About This Release

The MES 2023 release includes multiple significant changes as listed below. Highlighting a couple of the significant changes:

• MES 2023 has been enhanced to include a new shift pattern configuration that contains the shift schedules and links to entities. Prior releases had shift schedules assigned to entities. The database migration process will create new shift patterns with appropriate links. However, these should be reviewed and modified by the end user after migration as necessary.

• MES 2023 includes modifications to the database tables related to shift definition and item inventory. It also includes corresponding stored procedure and API changes that might require changes to existing applications that are upgraded to MES 2023.

Upon release, MES 2023 is compatible only with System Platform 2023, Work Tasks 2023, Recipe Manager 2023, and other current releases. See the compatibility information on the Technology Matrix page for further updates.

MES Stateless API

• Added classes in the Commerce namespace: Shipment, ShipmentLot, Receipt, ReceiptLot, and CustContact.

• Added EnProd.DataLog class and redirected existing DataLog16 and DataLog48 calls to DataLog

• Added EnProd.JobStepData class.

• Added overloads to EnProd.ItemInv and EnProd.StorageExec methods to include UTC and local dates for expiry date.

  Note: Get calls that pass a filter parameter with expiry_date (e.g., $expiry_date=$) will need to change this to expiry_date_utc or expiry_date_local.

• Added validation to item inventory and item production calls to ensure that input parameters and resulting data updates meet defined business rules.

  Note: Item inventory and production calls that previously worked might now fail due to validation errors.

• Added new shift pattern and shift schedule classes in the Core namespace: ShiftPattern, ShiftPatternEntLink, and ShiftSchedule.

• Added Core.ShiftHistory.UpdateSpecific to record the user comments and spare fields that were added to the shift_history table.

• The new Core.ShiftSchedule class replaces the ShiftSched class. Most but not all ShiftSched methods have been mapped to corresponding ShiftSchedule methods. However, there is a change in functionality that makes some of the calls non-functional now. For details, see the MES Stateless API Reference help.

• In the Core namespace, Ent.DoAutoShiftChanges, Ent.DoPastShiftChanges, Ent.GetRefreshedShiftSched, Ent.StartShift, and ShiftSched.DeleteAll are no longer functional calls and do not need to be used.

• Added new folder and file-related classes in the Prod namespace: Folder, FolderFile, and FolderItemOperEntLink.

• Added overloads for Prod.WO.CreateWOforALine and Prod.WO.ReassignWOToALine to include additional parameters.

• Item Inventory and Storage Exec APIs for moving, transferring, splitting, and updating inventory have been updated to include additional data validation checks.

• Added overloads for Commerce.Cust.GetByFilter and SOLine.GetByFilter to not include user context.

• Added EnProd.StorageExec.Scrap method.

• Updated Sample.GetChars to return additional columns.

• Removed various overloads that have been marked as obsolete in the MES 2014 (v5.0) release, including the following methods:

  • Ent.Add

  • Ent.GetAll

  • Ent.Update

  • Ent.UpdateSpecific

  • JobExec.GetQueue

  • OEEExec.Update

  • OEEExec.UpdateSpecific

  • Sample.UpdateSpecific

  • UserName.Add

  • UserName.AddorUpdate

  • UserName.Update

  • UserName.UpdateSpecific

  • UtilReas.Add

  • UtilReas.GetAll

  • UtilReas.Update

  • UtilReas.UpdateSpecific

  • UtilState.Add

  • UtilState.GetAll

  • UtilState.Update

  • UtilState.UpdateSpecific

MES Web API V3

• The MES installation software includes a PowerShell script to register a client ID and client secret with AVEVA Identity Manager (AIM) to allow for service-to-service Web API calls. For more information, see the MES Installation Guide or help and the MES Web API V3 Reference help.

• Added WO methods: Put, Post, Delete, GetAll, GetByKey, GetByFilter, Release, Cancel, ChangeWOQuantities, CreateForLine, ReassignWOToLine, and CreateFromProcess.

• Added Production/SetLotData and Consumption/SetLotData Put methods.

• Added POLine methods: Put, Post, Delete, Get, GetByKey.

• Add Item methods: Put, Post, Delete, Get, GetByKey, GetByFilter.

• Added ItemInventory/Scrap as a Put method to replace the Delete.

• Added a Jobs/ChangeJobStates Put method.

• Added UtilHistory methods: Put, Post, AddEvent

• Added QM chart-related Sample methods: GetChartDataByFilter, GetChartDataNameFilter, GetChartFilters, GetChartTypeByFilter, GetChartTypeNameFilter, GetControlRules, and GetChars.

• Updated the MiddlewareAccess endpoint to support generic commands for calling Put, Post, Delete, and Get calls.

• The input parameters max_rows and trans_id are now included in the Web API call header.

• Updated the Web API OpenAPI (Swagger) JSON file.

MES Stateful API

• The ClientSession class has new properties for IsHostedByOMI and IsOMIUserLoggedIn

• Added an overload for Jobs.AddProdPostExec to include sublot

MES Client

• Moved Customer configuration from MES Supervisor to MES Client except for the generation of sales orders.

• Moved Data Log configuration from MES Supervisor to MES Client, including a new property pane setting in entity configuration for linking data log groups.

• Added an option to create a database view from a data log group.

• Modified Shift Schedules to include shift patterns and moved shift exceptions from MES Supervisor to MES Client. Please see the MES Client User Guide or help for details about the new functionality provided.

• New installations include an updated color palette for job, utilization, sample, sample result states, and other system colors. An upgraded database will retain the existing color settings.

• Added an option to hide or show entities marked as unlisted.

• Added a calendar sample frequency option to delay the generation of the initial sample.

• Added Category on the QM Specification property pane for custom use.

• MES Client icons and theme have been updated. All menu items remain in the same locations and order.

MES Middleware and Middleware Proxy

• MES Service has been merged into the MES middleware.

• One MES middleware will perform the background maintenance tasks that had been performed by the MES Service. In a multi-node environment with more than one Middleware Server, the maintenance tasks can be moved to another middleware if the current middleware that is handling them stops running. Related to this hand-off, the preferred middleware for handling the maintenance tasks can be set during post-install configuration.

• An option was added to set the default region/time zone for transactions that are not associated to a site.

• Shift generation will now use a site's region to generate shift transitions at local time for the entity.

• Log flags were added for the FactMES.Server.MaintenanceService to log shift and sample generation maintenance activity.

• All time conversion between UTC and Local use SQL Server functions and no longer rely on the tz_offset table, which has been removed.

• In the Middleware Configuration editor, the default DB Connection retry count was changed from 100 to 10. For an upgrade, this setting will need to be manually modified after installation.

• In a multi-node environment with more than one Middleware Server, optional additional MES middlewares can now be defined for the Middleware Proxy to use if it cannot connect to the initial MES middleware.

• The communication between the MES Proxy and the MES Middleware is encrypted by default. New settings have been added to the Middleware Configuration Editor to change this behavior.

MES Web Portal

• A new version of the Kendo library is being used in this release, including Kendo's version of globalization. MES Web Portal no longer is using the Globalize library. Any existing customer using this library will need to modify their custom pages to call the Kendo library instead.

• MES Web Portal icons and theme have been updated.

MES Supervisor

• Only Inventory, Storage Entity Status, and Supply Chain Connector configuration remains in MES Supervisor.

• Customer, Data Log, and Shift Exception editors have been moved to MES Client.

• Removed Item Folders configuration from MES Supervisor. Stateless APIs have been added to cover this functionality, but no configuration screens.

• MES Supervisor is no longer included in any standard installation roles. Supervisor can be installed through a custom install.

MES Security

• Improved MES native security password encryption technology is now being used.

• MES native security no longer supports unique password as an option.

• MES native security now uses new defaults of a 12-character password length and 5 login failures.

• The MES .NET Control option for auto-login now works in InTouch OMI as well as InTouch.

• MES OS Group based security addresses first-time user login issues. Now when a new user logs into MES for the first time from some method other than MES Client, the necessary user records will be generated in the MES database.

Note the following:

• AVEVA Identity Manager (AIM) supports validation with Azure AD as a provider. If the Azure AD provider is synchronized with the same domain used for MES users, the MES Web Portal and applications calling the MES Web API will function. However, there is no option within MES Client to add Azure AD users or groups to MES security.

• Platform Common Services (PCS) now has an option for a redundant single sign-on server. However, MES 2023 does not support PCS redundancy.

Upgrade Information

• Data Log: Migration of a prior MES database version will move all data_log_16 and data_log_48 table data to the data_log table. If you previously ran the optional scripts from MES 2020 to copy the data to this new table, then you should delete the duplicate data from the data_log_16 and data_log_48 tables prior to upgrading so that there isn't duplicate data in the data_log table after migration. To continue support of reports that use the data_log_16 and data_log_48 tables, these are now views.

• Shift Schedules Converted to Shift Patterns: During migration, existing shift schedules will be validated for conversion to shift patterns. If any inconsistencies are found, a list will be stored in the error_log table. If the existing shift schedules can be converted, then the migration creates shift patterns with names in the format MES DB 7.0 upgrade pattern - n. It is recommended to change these names to something meaningful. For more information, see the topic "Migrated Shift Schedules" in the MES Installation Guide or help.

  Migration will not include any shift exception definitions from prior releases as the approach for defining these has changed.

  Migration of shift schedules should be reviewed in close detail. You should determine whether or not a better approach exists with the new functionality added for shift patterns with effectivity dates and entity-specific shift exceptions.

• Item Inventory Expiry Dates: Item Inventory records are updated to reflect expiry date local and UTC time, with the original value in the table retained in the expiry date local column.

• New Licensing Version Required: This release requires a new version of licensing. Prior licenses for MES 2017, MES 2017 R2, and MES 2020 will not work with this release. The license feature lines remain the same.

• Middleware:

  • An upgrade will require reconfiguration to enforce MES middleware security and synchronization with System Management Server, which is now a required component.

  • The MES Middleware service will be configured with Delayed Startup by default. If the database is on a separate node from the middleware, this can be changed to normal startup.

MES Data Editor and Supervisor to Be Deprecated

Future releases of AVEVA MES will no longer include the Data Editor or Supervisor components.

• Transactions currently being performed in Data Editor should be transitioned into using the corresponding Stateless API methods or the Stateless API DirectAccess methods. If there is no Stateless API method to perform the desired action, use the Stateful API ClientSession.SendXMLCommand method.

• With the future removal of Supervisor, the configuration of Supply Chain Connector integration will be removed. MES databases that are migrated as part of an MES upgrade will continue to function. All new customers should use Enterprise Integration instead of Supply Chain Connector.

BI Gateway

A limited version of BI Gateway Server is included with the MES installation software for use with MES BI Gateway reports and third-party reporting or BI Gateway tools. This version can be used solely with AVEVA Manufacturing Execution Software.

Note: An Azure SQL‑based BI Gateway datastore database is not supported with MES.

Note: Install BI Gateway either from the MES installation software or from BI Gateway installation software but not both. Installing from both might cause issues.

Updated Documentation

Significant content updates to the MES user documentation are summarized below.

MES Deployment Guide

Updated content to incorporate Work Tasks deployment with MES model-driven application content, database and recovery backup guidelines, and updated performance data.

MES Client User Guide and Help

Updated content to cover the new and updated modules for the changes in this release.

MES Installation Guide and Help

Updated content to cover changes to the installation, upgrading, and configuration.

MES Middleware User Guide

A new document that replaces the MES Middleware Extensibility Hooks Reference and the MES Service User Guide, which have been removed from the library.

MES Stateless API Reference Help

Updated content to cover API changes described above in "MES Stateless API."

MES Stateful API Reference Help

Updated content to cover API changes described above in "MES Stateful API."

MES Supervisor User Guide

Now contains only Inventory, Storage Entity Status, and Supply Chain Connector content.

MES Web API V3 Reference

Updated content to cover API changes described above in "MES Web API V3."

MES Operator User Guide and Help

Added content to cover serialization of produced items.

MES Web Portal User Guide and Help

Updated content to cover changes described above in "MES Web Portal Updates."