About period definitions
- Last UpdatedApr 03, 2025
- 3 minute read
A Period definition enables you to categorize time into definable periods so that you can group and filter data in Production Analyst and AVEVA Production Management Web Client.
Many items in Studio have a Period Hierarchy property that enables you to select the predefined periods for that item.
Creating queries in Production Analyst helps you to define and understand your data, such as:
-
Current Shift
-
Last Shift
-
Shift A beginning 06/06/2018
For more information, see Add and configure a period definition.
Modules
Period definitions are used primarily by Downtime, which uses all four types: Fixed, Repeating, Fixed blackout, Repeating blackout.
Additionally, Metrics uses fixed and repeating period definitions when calculating KPIs. For example, OEE-by-shift versus OEE-by-day. However, Metrics does not use blackout periods.
Definitions
|
Type of period |
Definition |
Example |
|---|---|---|
|
Fixed periods |
A period of time that does not repeat. |
An extra shift during a busy time. |
|
Repeating periods |
A period of time that repeats at regular intervals. |
Regular shift starts at 6 AM and ends at 2 PM every day. |
|
Fixed blackouts |
Exception to a repeating period. |
A public holiday, such as Christmas when the plant is not in operation. |
|
Repeating blackouts |
Repeating exceptions to a repeating period. |
Regular rostered days off work, such Sunday. |
Examples
|
Type of period |
Example |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Repeating Periods |
Morning |
Reference Time: 8am Duration: 8 hours Repeating: 1 day |
|
Afternoon |
Reference Time: 4pm Duration: 8 hours Repeating: 1 day |
|
|
Night |
Reference Time: 12am Duration: 8 hours Repeating: 1 day |
|
|
Fixed Blackout |
Christmas Day |
Reference Time: 25-December 8am Duration: 8 hours Repeating: 1 Year |
|
Repeating Blackout |
Sunday |
Reference Time: Sunday 01-01-2018 8am Duration: 24 hours Repeat Units: 1 week |
Default time periods
When you create a project, a set of standard period definitions already exists within the Periods folder: 15 Minutes, Hour, Day, Week, Month, Year, Now.
Note: The Now period is used solely for filtering purposes within Production Analyst and should not be used in the configuration of Metrics.
Name periods
The period definition is a recurring interval that continuously rolls over. Each period definition enables you to define sub-periods that make up the overall period definition. The sub-periods are called named periods.
For more information, see Add and configure a period definition.
This table shows some examples of period definitions and their named periods.
|
Period Definition |
Named Periods |
|---|---|
|
Shift (24 hours) |
Shift A (8 hours) |
|
Day |
Day Shift (12 hours) |
|
Week |
Monday |
Multiple time zones
The period definition supports multiple time zones through a TimeZone property under the Misc section of the Properties pane. By default, the property is set to the server's time zone, which can be any time zone that observes daylight saving time (DST).
DST affects the time difference across time zones. Most time zones that observe DST generally start their annual time change at 2 a.m., which means clocks are advanced by an hour and returned to standard time when DST ends.
For example, if you have a period setup in AVEVA Production Management with the following 8-hour shifts:
-
00:00 – 08:00
-
08:00 – 16:00
-
16:00 – 00:00
When the time zone enters DST, the 00:00–08:00 shift becomes 7 hours, and when it exits DST, it becomes 9 hours since 02:00 would then become 03:00 and back to 02:00, respectively.
Note When upgrading your application from a previous version to 9.0, existing periods reflect local server time as the default selection.