PI System Implementation

Hassle-free Deployment for PI Systems

When you’re installing a new PI System, making updates or substantive changes to an existing system, or consolidating multiple systems, small errors can derail an implementation. Overlooking simple details like converting duplicate field names to site-specific names before the rollover can cause unnecessary downtime or data loss.

It helps to work with experts who manage these kinds of PI System implementation projects on a regular basis. Our consultants are experts at preparing properly sequenced project plans and pre-emptively resolve hundreds of hidden gotchas that in-house operators don’t have to worry about during day-to-day operations. Our PI System implementation services include setup of all aspects of the PI Platform.

PI Architecture Services

Data Archive

The PI System Data Archive stores millions of data streams for years or even decades. It maintains the full original fidelity of your valuable data—down to fractions of a second.

As the time-series database for PI Server, Data Archive stores and retrieves sensor-based measurements. Need to track pressure, temperature, flow rate, and more? Forget about opening a ticket with IT or waiting hours for a query to run. We can install PI Server to keep your valuable data online for immediate, real-time retrieval and visualization—whenever you need it.

During the implementation, our team can enhance your data archive stores by integrating additional data sources using the PI Service Bus and setting up calculation automations using our Process Plugins or custom code.

Asset Framework

See the big picture. Asset Framework (AF) lets you add context to raw data streams. Attach descriptive labels: for example, you might mark an individual tag or data stream as a “flow rate,” “temperature,” or “vibration.” AF attributes let you use natural language to search for the specific information you need. With AF, your data will make sense to users across your enterprise—not just SCADA experts.

Our implementation process ensures that AF supports your asset hierarchies. That means you can group all data related to a particular asset and collect multiple assets for a certain site. Think of AF as a convenient way to organize data intuitively and enable drill-down analyses. Customizing hierarchies to suit your individual organization’s needs is easy.

And it’s not just for data from Data Archive. We can apply AF to data outside the PI System. For example, we can set up references to asset data from external systems such as maintenance databases or ERP systems—without duplicating data—so there’s always a single source of truth. Our AF Reports analytics tool exports KPI and calculated data from the Asset Framework database into Excel and PDF formatted reports that can be distributed using PI Notifications.

Keeping your entire team up to date has never been easier. We help users across your organization get a one-stop-shop for all asset information. Plus, system administrators enjoy peace of mind, knowing permissions are securely set and centrally maintained.

PI Vision

A properly configured PI Vision implementation makes it easy to create powerful monitoring displays in minutes with the intuitive drag-and-drop tools. Collaborate and share displays with just a hyperlink. Access data from the field, on any device. PI Vision’s browser-based interface means you can forget about installing and maintaining software locally. Ensure only the right people access your valuable data with a Windows Active Directory integration. Plus, our consulting teams can extend the power of your PI Vision implementation with dozens of ready-to-go visualization and analytics modules from our Process Plugins collection.

PI Notifications

Detecting and quickly responding to deviations in operations is critical. Often millions of dollars–and lives–are on the line. PI Server’s Notifications module builds upon Event Frames to send immediate alerts when thresholds are met. Your teams get notified only when critical events occur. Plus, each notification can include summary statistics and links to troubleshooting displays, response playbooks, and more to can give engineers the information they need to solve the problem quickly.

Our implementation teams can also set up back-up escalations in case recipients miss a critical alert. Reliable alerting reduces the need for tedious real-time monitoring. Our AF Reports tool leverages PI Notifications to automate routine report generation and distribution. Both automated processes allow your highly skilled engineers to focus on higher value tasks instead of rote monitoring and reporting chores.

PI Adapters

PI Adapters allow your team to access data previously isolated on remote assets or in secondary networks. Our consultants can configure lightweight PI Adapters to run on small-footprint Linux or Windows devices and pull real-time data from IoT gateways and sensor-enabled equipment. We can natively route data to EDS for additional edge applications, to your on-premises PI Server, or to the OCS cloud-hosted database platform-as-a-service for full edge-to-cloud connectivity.

Connectors & Interfaces

PI Connectors and interfaces streamline the configuration process. Our consultants can set them up to automatically create relevant asset hierarchies and begin sending data. They offer a unified administration experience to enable remote management.

OSIsoft has over 225 standard PI Interfaces to help you connect to control systems, SCADA, PLC, lab and other business information systems. Our Pi Service Bus extends these connection capabilities to RESTful and SOAP web services, FTP, external databases, and more.