So you see your need for a historian. Where do you go from there? A false assumption is that all historians are the same. The proof is in the results. Here are some things to look for:
Stores Long-term Data
A main essential to having a historian is being able to store years' worth of data. If your maximum storage capacity is 6 months to 1 year worth of data before having to offload or archive data, you may want to reconsider what you believe a true historian to be. If your trend or client tools cannot access years of available data in a quick manner, you will face problems. This may seem to be more of a luxury, but it is an huge part of having a historian.
Easy Access to the Data you Need
The purpose of the historian is having quick and easy access to process data. You should not have to rely on IT to take days to find the data requested. Having chronological data is fundamental to finding automation, control and equipment problems.
The Ability to Quickly Identify Issues
When you already have the qualities mentioned above, you will be using this historical information and easy to use off the shelf tools to learn about the interaction between process and equipment data that had not been apparent in the past. This also helps in identifying other problems, including maintenance issues. This should be an on-going process, as the users learn more, there are more questions to research and may require additional data to be collected. The data doesn't lie.
Reliable
Are you dealing with:
-Holes in your data?
-Unreliable systems?
-Disk or file limitations?
-Limiting your data?
-Slowing your scan rates to accommodate for length of data?
These all point to one thing: trouble. It may be time to rethink your choice of your historian. These problematic issues can be avoidable, but only if you have the right product.
Monitoring Tools
Are you able to find out information like: The CPU and memory usage for different programs? Does your historian inform you of your update rates and throughput? How many clients and data loggers or collectors are attached? Your historian should also be able to compare other products and processes if anyone wants to evaluate performance parameters. Your historian should provide these answers with monitoring tools for the management of the system and health of the PC or server. If you don’t measure it, you don’t have peace of mind.
A main essential to having a historian is being able to store years' worth of data. If your maximum storage capacity is 6 months to 1 year worth of data before having to offload or archive data, you may want to reconsider what you believe a true historian to be. If your trend or client tools cannot access years of available data in a quick manner, you will face problems. This may seem to be more of a luxury, but it is an huge part of having a historian.Easy Access to the Data you Need
The purpose of the historian is having quick and easy access to process data. You should not have to rely on IT to take days to find the data requested. Having chronological data is fundamental to finding automation, control and equipment problems.
The Ability to Quickly Identify Issues
When you already have the qualities mentioned above, you will be using this historical information and easy to use off the shelf tools to learn about the interaction between process and equipment data that had not been apparent in the past. This also helps in identifying other problems, including maintenance issues. This should be an on-going process, as the users learn more, there are more questions to research and may require additional data to be collected. The data doesn't lie.
ReliableAre you dealing with:
-Holes in your data?
-Unreliable systems?
-Disk or file limitations?
-Limiting your data?
-Slowing your scan rates to accommodate for length of data?
These all point to one thing: trouble. It may be time to rethink your choice of your historian. These problematic issues can be avoidable, but only if you have the right product.
Monitoring Tools
Are you able to find out information like: The CPU and memory usage for different programs? Does your historian inform you of your update rates and throughput? How many clients and data loggers or collectors are attached? Your historian should also be able to compare other products and processes if anyone wants to evaluate performance parameters. Your historian should provide these answers with monitoring tools for the management of the system and health of the PC or server. If you don’t measure it, you don’t have peace of mind.
Ease of Use- without weeks of training
The definition of “ease of use” is not the same between different companies. Your historian is NOT easy to use if you have to go to 1 week or multiple weeks of training. The software should be intuitive for the majority of users and able to learn by use after 2-4 hours of instruction. Why over-complicate the situation for the users?
Up to Date Software
If your supplier is not constantly making product improvements, they will be left behind quickly. Is the maker of your current Historian concerned about staying up to date and fixing current problems? Users should have flexibility in arranging the display layout and formatting. The user interface must follow standard conventions. It must be simple, obvious and easy to learn. Users should not be required to press a refresh button to see accurate data after changing a display setting.
Not all historians are the same, Canary Labs proves that. Canary Labs Enterprise Historian is set apart from the others, all of these problems that you may face with other historians are eliminated. The Canary Labs Enterprise Historian provides you with each of the above mentioned essentials, to better your company's process, enabling you to work more efficiently.
Not all historians are the same, Canary Labs proves that. Canary Labs Enterprise Historian is set apart from the others, all of these problems that you may face with other historians are eliminated. The Canary Labs Enterprise Historian provides you with each of the above mentioned essentials, to better your company's process, enabling you to work more efficiently.
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