R9.04 Release Information

The Next Generation in SCADA & Process Management Software, FAST/TOOLS R9.04.

Go to the 2011 Press Release page

With this new release, it is now possible to record HMI displays in real time. Functioning much like a flight recorder, this enables the synchronized playback of screens with alarms and events as well as process and trend data, and includes all mouse tracks and relevant keyboard strokes. The recorded video data can be used for cause-and-effect analysis, operator training, and simulation to increase overall safety, security, and regulatory compliance. This adds a significant new dimension to the capabilities of this software, which already includes audit trailing and diagnostics functions.

Playback can be a powerful tool in the following applications:

• Operator training
  Recordings can be specially made for training courses. Training sessions can also be recorded, allowing trainees to review their actions and better learn how to handle certain process conditions and prevent errors that can impact output and/or quality.
• Remote assistance by specialists
  A remote operator or process expert can be better informed about the chronology of events and operator interactions during a process upset and provide customized advice to improve recovery speed and reduce impact.
• Maintenance support
  An operator can make a recording whenever process equipment begins to malfunction and send this to the maintenance department for immediate consultation and support.

In addition to its standard EEMUA 191 compliant alarm management functionality, this software now enables alarm notification messages to be e-mailed in real time to users who have subscribed to this service. This call-out function makes it easy to define when, where, and to whom notifications should be sent. The alarm management function now also enables the export of alarm & event notifications to programs such as MS-Excel for alarm analysis.

Our extensive faceplate and symbol library has been enhanced with FOUNDATION fieldbus faceplates that may be used together with Yokogawa's STARDOM (FCN/FCJ) autonomous controllers for increased flexibility in distributed applications. Faceplates are automatically assigned to the control logic based on the controller function blocks and are ready to use when deployed in the system environment. This allows for seamless integration of FOUNDATION fieldbus device messages and data, setting a new standard for Operational Excellence.

The comprehensive trending capabilities of FAST/TOOLS have been extended with functionality that shows whether a signal is off-line. In addition, automatic and/or manual data backfill can now be used to display recovered data, allowing operators to confirm at a glance the integrity of the trended signals. X-Y plots have also been added to the rich trending library, allowing two-dimensional views of important process characteristics.

Yokogawa's FAST/TOOLS SCADA software supports a wide variety of operating systems, enabling its deployment in a client-server environment.

FAST/TOOLS R9.04 supports the following platforms:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 + SP2
• Microsoft Windows XP + SP3
• Microsoft Windows 7 + SP1
• Redhat Enterprise Linux 6
• IBM AIX 6.1
• SUN Solaris 10