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What is EXTEND7000?

EXTEND7000 is a powerful family of closely integrated maintenance engineering applications designed for use with mobile devices. It enables organisations using automation equipment to significantly cut unscheduled downtime and its associated costs.

Running across an existing Wi-Fi or GRPS network, EXTEND7000 enables engineering or technical personnel to receive and process fault notifications, monitor and control industrial automation systems, and process work orders from any location. Downtime can be reduced by up to 60%, service levels can be improved by 25%, and paperwork eliminated.

How does EXTEND7000 work?

Mobile SCADA:

Mobile SCADA functions in a similar way to any SCADA system and continuously monitors parameters defined in a database for notification conditions, as well as providing features to read and write to these parameters.

EXTEND7000 differs from traditional SCADA in that there is no intervention in the control room and notifications are automatically forwarded to engineers working on mobile terminals according to their skillset and proximity to the fault.

It takes just 6 seconds from the fault occurring for the engineer to receive the notification. Not just a simple messaging system, EXTEND7000 takes the engineer through a workflow requiring the notification to be accepted, rejected, delegated or resolved.

Mobile Maintenance:

Mobile Maintenance enables engineers to access the host Plant Maintenance System (PMS) remotely using a Mobile device. Work Orders may be processed, new Work Orders created and asset history reviewed.

Closely integrated with Mobile SCADA, engineers can interrupt planned maintenance work to respond to a higher priority notification, asset history can be reviewed and Work Orders created with reference to the notification.

What are the primary benefits?

Decreased unplanned downtime, faster response times, better resource utilisation and productivity, improved service levels, elimination of paperwork, and accurate and timely information from real-time mobile data entry.

What mobile devices does it work with?

Any standard smartphone, tablet or Windows mobile device.

Who could benefit from using EXTEND7000?

Any organisation using automated systems where reduction in downtime from faults represents a significant cost saving. In most cases these systems will be utilising PLCs and SCADA systems.

Any organisation using plant maintenance systems for engineering activities that currently rely on paper based processes.

What performance improvements can I expect to see?

It varies with each installation but we suggest the following as a starting point:

38 - 60% reduction in unscheduled downtime of systems and machinery
10 – 25% improvement in service levels and staff productivity
50% improvement to resource utilisation levels and workflow management
In many cases there is no further need to man the SCADA control room
Accurate stock levels and progress reports in the Plant Maintenance System.

How long does it take to implement?

It depends on functionality, complexity, scale and the number of SCADA processes being monitored. Elapsed implementation time to be fully operational, including training, can range from a few days to a few weeks.

Is there a risk of additional downtime when integrating/commissioning EXTEND7000?

No. When integrating EXTEND7000 none of the existing systems need to be touched, shut down or changed. The system connects to the Network as an additional client without the need to install software on PLC or SCADA systems.

In addition to full SCADA functionality, what remote functionality does it offer?

Notification escalation, team workflows
Monitoring and control
Trending, logging and reporting
Access to technical data and resources
CCTV access for visual monitoring

Review asset maintenance history
Process work orders
Create work orders
Issue spare parts
Return spare parts

Can EXTEND7000 monitor systems other than SCADA? What about IT Systems?

Yes. Many existing customers connect EXTEND7000 to existing monitoring software. E.g. Volkswagen’s IT department monitors hard drive capacities, processor usage and firewalls. The open architecture of EXTEND7000 means it can interface with almost any system easily, bringing the advantages of creating a general gateway between fixed and mobile workspaces.

Why would I use EXTEND7000 when our SCADA system has a mobile solution too?

EXTEND7000 does not tie you to a particular manufacturer and has standard interfaces available for most commonly used PLC, SCADA and plant maintenance systems as well as database, OPC and other generic data sources.

An EXTEND7000 project can interface to any mix of systems from different manufacturers. It is not just a mobile SCADA solution, it is a powerful family of closely integrated applications providing a single mobile tool for the engineer to integrate to the automation system and host plant maintenance system.

Engineering Mobility is SCHAD's core business and we operate a continuous product development plan to ensure our solutions are supported on the latest generation of mobile products. We do not compromise our solutions by using standard web browsers but deploy a client/server architecture to provide the optimal user interface to deliver the best possible user experience.

We run automated systems in different geographical locations. Can EXTEND7000 consolidate multiple SCADA systems?

The ability to monitor a mixed population of systems at different locations, raise notifications, and direct them to the same group of engineers is key to the EXTEND7000 solution design.

EXTEND7000 supports many different data sources including most commonly deployed PLC and SCADA systems as well as generic interfaces such as ADO and OPC.

How scalable is EXTEND7000? We had scalability issues with existing SCADA solutions?

EXTEND7000 allows for almost unlimited scalability and systems have been deployed monitoring many 100,000's of tags.

The component based architecture of the EXTEND7000 platform allows the solution to be distributed across multiple servers at different locations so that WAN traffic can be minimised.

How do you tackle the issue of redundancy?

There are two sides to this question. Firstly EXTEND7000 provides some valuable redundancy to an existing SCADA system. In the event of SCADA failure, EXTEND7000 will continue monitoring and issuing alert notifications. Secondly EXTEND7000 can itself be installed in a manner that provides high availability either using a server cluster with failover or with backup servers and data replication.

I can’t see how my existing operations can be improved with EXTEND7000 - control room engineers talk to one another on mobiles anyway. What would be different?

A lot, because the system obviates the need for static control rooms and significantly improves resource utilisation.

Consider this example of what one customer experienced.

Before EXTEND7000: Life in the dark with ordinary SCADA

The Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) detects a timeout on a specific photo sensor which is polled by the SCADA system and an alert notification is raised on the monitor in the control room. The control room operator calls an engineer on the radio telephone but they are busy on another fault, they call a second engineer who advises this needs a specific skill set, a third engineer is called and they are some distance from the fault but accept the call anyway. The engineer attends the fault and concludes the photo sensor needs replacing and goes to the unmanned stores for the part. They log onto a terminal and discover the part is in the alternative stores at the other end of the site. Finally arriving back with the part they fit it but it still isn’t working so the engineer calls the control room to read the PLC status. Eventually the fault is found to be in the wiring and the control room operator clears the notification. The engineer finally returns the part to stores.

With EXTEND7000: Real time information with Mobile SCADA and Mobile Maintenance

EXTEND7000 Mobile SCADA monitors the PLC and detects the photo sensor timeout. An alert notification is automatically sent directly to all appropriately skilled engineers working in the area of the fault. A free engineer responds to the audible/vibration alarm, looks at the alert details on their mobile, and accepts the notification as it is close by so preventing other engineers from responding to the same call. To confirm it is the photo sensor, they select the option to read the PLC input on the mobile, complete some tests and diagnosis the fault is with the wiring. Had they discovered the sensor was at fault, the engineer could have used the Mobile Maintenance functionality to locate the spare part by scanning an attached barcode and created a Work Order to record the issue and return of spare parts. In this case they set the status of the notification to resolved and are prompted to select fault reason codes which are recorded in an archive along with time stamps for each activity for future management reporting and analysis.

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