Plant SCADA 2023 R2 Release Notes

New features and enhancements

• Support for Plant SCADA on AVEVA Integration Studio

  AVEVA Integration Studio is an infrastructure-as-a-service virtual development environment that is delivered on AVEVA's cloud services platform CONNECT.

  Integration Studio lets you run and manage software applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the physical infrastructure typically required when developing and launching software. You can create templates for virtual machines and deploy multiple instances on demand.

  AVEVA Integration Studio now allows you to include Plant SCADA nodes in a project template. These nodes can be used to create multiple instances of virtual machines with a fully licensed version of Plant SCADA installed.

  For more information, see Plant SCADA and AVEVA Integration Studio.

• Double Point Status Alarms

  Plant SCADA 2023 R2 now supports double point status alarms.

  A double point status alarm responds to eight states in a field device that are represented in Plant SCADA as a single integer tag.

  For each of the eight states you can specify the following:

  • State Name <n> — a name that identifies the condition that the state represents.

  • State Type <n> — the action that occurs when the device transitions to a defined state.

    This means when the value of the integer tag is 0, the alarm will go into "State Name 0". When the value of the tag is 1, it will go into "State Name 1", and so on. When this occurs, the associated State Type action will be triggered.

    Just like time stamped analog and time stamped digital alarms, double point status alarms are timestamp based and designed to work with the Driver Runtime Interface (DRI). They need to use tags where values are pushed to the alarm server by a driver.

    See Add a Double Point Status Alarm.

• Kernel Access Improvements

  Access to the Kernel has been changed to provide improved security while monitoring a runtime system. These changes also allow you to display the Kernel from Runtime Manager while running Plant SCADA as a service.

  To display the Kernel window for a display client, the user that is currently logged in now needs to be assigned to a Role that has the Kernel Access property set to "Full Access" or "Read Only". A Read Only user can access the Kernel, but cannot perform some privileged commands like running Cicode.

  To display the Kernel window for a server process (including when running Plant SCADA as a service), you will need to log in using the dialog that is displayed when the Kernel window is launched. You will also need to enter a user that is assigned to a Role that has the Kernel Access property set to "Full Access" or "Read Only".

  Note:
  • The special Kernel user that enabled Kernel access in previous versions no longer has default access to the Kernel window.
  • After commissioning a system, it is recommended that you review the Kernel Access setting for each Role. This will avoid accidental or unauthorized use of the Kernel.

  For more information, see Display the Kernel Window.

• New Installation Framework

  Plant SCADA 2023 R2 includes a new installation framework that simplifies the selection and installation of required components. Plant SCADA's core components appear as a single entry within the Programs and Features list in Windows Control Panel, making it easier to uninstall. The new framework also supports Modify functionality, which means you can easily add and remove components (see Uninstall or Change Components).

  The installation of Plant SCADA can also be executed via a command line, enabling support for an unattended silent installation. The required components are specified via a configurable response file that represents the forms normally seen when interacting with the user interface of the Plant SCADA installer.

  Four preconfigured response files are provided. They install a typical set of required components, or they can be used as reference for your own customized response file.

  For more information, see Unattended Silent Installation.

• AVEVA Help

  The documentation for Plant SCADA is now presented using AVEVA Help, a browser-based tool that allows any installed AVEVA products to share a common platform for the delivery of product information.

  AVEVA Help is accessible from the AVEVA Documentation branch of the Windows Start menu. When launched, it will display in your default browser. Plant SCADA's context-sensitive help will also open content directly in AVEVA Help.

  The Plant SCADA help is also now available on AVEVA's Documentation cloud portal at:
  https://docs.aveva.com/bundle/plant-scada/.

• Setup Wizard supports HMI Computer Role

  The Setup Wizard and Profile Wizard now allow you to assign the role HMI (Standalone, no networking) to a computer within a Plant SCADA system. This change aligns the available computer roles in a Plant SCADA system with the license types supported by AVEVA Enterprise Licensing.

  If your Enterprise License Server hosts a combination of client, server and HMI licenses, you can now specify the HMI role for any computers that require a dedicated HMI license. This means the computer will not pick up a server license that was not intended for it. It also means you can host both server and HMI licenses on the same Enterprise License Server. Previously, you had to setup two different systems to host these licenses

  The HMI (Standalone, no networking) role can be configured on the Computer Role Setup page of the Setup Wizard and Profile Wizard.

  For more information, see Allocating AVEVA™ Enterprise Licenses.

• Unique IDs for Equipment

  A unique ID is now applied to any equipment and equipment types in a Plant SCADA project. This is done to provide consistent identification for integration with future software releases.

  The unique IDs are Globally Unique Identifiers that are generated by Plant SCADA whenever equipment is added to a project. The IDs are not available to access at runtime.

  The Migration Tool also includes an option to Create unique IDs for Variables and Equipment.

  For more information, see Unique IDs for Variable Tags and Equipment.

• Equipment Update Improvements

  The performance of an Equipment Update has been improved. In most cases, the time taken to generate tags and equipment will be significantly reduced compared to earlier versions.

• Project DBF AddIn supports 64-bit Excel

  The Plant SCADA Project DBF AddIn now supports 64-bit versions of Microsoft Excel.

Citect.ini Parameter updates

This topic lists the parameters that have changed in Plant SCADA 2023 R2.

• New Parameters

  The following parameters have been added to this release.

  Alarm Parameters

  [Alarm]UseInOperatorForGroupCommands

  This parameter has been provided in Plant SCADA 2023 R2 Update 15 (delivered in October 2025). It controls whether the IN operator is used by Cicode alarm functions that can be passed a handle for a group that contains more than one item. Note: Do not enable this parameter until all alarm servers in your system have been upgraded to Plant SCADA 2023 R2 Update 15.

  General Parameters

  [General]EnableIndustrialGraphics

  This parameter has been provided in Plant SCADA 2023 R2 Update 15 (delivered in October 2025), to allow you to disable Industrial Graphics functionality within Plant SCADA configuration tools.

• Removed Parameters

  The following parameters have been removed from this release.

  Alarm Parameters

  [Alarm]EnablePrevRecordOptimisation

  This parameter was used to control whether an optimization was used when communicating with older server versions. All supported versions now support this optimization, so it is always used.

  Debug Parameters

  [Debug]Kernel

  You can no longer launch the Kernel at startup.

  CSV_Include Parameters

  [Alarm]ActiveHeading	The CSV_Include project is no longer supported by Plant SCADA as a system project.
  [Alarm]DisabledHeading
  [Alarm]SummaryHeading
  [Alarm]HardwareHeading
  [MultiMonitors]LastPageStackSize
  [MultiMonitors]ScreenWidth
  [Page]NewPageInBase
  [Page]DelayRepaint
  [Navigation]AlarmPage
  [Navigation]DisabledPage
  [Navigation]FilePage
  [Navigation]HardwarePage
  [Navigation]HelpPage
  [Navigation]HomePage
  [Navigation]MenuBackColour
  [Navigation]MenuForeColour
  [Navigation]MenuXPos
  [Navigation]NetworkPage
  [Navigation]MenuYPos
  [Navigation]ProcessAnalystPage
  [Navigation]SummaryPage
  [Navigation]TrendPage
  [Navigation]ToolsPage
  [Printer]Port
  [Privilege]EngTools
  [TrendX]Duration
  [TrendX]KeySeq
  [TrendX]TagListEnable

Cicode Function updates

Some Cicode functions may have been introduced or modified. The following sections explain these changes.

• Removed Functions

  Error Functions

  ErrHelp

  This function is now obsolete.

  Windows Functions

  WndHelp	This function is now obsolete.
  WndViewer	This function is now obsolete.

• Reinstated Functions

  Error Functions

  HtmlHelp

  Invokes the Microsoft HTML Help application (hh.exe) to display an HTML help file (.chm).

Resolved Issues

Alarm Server

• 2563356 - Redundant alarm servers go main-main due to mismatched ports

  If the primary alarm server had a different database port configured for the standby server compared to the configuration on the standby, the standby would go main when it started instead of being rejected by the standby and stopping. This resulted in a main-main situation. The standby is now rejected and will not start. An error message is generated.

• 2583435 - State_Desc and State_Desc columns have issues with localised strings (@(text) syntax)

  In the active and disabled alarm lists, the State_Desc and State_Desc would not display any localised values for multi-digital alarms configured with @(text) syntax in the state names. Filtering on localised values would also not work. In the SOE and summary lists, localised values would be displayed but filtering would not work. Now, localised values are displayed and can be used for filtering in all alarm lists, for multi-digital alarms and the new double point status alarms.

Archiving

• 2429284 - SOEMount Cicode function does not work when called with UNC path

  When the SOEMount Cicode function is called with a UNC path, it would produce the error "Failed to mount volume - The system cannot find the path specified". SOEMount now works for both UNC and drive-letter paths (including mapped drivers).

Cicode

• 2422608 - Tag is missing from a form launched by TagDebugForm

  A form launched by the TagDebugForm Cicode function now displays the list of configured tags correctly.

Compiler

• 2473336 - Case sensitivity impacts the Network Address for an OPC DA Server

  The compiler will no longer check the Network Address field for case sensitivity for an OPC DA Server.

• 2563130 - Custom file is not zipped if its file location is not followed by a backslash

  Users can specify the location of custom file using Plant SCADA path such as [BIN], [CONFIG], [DATA], [USER] and [COMMONFILES]. However, the file would not be included in the custfiles.zip file if this path was not followed by backslash (\) character. For example, specifying [CONFIG]\MyFile.txt will work while [CONFIG]MyFile.txt will not. The user can now specify the file location to the custom file using a Plant SCADA path with or without the backslash character.

Configurator Plug-in

• 2600110 - The Security Roles page in Configurator displays error message instead of busy indicator

  When selecting the Security Roles page in Configurator, if it was still looking up the Windows account names for the various roles a misleading message stating "There are no user configurable roles..." was displayed. After the lookup completed, the security roles would appear on the page. The user experience is now improved. While the page is looking up the account names, a busy indicator appears instead of the misleading message.

Connectivity Server

• 2835349 - Connectivity server stops working during tag browsing

  When a client drops its connection during a tag browse session, a task cancellation token is used to cancel the ongoing authentication task. The early disposal of this task cancellation object caused an unhandled exception. The situation is now handled correctly.

• 2835355 - Connectivity server stops working due to unhandled argument exception

  When the connectivity server rapidly connected to and disconnected from I/O servers, the platform transport layer would often get invalid or null x509 certificates from the peer that caused the interruption due to an unhandled exception. This has now been resolved.

CTAPI

• 2214907 - CTAPI syslog log file traces are truncated

  The previous maximum message length of 80 characters has been changed to 256. This means most traces will no longer be truncated in the syslog.dat file.

Deployment

• 2556676 - ServerConfiguration.json is saved in the wrong location after deployment

  The ServerConfiguration.json file is now saved in the correct location for a recently compiled project.

Equipment Update

• 2221085 - Equipment Update key field impacted by unexpected case sensitivity

  If a character changed case, an Equipment Update would delete the associated record and add it back again instead of modifying the existing records. This no longer occurs.

Graphics Builder

• 2864671 - Graphics Builder is not Large Address Aware

  Graphics Builder has been made Large Address Aware to allow it to use the full 4GB of address space available to 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows.

Kernel

• 2604380 - Runtime Manager service user needs to be added to the Performance Monitor Users group

  The virtual service account for the Runtime Manager has been added to the Performance Monitor Users group to allow performance counters to be accessed in service mode

OPC DA Server

• 2311444 - OPC DA server unable to gain license from Demo License Provider

  The Demo License Provider was not able to supply a license to the OPC DA server. This is now fixed.

• 2606121 - Connectivity Service does not handle Continuation Point well in OPC UA browse

  If the OPC UA client was configured so that the maximum number of browse items was less than the actual items under the targeted node on a server, the OPCUA server would truncate the rest of items. This resulted in the client not being able to retrieve the full list of items. This issue has now been resolved.

Project DBF Add-In

• 1888198 - Project DBF Add-in converts values with CRLF to LF when edited

  When DBFs are edited with the ProjectDBFAddIn, carriage return line feed (CRLF) characters will no longer be changed to line feed (LF) characters.

Runtime

• 2209010 - Unable to start runtime processes when switching over to service mode

  Windows places a much tighter restriction on the user interface resources for processes when running under a service. When the collective resource consumption of all processes running under the Plant SCADA runtime service is exhausted, no additional processes can be started. This is observed as the Runtime Manager being unable to start a server, unless another server process is stopped. However, this issue only occurs when running a very large number of server processes on the same computer. To alleviate this, the amount of user interface resources consumed by a server process, when running under a service, has been reduced.

  Note that when running a large number of servers on the same computer, there are also many other different types of resources that may be exhausted, whether running as a service or not.

• 2539983 - Plant SCADA could close unexpectedly at client login

  If a user had been configured with multiple roles, separated by a space instead of a comma, runtime would close unexpectedly at client login. The compiler now enforces correct syntax for multiple user roles.

• 2545654 - Text displayed on the Version Mismatch window is truncated

  The Version Mismatch window now displays text correctly.

• 2547443 - Update button on Version Mismatch popup window does not work

  The Update button on the Version Mismatch popup window now launches CiUsafe as expected.

• 2550992 - Plant SCADA /x client incorrectly acquires a license from AEL server

  When [Client]UseLocalLicense=1 is set, /x clients will now retrieve a license from system service process as expected instead of using the AEL license server.

Runtime Manager

• 2200558 - A second alarm server process starts while a 64-bit alarm server is running

  If the SE.RuntimeManager.BackendHost.exe or BackendService.exe process is stopped and restarted (not a clean shutdown) while a 64-bit alarm server is running (Citect.exe), then Runtime Manager would start a second alarm server process instead of connecting to the running process. This no longer occurs.

• 2844558 - No indication is shown when starting Runtime Manger is in non-service mode and the current project is not compiled

  If the currently selected project is not compiled in Plant SCADA Studio, starting Runtime Manger (not Runtime) in non-service mode will show a window with an empty process list. The user experience is now improved. Under the same situation, Runtime Manage will show warning message in the system tray.

Tag Import and Export

• 2322709 - Tag import could not perform with different database types selected

  The was caused by a single instance of the logger used by the tag generation engine. When the tag import was launched for different I/O devices, Plant SCADA Studio would create multiple instances of the tag generation engine. This impacted its logging listeners. This will no longer occur.

• 2375604 - Unable to export tags using 'CSV Driver' database type

  Tag export via the CSV Driver would not be successful due to the invalid temporary file path generated by the driver. This no longer occurs.

General

• 2311596 - A CtAPI client was unable to connect when runtime was using the Demo License Provider

  The Demo License Provider was not able to provide an API license. This prevented the CtAPI client from connecting. This no longer occurs.