With ClearSCADA, you can:
- Keep a detailed record of the property changes made on your system (see Configuration Changes Auditing).
- Add and configure each item independently to other items on your system (for instance, you can add and configure one Alarm Redirection Action, and then add and configure another Alarm Redirection Action).
- Use the Group Templates and Group Instances feature to reduce configuration effort. Consider whether to use this feature if the physical structure of your system can be split into ‘modules’. With such a structure, you can use Group Templates to produce the base configuration for a generic ‘module’. Within each Template, you can include items such as outstations, scanners, and points that have the base configuration for the items in each module. You can then use Group Instances to include the configuration that is specific to each ‘module’.
For more information, see Database Structure.
As part of the preparation before adding an item to the database, you need to consider:
- ClearSCADA Naming Restrictions
- Database Security
- Time Zone Support in ClearSCADA
- Colors used in ClearSCADA.
You might also want to consider using:
- Alarm Redirection—Many items within the ClearSCADA database can raise alarms. You might want to redirect some of these alarms under particular circumstances. For instance, in order to automate a dial out to a PSTN outstation, or forward alarm announcements when a control center is unmanned. For further information, see Introduction to Alarm Redirection in the ClearSCADA Guide to Alarm Redirection.
- Areas of Interest—You can restrict each user’s alarm and event access to just the alarms and events that are associated with specific area(s) of your system. Users are unaware of any alarms and events that are generated outside their allocated area(s) of interest. For more information, see Restrict Alarm and Event Access to Specific Areas of Interest.
- Schedules—You can automate many activities that need to be undertaken on a regular basis, by associating those actions with Schedules. You can specify the times and regularity with which each Schedule triggers (see Using Schedules to Automate Regular Functions).
You also need to be familiar with the Basic Configuration Procedures and be logged onto the system as a user with the relevant permissions (see User Accounts).
Many of the items that you configure in the database represent the plant, measuring instruments or control devices that are on your system. As such, much of the configuration of those database items needs to correspond to the settings that exist on, or that are supported by, those devices. In order to configure the database items successfully, you need to be aware of those settings.
Taking each of the above into consideration, should enable you to add and configure items rapidly and successfully in the ClearSCADA database (see Add an Item to the Database).