Groups

Groups are used to link devices that should be monitored and operated together. Groups are assigned to most table points, and to the remote devices to which those points are assigned.

This relationship is typically established by listing all of the different views (or areas) that must be present on the system, and then grouping together all devices not split by an area boundary. Because of this, groups generally link devices that are located in close proximity to each other. Groups are further assigned to Areas, which provide the geographical area system views that are required at each Controller station. Essentially, Groups make points within the devices that are related visible to the Controller. The Controller station will include all groups belonging to the Area of Responsibility (AOR) at that station.

The Group table is used to associate individual telemetry points with areas of responsibility. A group record provides a logical grouping of remotes and attached end-devices.

• Group assignments are specified for each remote in the Remote table and for each field device in either the Analog, Rate, Status, Multistate, or other custom table. Any field device whose data is gathered by any of the RealTime tables (remote, analog, rate, or status) can belong to only one group.

• A group may belong to a number of areas. To indicate that a telemetry point belongs to all areas of responsibility, you must not specify a group name. If you do not specify a group or specify a group that is not referenced by any AOR Area, the telemetry point appears in all table summaries on all Controller stations even if no view areas are selected. Alarms from these telemetry points are sent to all Controller stations configured to receive system alarms.

  Note: Using Network Management Console (NMC), it is possible to create an AOR Group called GlobalAccess and not associate it with any AOR Areas.

Each group record also specifies a spooler to which alarms and messages are sent. The spooler can be one or more of the following:

• Direct connection to printer

• Connection to printer on an easy eXtended Operator Station (ezXOS) PC

• A file

If only one group record is defined in your system, all event messages are printed through the specified spooler, which can address up to 10 printers. Additional AOR groups, which reference other printers on the system, may be defined. If records that are already associated with remotes and other end-devices are linked to these additional AOR groups, the event messages concerning these remotes and end-devices are routed accordingly. Any or all groups can specify the same printer.