Ovation Alarm Analysis

Data Sheet

Features
Enables effective management of highpriority alarm issues with a focus on
actionable items
Allows filtering and analysis of alarm
information by a number of variables
Provides summaries by area, priority, rate,
and frequency
Offers various statistical analysis functions
for optimizing generation and reporting of
alarms

Overview
An effective alarm management strategy is a
critical component in reducing downtime and
increasing productivity for a number of reasons.
Operators presented with too many alarms may
overlook an important indicator of an abnormal
situation, or be so overwhelmed as to
unnecessarily trip the unit as a safety measure
instead of trying to decipher the information
being conveyed. Both scenarios can significantly
impact the safety of plant personnel and the
efficiency of plant operations.
Furthermore, with the expected departure of
many seasoned operators from the workplace,
alarm management becomes an important
component in helping inexperienced operators
determine the appropriate course of action.
From a financial perspective, by helping plants
achieve higher levels of availability and
reliability, an effective alarm management
strategy contributes to bottom-line profitability.

Emersons Alarm Analysis Tool

The Alarm Analysis tool is part of Emersons
ongoing commitment to help customers develop
an effective alarm management strategy that
contributes to reduced downtime and increased
operator productivity.
An increasing number of alarms can make it
difficult for operators to distinguish between
critical events that require intervention, and
nuisance alarms. Emersons Alarm Analysis

Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions.

PWS_003648 [6]

package examines alarm data collected by the

Ovation historian, providing the user with
information necessary to minimize unnecessary
alarms. This, in turn, enables plant operators to
more effectively address real, high-priority
issues and focus on actionable items.
The user-friendly tool can run on any laptop or
desktop computer running the Windows XP SP2
operating system. The package allows users to
filter and analyze alarm information by a number
of variables including point names, point
description, plant areas, time ranges, and alarm
type. Alarms can also be summarized according
to alarm display, priority, rate, and frequency.
The Alarm Analysis tool also offers valuable
insight for optimizing generating and reporting of
alarms.

Alarm Analysis Reports

The Alarm Analysis tool uses a report wizard to
generate customized reports and provide
important alarm system information in an easyto-read layout. Built-in functions are provided to
help the user review their configuration data and
enable Alarm Analysis for specific subsystems
and plant areas.
Report charts employ features such as zooming
and view/hide information such as accumulated
percentages, percent of totals and EEMUA
(Engineering Equipment and Materials Users
Association) recommended metrics based on

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Ovation Alarm Analysis

Data Sheet

specific report applicability. The alarm package

allows the data and charts to be exported to a
number of popular formats, such as BITMAP,
JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, XML and WordML.

Daily Activity Report

Alarm activity reports provide clear insight into
the effect of alarms on daily plant operations and
can be compared to the maximum rate
(alarms/hour) recommendations established by
the EEMUA.

percentages and total number of alarms can be

displayed to indicate what percentage the top
alarms contributed to the overall alarm activity in
the period analyzed. A bar chart can also be
used to quickly display the most recurring
alarms. Additionally, a tabular report is available
that provides, description, number of alarms,
percent of total, accumulated percent, record
type, drop ID, area, and priority.

Alarm Activity by Physical Layout

Alarm priority filtering optimizes priority settings

in the alarm management system. Priority
information is presented in a tabular format
showing the average alarms per hour or day for
each configured individual alarm priority. Daily
activity information can be summarized to
provide a more comprehensive analysis data of
alarms such as:
Number of days analyzed
Where the maximum or minimum number of
alarms occurred
Number of alarms per minute, hour, or shift
Average calculations

Most Frequent Alarms

High frequency alarms expose conditions where
the alarm settings are not optimal or the process
is in a state of disarray. The alarm frequency
report clearly identifies exceedingly repetitive
alarms and reports the number of times that the
alarm was actuated in a given period.
Features:
Reports configurable number of most
frequent alarms (10 Default)
Shows analysis by plant configuration (data
views)
o For example: by point type,
priority, characteristic, drop, etc.
Displays graphical and tabular
representation for points, description,
number of alarms, accumulated percentage,
record type, drop ID, characteristic and
priority
Provides top plant configuration parameters
(data views). For example: if analysis is by
drop, the tool provides the top drops with the
most alarms as well as the points

The Ovation Alarm Analysis tool provides

reports by physical location in a controller area,
characteristics, and data types to single out the
areas or structure where alarm activity is most
prevalent. This report contains pie charts and
tables to represent the percentage of alarms in a
specific area. Data can be segregated by record
type (Analogs, Digitals, Packed, I/O Modules,
etc.) or alarm type (Low1, High1, Return,
Sensor, High Worse, etc.), specific controller
location, characteristics, and priority.
Features:
Charts general information about alarm
rates to measure system performance
Filters by priority and/or totals per hour
Distribution of alarms by priority
Provides top daily activities with number of
alarms and accumulated percentages
Displays pie chart of alarm averages

The number of reported alarms is configurable.

Optional plot charts for accumulated

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Ovation Alarm Analysis

Data Sheet

Counts number of days when alarms are

within or outside the EEMUA
recommendations
Calculates:
Minimum, maximum and average number
of alarms per hour
Minimum, maximum and average number
of alarms per 8 hour shift
Minimum, maximum and average number
of alarms per day
Minimum, maximum and average number
of alarms per 10 minute period
Minimum and maximum dates of alarm
events and number of alarms
Average alarms per hour per priority
Average alarms per day per priority

Features:
Charts the top alarm points with alarm
events due to chattering
Configuration of chattering interval, duration
and frequency
Provides total number of alarms and
duration of chatter period
Provides average per minute, percent of
total and accumulated percentage
Displays chattering statistic pie chart to
reveal amount of alarms generated due to
chattering points

Flood Analysis
An alarm flood occurs when a single event
triggers an unmanageable number of alarms,
thus flooding the alarm management display
system. It is important to quickly recognize and
mitigate the condition which caused this to event
in order to avoid future occurrence.

Chattering Alarms
An alarm is considered chattering when it
fluctuates around the defined alarm limits. The
chattering alarm report provides operators with
an indication that alarm limits may need to be
relaxed or some dead-band management is
required. Time period settings and the number
of alarms can be used to determine if an event is
deemed chattering.
The report presents calculated statistics in bar
charts and provides summary information in a
tabular form consisting of the number of points
that chatter, total number of chattering alarms,
total number of alarms, average duration, total
chatter time, average per minute, percent of
total, and accumulated percent.

Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions.

PWS_003648 [6]

The flood analysis report identifies events that

cause a deluge of alarms by documenting the
time of initiation and names of all the triggered
alarms. Similar to the chattering report, settings
for the time period and number of alarms are
required to provide parameters necessary to
consider the event as a flood. These parameters
can be tightened as the effectiveness of the
alarm system is improved.
Summary information with regards to the flood
episode is also provided that reveals details
such as total number of floods, number of days
analyzed, average floods per day, number of
flood alarms, average alarms per flood,
maximum alarms per flood, average flood
duration, and top flood reports with date of
occurrence.

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Ovation Alarm Analysis

Data Sheet

Features:
Configuration of idle time and minimum
duration for considering flood events
Displays graphical flood report with duration
and number of alarms
Lists top flood events with date and time for
the period analyzed
Displays duration of flood events
Displays pie chart for comparison of floods
vs. all other alarms
Calculates:
Number of alarms during each flood
Number of alarms generated during
flood events
Maximum number of Alarms per flood
Average floods per day calculation
Average number of alarms per flood
event
Average flood duration

Standing Alarm Report

Alarms that stay in the system for long periods
of time can indicate a lack of associated actions
or a low operator response level. The standing
alarm report reveals the points with the longest
standing duration times. The number of points in
the report is user selectable. Additional
summary information can be provided in tabular
format to show the points description, total
duration hours, total duration days, record type,
and subsystem area.

Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions.

PWS_003648 [6]

Features:
Displays description of alarm points active
for an extensive period
Displays chart with plotted alarm per hour
activities
Calculates:
Number of alarms active per hour
Minimum, maximum and average number
of alarms per period analyzed
Total duration in alarm

Database Statistics
The Ovation Alarm Analysis package can
calculate database statistics to report on the
current alarm system design. This configuration
can be compared with industry
recommendations to help identify areas that may
require additional attention. The following
statistics can be computed:
Point configuration per characteristic
Calculated point alarms
Mixed level alarms (low and high)
Multi-level alarms (Low1,Low2, High1,
High2)
Alarm distribution by priority and record
types
Alarm distribution by subsystem
(characteristic) and record types
Alarms per record types
Number of I/O related alarms
Total number of configured alarms
Total number of low alarms

Summary:
The Ovation Alarm Analysis tool is part of
Emersons commitment to provide an effective
alarm management strategy for operational
improvement. Insight gained from the tools indepth Alarm Analysis enables plant engineers to
make adjustments and corrections so operators
are presented with alarm information that is
relevant and concise, enabling them to operate
the plant more efficiently.

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Ovation Alarm Analysis

Data Sheet

Summary of Ovation Alarm Analysis Features

1
Fast math algorithms
2
Improved export functionality
3
Improved navigation
4
Pan and zoom
5
Right mouse click for exporting to save as EMF, PNG, GIF JPEG, TIFF, BMP file types
6
Right mouse click for report page setup, show point data, and copy
7
New report toolbar with the following tabs:
Statistical overview for events
EEMUA 191 benchmarks
Average for priorities
Time period statistics
Top ten daily activities
Statistics for events
Daily activities
Settings
8
Enhanced report organization with point browser, project, analysis, and help views
9
New delimiters (filters) for network, drop, point type, characteristics, I/O, alarm priority, and
beginning or end dates for data
10
Analysis views including:
Event overview
Event type
Chattering, daily, group, flood, priority, most frequent, standing, and system database
events
Product Line Compatibility
Ovation
2.4.1 (eDB)
3.0.X
3.1.X through current Ovation Process Historian
1.8.X and 1.9.X through current HSR
WDPF
8.7.1 through current HSR

Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions.

PWS_003648 [6]

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