Streamlining Template and Element Management in PI System

Streamlining Template and Element Management in PI System with Extensions and Alternative Approaches

Managing a PI System with a vast number of elements and templates presents unique challenges, particularly when dealing with thousands of field devices that require intelligent mapping of hundreds of thousands of unique tags. When these tags aren't directly translatable to standard attributes within templates, creative strategies become necessary. Here, we explore the implications of using extensions to add attributes to elements, along with alternative approaches and considerations for efficient PI System management.

Understanding Extensions in PI System

Extensions in PI System allow you to customize elements by adding attributes not explicitly defined in a template. While this offers flexibility, it comes with notable risks and management complexities:

1. Breaks Template Consistency: Allowing extensions can compromise the template's consistency, leading to more complex element management as individual elements start to differ when extensions are used.

2. Limitations in PI Vision and Collections: When dealing with PI Vision or using Collections, filtering capabilities in Collection Criteria are restricted to attributes pre-defined in the template. This limitation might affect reporting and visualization.

3. Impact on Analysis: Analyses that utilize extended attributes will fail if these attributes are absent from specific elements, potentially leading to inaccurate or incomplete data analytics.

Alternative Approaches to Consider

Given the drawbacks of using extensions, it's important to explore alternative methodologies:

• Incorporate Attributes into Templates: Instead of using extensions, add necessary attributes directly into the template, but mark them as excluded where they aren't needed. This prevents the system from attempting unnecessary data mappings, thus avoiding potential failures.

  • Excluded attributes won’t cause Analyses to fail; instead, they will suspend execution without errors.

• Use PI SE to Manage Visibility: Utilize the "Hidden" and "Excluded" properties to manage the attributes neatly. This ensures attributes without mapped tags do not clutter PI Vision or complicate system searches.

Best Practices for Managing Extensions

If opting to use extensions temporarily, consider the following:

• Enable Extensions for Testing: Allow extensions to test new attributes dynamically, ensuring they function correctly across various elements without altering the template.

• Promote Tested Attributes to Templates: Once an attribute proves useful, integrate it into the template by right-clicking and selecting "Add Attribute to Template." This solidifies the change and maintains standardization.

• Manage Extension Permissions Carefully: After incorporating new essentials into the template, disable extensions carefully to prevent loss of manual attributes. If removed, all extended attributes not in the template get automatically deleted, underscoring the need for meticulous management.

Conclusion

Effectively managing a PI System with expansive demands requires a nuanced approach to balancing flexibility and standardization. By incorporating thoughtful strategies around extensions and employing alternatives such as included but excluded attributes, organizations can maintain system integrity while enabling the necessary customizations to meet specific operational needs.