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TiPS Newsletter - July 2006

White Paper:
Bounded vs Unbounded Alarm Rationalization

There was a time when industry in general felt that alarm rationalization was essentially "all or none". Unless the entire system had been rationalized you had not rationalized anything at all. As more experiential data has been gathered, the concept of rationalization has changed. The activity of rationalizing - reviewing and redesigning an alarm - is now independent from the concept of a rationalized alarm system.

Under the "all-or-none" precept, an alarm rationalization demanded tremendous effort. For some, a full-scale rationalization was out of the question. They simply did not have the resources, time, or justification for that magnitude of a commitment. However, they were unwilling to retreat from their alarm problems. Instead, they did what they could, correcting alarm problems on a case-by-case basis.

Logically, the two different approaches can arrive at the same result. In the wake of "fully rationalized" alarm systems that did not perform as expected, the value of alarm rationalization suffered increasing criticism. As more experiential data has been gathered, the concept of rationalization has changed. The activity of rationalizing, reviewing and redesigning an alarm, is now independent from the definition of a rationalized alarm system.

Read the entire white paper (128k PDF)

Substantial New LogMate Enhancements

LogMate TiPSView version 3.0 has been released. This is a massive update containing many substantial changes and enhancements. To help update and train people on the new features, we are offering online seminars. The next seminar is Thursday July 20th at 10:00am CDT.

Register for the Update Seminar

To register or learn more about the online seminar, visit the following web page: http://www.tipsweb.com/support/logmate/training/lmtv3_00_online.asp.

TiPSView 3.00 Update Overview

Operations Notes: Time-stamped notes can be added to alarm and event records. Document actions taken and decisions made in the context of plant activity.

Completely Flexible Alarm Knowledge Base Design: Modify to fit your information and organization needs.

New Alarm Flood and Nuisance Alarm Analyses: More easily pinpoint chronic "bad actors" and alarm floods.

Alarm System Management of Change/Rationalization Project Manager: Integrated review, approval, and audit of alarm changes.

Integrated SQL Reports: Interact with custom SQL Reporting Services reports from within LogMate.

Link to External Documents: Expand LogMate's online operator knowledge base to include other plant documents. One-click hotlinks to Word documents, Access reports, CAD drawings, etc.