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What is j5 OrderBook?
The St. James OrderBook is an electronic tool designed to effectively manage the flow of orders that go out to field operators on Industrial sites.
Control Room operators create the orders and enter them into their computer in the control room. The field operators receive the orders on their computers and, as the order is carried out, they update the status on their computers so that any authorised user can get a clear picture of the status of the work being done. The diagram below shows the basic order issuing and implementation scenario.
Diagram 1: click to enlarge
Why go to a Networked Orders Base System
The primary benefit to going to a networked Orders Base System is that the site personnel get a clear indication of the precise status of orders that are currently active and so can better manage the entire communications between control room based and field operators. I.e. people know exactly what the operations staff are doing at any one time.
Additionally, there is no chance that an order could be forgotten or (possibly worse) duplicated.
There is also a clear record and audit trail of who created the order, who is responsible for the order and when the order must be completed by. People know what they are responsible for and are credited with the work they have carried out.
Since the system is on-line, updates to the status of orders are made instantly available to everyone. Supervisors, Control Room Attendants, Maintenance Personnell do not have to phone the control room to find out the status of a task. This means that there is a much better co-ordination level between the different disciplines.
High Priority, On Hold or Overdue orders can be highlighted so that the field operators can make the most effective use of their efforts.
The orders are maintained in an easily searchable database so that the operating staff can easily find records of past orders to help improve their effectiveness. For example, the user could search for all orders that have been carried out in the last year on a particular piece of equipment. Alternatively, they may be looking to see how long it took to do a particular task when it was carried out the last time.
What an Order is made up of
An 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 Orderbook showing the various fields of the Order. In particular, the following fields are important:
- Process Fields: That define the area of the process, the equipment and the priority.
- Log Date and Complete Before: These are the dates that the Order is logged (entered) and the date at which the order must be complete by.
- Order Message: This is a description of the Order.
- Responsible: This is the Field Operator who has been assigned the task to carry out the order.
- Status: This is the status of the order. Generally, there would be the following order statuses:
- Released: The Control Room Attendant has issued the order,
- Accepted: The field Operator has read the order,
- Underway: The field operator is actually working on the order,
- On Hold: The job is on hold for a specified reason (E.g. waiting for equipment)
- Cancelled: The Order has been cancelled,
- Complete: The operator notifies the Control Room attendant that the order has been complete.
- Closed: The Control Room Attendant closes the order and the entry is removed from the screen.
- Comment: This an area where the Field Operator can write messages about the order he or she is working on.
Diagram 2: click to enlarge
OrderBook Procedures
To get an idea of the procedures in a typical OrderBook system, please start our on-line demo and click on the help link.
Note that the procedures described in the demo should be viewed as examples only. The system can be easily reconfigured to handle different scenarios to suit the actual requirements of a specific industrial site.
Minimal Administration
The OrderBook is a true web server based application. There is no requirement to load software on any of the client machines. This means that the Orders can be quickly made available to tens or even hundreds of users without any changes to the user computers whatsoever.
Attach any file to the OrderBook
You can attach files of virtually any format to the Orders Entries. (E.g. graphic 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 made available.
Really Industrial
The OrderBook 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 inbuilt user management system.
Easy to start: Easy to change
The OrderBook 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 OrderBook 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 OrderBook but also the structure.
Change the Look and Feel of your OrderBook
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.
OrderBook 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 OrderBook.. 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 too 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 orders.
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 connect into our web site, 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 personalities depending on their position in the organization.
Use a PDA or the iPod to enter Field Information
You can get logbook information while on site away from your desk using an iPod or iPhone. Likewise, your field operators or inspectors can enter data directly into the iPod while moving around the site. Emergency personnel too can get up to the second information on the current plant status without having to return to their desks.
Control who looks at OrderBook and what they can see
You can decide who looks at OrderBook 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 orders in the utilities area.
On-line Help
A comprehensive easy to use on-line help system is available from the OrderBook. Browse through the system or go directly to a specific key word.
Choose your Database
Your OrderBook will connect to any of the following databases: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres 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. Alternatively, you are welcome to download our free jWorkBook utility which gives you direct access to the database and the facility to create your own custom reports in the spreadsheet. For databases other than Oracle, SQL Server or Microsoft Access, please contact us at
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Internet Access
Provided you have a Network connection (either Internet or Direct Connect or via modem) you can access the Orders Information. Of course you can also inhibit access from off site if you want.
The OrderBook package produces a standard html output which can be viewed using any standard browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer. The Orders are presented in tabular form and are updated as soon as a new Order is added anywhere in the system.
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 Orders that match your specification. If you type in two criteria for different columns, then the log will show only those records that match both criteria.
Set your time window
You can decide how far back in the Orders database you want to look. For example, you may be only interested in the last 3 month's information.
Control the modification of Orders Items
You can define which Orders a specific user can modify. This means that the orders are only updated by people that are authorized to do so. Additionally, you can specify which parts of an order can be modified by a user. Typically a control room operator would have access to the order itself and the field operator would only have access to the status of the order.
Try out OrderBook
You can try out OrderBook immediately by clicking here. (This is a full OrderBook system that has had the Adding and Modification facilities removed for use on the open web.) Alternatively, you can download a version and test it (or tailor it to your requirements) on your own computer.
Your current system will probably run OrderBook without changes
OrderBook comes in two versions, a Web based version and a standalone version.
We recommend the web based version for all but the smallest of sites. For the web based version, we provide an Install that includes the Apache server. Once the system is installed, any user on your network that has a web browser has access to the system.
For the standalone OrderBook application you would need Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 or Windows XP. Typically, the database can either be in the same computer or in a central server and the users will connect via a LAN to this server. The software will run on most reasonable computers however we recommend a Pentium computer with 32 MB of RAM to provide a reasonable interface to the software. To start off, you can download the free demo software and run it on a single computer. Note that you will need to register first. (If you do not have a central database, the system will use an MS Access format in the local computer.)
Where to from here?
We recommend as a starting point, you try out our on-line demo by clicking here. You can also get more information by clicking on the Help Link in the toolbar. Or get more informed by looking at our White Paper on the subject. Alternatively, you can register with us then download our free version or purchase the full license here. Of course, you can e-mail us or request a call from one of our engineers or from one of our system integrators. Or just give us a call on 1 713 893 7152.
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