PI System Basics

Operational IntelligenceCopyright
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Published: September 20, 2021

Table of Contents

Contents
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 3
1 PI System Components .............................................................................................................................. 5
What is a PI System? ................................................................................................................................. 5
The PI System ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Architecture of a PI System ................................................................................................................... 6
Building Blocks of the PI System ............................................................................................................... 8
What is an AF Attribute? ....................................................................................................................... 8
What is a PI Point? ................................................................................................................................ 9
PI Cloud and PI Edge ............................................................................................................................... 10
What is OSIsoft Cloud Services (OCS)?................................................................................................ 10
How is the data collected? .................................................................................................................. 10
What is Edge Data Store (EDS)? .......................................................................................................... 11
Collecting Data ........................................................................................................................................ 12
PI Interfaces ........................................................................................................................................ 12
PI Connectors ...................................................................................................................................... 12
PI Adapters .......................................................................................................................................... 12
2 PI Time...................................................................................................................................................... 14
PI Time Expressions................................................................................................................................. 14
Fixed Time Syntax ............................................................................................................................... 15
Reference Time Syntax ....................................................................................................................... 15
Time Offset Syntax .............................................................................................................................. 17
Rules to Remember................................................................................................................................. 18
Exercise – PI Time................................................................................................................................ 19
3 Applying Concepts.................................................................................................................................... 20
PI Vision - Browser based displays .......................................................................................................... 20
Drill Down Through the Assets in Your Plant ...................................................................................... 21
Explore PI Points, AF Attributes, and Related Assets in PI Vision ........................................................... 23
Directed Activity – Up close and personal with PI System Data through PI Vision ............................ 23
 Viewing Events in PI Vision ..................................................................................................................... 25
Tracking Important Events with PI ...................................................................................................... 25
Retrieving and Visualising Event Frames ............................................................................................ 26
Advantages of Event Frames............................................................................................................... 26
Directed Activity – Process Downtime ................................................................................................ 27
4 HOW OSIsoft Supports YOU ..................................................................................................................... 28
Learning Platform @ learning.osisoft.com ............................................................................................. 28
OSIsoft Learning YouTube Channel @ youtube.com/OSIsoftLearning................................................... 30
Exercise – Search the OSIsoft Learning Channel ................................................................................. 30
Directed Exercise – Find a playlist on YouTube .................................................................................. 31
myOsisoft.com and the Customer Portal @ customers.osisoft.com...................................................... 32
PI Square – The online PI System Community @ pisquare.osisoft.com ................................................. 33
Exercise – Navigating PI Square .......................................................................................................... 33
1 PI SYSTEM COMPONENTS

What is a PI System?
Learning Outcomes
After completing this topic you should be able to:
 Define the components of a PI System.
 Draw a diagram of the architecture of a PI System.

The PI System

The PI System was originally developed by OSIsoft to collect Plant Information from PLC, DCS
and SCADA systems. The PI System collects, stores, and manages time stamped data. This
data may have timestamps in the past, current or future.
Components of a PI System are:
 Computers with a PI Interface, PI Connector or PI Adapter collect data (known as
points or tags) from a data source. These interface nodes get data from your data
sources and send it to the Data Archive. This data may be collected from a variety of
places, such as:
o the plant, weather stations,
o IT networks,
o location data for trucks,
o Telemetry from monitoring systems.
 Data is stored in the Data Archive in such a way as to make user retrieval as efficient as
possible. The data is accessible to users in different ways: directly or via tools providing
context.
 Accessing the data in context is provided by linking the data points to assets defined in
an Asset Framework (AF) system.
 To visualize the data collected and stored, users use tools in the Visualization Suite:
o PI Vision (browser-based graphs and symbols),
o PI Datalink (a Windows based Excel add in),
o PI ProcessBook (a Windows based application for graphical displays).
 PI Integrators are used to prepare and send the data from the PI System to other
systems for example to be used in data science or Business Intelligence (BI)
applications.
This diagram shows the 3 main categories and components of a typical PI System:

Architecture of a PI System
The architecture varies from simple to complex; some customers have only a single interface
sending data to a single Data Archive. There are many more combinations and configurations of
the PI software components, so make sure to ask your PI System administrator about how your
infrastructure is laid out.
Here is a conceptual diagram as an example:

 Quick Check
Having completed this topic, are you able to:
 Define the components of a PI System?
 Draw a diagram of the architecture of a PI System?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, ask your instructor for assistance.
Building Blocks of the PI System
LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Define the terms of Asset Framework (AF) and its components: elements and attributes.
 Define AF attribute types: static (none), PI Point, point array, formula, string builder,
table lookup and Analysis.

What is an AF Element/Asset?
In Asset Framework, company locations, sites, processes
and each piece of equipment is represented by an
Element. Company Assets may be defined with an AF
Element. The AF encourages organization of assets into a
structure that makes it easier to find information.
A self-explanatory element structure for assets goes a long
way to help users find the data they are seeking. With well-
defined elements showing context for the assets, data can
be located without the user needing to understand the
technical details of each piece of equipment. The AF
element structure assists in promoting a hierarchical and
logical organization of assets.

What is an AF Attribute?

Attributes represent a single property associated with an

asset element. Attributes hold values that can represent:
 static information, such as the diameter of a tank
 a PI point stored in the Data Archive, such as the
current temperature of the tank contents
 formulas
 values linked to tables in relational databases
 values held in internal AF tables
 values derived from AF analytics

PI Vision Screenshot: Drilling down through

Assets in an AF Database titled “Windfarm”

Note: All relevant data about an asset is grouped together with AF Attributes on AF Elements.
This allows users to build displays and reports that maintain a complete view of the company’s
assets.
What is a PI Point?

A PI Point (sometimes referred to as a tag) is a unique storage point for data in the Data
Archive. It is a single point of measurement and has a value with a timestamp, such as a
temperature of 31.2 oC on 2019-Dec-24 23:59.
Point name
Points stored in the Data Archive each have a unique name. It is
a common practice to name the PI Points based on Control
Systems point names. Since the point is the name that identifies
the point to users, a consistent point-naming convention should
be used that is meaningful to people in your organization.
Knowing the naming convention can be helpful in searching for
points.
Try to determine what the following point may refer to:
M03_E1P1_MOTDRV1202_RUNSTAT
It refers to - Machine3 Enclosure 1 Panel 1 Motor Drive 1202
Run Status.
PI Vision Screenshot:
Searching for PI Points Is this intuitive? Probably not, unless you have spent time
memorizing the equipment’s naming conventions.
Most of the time, the PI Points themselves are not going to be easy enough for users to work
with; therefore, OSIsoft recommends developing your Asset Framework hierarchy to leverage
the very “human friendly” nature of AF Attributes on AF Assets. Building an intuitive AF structure
will make end users’ work much easier to accomplish.
PI Cloud and PI Edge
Now that we got an overview of an on-premises PI Server, or PI Core, which is helping our
customers with their data needs for decades, we will also have a look into the more recent cloud
and edge portions of the PI System.

What is OSIsoft Cloud Services (OCS)?

OCS is a cloud-native, secure data platform built on Microsoft Azure and fully operated by
OSIsoft (SaaS/PaaS). You can use OCS to collect, manage, enhance, and share historical,
real-time, and forecasted operations data.

OCS complements on-premises PI Servers and can also collect data directly from edge data
sources. The cloud platform enables you to easily define, visualize, query, and shape datasets,
whether for data science purposes or for use with popular reporting applications, such as
Microsoft Power BI.

OCS gives you the ability to share operations data both internally and with trusted partners or
vendors. IT and BI groups can now use formatted and contextualized Operational Technology
(OT) data across cloud providers (such as Azure, AWS, and Google’s Cloud Platform) and with
other enterprise applications. Operations data within OCS is formatted so that it’s shaped and
ready for advanced analytics.

How is the data collected?

OCS provides a variety of methods to collect data into the system. You can ingress data from
an external application or from PI Server directly to OCS using any of the following methods:
  The PI to OCS Agent transfers PI time-series data from an on-premises PI Server into
OCS. PI to OCS maps PI Data Archive PI points to Sequential Data Store (SDS) types
and streams.
 OSIsoft Message Format (OMF) is a platform-independent format for passing JSON
messages to OCS using an HTTP client. Use OMF to achieve a high-throughput data
feed into OCS. OMF is used to send data from the Edge Data Store (EDS) and from PI
Adapters.
 Developer-friendly REST APIs provide programmatic access to read and write
sequential data into OCS.

What is Edge Data Store (EDS)?

Edge Data Store (EDS) is a lightweight data collection and storage application designed to
capture data at the edge of networks for historical storage and analysis. EDS augments the
PI System and OCS by collecting and storing data in situations where deploying a full system is
impractical. It can collect data that is beyond the reach of automation systems, in unreliable
network conditions, and in environments too rough for traditional computers. Edge Data
Store can run almost anywhere you can install a sensor, such as beam pumps, mining trucks,
wind mills, etc.

The data is collected via PI Adapters which are taking up the task of PI Interfaces and PI
Connectors for edge systems.
Collecting Data
OSIsoft offers three families of data communications software designed to send the data from
various data sources to the PI System. Within each family there are dedicated types which can
communicate with the different data sources. For the most common data sources there is a
product available from each of the three classes.

PI Interfaces

PI interfaces is the oldest and therefore biggest family of data communications software within
the PI System. There are hundreds of different PI interfaces to connect to a large variety of data
sources.

PI interfaces typically run on a dedicated system, called an interface node, which connects both
to the data source and to PI Data Archive. Interface nodes can run multiple interfaces and
connect to multiple PI Data Archive servers. Management and configuration are usually done
from an application installed on the interface node called Interface Configuration Utility (PI ICU).

PI Connectors

PI connectors represent a technology a generation beyond OSIsoft's earlier interface products,

simplifying systems administration through the automation of key functions. With minimal
configuration requirements managed through an HTML-5 compliant web-based dashboard, PI
connectors automate many aspects of setting up an effective PI System, including:

Collection of data types

PI connectors automatically discover data on a data source when they are first connected. PI
connectors collect time-series data and metadata. Time-series data is saved to PI points in PI
Data Archive, whereas metadata such as elements, attributes, and related Event Frames are
saved in AF Server.

Creation of PI points

PI connectors automatically create the PI points, elements, and attributes needed to store the
data that has been selected for collection. Data streams are then auto-configured on the PI
Server. A reference model is built in AF, which serves as a mirror image of the data source. This
is a convenient starting point for integration with a more comprehensive AF model. New data
streams added to the data source are automatically collected by PI connector, which monitors
the source continuously. Automation of this process is particularly useful when dealing with
large numbers of tags.

PI Adapters

PI Adapters gather operations data with total security, fast performance, and no-code
manageability—regardless of device, communication protocol, language, data frequency,
delivery speed, or format. PI Adapters can be installed quickly and are optimized for real-time
time-series data. Adapters are supported on Windows and Linux devices.

Adapters perform the following actions:

 Collect data from assets in remote locations over a variety of popular protocols, a
process known as Data ingress. Each PI Adapter available supports a specific
communication protocol.
 Convert ingressed data to the OSIsoft Message Format (OMF).
 Send converted data to a supported data archive, a process known as Data egress.
Supported data archives include:
o PI Server
o OSIsoft Cloud Services (OCS)
o Edge Data Store (EDS)
o Any combination of the three
2 PI TIME
LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Understand PI time expressions

 Explain the differences between fixed and reference times
 Use time offsets
 Understand the effect of DST on the retrieval of PI point data.

When searching for data in PI you will use a timestamp since most PI data is time series data
and this data has a timestamp associated with it. We can use a special syntax, called PI time, to
specify inputs for timestamps and time intervals in the PI client applications, for example PI
Vision. PI time uses specific abbreviations and rules in building valid time expressions.

PI Time Expressions
In PI there are two ways to specify time:

Fixed Time: An expression that signifies a specific date and time. Used when you want to
save a view of your PI System data for a specific time in history.
Example: A user is creating a report that analyses an equipment failure event which
occurred on the 25th of July 2013 at 11 am, so 25-Jul-2013 11:00:00 AM
Reference Time: An expression that signifies a date and time relative to the current date
and time. Used when you want to create a dynamic view of your data, which can be used to
view data in real-time, or re-used on a periodic basis to create periodic reports.
Example: A user creates a report that summarizes weekly production totals. By using
relative time expressions, the user will be able to re-use this report every week, so define a
start date of “Monday” meaning start the report from last Monday.

Both Fixed Time and Reference Time can be used with Time Offsets; Time Offsets can be used
alone.
Fixed Time Syntax

A fixed time expression is an expression which includes a date, and optionally a time.
When the time component is omitted, Midnight is assumed. And midnight occurs at the
beginning of the day, not the end.

Expression Meaning
5-jan-92 12:34 12:34 p.m. on January 5, 1992
25-sep-12 00:00:00 (midnight) on September 25,
2012

The PI System interprets many different formats for fixed time. In the event of an ambiguous
input, the Windows Region and Language settings of the computer where the PI Visualization
Tool is installed take precedence.

Note the following:

Region and Language
Expression Meaning
Format
00:00:00 (midnight) on
1/5/2015 English (United States)
January 5th 2015
00:00:00 (midnight) on
1/5/2015 Rest of the world
May 1st 2015

Reference Time Syntax

A reference-time abbreviation represents a time relative to the current time.

Abbreviation Meaning Reference time

Now Current time
*
t today 00:00:00 (midnight) of the current day
y yesterday 00:00:00 (midnight) of the previous day
fri friday 00:00:00 (midnight) on the most recent Friday
may may 00:00:00 (midnight) on the current day in May
of the current year
apr-15 april-15 00:00:00 (midnight) on the 15th day of April in
the current year
 Abbreviation Meaning Reference time
YYYY Year 00:00:00 (midnight) on the current day and
month in year YYYY
M-D or M/D USA 00:00:00 (midnight) on the Dth day of month M
Or in the current year
D-M, D/M The world
15 00:00:00 (midnight) on the 15th day of the
current month

Use the first three letters as an abbreviation for any day of the week and any month of the year.
For example:
Expression Meaning
thu 00:00:00 (midnight) on the most recent Thursday
MAR 00:00:00 (midnight) on the current day in March of the
current year

Time Offset
When specifying PI time use specific abbreviations that represent time units. These are used in
constructing Time Offsets as in the table.

Abbreviation Time Unit

s second
m minute
h hour
d day
mo month
y year
w week

Specify the abbreviation, the full time unit or the plural version of the time unit, such as s,
second, or seconds. Time offset is any of the time units with a valid value and a + or – sign
included, e.g. +8h.
Time offsets can be used alone in a time field or come with a fixed time or reference-time
abbreviation.
Time Offset Syntax

Reference Time or Fixed Time and Offset Expression

When included with a reference-time abbreviation or with a fixed time, a time offset adds or
subtracts from the specified time (indicated by either + or -) and a time unit with a value
Expression Meaning
*-1h One hour ago
t+8h 08:00:00 (8:00 a.m.) today
y-8h 16:00:00 (4:00 p.m.) the day before yesterday
mon+14.5h 14:30:00 (2:30 p.m.) last Monday
sat-1m 23:59:00 (11:59 p.m.) last Friday
1-jan-20 – 1d Midnight 31 December 2019

Time Offsets Used Alone

Entered alone in a time field, time offsets specify a time relative to an implied reference time.
The implied reference time depends on the field where you enter the expression:
 For a start time, the reference time is the current clock time.
 For an end time, the reference time is the start time.
 For a single time stamp, the reference time is the current clock time.

Time field Expression Meaning

Start time -1d One day before the current clock
time (24 hours before the current
clock time)
End time +6h Six hours after the start time
End time -30m 30 minutes before the start time
Time stamp -15s 15 seconds before the current
clock time
Rules to Remember
Rule 1: You can only include a single time offset in an expression. Including multiple
offsets can lead to unpredictable results. For example, the following time expressions
are not valid:
*+1d+4h
t-1d+12h
Rule 2: To define a time offset you must include a valid value with any time unit. Only for
seconds, minutes, or hours, you can specify a fractional value. You cannot specify
fractional values for other time units.

Rule 3: A fixed timestamp consists of the fields of Year, Month, Day and Time (hours,
minutes and seconds). If any of these fields are not specified in the PI time expression,
the following values will be assumed by default:

 If Time is not specified, then the default value would be Midnight.

 If Day is not specified, then the default value would be Current Day.
 If Month is not specified, then the default value would be Current Month.
 If Year is not specified, then the default value would be Current Year.
Exercise – PI Time

Problem Description
Part 1 – Determine the “real” dates and times indicated by the PI Times in the table below:
Timestamp Input Meaning
* - 30m
y + 8h
T
Thu
Tuesday – 2d
18
y-2y

Part 2 – Express the following times in valid PI time expression:

Timestamp Input Meaning
Today at 6:00 AM
Monday at 6:30 am
12 hours ago
The first day this month
The end of the week (Friday morning)
7:00 am yesterday
15 minutes ago
First of March
25th of September 2014

Part 3 – List at least 4 ways you can “PI Abbreviate” 8 am today.

 Quick Check
Having completed this topic, are you able to:
 Understand PI time expressions?
 Explain the differences between fixed and reference times?
 Use time offsets?

If you answered NO to any of these questions, ask your instructor for assistance.
3 APPLYING CONCEPTS
LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Look at live data using PI Vision

 Build a basic display in PI Vision

Now that you understand the terminology and concepts associated with the PI System, it’s time
to start driving value from our client tools. Let’s demonstrate some of the concepts we discussed
and create a display of live data in PI Vision.

PI Vision - Browser based displays

PI Vision is a web browser-based application that lets you retrieve, monitor, and analyze
process information.

PI Vision allows users to:

 Search for and visualize time-series and other PI System data.
 Save displays for later use and further analysis.
 Reuse displays for multiple assets.
 Share displays with other members of a group or anyone with access to PI Vision.

PI Vision is supported by most modern browsers on a wide variety of computers, including

tablets and phones running iOS or Android operating systems.

Learning Outcomes:
 Create a PI Vision display.
 Use PI Vision symbols
 Demo future data
 Explain the search mechanism.
 Explain how to change the time range of a display.

To start using PI Vision, navigate to the PI Vision application server set up by your
administrator. In a default installation, the address is: https://webServer/PIVision where
webServer is the name of the PI Vision web server, for example https://pisrv01/pivision.
Drill Down Through the Assets in Your Plant

Ok, you need to quickly and easily get insight into the operational data stored in your PI System.
The 1st page displayed on the web server is the PI Vision homepage. Here you are able to view
the thumbnails of ‘All Displays’ that you can access; displays that you create as well as those
displays your colleagues create and share with others.

In this section the focus is on working with the native PI Vision displays. Below is a typical home
page for PI Vision.

To create a new display, click on and then start exploring the hierarchy of
the OSIsoft Plant, which is already set up as an AF database for you.

You can click on the arrow to the right of

‘OSIsoft Plant’ to start inspecting.
Drill through your AF Asset hierarchy
by clicking on the black arrows to find
assets in the plant. Notice the
hierarchy of assets displayed on the
left.

Once you click on an asset of interest,

say Storage Tank1, the Attributes list
populates below the Assets’ list…

Click a symbol, then drag and drop an

asset or attribute to the display area to
create a display. You are then able to
add other attributes or assets to this
symbol.

Change the start time Change duration of display Change the end time

Shift backward in time Set the display to end now

Explore PI Points, AF Attributes, and Related Assets in PI Vision

Directed Activity – Up close and personal with PI System Data through PI Vision

Objectives
 Create components of a PI Vision display

Problem Description
You want to see the following critical measurements of Mixing Tank1 from your home computer!

Measurement Display Symbol

Pressure Radial Gauge

Mixing Tank1

Level
Trend
Level_Forecast
External Temperature Value

Product
Table
Density

Approach
Step 1 : Open your web browser to the PI Vision homepage
Step 2 : Create a new display with
Step 3 : Drill down through the hierarchy in AF Server PISRV1 and database OSIsoft Plant to
determine the assets and their attributes.
Step 4 : Drill down to Mixing Tank1. Select the Radial Gauge icon and drag the Pressure
attribute to the display area to create the radial gauge.
Step 5 : Select the Trend icon and drag the Level and Level_Forecast to create a trend.
Right click and choose Format Trend, change the colours of the trend cursors.
Step 6 : Change the end time of the display to ten minutes in the future from now. Change
the start time of the display to the start of the work week (Monday at 8 am).
Step 7 : Select the value icon and drag the External Temperature to create the value.
Step 8 : Select the table icon and drag the Product and Density to the display area.
Step 9 : Change the start time of the display to start yesterday at 8 in the morning.
Step 10 : For fun - Add the Installation Date to the table; then remove it via the Configure
Table… pop up.
Alternative Approach (PI Points ONLY)

Objectives
 Create the same PI Vision display using only PI Points (not with AF Attributes)

Problem Description
Your company has not set up an Asset Framework hierarchy (yet!). Create the same display
you made before, but only use PI Points instead of the AF attributes. Thankfully, your colleague
has identified the PI Points that you need to use in the dashboard and has filled in the below
table for you:

Measurement PI Point Display Symbol

Pressure VPSD.OSIsoftPlant.PL1.MXTK1.Pressure Radial

Gauge
Mixing Tank1

Level VPSD.OSIsoftPlant.PL1.MXTK1.Level
Trend
Level_Forecast VPSD.OSIsoftPlant.PL1.MXTK1.Level_Forecast
External VPSD.OSIsoftPlant.PL1.MXTK1.External Value
Temperature Temperature
Product BCS1717
Table
Density 4321 g/L

Approach
Step 1 : Open your web browser to the PI Vision homepage
Step 2 : Create a new display with
Step 3 : Find the PI Points by drilling into the Data Archive and search
for the names listed in the table above.
Step 4 : Select the Display Symbol, then drag and drop the PI Point onto your display.
Step 5 : Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all measurements/symbols required.
Step 6 : Product and Density are not from PI Points. Use text fields for these items.

Discussion Questions:
1. How likely is it that you will know (or be given) every PI Point name you need to work with?
2. Your boss sees your great work and says that MixingTank2 should have the same display,
how do you build out another display for the second mixing tank?
3. Next week, you know that the products in your mixing tanks will change. How would you
get this new information onto your display without the use of Asset Framework?
Viewing Events in PI Vision
Learning outcomes
 Understanding Event frames

Tracking Important Events with PI

Events are important process or business time periods representing something happening that
impacts your operations. Capturing important events, and collecting relevant data concerning
those events can help analyse why they occurred. You may monitor events to identify
possible causes or potential points of failure such as:
 Asset downtime  Operator shifts
 Process excursions  Product tracking batches
 Equipment start-ups and  Environmental monitoring
shutdowns excursions
In the PI System, such events are known as Event Frames. With Event Frames, you can
capture, store, find, compare and analyse events and their related data. With Event Frames you
are able to analyse PI data in the context of the events rather than in continuous time periods.
Instead of searching by time, Event Frames lets users easily search the PI System for the
specific events they are interested in.
An Event Frame is defined by three characteristics:
1. Name: each event frame name must be unique and often includes a time stamp
2. Start time and End time: defines the event’s time range
3. Context: one or more event attributes and referenced AF elements
There are two categories of events that would fit an event frame profile:
“Good” events: Events that you want to track as a normal part of business such as product
tracking, shifts, asset stops and starts, and so on.
“Bad” events: Events that are unexpected and need to be analysed, such as unexpected
shutdowns or excursions. These are events that you want to track and report.
The following questions may help identify events or conditions that should be tracked:
Q1. What are all the times that event X occurred on this type of asset?
Q2. Do I want to associate data from different points over a given time?
Q3. What is the associated data for a particular time period when a problem occurred, or may
occur in the future?
Q4. What are the critical process events of which someone needs to be notified?
Retrieving and Visualising Event Frames

Just as elements allow you to collect and store data about assets, event frames allow you to
collect and store data about events. Use asset analytics to track your events using event
frames. PI Datalink and PI Vision are client tools that support event frame visualization, along
with PI System Explorer.
Following is an explanation of the tools:
PI DataLink: Import event frames from AF into Excel and then create reports for viewing
and analysing those events. Pivot tables and pivot charts are Excel features that can be
used to summarize the data and get a better insight into event frames.
PI Vision: Event frames related to assets on a display are discoverable by PI Vision.
The time range and duration of the display determine which events are shown in the
events list. You can compare similar events to each other using Gantt charts and trend
overlays.
PI System Explorer: An administrative utility mainly for working with Asset Framework.
It allows for an easy interface to search for events and analyse them. The results are
presented in a practical table format that features a Gantt chart and columns for the
attributes. Moreover, this is a quick way of verifying the creation of event frames.

Advantages of Event Frames

Features of Event Frames are:

Features Advantage of the feature

 Reference multiple elements within the same event.

 Support multiple overlapping events on an AF
Flexibility element.
 Capture any event; a "batch" is one type of event that
may be captured.

 Search by time range, type of event or event frame

Easy search
attribute.

Scalability  Event Frames are extremely scalable

Directed Activity – Process Downtime

Objectives
 Find an asset’s related events.
 Use PI Vision to analyse important events.

Problem Description
Build a display in PI Vision to analyse the out of control events.

Approach
Step 1 : Open the Tank Details Solution display.

Step 2 : Click on the Events button to find all related events to Mixing Tank1
Step 3 : Select the most recent closed event for Mixing Tank1. Note what the Reason Code
of this event is. ______________
Step 4 : Right-click on the name of the most recent Downtime event, select Event Details to
see the end values of the Attributes. What was the Flow Rate when the Event
Frame ended? ___________
Step 5 : Based on the list of the values of the data items find the temperature difference
related to the most recent downtime event. ________________
Step 6 : Right-click on the name of the most recent downtime event again, select Compare
Similar Events by Type. Which event was the longest? What time did it start?
______________
Step 7 : Pin a reference event and change the search criteria to include all tanks.

 Quick Check
If you don’t understand:
 Retrieving Events
 Finding Related Events
 Comparing Events
 ‘Pinning’ Events

then please seek help from your instructor.

4 HOW OSISOFT SUPPORTS YOU
LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Demo the OSIsoft Learning Platform

 Explore the OSIsoft Learning YouTube Channel
 Introduce PI Square and the Customer Portal

Learning Platform @ learning.osisoft.com

The best place to learn more about the PI System is through the OSIsoft Learning platform. We
have curated our online courses, instructor-led training, and hands-on labs in an easy to browse
website, so you can keep learning about the PI System long after PI World concludes.
The platform is separated into learning paths, and for beginners, we suggest the User path.
Online Courses
Take a few minutes to click into the different learning paths and see the types of online courses
offered for:
 Users – who need to see the data in real time, or build reports with PI System data;
 Administrators – who keep the data flowing and support end users. These courses dive
into the backend components of the PI System;
 Developers – who write code to interact with the PI System programmatically;
 Power Users – who are adept with the basics of the PI System and can boost their
organization’s efforts through building an enhanced Asset Framework structure.
Our online courses cover a wide range of topics and are on-demand. When you sign up for an
online course, you will immediately gain access to the course material for 30 days along with a
Training Cloud Environment for you to practice the concepts discussed in the course.
You can also purchase a Training Cloud Environment separately from the courses if you want a
place to explore the PI System outside of your company’s production environment; however, we
recommend using your own development system whenever possible to create meaningful
results with your company’s data as you learn from our online materials.

Classroom Courses
If you prefer a classroom setting, you will want to check out our instructor-led Classroom
Courses. We have a number of training centers around the world for you to visit, so pick a
location that is convenient for you (or combine some PI education with a vacation)!
To browse the available training centers and courses, follow these steps:
1. Click on “All Content”
2. Use the filter on the left to select “Classroom” under “Content Type”
3. Expand the “Location” category to browse our training centers
4. View the available courses offered at your selected location
a. Some training locations offer course taught in languages other than English, feel
free to use the “Language” filter to further refine your course options.
5. Click on the course that matches your interest and follow through registration

If you want to view the course calendar, you can click on the calendar icon
in the All Content page.
OSIsoft Learning YouTube Channel @ youtube.com/OSIsoftLearning
Visit our YouTube Channel to Learn about the PI System by watching any of our 1000+ free
videos on You Tube!
Playlists for various topics are available to help guide you through your training topic of choice
from start to finish.

Exercise – Search the OSIsoft Learning Channel

Objectives
 Find a video on the OSIsoft YouTube Learning Channel to learn about a topic not
covered in the Visualizing PI System Data Course
 Demo accessibility features and playback settings in YouTube
Problem Description
You want to learn how to navigate a PI Vision display and make use of Ad-Hoc trending
functionality.
Approach
Step 1 : Use a web browser to navigate to YouTube.com
Step 2 : Search for the OSIsoft Learning Channel
Step 3 : Run a search to find a video about migrating PI ProcessBook displays to PI Vision,
sample search: “PI Vision” or “ad hoc trending” or search for any other topic of
interest to you.
Step 4 : A video covering the utility is “PI ProcessBook to PI Vision Migration Utility”
Step 5 : Turn on the Subtitles by clicking on the button
Step 6 : Change the quality of the video by clicking on the Settings icon
Step 7 : While in Settings, choose Subtitles and notice
that you can have Google auto-translate to the
language of you choice AND you can submit
subtitles in other languages for the OSIsoft
YouTube team to review
Step 8 : To get notified when OSIsoft releases new
videos, make sure to and click on
the bell icon for updates
Directed Exercise – Find a playlist on YouTube

Objectives
 Search the OSIsoft YouTube Learning Channel for a playlist that interests you
 Use the playlist links to share structured content with your colleagues
Problem Description
You want to learn as much about a product as possible, or you want to audit an online course
for free.
Approach
Step 1 : Use a web browser to navigate to YouTube.com
Step 2 : Search for the OSIsoft Learning Channel.
Step 3 : Identify several playlists on the channel’s “Home” tab.
Step 4 : Click on the PI Vision Playlist.
Note the playlist sidebar on the right side of
the page. Now you can click into several
related videos.

Step 5 : Share the URL for the video with a colleague by selecting the entire URL on your
page. If you use the share button on the video, it does not share the entire playlist.
Step 6 : Go back to the OSIsoft Learning channel homepage by clicking on the channel icon
below the video player.
Step 7 : Scroll down until you see the section titled “Audit our Online Courses” and click on
the title.
Step 8 : Take note of all the free online course videos that you can view and share after PI
World with your team!

Follow up: What are 2 ways you can find playlists on the OSIsoft Learning YouTube Channel?
myOsisoft.com and the Customer Portal @ customers.osisoft.com
The myOSIsoft.com website has a lot of tutorials on how to do support related activities as well
as quick links to take you to commonly used support pages:
Login to Customer Portal Customer Portal How To's Partner EcoSphere
See Your Downloads How to Get an OSIsoft OSIsoft Partner Portal Login
Customer Portal Login
Create a New Case OSIsoft Partner Portal
How to Create a New Case How To's
View your Cases
How to Download Products Partner Access to Customer
Use the Enhanced Search
Portal
How to Search for Articles
See your Upcoming Services
OSIsoft Partner Marketplace
How to Manage Users
Manage Your Team
Partner Accreditation

And from the Customer Portal, you can:

 Download any PI product your company is licensed for using.
 View the PI System Roadmap to get information about the most current releases and
what new features and products are on the horizon.
 Login and view your open and previously closed Support Cases or create a new one.
 Search through our Knowledge Base to try and troubleshoot any issues you may be
having by referring to the rich collection of available KB Articles.

Here are the general phone number and email address for the OSIsoft Technical Support:
Phone: +1 510 297-5828
E-mail: [email protected]

Support may be provided in languages other than English in certain centres based on
availability of attendants. If you select a local language option, we will make best efforts to
connect you with an available Technical Support Engineer with that language skill. If no local
language techsupport engineer is available to assist you, you will be routed to the first available
attendant.
Before you contact Technical Support, it is helpful to have certain information readily available.
OSIsoft technical support engineers will ask:
 name of the product
 version number
 the time that the difficulty started
 the computer platform (CPU type, operating system, and version number)
PI Square – The online PI System Community @ pisquare.osisoft.com
PI Square is OSIsoft’s community where you can get Technical Support for your questions,
access the PI Developers Club (PI DevClub) for your coding projects, and connect to PI
Systems users worldwide to get more value out of your PI System.
The PI Square community has places you go to collaborate, called Spaces. These spaces are
generally named for a specific topic or purpose. Each space can contain multiple types of
content, including discussions, documents, blog posts, polls, and more. Currently, PI Square
has the following four spaces:
 All Things PI - A general forum where OSIsoft Technical Support will keep watch to help
answer questions and contribute to discussions. Use the product-specific spaces like PI
Server or PI Visualization to find relevant content for whatever your needs may be.
 PI Developers Club - Here we have tools and support for developers to create applications
for the PI System.
 Learn PI - Our hub for students to interact and learn from each other while they pursue
certificates in our on-demand online courses.
 PI Square Groups – Join a group that speaks to your specific industry’s needs and learn
from others in your field of their recommended best practices for projects on your horizon.

Exercise – Navigating PI Square

Objectives
 Create a PI Square SSO Account and find answers about Visualization topics
 Discover the online course forums
Approach – Part 1
Step 1 : Using a web browser, navigate to the PI Square website:
https://pisquare.osisoft.com
Step 2 : Log in to the PI Square community
a. If you don’t have an OSIsoft SSO account, create one now. You’ll use the same
account for PI Square, the OSIsoft Learning platform, and the Customer Portal.
Step 3 : Search for a post for each of the topics:
a. Future Data in PI DataLink | URL Parameters in PI Vision
Step 4 : Read through past posts, comment, or ask your own question.
Approach – Part 2
Step 5 : Navigate to the “Learn PI” space either by clicking on Spaces>Learn PI in the page
header, or by clicking on “Online Courses” from the homepage.
Step 6 : Click on “Visualizing PI System Data with PI Vision” under the “User” learning path.
Step 7 : Explore the questions posed and the answers given by the community for our on-
demand Online Courses.
© Copyright 2020
OSIsoft, LLC