Project Administration

AVEVA Administration allows the user to carry out various administration tasks, including:

• Creating and deleting users and teams.

• Creating and deleting database files.

• Controlling the access that each user has to the project databases.

• Grouping databases together into Multiple DataBases (MDBs).

• Marking database sessions with a stamp, to enable changes from session to session to be identified.

• Controlling if and when users are alerted to changes to items made by different engineering disciplines.

The administrative information about a project is held in a database called the System database. In carrying out the project administration, the user will create, modify and delete elements in the System database.

In the case of projects using the AVEVA Global product, the System database stores fundamental project definition data. Other data, such as usernames, which relates only to a particular location, is stored in a separate Global database.

Responsibilities of Administrators

The Project Administrator is a key role, providing the correct read and write access to project data for those who require it and restricting access for other users by dividing projects' data into suitable DBs and creating appropriate MDBs to minimize unnecessary user access to data.

The administrator is also expected to:

• Ensure the default password for System user is changed from the default XXXXXX when a new project is created.

• Ensure administrator credentials are suitably protected.

• Give each individual user a separate username.

• Make sure users are ‘General’ users, unless there is a proven need for them to be ‘Free’ users.

• Use an encrypted password in batch scripts to prevent it being read by other users.

• Protect the .bat and .init files which set environment variables.

• Protect company customizations from theft of IPR.

  • AVEVA does provide a PML Encryption product which the administrator may want to use.

• Protect company customizations from making theft of data possible.

  • Noting that an Export to Excel is available from the grid controls provided by AVEVA with the applications.

If utilizing customization capability, the administrator is responsible for:

• Checking that customizations (both PML and C#) are robust, will not crash or cause the product to run slowly.

  • Customizations should never be able to corrupt data, in whatever circumstances they are run.

  • Customizations should never be able to corrupt data, whatever input is given to them.

  • Pseudo attributes with slow calculations can have a major impact on performance.

• Check that customizations (PML and C#) do not expose sensitive data.

• Include input validation as part of any customization.

• Provide audit tools, as appropriate, to determine which customizations are used.