Example: Configure PI CIMPLICITY interface with multiple instances

You need to devise a plan for defining how to group all possible CIMPLICITY tags into the needed interface instances. The goal is to configure PI APS for each instance of the CIMPLICITY interface such that each instance owns a certain subset of CIMPLICITY tags and such that all tags created on the CIMPLICITY system are assigned to an interface. Each instance would then update Existing Points and find new Available Points for its specific subset of CIMPLICITY tags.

A CIMPLICITY system connects to one or more instrumentation systems and identifies each with a DeviceID. For this example, assume that the CIMPLICITY system is connected to two PLCs with Device IDs PLC_1 and PLC_2. The PI APS Connector for the CIMPLICITY interface supports the Tag Selection feature and provides the DeviceID as one of the attributes that can be used in a Tag Selection condition. The plan is to have two interface instances and assign points to the instances based on DeviceID.

For this example, two instances of the CIMPLICITY interface have been created with PI ICU and no points have been configured for either instance.

After devising the logic for assigning CIMPLICITY tags to an instance of the CIMPLICITY interface, use the PI APS Configuration Utility to run the following procedure for each interface instance.

1. On the Interface menu, click Register New and use the dialog box that opens to register the interface instance with PI APS.

2. Click User-set Defaults on the Settings menu. On the Tag Selection tab, clear the Use All Tags check box, then choose Use these tags. Enter the conditions that identify the tags to be associated with the interface instance. See section Tag Selection tab for details about using this dialog box.

   The following figure shows the completed dialog box for configuring instance one to manage the tags on PLC_1.

   

   The following figure shows the completed dialog box for configuring instance two to manage the tags on PLC_2.

   

3. Click Rules on the Settings menu to open the Rules for interface dialog box. Choose a rule in each area. Set the Points Not in PI rule to Create automatically and PI Point Edits rule to Edit automatically, which are the intended final settings.

   In a real implementation, the Points Not in PI rule would probably be set to Store in Available Points database on a trial basis before switching to Create automatically. The following figure shows the final rule settings for interface instance two (instance one would be the same):

   

   These rules allow PI APS to automatically edit and create points for the interface instance.