recall through the Journal. For further details on the value of Action Codes, see
Reference 2, Usage Guidelines: Proficy SmartSignal Advisory Lifecycle Management.

3.6.1 Advisory Action Pane

By default, the Advisory Action pane will be unpinned and display when you hover the mouse over
the Advisory Action label in the application footer bar.

1. In the Advisory View pane or the Last Out tab, select the advisory to update by clicking in the
checkbox. To select more than one advisory:

 Select the advisories to update using the check box for each row. The space bar will
toggle the selection for the active cell.

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 Select multiple advisories by using Ctrl + click to select each advisory, then right-click on
the grid. From the context menu, select Check Selected.

2. To update the advisory status, click the Advisory Action button at the bottom of the Advisory
View pane. The Advisory Action pane is displayed.

3. Select the Action for the type of Journal entry. Click Submit to create the Journal entry or Reset
to cancel.

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3.6.2 Advisory Actions

 Annotate: Enter a note about this advisory. This action will create a Journal entry note for this
advisory.
 Escalate: The analysis has been performed and the advisory is a significant or urgent issue. This
status can also be used if the situation has deteriorated.
 Investigate: Select while analysis is being performed on an advisory to determine cause, for any
reason.
 Assign: This status indicates that the advisory now has an owner who will begin the mitigation
process. This status can be used when managing / limiting the number of advisories that are
shown as “new”. For this status, there is generally something that needs to be analyzed in the
short term, or an action to be taken in the workflow. This status is often used when first assigning
an “owner” to an advisory that was previously new. This status can also be used when passing
the ownership of the advisory to another individual. (Note: owners can still be assigned to an
advisory, no matter what the advisory status.)
 Acknowledge: When an advisory is under review, its status can be changed to acknowledged,
indicating it has been noted. This can be used while “watching and waiting” to see how the
situation progresses.
 Action Pending: Indicates that a decision has been made to take action at a later date. This
status is often used for real equipment issues, typically while waiting on planned mitigation of
the issue.
 Defer: The advisory will be postponed to a later time, either to a specific date or by a time period.
At that time, it will be dismissed. This is similar to action pending, but typically used for low
importance and non-equipment advisories. Examples are during start-up or transient
conditions, and asset maintenance.
 Defer for Adaptation: The advisory will be postponed to a later time based on the adaptation.
 Cancel Defer: The advisory should no longer be deferred, and changes back to a new advisory.
This assignment typically happens when a new owner is assigned to review deferred advisories
or when a situation deteriorates.
 Dismiss: The advisory has been resolved.
 Dismiss for Adaptation: The advisory has been resolved based on the adaptation.

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3.6.3 Action Codes

The following table lists the different Action Codes that are available, along with their Action Category
summary icons. The value of None can also be selected.

Icon Action Category Action Code

Potential Issue
Potential Issue - Sensor Problem
Potential Potential Issue - Diagnosis

Issue
Potential Issue - Recommended actions
Potential Issue - Post Outage Change
Potential Issue - Operational
Resolution
Resolution - Sensor Repaired
Resolution - Catch
Resolution – No action Taken
Resolution – Operational Change
Resolution

Resolution – Scheduled Maintenance

Resolution – Unplanned Maintenance
Resolution – Forced Outage
Resolution – Model Maintenance Successful
Resolution – Customer Remediation
Resolution – Customer Resolved
Resolution – Other
Asset Maintenance
Asset Maintenance - Bad Training Data
Asset Maintenance

Asset Maintenance - Load Out of Range

Asset Maintenance - Ambient Out of Range
Asset Maintenance - Operational Change
Asset Maintenance - Turn Off Bad Tag
Asset Maintenance - Threshold Adjustment
Asset Maintenance - Other Adaptation
Asset Maintenance - Other Configuration
Asset Maintenance – Post Outage Change
Monitoring
Monitoring – Notification to Customer
Monitoring – Under Customer Review
Monitoring

Monitoring – Response From Customer

Monitoring – Customer Action Pending
Monitoring – Question for Subject Matter Expert
Monitoring – Under Subject Matter Expert Review
Monitoring – Response for Monitoring Analyst
Monitoring – Request for Maintenance Engineer
Monitoring – Question for Customer
Transient
Transient

Transient - Startup
Transient - Load
Transient - Shutdown
Transient - Condition Cleared

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4.0 Charts
Charts provide specific details about the current behavior of your equipment, the expected behavior
based on SmartSignal’s models, and the issues that have been flagged as deviations based on the
advisory rules. Very powerful options are available to dynamically chart the data in your solution.

4.1 Selecting the Charts to Display

From the Advisory View tab, you can invoke a chart group by double-clicking either:

 On an Asset cell.

 On an Advisory Message.

The default chart group for that asset will be invoked. Alternatively, the View Charts option in the
right-click context menu can be utilized:

1. To display the View Charts menu, right-click an item in any of the following areas:

 An Asset in a Hierarchy Explorer or Asset Explorer pane.

 A cell in the Advisory View pane within the Main Advisory View tab or a cell in the Last Out
tab.

2. From the context menu, select View. The options to display charts are Charts or Charts
Custom. If you selected more than one item in the Advisory View pane or the Last Out tab, you
can select Selected Charts or Selected Charts Custom. If you have copied a chart’s GUID to
the clipboard, you can select Charts from Clipboard IDs or Charts from Clipboard IDs
Custom.

3. If you select Charts or Selected Charts, a Charts window will be displayed. If you select
Charts, the chart group that is assigned to that rule in your solution’s design will be invoked. If
you select Selected Charts, no chart group is loaded. The selected items may be from different
assets and/or rules. To work with the charts, continue with Understanding the Chart Panes. If
you selected custom charts, continue with the rest of this procedure.

4. The system displays the Chart Options dialog box.

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5. Select the following options to use:

Option Definition
Reset Session to Defaults Check this checkbox to reset the charting options to the defaults.
This option will gray out all fields on this dialog box. Click OK to
continue.
Restore Defaults To restore the defaults to all fields, select this button.
Load Charting Group If selected, the view assigned to the advisory in Blueprint Center
will be loaded. This option is the default. This option is not valid for
Selected Charts Custom. Chart Groups are never loaded for
Selected Charts.
Chart Type Select how charts will be loaded:
Image Only: Load the charts as static images. Charts loaded in
this way will not be interactive, meaning that you cannot zoom in
on parts of the chart. Image only charts display a camera icon .
This option is the fastest method to display charts.
Image then Interactive: Static charts will be loaded first, then the
interactive charts will be loaded.
Interactive Only: Only interactive charts will be loaded. This
option is the default.

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Option Definition
Date/Time Type Select the type of date and time you will use to select data:
Current: Use the current date and time. If this option is selected,
you can change the Data Default to determine the amount of
data to include in the chart. Current is the default.
Last Observation: Select to use the last observation date. If this
option is selected, you can change the Data Default to determine
the amount of data to include in the chart.
Custom: Select this option to use a custom time range. If you
select this option, you must select a start and end date and time.
Start Date/Time (UTC) For a custom date and time type only, to determine the starting
point for the data to include on the chart, enter a start date to use.
End Date/Time (UTC) For a custom date and time type only, to determine the end point
for data to include on the chart, enter an end date to use.
Data Default Select whether to use date and time or points to determine the
data to include on the chart. If you select
Date and Time: The start and end dates default to the last three
days.
Points: Enter the End Date and Time and the number of points to
include.
Timespan Available only if the Current or the Last Observation is selected
for the Date/Time Type field and the Data Default is Date/Time.
Enter the number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks to
use for the timespan of chart data to include. The default is three
days.
Points/Chart Available only if the Data Default selected is Points. Enter the
number of data points to include on the charts. The default is 50.
Axis Label Select the label to use for the chart axis. The default is Date/Time.
Date/Time: Date and time relative to the data will be displayed
below the data points. A gap in the data will be displayed as a
gap in the chart.
Points: Points for each data point will be displayed
Save as Session Default To save the settings for the current session only, select this
checkbox.

6. To display the charts using the chosen settings, click OK. To cancel displaying charts, click
Cancel.

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4.2 Chart Panes

The Chart View window includes the following panes. Tag charts can be added to the view by
dragging and dropping any listed tag in any of the panes to the Chart View pane.

 Hierarchy Explorer: Displays the Asset Hierarchy for the active asset.
 Chart Explorer: Displays the available defined chart groups for the active asset. Expanding
the chart groups will display the individual charts defined within it.
 Asset Explorer: Displays the asset(s) from which this Chart View was selected. Expand the
asset to display the mode, model, and tags.
 Tag Group Explorer: Displays the Blueprint Tag Groups and Asset Tag Groups for the active
asset.
 Template Explorer: Displays the built-in tag templates, global chart templates, and blueprint
chart templates defined for the active asset.
 Chart Parameters: Displays timespan filtering options, buttons to refresh or cancel chart
refreshes, and a button to display the Chart Options dialog box.
 Chart View: Displays the currently loaded charts.

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4.2.1 Asset Explorer and Hierarchy Explorer

By default, the Asset Explorer pane displays the asset from which this chart was invoked, either from
an advisory or the asset itself in the Hierarchy Explorer. The Asset Explorer provides a hierarchy from
the Asset down to its Modes and Models. Also included are the modeled tags and asset tags, which
can be dragged and dropped into the Chart View to dynamically visualize them alongside other
charts that have been selected. Asset tags and modeled tags that are active (turned on) are
displayed in black text. Tags that are inactive (turned off), for any reason, are displayed in gray text.

Beyond the initial asset from which this Chart View was invoked, you can also dynamically chart tags
from other assets in your solution. This is accomplished with the Hierarchy Explorer in the Chart View.

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The Hierarchy Explorer is unpinned when the Chart View is invoked, and will fly out upon mouse over
of its label in the left border of the Chart View window. To add a new Asset to the Asset Explorer for
charting, pin the Hierarchy Explorer and expand the hierarchy to display the Asset you want to select.
Drag the Asset Group or Asset to the Asset Explorer pane. The associated Blueprint Chart Templates
for the active Asset will be displayed in the Template Explorer.

Then, to display a chart for any of the tags loaded in the Asset Explorer pane, highlight the tag and
drag it to a chosen location in the Chart View pane. To select more than one tag, hold the Ctrl key
and click each tag. To select a number of tags in a row, hold the Shift key, click the first tag, then click
the last tag. All tags between the first and last will be selected.

If two or more tags are selected, when dropping onto an empty area of the Chart View, hold down
the Ctrl key to combine all selected tags into a single chart. Alternatively, while holding Ctrl and
dragging one or more selected tags to an existing chart, the cursor will show a plus (+) sign,
indicating that, when dropped, the selected tags will be added to the existing chart.

Note that additional functions are available upon right-clicking different nodes in this Hierarchy
Explorer, similar to the Hierarchy Explorer in the Main Advisory View interface. See the Hierarchy
Explorer, in the section on the Main Advisory View, for further details.

The Asset Explorer pane allows two views of the data. The default view is the Hierarchy View, which
displays the hierarchy similarly to the Main Advisory View interface, but to the tag level. To hide or
show inactive tags, select the option on the menu. This applies to both the tags at the asset level
and those that may also be included in a model. Hiding inactive tags will make it easier to find the
desired tags that are active.

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The Group View displays the asset tags grouped by whether they are non-modeled, on monitor, or
modeled. Modeled tags are active in the model under which they are grouped. Tags may belong to
multiple models. Tags that are on monitor have been deactivated in all models. Non-modeled tags
are those that are not included in any model’s definition.

4.2.1.1 Tag Display Mode

To change the way that tags are displayed, right-click on the asset within a hierarchy. This option is
available from the Hierarchy Explorer and from the Asset Explorer. From the context menu, select
Tag Display Mode. Choose how to display the tag information:

 Default: The default display mode is the name of the tag.

 Tag Alias: Display the name of the tag.

 Tag Description: Display the tag description.

 Source Tag: Display the data source for the tag.

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4.2.2 Chart Explorer

The Chart Explorer pane displays the chart groups that have been defined in the design of your
solution. Expanding each chart group displays the charts that are defined within it. You can use the
Chart Explorer to select the charts to display for the tag(s) selected in the Asset Explorer pane. Drag
the chart to display into the Chart View, or drag an entire chart group if you wish.

For modeled tags, if Include Residual Chart checkbox is checked, the residual chart will be shown
below the chart when a chart is dragged from the Chart Explorer pane. This option is shown in the
following image. If this box is not selected, only the Actual/Estimate chart will be shown for these
tags.

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4.2.3 Tag Group Explorer

The Tag Group Explorer contains two sections, Blueprint Tag Groups and Asset Tag Groups. The
Blueprint Tag Groups can only be added using Blueprint Center. Asset Tag Groups can be created for
each asset using the right-click menu.

4.2.4 Template Explorer

The Template Explorer defaults to using the Built-in Tag Template to display charts. This template is
fixed across all installations and cannot be changed. To select a different charting template that has
been defined for your solution and is available for the active asset, highlight the template you wish to
use. This template will be applied to all charts that are added to the current view via the drag & drop
paradigm. Use the Template Explorer to add Advisory Events to the templates you can select. This
option is on by default.

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For modeled tags, if Include Residual Chart option is selected, the residual chart will be shown below
the chart when a tag is dragged from the Asset Explorer pane. If this box is not selected, only the
Actual/Estimate chart will be shown for these tags.

4.2.4.1 The Built-In Tag Template

For Asset Tags, Sentinel’s Built-in Tag Template includes:

 Actual series
 Advisory Events

To add advisory events, right-click on the Built-in Tag Template node and select Add Advisory
Indications from the context menu.

For modeled tags, the Built-in Tag Template includes:

 Actual
 Estimate
 Positive and Negative Residual Indications
 Advisory Events
 Outliers

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 NaNs
 Adaptation Triggers
 Adaptation Inhibits
 VSG

4.2.5 Chart Template

1. To define and edit templates, in the Template Explorer, right-click the template to update.

2. From the context menu, select Edit. The system displays the Chart Template dialog box.

3. Complete the following fields in the top half of the screen.

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Option Definition
Title Select an item to pass to the Chart Title
Name Update the name of the template.
Primary Scale Select whether the primary scale will be Automatic or Fixed. If you select
Automatic, the Minimum and Maximum scale fields are not available. If you
select Fixed, you must complete the Minimum and Maximum scale fields. If you
switch from Fixed to Automatic, the values already entered in the Minimum
and Maximum fields are maintained, but not available to update unless Fixed is
selected again.
 Primary Scale Minimum – Define the minimum data of the primary scale for
the chart. Required if Fixed is selected.
 Primary Scale Maximum – Define the maximum data of the primary scale for
the chart. Required if Fixed is selected.
Secondary Scale For use with a secondary axis is selected with a series. If you select Automatic,
the Minimum and Maximum scale fields are not available. If you select Fixed,
you must complete the Minimum and Maximum scale fields. If you switch from
Fixed to Automatic, the values already entered in the Minimum and Maximum
fields are maintained, but not available to update unless Fixed is selected
again.
 Secondary Scale Minimum – Define the minimum data of the secondary scale
for the chart. Required if Fixed is selected.
 Secondary Scale Maximum – Define the maximum data of the secondary scale
for the chart. Required if Fixed is selected.

4. In the series grid, in the Data Type cell, select the data to include in the chart.

5. For each data type included, complete the columns in the table to determine how that data
will be graphed:

 Mode
 Model
 Tag
 Rule
 Color
 Line
 Line Size
 Style
 Axis
 Reference Line

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 Reference Date
 IsCheckedOutCopy
 Reference Internal Tag
 Tag Mouse-Over

6. Select one of the following options:

 To save the changes and close the dialog box, click OK.

 To save the changes and remain in the dialog box, click Apply.

 To cancel the changes and close the dialog box, click Cancel.

4.2.6 Chart Parameters

The Chart Parameters pane allows you to select the chart display options.

1. To change the timespan of data to include on the chart, select one of the following options:
 3 Days: Select to display the previous three days of data.
 2 Weeks: This is the default timespan for charts. Select to display the previous two weeks
of data on the charts.
 1 Month: Select to display one month of data on the charts.
 Custom: Select to specify custom timespan options. If you invoked this Chart View from
the View > Charts > Custom context menu option, the Custom radio button is selected.
2. To update the charts based on the selected timespan option, click Refresh. To select custom
chart parameters, select the Custom radio button and click the Options… button. The system
displays the Chart Options dialog box. For information on setting custom options, see
Selecting the Charts to Display.

4.3 Navigating the Charts View

This section explains how to navigate the Chart View pane of the Charts Window. In addition to
dynamically adding tag charts, you can collapse and rearrange the charts within the current view. To
change the order of charts, click and drag on the chart title bar. Move the chart to the area where
you wish to display it, and release the mouse button. If you have many charts displayed, it can be
time consuming to change the order. It may be easier to collapse the charts first and then re-order
them. For information on collapsing carts, see Expanding and Collapsing Charts.

When a chart is still loading, the circular arrow will be displayed in the upper right corner of the chart
.

Expanding and Collapsing Charts

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By default, charts are all expanded when the Chart View pane is invoked. To make it easier to
compare charts, the charts can be collapsed.

To collapse a chart, click the up arrow on the right side of the chart’s header bar (highlighted in red
in the image below). To expand a previously collapsed chart, click the down arrow .

To collapse charts using the menu, right click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select
Collapse. Select whether you wish to collapse only the currently selected chart or all charts.

To expand charts using the menu, right click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select
Expand. Select whether you wish to expand only the currently selected chart or all charts.

Charts can also be expanded and collapsed by double-clicking the chart’s header bar.

Following is an example of some charts collapsed and some expanded.

Charts can also be resized vertically by dragging the bottom border up or down. Double-clicking the
bottom border will restore the chart to its original size. Note that the resize is deferred until after the
drag has been released.

Showing and Hiding the Path

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For template charts, the chart title bars show the Tag Name. If the chart is a predefined chart (from
Chart Explorer), the chart title bar displays the Chart Name. An option allows you to show the full path
of the asset hierarchy for a chart. This can be useful when you are comparing charts across assets or
models. To show the path, right-click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select Show
Full Path and select whether you wish to view the path for only the currently selected chart or all
charts. The path is a good way to identify the Asset and Model from which the information is
displayed.

To remove the path from the title bar for charts, right-click on the Chart View pane. From the context
menu, select Hide Full Path. Select whether you wish to hide the path for only the currently selected
chart or all charts.

The following image shows charts with the full path displayed in the titles.

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4.3.1 Clearing Charts

To remove the displayed charts from the Chart view pane, there are several options:

1. Right click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select Clear. Select whether you
wish to remove only the selected chart, only the collapsed charts, or all charts.

2. Click the title bar and then pressing the Delete key.

3. Drag the chart header out of the Chart View pane

4. To clear all charts, press the Ctrl+Delete key or Ctrl-D.

4.3.2 Zooming

Zooming within the all the charts of the Chart View can be performed by clicking the desired
beginning time range, dragging down any vertical distance and to the right, and releasing the mouse
at the desired end time range. Both the X-axis and Y-axis will be adjusted to the area within the
region selected by dragging the cursor. All other charts currently displayed will be adjusted to display
the same X-axis time period. The area to zoom will be highlighted in yellow.

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To restore chart resolution to the originally selected charting time range, right-click on the chart and
select Reset Zoom from the context menu. You can also select any portion of the chart, drag up and
to the left any distance within the chart, and release the mouse. If you have zoomed in multiple
times, it will just take one un-zoom to return to the original view.

4.3.3 Scale Breaks

When charts contain two distinct Y scale ranges, a break will be inserted into the view, allowing you
to see the details in both ranges. An example of a scale break is shown in the following image. This
chart contains an Actual, Estimate, Residual, and Smoothed Residual for a temperature. The Actual
and Estimate hover around 170 degrees, and the Residuals around zero. The insertion of the scale
break, indicated by the wave shape, allows you to see the detailed contour of all data series in the
plot.

To turn off the scale break, right-click on the chart and de-select the Scale Break option from the
context menu.

4.3.4 Crosshairs

A Crosshair function is available to view specific data values at a chosen point in time within the
charts. To add the crosshair to all charts, right-click on any chart and select Show Crosshairs from
the context menu. Clicking within any chart at a chosen time will place a vertical reference line at
that point in time, across all the charts. To move the crosshairs, click another point within the chart,
or use the left or right arrow keys.

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4.3.5 Time Zone Display

The Time Zone option allows you to select how the time zones for the chart will be displayed. To
change the default time zone, right-click on any chart and select Time Zone from the context menu.
Select from the following options:

 Asset: This time is displayed using the time zone configured for the asset.

 Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the client machine.

 UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.

4.3.6 Displaying Chart Series Values

To display all series values for a chart, double-click on the data area of the chart. The series values
will be displayed in the Chart Series Values pop-up window. To add additional charts, double-click on
each chart to add.

To display the selected data series from a chart in the Chart Series Values pop up window, press Ctrl
and click on a chart series. You can then Ctrl + click on additional charts to add the selected data
series within the chart view to see specific data values at that time.

The values in the Chart Series Values pop-up window can then be copied out to the clipboard as you
wish.

An example of the Chart Series Values and Crosshairs in use is shown in the following image.
Different Estimate and Actual series have been selected at specific points in time, with the grid
displaying the following information for the resulting data points:

 Series Type
 Tag Alias
 X Value
 Y Value
 Units
 Item Path
To update the series, click on a different area of the chart. The X value and Y value will be updated as
the mouse is moved across the chart. The left and right arrow keys can also be used to navigate to
another date/time, updating the series value.

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4.4 Displaying Big Charts

Big Charts are available to provide greater detail on the issues that exist on your equipment. To show
an enlarged version of a chart in a separate window, right-click on the title bar and select Show in
Separate Window, or double-click the gray area around the chart. The chart will still be displayed
within the Chart View pane, but a larger version of the chart will be displayed in a pop-up window.

To display the residual chart below the main area, press Ctrl-R. To toggle the display back to
displaying the main chart only, press Ctrl-R again.

The Big Chart can be resized to any size you choose, or maximized in your workspace if you wish.
Upon mouse over, a tool tip will appear showing data values at that point in time, on the selected
data series. This tool tip is shown in the following image.

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A large number of options are available by right-clicking within the Big Chart to interact with the data
and customize the view. They are listed in the following table.

Big Chart Context Description

Menu Option
Reset Zoom Resets any zooming you have performed to the original view of the
chart when it was invoked. You can also reset the zoom by
selecting any chart area, dragging to a portion of the chart up and
to the left, and releasing.
Clear Crosshairs Clears any Crosshairs you have placed in the Big Chart view.
Copy Text Places information about this chart on the clipboard.
Copy Image Copies the Big Chart image to the clipboard.
Email Creates an email message containing the Big Chart. Note that the
chart will appear in your email message at the exact size at which
you have selected it to appear on your screen.
Save Chart… Saves the chart to a PNG, JPEG, or GIF file.
Export Chart To Exports the chart data to Excel or saves the chart data to an XML
file, which can then be opened within Excel.
Refresh Refreshes the chart to include the most recent data.
Live Update Causes the chart to automatically update every specified number
of minutes to include the latest data. The number of minutes can
vary depending on the asset selected.
Show Legend Displays a legend for the various information contained in the Big
Chart.
Show Id or Index Includes a number that refers to the observation Id or chart series
on ToolTip on the last line of the tool tip.
Observation Line For charts with a date axis.
Breaks No Line Breaks: Points connect in a contiguous line when data
gaps exist.
Line breaks at gaps: No connecting lines when there is a data gap
of > 3.5 times the poll rate
Observation points only: no connecting lines
Show Points on Changing to points rather than a time axis allows you to remove
Horizontal Axis time gaps from the view.
Show Units on Adds the units of the Y axis to the display.
Vertical Axis
Scale Break Allows you to select the visual appearance of the scale break that is
inserted as needed within charts (see Scale Breaks).
None, Blank, Straight, Ragged, Wave

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Big Chart Context Description

Menu Option
Time Zone Allows you to select how the time zones for the chart will be
displayed:
Asset: This time zone is displayed using the time zone configured
for where the asset is located.
Local: This time is displayed using the time zone local to the client
machine.
UTC: This time is displayed using the universal time zone.
Alternate Styling Causes the display to use built-in default colors, rather than those
defined during the creation of the chart.
Border on Markers Places a line border around rendered markers, such as those for
advisories.
Antialiasing Switches between sharp, crisp lines and text versus smooth when
checked.
Actuals Select to show None, Default, or All.
Estimates Select to show None, Default, or All.
Estimate Select to show None, Default, or All.
Threshold
Residuals Select to show None, Default, or All. Also includes an option to
display them in a separate chart below the main existing one.
Smoothing Select to show None, Default, or All.
Thresholds Includes the following options:
Show None
Show Default
Show All
Actual Low
Actual High
Residual Negative
Residual Positive
Outlier Negative
Outlier Positive
Indications Advisory
Positive and Negative
Runtime
Markers For both Reference Lines and Reference Dates, select the Show
None or Show Default

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4.5 Chart Reporting

4.5.1 Saving Charts

The displayed charts can be saved to an external image file.

1. To save the selected chart or all expanded charts, right-click on the chart view.

2. From the context menu, select Save.

3. Select to save either the selected chart or all expanded charts. The system displays the Save
As dialog box.

4. Navigate to the location to save.

5. In the File name field, enter the file name for the chart.

6. In the Save as type field, select the type of file format to use for the chart.

7. Click Save.

4.5.2 Copying Charts

To copy a chart to the clipboard, right-click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select
Copy. Select whether you wish to copy only the selected chart, expanded charts, or the title for the
selected chart. The chart graphic will be copied to the clipboard, available to paste in another
application.

To resize the copied chart to the height and width as set in the SentinelUser.config file, hold the Ctrl
key while clicking the Copy option. The default sizes are:

 ChartCopyAndEmailCustomHeight=140 (default)

 ChartCopyAndEmailCustomWidth=650 (default)

To copy the chart title, select Selected Chart Title from the Copy menu. This option copies the chart
title to the clipboard.

4.5.3 Emailing Charts

To email a chart, right-click on the Chart View pane. From the context menu, select Email. Select
whether you wish to email only the selected chart or expanded charts. An email window will be
opened using the default email application. This email option allows you to efficiently pass advisory
information among your team, supporting your mitigation workflow with a report generated by a
single click.

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4.6 Shield Assets

The default Asset Explorer view in Shield charting is the Group View. In addition, by default in Shield
the Chart Explorer and the Template Explorer panes are minimized on the left side.

Content of the Group View is described below, followed by an expanded image of the Asset Explorer
in this mode. All tags listed in the Asset Explorer can be dynamically added to the Chart View via a
drag & drop. If multiple diagnostics are displayed in the hierarchy, you can drag the advisory to the
chart area. If another advisory already is displaying charts, the views of the advisories will be co-
mingled in the chart area.

 Diagnostic Advisories: Displays the current diagnostics for the asset you selected. Beneath
an expanded diagnostic advisory, the system displays:

o Tags that participated in the firing of this particular event at the top level. These are
indicated with red tag icons.

o Diagnostic rules that are firing for this event are indicated in parentheses after the
participating tags. See the Diagnostic Rules Legend section following.

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o Other tags that are included in the definition of the diagnostic, but not participating in
the firing at the time the Chart View was invoked. These are listed with blue icons.

 Non-Modeled: Displays the tags for assets that don’t exist in any model.

 On Monitor: Displays the tags that are deactivated in every model.

 Mode/Model Combinations: Lists all mode/model combinations for the asset. The modes
and models are appended together. For example, Models On > Mechanical indicates that the
mode is Models On and the model is Mechanical. Beneath an expanded mode/model node,
the system displays the Components in that model and the tags in each Component.

4.6.1 Diagnostic Rules Legend

For diagnostics, the rules that are posting an advisory are displayed in parentheses following a
participating tag. In addition, you can receive contextual insight as to the severity and progression of
advisories in the charts. This is provided by indication of the diagnostic rules that are posting as
indicated by the advisory markers in the charts.

4.6.2 Cycle Watch Assets

4.6.2.1 Data Intervals

When charting, if a Cycle Watch asset is selected in the Asset Explorer, the chart parameters pane at
the top of the charts window will change to a carousel view of Data Intervals. Each toggle button in
the carousel represents a time range when the asset’s mode(s) was met (typically, Cycle Watch
assets have two modes; one representing startup and another for shutdown). Each button shows
information about when the data interval started, when it ended, the duration, and the name of the
mode that was met during this time (i.e. Startup or Shutdown).

4.6.2.2 Sequential Display Mode

1. To chart data intervals sequentially for a tag, begin by toggling on the desired startups and
shutdowns from the carousel of data intervals.

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2. Select the sequential display mode icon:

3. Select one or more tags from the Asset Explorer, Hierarchy Explorer, or Tag Group Explorer
and drop them in the Chart View as normal.

The chart that is produced will be divided into horizontal, side-by-side sections based on the
data intervals that were selected in step 1. Each section will represent a time range that
corresponds to one of the selected data intervals. A strip of color is painted at the top each
section to help identify the corresponding data interval.

4.6.2.3 Overlay Display Mode

1. To overlay data intervals for a tag, begin by toggling on the desired startups and shutdowns
from the carousel of data intervals.

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2. Select the overlay display mode icon:

3. Select one or more tags from the Asset Explorer, Hierarchy Explorer, or Tag Group Explorer
and drop them in the Chart View as normal.

The chart that is produced will be divided into sections that represent similar types of data
intervals. In other words, startups will be overlaid on top of each other in one section, and
shutdowns will be overlaid in another section. In this display mode, each line on the chart is
painted using the color that is drawn at the top of the corresponding data interval to help
identify which line corresponds to which interval.

Note that in overlay mode, all templates in the Template Explorer are ignored and only
actuals for the tag are displayed. Residuals can be charted as well if the residual chart is
shown separately.

4.6.2.4 More Options

Clicking the wrench button displays more options for Cycle Watch charting such as
refreshing charts, hiding intervals, or switching from data intervals to chart parameters.

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5.0 Journal
The Journal provides access to a spectrum of valuable information in your solution. From the
knowledge you log through the workflow of managing advisories to item changes and server
events, a comprehensive set of capabilities give you flexible options to view the history of
actions and events.

The Journal is available for any node within the Hierarchy Explorer, as well as most fields within
the Advisory View pane. It can also be invoked from the Asset Explorer in a Chart View.

5.1 Creating a Journal Entry

Journal entries are created when: advisories are created, advisory statuses are changed,
owners are changed, notes are added, certain item changes are made, or when server events
occur. New advisory entries, certain item changes, and server events are automatically
created based on certain events occurring. Users can also create entries by adding notes to
advisories, adding notes to hierarchy nodes, or changing advisory status.

You can create a Journal entry for an item in the hierarchy with the following procedure:

1. Right click on an item within the Hierarchy Explorer or the Asset Explorer of the Chart View.

2. From the context menu, select New  Journal Entry… The system displays the Journal Entry
dialog box.

3. Enter some notes for this entry. For example, “This unit is entering an outage.”

4. To save the entry, click Save. To cancel, click Cancel.

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Journal entries can also be created by using the Advisory Action pane to update the status of an
advisory (see Updating Advisory Status).

5.2 Viewing the Journal

You can view the Journal for different types of data based on the context from where you select
the Journal. To view the Journal, right-click to display the context menu.

1. From the context menu, select View.

2. From the View menu, select either Journal or Journal Custom. The resulting control dialog
will vary depending on where you access the menu.

From Hierarchy or Asset Explorer nodes, you can select Journal, Journal Custom, or Last Hour
Server Events (a predefined filter for quick check of datafeed and tag processing status). See
step 4 below. This will then invoke the Journal with context from that particular node.

From the Advisory View pane, you can invoke the Journal from many specific cells, such as a
Rule, Advisory, Asset, etc. Below are examples of Journal invocation from various locations and
contexts within your solution.

 Asset Group or Asset:

 View Journal: Returns Advisory Workflow and Item entries. The results are the same
as invoking the Journal from the Hierarchy or Asset Explorer for an asset or asset
group.
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box.
 Rule:
 View Journal: Returns Advisory Workflow entries associated with the rule over any
number of assets. Shows the reoccurrence of advisories (new, dismissed and then
new again for rule/asset combinations).
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box. Options are
disabled but have no effect on the result set.
 Asset/Rule or Asset Group/Rule:
 View Journal: Returns Advisory Workflow entries associated with the rule for the
selected asset (new and old) or the assets in the selected asset group.
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box. If server events
are selected, the result set will be empty. Disabling the Advisory Workflow has no
effect. In general, options are enabled but have no effect on the items returned.
Returns Advisory Workflow entries associated with the rule for the specified asset.
 Advisory:

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 View Journal: Returns Journal Advisory Workflow for the active advisory (new only).
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box.
 Tag:
 View Journal: Returns the Journal Advisory Workflow for the active advisory for this
tag only.
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box.
 Tag/Rule:
 View Journal: Returns Advisory Workflow entries associated with the rule for the
selected tag.
 View Journal Custom: Displays the Journal Options (filter) dialog box.
3. If you selected the Journal Custom option, continue with the following procedure. If you
selected Journal, you cannot select the custom display options. The Journal will be displayed
(continue with Selecting Journal Columns).

4. For the Journal Custom option, the system displays the following dialog box:

5. Select from the following options to create a custom filter for the Journal:

Option Definition
Start Date/Time Enter the starting date and time to use for Journal entries.
End Date/Time Enter the ending date and time to use for Journal entries.

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Option Definition
Time Zone Option Select the time zone for the start and end dates:
Local: Select this option to use the time zone local to the
client machine.
UTC: Select this option to use the universal time zone.
Custom: Select the time zone of your choice.
Journal Type Select any of the following Journal entry types to display:
Advisory Workflow: This option will display any Journal
entries that are related to the advisory, such as an advisory
creation or a change in status.
Item Changes: This option will display any Journal entries
that are created from changes to the asset or other items in
Asset Center, such as a node being deactivated or a node
being added.
Server Events: This option will display any events that occur
on the server. Because a large number of these events can
occur over a short period of time, use the Server Event Filter
options to limit the server event Journal entries displayed.
Child Selection Select this option to include the Journal entries for all of the
tags and nodes that are below the item selected. This
checkbox will be selected by default.
Server Event Filter This option is available only if the Server Events option is
Severity selected. Select the type of Journal entries to display based
on severity:
Error: Display server error messages. Errors are critical in
nature, indicating that data is not being processed.
Warning: Display server warning messages. Warnings
indicate that data is being processed but there is a potential
problem.
Event: Display server event messages. Events are non-
repetitive and occur infrequently.
Info: Display server information messages. These messages
can be repetitive.
Verbose: Display the server messages using a verbose
format. Verbose messages include server debugging
information.

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Option Definition
Server Event Filter This option is available only if the Server Events option
Options selected. Select the following options to filter server events:
Server Monitor Only: Include messages that indicate the
health of the monitoring system.
Filter Redundancy: Redundant messages will be removed.
For example, if a series of messages are repeating and the
only change in the Journal entry is the date, only one
message will be displayed along with a count and the
date/time of the last occurrence. The date/time of the first
occurrence will be displayed in the date/time column. The
Filter Redundancy checkbox will be selected by default.
Include System Events: Include server events not associated
with any item or node.

6. To continue viewing the Journal and set the custom filter options, click OK. The system
displays the Journal results based on the selected options. If you did not select a custom filter
in step 3, the Journal will be displayed based on default filter options. The default options are:
timespan of the past 3 days, with Advisory Workflow and Item Change Journal entries.

Important: Journal has a 1000 record display limit.

5.3 Selecting Journal Columns

Tremendous context is available for the Journal via a large number of columns which you can
add to the Journal window. These can be added by invoking the Column Chooser icon, as
shown in the image below, or selecting the Column Chooser from the right-click context menu,
invoked from anywhere in the Journal grid.

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From the list of columns, select the columns to add to the display. If you include the ID
columns, the list of columns will greatly increase. ID columns show the GUIDs (Globally Unique
Identifiers) assigned to every object in your solution. See Understanding the Journal Columns
for a full listing and description of the various columns that are available to you.

5.4 Journal Columns

Journal columns can be hidden or shown as desired. Note that Journal will automatically hide
columns that do not contain any entries.

1. To hide one column, click a data cell in the column to hide. To hide more than one column,
hold down the Ctrl key and click a cell of data in each column to hide.
2. Right-click the Journal.
3. From the context menu, select Hide Selected Column(s).
4. To re-display the columns, use the Column Chooser (see Selecting Journal Columns).

You can also rearrange columns in the grid as you wish. Simply drag and drop them to the
desired place in the grid. Arrows will guide you to the location where you may currently drop a
column you are dragging. This procedure is shown for the Advisory Message column in the
following image.

To show all available Journal columns:

1. Right-click the Journal.

2. From the context menu, select Show All Columns.

3. Indicate whether to include or exclude ID columns. ID columns show the GUIDs assigned to
every object within the solution. If you show the ID columns for each available column, the
number of columns will increase. You should select to include ID columns only if you need to
display IDs for certain columns.

4. To show only the default columns, from the context menu, select Show Default Columns.

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5.5 Journal Rows

In the Journal, rows of data can be hidden or shown.

To hide rows of data:

1. Select the row or rows of data to hide by clicking any cell in the row.
2. Right-click the Journal.
3. From the context menu, select Hide Selected Row(s).

To show the hidden rows:

1. Right-click the Journal.

2. From the context menu, select Show All Rows > Include Hidden. The hidden rows will be
displayed and highlighted.
3. From the context menu, select Unhide Selected Row(s).

5.6 Filtering and Sorting Journal Data

To sort the Journal by a desired column, click inside the column’s header. The direction of the
sort will be indicated with an arrow, as shown in the following image. Click again to change the
direction of the sort; the arrow will flip to indicate this.

To filter using a column, click the filter icon . A list of items to use as a filter will be
displayed.

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Select the item to use as a filter. The list will be filtered, displaying only those items that
match the filter criteria. When a filter has been selected for a column, the filter icon is shown
as filled .

To remove the filter, re-select the filter icon and select All or select another item to use as a
filter.

5.7 Grouping Journal Entries

Similar to the Advisory View pane, you can group the Journal entries by any of the displayed
column headers. For information on grouping Journal entries, see Grouping Columns.

5.8 Copying and Exporting Journal Data

For information on copying and exporting Journal data, see Copying and Exporting Data.

5.9 Journal Columns

The following table provides a list and description of all the columns which can be added to the
Journal grid.

Option Definition
Action Category The reason selected for the Journal entry.
Action Code The individual Action Code selected when this advisory entry
was created.
Advisory Message The message for the advisory. If the rule is written to include the
rule name, this message will include the rule name.
Advisory Owner The currently selected user who owns the advisory.
Asset The name of the asset.
Asset Blueprint The name of the blueprint used for this asset.
Asset Path The hierarchy path from the asset to the root asset group.
Count If redundant messages are filtered, the number of redundant
Redundancy messages.
Current Advisory The current status of the advisory such as new, acknowledged,
Status dismissed.
Date & Time The date and time of the Journal entry. If the redundancy filter
is used, then this column will display the date/time of the first
occurrence.
Date & Time (UTC) The date and time of the Journal entry shown in the universal
time zone.

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Option Definition
Entered By The name of the user making the Journal entry.
Entry Category The type of action that created the Journal entry, such as check
in, check out, or advisory status change.
Entry Type The type of entry, such as whether it is regarding an advisory or
an item.
Last Occurred If the redundancy filter is used, then this column will display the
Date Redundancy date/time of the last occurrence.
Last Occurred If the redundancy filter is used, then this column will display the
Date Redundancy date/time of the last occurrence in the universal time zone.
(UTC)
Mode For asset tags, this column will be blank. This field displays the
mode only for model tags.
Model For model tags only, displays the model name. For asset tags,
this column will be blank.
Model Blueprint Displays the model blueprint only for model tags.
Notes Displays the text entered for the Journal entry.
Previous Advisory The previous status of the advisory.
Status
Procedure Name For server events, this field will indicate the name of the
procedure that generated the event.
Root The name of the hierarchy root node.
Rule The name of the rule that fired.
Server Event For a Server Event Journal entry, the category for the entry. The
Category values are:
0 = No logical category. Most server events fall within this
category.
1 = The server event will go out via the notification service.
2 = Server events that communicate information about data
not processing. More specifically, issues with data sources, tags,
bad data in tags (e.g. NaNs, Outliers, VSG failing).

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Option Definition
Severity The severity of the server event Journal entry.
 Error: Display server error messages. Errors are critical in
nature, indicating data is not being processed.
 Warning: Display server warning messages. Warnings
indicate that data is being processed but there is a potential
problem.
 Event: Display server event messages. Events are non-
repetitive and occur infrequently.
 Info: Display server information messages. These messages
can be repetitive.
 Verbose: Display the server messages using a verbose format.
Verbose messages include server debugging information.
System Name The name of the server sub-system that generated the Server
Event. For example, the Modeling Engine.
Tag Data source The datasource tag from which this tag obtains its values.
Tag Description The description of the tag.
Tag Name The name of the tag.
Tag Units The units that the tag uses.
Updated Advisory Displays the previous status for this advisory.
Status
User Login ID The ID of the user who created the Journal entry.

6.0 Metrics
Sentinel offers a comprehensive set of Metrics, providing you a direct summary of the data
quality issues that require your attention. Metrics are available by right-clicking on any hierarchy
node. Different statistics, status, and configuration information are available depending on the
level at which you invoke Metrics.

1. To view Metrics, right click on the desired hierarchy node.

2. From the context menu, select View.
3. From the View menu, select Metrics.

You can also display the Metrics page by pressing Ctrl-M. The Metrics will display for the selected
node.

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Metrics provide a static view of your solution at the time you invoke them. The Metrics screen is
divided into two or three panes, depending on the node selected. This section describes the
various information you can obtain through Metrics, as well as its layout in the Metrics view.

6.1 System Level Metrics

Following is an example of the System-level Metrics screen.

The top System pane displays general information about your solution, including advisory
summaries and server metrics. This pane is pinned by default and can be undocked and moved if
desired.

Option Definition
System The name of the root node.
Total Production The total number of assets.
Assets
Production Assets on The total number of assets that are on watch.
Watch

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Option Definition
Advisory Count The number of Advisory Indications that have occurred for an
Advisory, including the first Advisory Indication through the last
Advisory Indication.
Last Data Collection The last time that data was collected on the system.
Runtime Engine Indicates the state of the runtime engine. Possible states include:
State  Disconnected
 Initializing
 Stopped Ready
 Starting
 Processing
 Stopping
 Exiting
 Down
 Connected
 UI Shutdown
 Unknown
Duty Cycle If the “Duty Cycle” statistic is enabled (set to a positive value), the
runtime engine accumulates values for "processing time" and
"idle time" and then calculates the Duty Cycle every "n" minutes
where "n" is the value specified in the "EPICenter.ini" file. It then
writes this statistic to the database.
The runtime engine calculates the duty cycle percent as follows:
100 * ("processing-time" / "processing-time" + "idle-time")

6.1.1 Summaries of Assets within Solution

The Production Assets pane on the bottom of the Metrics window displays the various assets in
your solution along with information about their processing.

Option Definition
Asset The name of the asset.
Asset Path Displays the hierarchy path to the asset.
Last Processing The last date and time when processing started for this particular
Started asset.
Last Processing The length of time between when processing started and stopped.

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Option Definition
Duration (ms)
Last Modeling The length of time it took to process the model during the last polling
Duration (ms) cycle.
Data Collection The data collection status can have the following states:
Status OK: Data processed normally.
OK-with bad data: The latest polling cycle was completed but
includes some bad data.
Dbase error: A database error occurred during processing.
Bad configuration: A configuration error occurred during processing.
Exception: An exception occurred while collecting data during the last
polling cycle.
PI Data Source not connected
OPC Data Source not connected
No new ASCII file: A new ASCII file has not been uploaded.
Not current: A record for the data exists but was not available for the
current polling cycle.
Unknown: No record exists for that piece of data.
Last Observation The date and time of the last observation for that Asset.
Mode Met Last Poll If a Mode was met during the last polling cycle, displays the name of
the Mode.
Active Indicates whether the asset is active.

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6.1.2 Asset Group

Following is an example of the Metrics displayed for an Asset Group.

The Overview pane at the top displays basic information about the asset group. This pane is
pinned by default and can be undocked and moved if desired.

Option Definition
Asset Group The name of the Asset Group from which these Metrics
have been invoked.
Total Production The total number of Assets in this group.
Assets
Production Assets The total number of Assets from this group that are on
on Watch watch.
Advisory Count The number of Advisory Indications that have occurred for
an Advisory, including the first Advisory Indication through
the last Advisory Indication.
Last Data The last time that data was collected in this group of
Collection Assets.

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The Production Assets pane at the bottom of the Metrics window displays summary
information for each Asset in the group. The same information is displayed for the individual
Assets when Metrics are invoked from the root node.
6.1.3 Asset

Following is an example of the Metrics displayed for an Asset.

The Asset Overview pane displays summary information about the asset. This pane is pinned
by default and can be undocked and moved if desired.

Option Definition
Asset The name of the asset.
Last Processing The last date and time when processing started for this particular
Started asset.
Last Processing The length of time between when processing started and stopped.
Duration (ms)
Last Modeling The length of time it took to process the model during the last
Duration (ms) polling cycle.

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Option Definition
Data Collection The data collection status can have the following states:
Status OK: Data processed normally.
OK-with bad data: The latest polling cycle was completed but
includes some bad data.
Dbase error: A database error occurred during processing.
Bad configuration: A configuration error occurred during
processing.
Exception: An exception occurred while collecting data during the
last polling cycle.
PI Data Source not connected
OPC Data Source not connected
No new ASCII file: A new ASCII file has not been uploaded.
Not current: A record for the data exists but was not available for
the current polling cycle.
Unknown: No record exists for that piece of data.
Last The date and time of the last observation for that Asset.
Observation
Mode Met Last If a Mode was met during the last polling cycle, displays the name
Poll of the Mode.
Active Indicates whether the asset is active.

The Asset Tags middle pane displays information about the different tags on the Asset.

Option Definition
Asset Tag The tag name as defined in your solution.
Alias
Active in The tag Valid field can take the following values:
Asset Yes: This tag is available for modeling.
No: This tag is not available for modeling.
Source Tag The data source tag from which this tag obtains its values.
Description The tag description as defined in your solution.
Type The type of tag, such as Internal, External, or Calculated.
Data Type The type of data that the tag collects: Integer, Float, String, Date, or
Boolean (True/False).
Actual High The tag’s high limit for Actual Value rules.
Actual Low The tag’s low limit for Actual Value rules.

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Option Definition
Adaptation The tag’s high limit for Adaptation rules.
High
Adaptation The tag’s low limit for Adaptation rules.
Low
Units The unit of measurement for the tag.
Decimals The number of decimal places shown for the tag value.

The Internal Tags bottom pane provides information about the internal tags that are defined for this
Asset. This pane is pinned by default and can be undocked and moved if desired.

Option Definition
Internal Tag Alias The name of the internal tag on the asset.
Value The value of the internal tag.
Data Type The type of data the tag collects.

6.1.4 Mode
The Metrics screen for a Mode displays the name of the Mode rule tag, the Mode decision operator,
and the Mode comparison value. On the lower half of the screen, the system displays the mode
conditions.

The Mode Overview pane displays information about the mode.

Option Definition
Mode The name of the mode.
Active Indicates whether the mode is active.
Last Met Indicates the last time the mode was met.

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6.1.5 Model

Model Metrics provide you both summary information about the Model, including status and
configuration, and the tags that are in the model as well. The following image shows an example of
the Metrics screen for a Model.

The Model Overview pane displays summary information about the Model. This pane is pinned by
default and can be undocked and moved if desired.

Option Definition
Model The name of the Model.
Active Indicates whether the Model is active.
Last Adaptation The last time that this model adapted. Adaptation can occur
manually or automatically, triggered by the characteristics of one or
more signals.

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Option Definition
Last Adaptation Inhibit Indicates the last date and time when the adaptation was inhibited
based on specified conditions and values.
Last Model Processing The last time that the model was processed.
Configured VSG The bad sensor threshold configured for Virtual Signal Generation
Threshold (VSG).
VSG Enabled Indicates whether this Model has Virtual Signal Generation (VSG)
enabled.
Status The status for the Model can take the following states:
 OK
 OK - VSG Estimate
 Database Error
 NaN
 Outlier
 Exception
 VSG Exceeded
 Not current
 Unknown
Type The type of model:
 Auto-Associative: Generates an estimate for every measured input
signal value (each input has a corresponding estimated output). This
method does not require that you make a distinction between
independent and dependent variables. However, the inputs should all
correlate with each other.
 Inferential: Uses an observation of measured signal values to
generate one or more estimated signal values not present in the
observation of measured signal values. When using this method, the
independent variables should represent all of the drivers for the
dependent output variables.

The Model Tags pane displays information about the tags in the Model.

Option Definition
Model Tag Alias The name of the tag.
Active in Model Displays whether the tag is used in the model.
Source Tag The datasource tag from which this tag obtains its values.

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Option Definition
Alarm Type The type of alarm. The alarm type defines the algorithm used to trigger
residual indication.
Residual Threshold: Residual indications are triggered if the tag’s residual
signal exceeds the value in the Residual + Threshold column or falls below
the value in the Residual - Threshold column.
Smoothed Residual Threshold: Residual indications are triggered if the
tag’s smoothed residual signal exceeds the value in the Residual +
Threshold column or falls below the value in the Residual - Threshold
column.
SPRT: A specialized decision algorithm called the Sequential Probability
Ratio Test (SPRT). The algorithm uses a statistical hypothesis testing
technique to determine if the mean of the residual has shifted in the positive
or negative direction.
None: Residual indications are disabled for the tag’s Residual signal.
Is Independent Identifies if the tag is independent or dependent.
Residual (Positive) Defines the upper value, above which the tag’s residual signal triggers a
residual indication.
Residual (Negative) Defines the lower value, below which the tag’s residual signal triggers a
residual indication.
Outlier (Positive) The outlier value’s upper threshold. This field represents the upper threshold
value for real-time filtering of tag signals to remove spikes in tag data. Any
signal data that is greater than the threshold is filtered.
Outlier (Negative) The outlier value’s lower threshold. This field represents the lower threshold
value for real-time filtering of tag signals to remove spikes in tag data. Any
signal data that is less than the threshold is filtered.
Sprt (Positive) This value is multiplied by the standard deviation of the residual, which in
turn defines the amount of positive change in the residual mean that must
occur to constitute an alarm.
Sprt (Negative) This value is multiplied by the standard deviation of the residual which in
turn defines the amount of negative change in the residual mean that must
occur to constitute an alarm.

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7.0 Contact Information

7.1 GlobalCare
Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (CST or CDT)
Phone 1-866-SIGNAL9 (1-866-744-6259)
Email: [email protected]

7.2 Training
Email [email protected]

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