St James Software ProcessReporter application

What is ProcessReporter?

The St James ProcessReporter is an electronic tool designed to effectively manage the information flow between outgoing and incoming shifts.

During the course of a shift, the shift operator or supervisor keeps track of the many events and processes that occur. At the end of the shift, this information is entered into the ProcessReporter shift logbook. This is a clear and concise record of the key areas of the process that will be needed by the incoming shift operator or supervisor. When the incoming operator or supervisor comes in, he or she has a clear and concise summary of the status of the process at the start of the shift, and can make informed decisions as to the course of action needed to maintain and improve the process.

In addition, the ProcessReporter logbook includes continuously updated PLC data. The latest PLC values are stored with the logbook when the shift ends.

Additionally, information can be brought in from field operators using j5 PDA devices. These devices run j5 Inspection Round software and synchronize information to the ProcessReporter either immediately or when the operator returns from his or her rounds.

Other users such as field operators, technical personnel and managers can also monitor the ProcessReporter logs to see how the shift went. They can also generate a spreadsheet report in Excel or CSV format.

The ProcessReporter also provides a secure, searchable record of the status of the shift at handover which can be used for many other purposes such as the evaluation of process campaigns, etc.

Why go to an network-based shift handover system?

The primary benefit to going to a networked shift handover system is that all the incoming shift workers start the shift well-informed. They have a clear and concise understanding of the status of the process as they start their work. This means that expensive and major plant upsets will be avoided because of better decisions.

Additionally, because the shift logs are visible to all, the quality of the shift handover steadily improves and the procedures are always carried out.

There is also a clear record and audit trail of the shift handover so that each operator knows his or her responsibility in the process. Once people are aware of their responsibilities, they take a pride in them and the quality of operations steadily improves.

The system is useful to different people in different ways. For example, an incoming maintenance manager would be interested in the maintenance fields while a supervisor would want to look at why there are continuing shutdowns in a given process stream.

The shift logs are maintained in an easily searchable database so that technical and managerial staff can easily locate specific shift records. For example, an engineer could find out where a particular problem started to appear by looking back through the shift logs.

What is a shift log made up of?

The structure of a shift log may be tailored to be exactly what you need for your site. The demonstration shift log is designed as a generic starting point for a St James's shift log which should be modified to suit your requirements. Here are some of the fields in the demonstration handover log.

A work order is typically an instruction issued by a control room operator (or supervisor) to the field personnel to carry out a task that is necessary to increase or maintain production or to improve or maintain safety.

The diagram below is a screen shot of a typical Handover Logbook showing the various fields of the Order. In particular, the following fields are important:

Screenshot of all shift log fields

Note that the values shown in the screenshot below are examples only. The system can be easily reconfigured to handle different scenarios to suit the actual requirements of a specific industrial site.

Diagram 2: click to enlarge

How does ProcessReporter integrate with the j5 Suite?

ProcessReporter is made up of a number of j5 Suite components.

To tune the various parameters in the ProcessReporter, please see the section Tuning Process Reporter

ProcessReporter features

* Minimal administration

The ProcessReporter is a true web server based application. There is no requirement to load software on any of the client machines. This means that the shifts can be quickly made available to tens or even hundreds of users without any changes to the user computers whatsoever.

* Export to spreadsheet

The ProcessReporter package has a built-in tool for distributing data in a widely-accessible and easy-to-use format: the spreadsheet.

* Attach any file to the ProcessReporter

You can attach files of virtually any format to the Shift Handover Log. (e.g. graphics files, Word or Excel files, Schedules, PowerPoint files, etc.) When the user clicks on the Attachment link, the application (e.g. Word) is started on his or her system and the information is immediately available.

* Really Industrial

The ProcessReporter package has been designed specifically for use on Industrial sites. It can be easily tailored to suit the areas and streams of your process plant and has a complete built-in user management system.

* Easy to start, easy to change

The ProcessReporter package comes with a standard set up so that you can immediately implement it on your site with a minimum of effort. However, as you become familiar with the concepts of the ProcessReporter you will probably want to enhance and customize the application to better suit your specific site needs. This is a simple fill-in-the-blanks process that enables you to customize not only the look and feel of the ProcessReporter but also the structure.

* Change the look & feel of your ProcessReporter

Just change any of the presentation parameters and you will see the immediate effect of your changes. There are on-line tool tips for each of the categories to help you make the choices. There are over 50 different parameters that you can choose from to vary the presentation of the layout. All of these changes can be achieved through a simple fill-in-the-blanks form without having to do any graphical design. Most of the entries are available as options in a pull-down combos.

* Add your own site-specific fields

You can add your own fields that are specific to your business. Just go into the configuration, click on the new field button and enter the name and format of the new field. The system will take care of the database transactions for you and add a new column to the table. You can now fine-tune the characteristics of the new field such as the presentation of the field and what valid options are for that field.

* ProcessReporter will automatically fill in the standard fields

Your users do not have to fill in many of the standard fields like the date, area, console and their user name. All these fields are filled in automatically by ProcessReporter. Additionally, the system will not allow the users to enter data outside of their assigned areas and will only give them the choice of options that are in fact valid for their areas. Field operators can only modify the status of orders that they have been assigned to.

* Choose the valid options for your fields

You can specify the valid options for each of the fields. For example, for the area field, you may specify the production areas as Raw Products, Utilities, Main Production, Recycle, Technical etc. When the control room attendant is adding a new order, these options are made available to him or her in a combo box. They are also made available when you want to filter the logs to find some specific information.

* Associate the options of each category with different color and style codes

To help your users easily identify the specific codes, you can assign colors and styles to these codes. For example, you can assign specific colors to the status of the shifts.

* Powerful yet cost effective

The pricing is based on the number of user sessions that are simultaneously active. For a site with say 100 people, you could purchase 5 or 10 concurrent licenses and make these available to all 100 users.

* Add additional sessions at any stage

To add more concurrent sessions, you simply order and pay for the new session licenses and we send you an updated license key. The software already on your system will recognize the new license and activate the new session keys for you.

* Each session can have multiple users

You can have as many users as you like on a given viewing station. For example, if you have a system in the control room, you could have 5 different users for that one seat. Each user can have different access permissions depending on their position in the organization.

* Control who looks at ProcessReporter and what they can see

You can decide who looks at ProcessReporter and exactly what they see. For example, you may want one user to be able to see everything on one site but only be able to enter shift logs in the control rooms.

* On-line help

A comprehensive easy to use on-line help system is available from the ProcessReporter. Browse through the system or go directly to a specific key word.

* Choose your database

Your ProcessReporter will connect to any of the following databases: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL or Microsoft Access. Because all your data is stored in a standard database, you can access it with any of your favorite utilities such as Crystal Reports, Microsoft Excel, or the utilities that come with the database itself. For databases other than Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL or Microsoft Access, please contact us at info@…

* Internet access

Provided you have a network connection (either Internet or Direct Connect or via modem) you can access the shift information. Of course you can also inhibit access from off-site if you want.

The ProcessReporter package produces a standard XHTML output which can be viewed using any standard browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. The shifts are presented in tabular form and are updated as soon as anyone on the network adds or modifies a work order.

* Store as much data as you want

There is no software limit to the number of records that can be stored or the number of days of data that can be stored.

* Find the data easily and quickly

Finding information is easy: just click on the Filter button and type in the word or keyword you are looking for and the table will show all the shifts that match your specification.

* Set your time window

You can decide how far back in the shifts database you want to look. For example, you may be only interested in the last 3 month's information.

* Control the modification of shifts

You can define which parameters in the shift report a specific user can modify. This means that the fields are only updated by people that are authorized to do so.

Try out ProcessReporter

Your current system will probably run ProcessReporter without changes.

The ProcessReporter application is just one of the applications to be made available in the j5 Suite Demo. You can download the demonstration version to install and test ProcessReporter on your own machine, tailor it to your requirements, or test it on your network.

Once you are satisfied you can purchase a full license. If you have any questions you can contact our engineers or system integrators by email or calling 1 713 893 7152.