SmartPlant Integration means mechanisms by which information from a design tool is delivered to SmartPlant Foundation (SPF). Design tools refer to the SmartPlant design tools:
Central Tag Allocation (CTA)
SmartPlant P&ID (SPPID)
SmartPlant Instrument (SPI)
SmartPlant Electrical (SPEL)
Smart 3D (S3D).
MicroStation Process Flow Diagrams, Smart Materials, Smart Completions, and other points of integration are not included in the work described here. The integration mechanisms include revision control of documents and operations for the transfer of information called: Publish and Retrieve. These mechanisms function agnostic of the engineering procedures and practices and can be used in different ways to achieve different objectives.
Publish and Retrieve
Engineering processes can be established to flow information through the integrated environment. In such scenarios, information often originates from one design tool, gets published into SPF, and then consumed by another design tool. This practice is coined Publish and Retrieve and is typically leveraged to consume data and avoid errors that can occur when manually trying to keep up with changes between the tools. The practice does not eradicate discrepancies between the tools as this is a gated process that depends on users performing both operations (PublishandRetrieve) and accepting any changes that have been identified.
Publish and Compare
Engineering processes can be established to push information to SPF and then compare discrepancies within SPF. This practice helps only to identify discrepancies (inconsistencies) between the published data so that corrective actions can be taken. It is important to understand that this practice does not compare data as it exists directly in the design tools, but rather as published to SPF. This means that the publish operations must be observed, followed by acting on any corrective actions, and subsequently republishing to clear the inconsistency report.
Consolidated Data Warehouse (CDW)
The CDW is a rollup of tag data coming from the various design tools. In contrast to a comparison of the data, the consolidated data uses rules to define the value that should be considered “actual” for a given object property, in the case that a discrepancy (inconsistency) exists. The current rule is defined as the last to publish is the rolled-up value of the object property.
Combining the Tools
Meeting the project needs often means combining these tools for different use cases. The design tool practices, engineering procedures, and project standards all work together to establish use of these facets to meet the objectives of the project.
