Industrial Workflows eBook

7/31/2019 Industrial Workflows eBook

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INDUSTRIAL WORKFLOWS

& THE DINNER PARTY

A Recipe or CapturingKnowledge & Taking Action

Jay Funnell, Principal Architect

Advanced Solutions, Honeywell


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EXECUTIVESUMMARY

Its Sunday morning and theres aparty at your place next weekend.Family, riends, and other nocturnal creatures will be landing

on your doorstep. Where is your workow? From in-laws to

governance laws we are constantly adapting to changes in

our operating environment whether it is the purchase o a new

corporate asset, the pursuit o the Golden Batch, or the wrench

thrown into our plans by an unannounced visitor. One thing is

certain: change.

Written procedure documents are too rigid to adapt to

the demands placed on todays operations environment. By

the time they are published, something will have changed,

rendering them useless. As a consequence, human instinct

turns to ad hoc processes and we drit rom the fdelity o the

original procedure document.

Sotware based workow allows us to turn procedural

documents into live orchestrations o people, processes,

and machines. It also enables us to capture knowledge

that otherwise leaves the building when our experts retire

or take leave.

Need more reasons to take a closer look at industrial

workow? How about more agile processes, the abilityto monitor long running processes, an audit trail, and

confrmation o conormance?

Workow is a key element o the Act in the Anticipate |

Collaborate | Act philosophy o the Intuition sotware amily.

Intuition is a amily o sotware and technologies or the

process industries. Intuition Executive provides site and

enterprise access to production and operating inormation,

in context, and enables advanced visualization and

integration o applications or managing, monitoring and

optimizing operations and collaborating across unctions or

geographic boundaries.


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Frozen pizza just wont cut it. What do you

do? The dierence between disaster and

delectable is all in the planning. Likewise, the

same can be said about operational excellence.

To get started, lets stir up some questions

and pre-heat the planning process.

What should we cook?

Who are we going to invite?

Is there a theme to this party?

What ood and decorating supplies

do we need?

When do we need to start cooking?

Where will the guests sit?

Do the guests have any ood allergies?

Where should we put that cat that likes to

eat expensive leather shoes?

Twenty hungry people are coming to your dinner party next week.

WORKFLOW:LETS HAVE A DINNER PARTY

LETSHAVEA

DINNERP

ARTY


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A workow is a sequence o actions that

represent a work process.

Each workow can include things like decisions, email notifcation, task

creation, analysis execution, web service execution, and other activities.A simple workow might email someone when a tank has exceeded a low

limit (well demonstrate later how notifcation is really just a special case o

workow). A complex workow might perorm a large number o tasks and

collect input rom a variety o experts.

Workow is also reerred to as orchestration which conjures up images o

a conductor leading a team o musicians through a concert. Likewise, in an

industrial setting, workow leads a team o individuals through a procedure.

The procedure is defned by the experts who know the most about the

particular manuacturing process.

Using our event planning example we can describe the invitation process

in a workow diagram, shown to the let.

WHAT IS AWORKFLOW?

WHATISA

WORKFLO

W?

Invitation Workfow


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WHATISA

WORKFLO

W?

Production Planning Workfow


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WHATISA

WORKFLO

W?

Food Preparation Workfow


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Procedure documents have been around or a long time, so why should we care about workow?

There are many reasons why. Lets take a closer look.

Knowledge Capture

WHYWORKFLOW?

WHY

WORKFLO

W?

The single most compelling attribute o workow is its ability tocapture expert knowledge. Any given operating environment

will have a handul o experts who have a eel or the

manuacturing process. This is known as tacit knowledge and

it is akin to driving a car or riding a bike. It is learned through

experience and is hard to transer to junior team members. So

what happens when these experts retire, go on vacation, or are

in short supply? We want to capture their expert knowledge

and retain it as a corporate asset.

First, the expert describes an ad hoc process using a

workow authoring tool. These tools enable us to see the

workow in a very graphical way, and provide unctionality todescribe the workow using drag-and-drop. So or example,

you can create a sequence o steps easily no need or

programming. Instead, you select actions such as email

notifcation rom a palette and add them to the sequence.

Then, the workow is published to Intuition Executive. From

this point orward, the process is activated whenever certain

conditions are met and the necessary participants are notifed

when action is required. Expert knowledge is eectively

captured and replayed. Now our expert can take a much

needed vacation.


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WHY

WORKFLO

W?

RelevancyFirst o, documents all out o date. Its like the old hikers saying,

Trust the terrain, not the map.

It is quite common or documentation to lose touch with reality

(not to mention SAT NAVs or GPS). Operating conditions change

ater the procedure was created, new systems are added,

assets are bought and sold, and more efcient processes are

discovered. Written documents simply cannot keep up.

When operating conditions change and invalidate the written

procedure, people naturally fnd workarounds. This eectively

negates the beneft o creating a procedure in the frst place.

Workows on the other hand allow us to keep the procedure

up to date. Users can maintain the workow in an editor, make

changes, and then put it online. Participants o the workow

do not need to read an updated procedure manual because

the system becomes the manual and guides them through the

process by notiying them when action is required.

Guidelines vs. ProceduresDocumented procedures are not always ollowed. There is a

big dierence between a document which simply describes a

process and a workow that both describes and implements

a process. Its common to see a set o standard operating

procedure (SOP) manuals on the shel with a thick coat o

dust. Although the intent is not to create optional guidelines,

documented procedures do just this.

Intuition Executive workow can improve this situation

immensely by codiying SOPs. This elevates the SOP rom an

optional set o guidelines to a live orchestration o people and

processes. People are notifed when they need to take action

and acknowledge when tasks are completed.


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WHY

WORKFLO

W?

Auditing & ConormanceWas a procedure actually ollowed? When was the procedure

initiated and completed? Who was responsible or perorming

the actions in the procedure? Manual processes are used today

to answer these questions but they are time intensive and not

applied consistently.

Sotware based workow is auditable, provides a rich

history o what actions were perormed, by whom, and when.

Its consistent.

Long Running ProceduresLong running procedures are difcult to track. Sometimes

we have complex procedures that span multiple shits

and thereore many people are involved. For example, a

maintenance process might require input rom multiple teams

and take place over multiple shits. Purchasing procedures

that require input rom multiple departments can also stay

in ight or a long time. Manual and paper-based processes

require managers to babysit the procedure.

Workow engines are built to monitor short and long running

procedures. Workows can be created with built-in escalation

procedures to handle cases where someone has not

responded to a critical task. Task reminders and notifcations

are day-to-day eatures o a workow.


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WHY

WORKFLO

W?

Take Action FasterManual and partially automated procedures strive to bring

corrective actions to bear but are ultimately limited by the

overhead required to implement them. The process is typically

championed by a supervisor who is tasked with multiple

responsibilities. Ultimately this becomes a bottleneck to

scalability and corrective actions are delayed because the

champion can only juggle a fnite set o tasks during the day.

The longer the corrective actions are delayed, the longer

production will be lost.

Intuitions automated workow system raises the alert as

soon as a triggering condition is detected. This engages the

necessary resources as quick as possible and allows or

escalation in case someone is busy, on vacation, or simply

unable to respond. Another key aspect o a workow system

is the ability to monitor in-ight workows to determine which

procedures are currently in progress and how ar along they

are. With this kind o visibility into our procedures we can see

where the bottlenecks are and remove them in order to bring

production back to optimal levels.


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THE bIRTH OFA WORKFLOW

WHY

WORKFLO

W?Youve probably been here beore.

There is an event o some kind that is very important to you.

Maybe you want to know when a temperature or pressure has

exceeded a threshold. Perhaps it is a precursor to an expensive

maintenance situation, a ault condition, or a handicap to

production. This is what is called a trigger because it initiates

a notifcation, usually an e-mail or text message. What ollows is

an ad hoc analysis to determine i this is really something that

warrants urther attention. It generally looks like this.

Figure 4: Notifcation is a simple orm o workow

Once you receive the email, you dig deeper into the process

data yoursel or ask a specialist to do some ollow up work.

Perhaps the next step is simply to check and see i the tank

belongs to a unit that is currently shut down. I the unit is shut

down then we can ignore the condition because the tank is

allowed to reach an empty state. I its not shut down it could

herald an impending trip. So i this is always the frst thing we

check, why not include it in the workow?

Figure 5: What happens next? Capture it in a workow.

Send me an Email

Subject low limit alert on

Tank 5 saety stock

Trigger

Low limit alert on tank 5

saety stock

Send me an Email

Subject low limit alert on

Tank 5 saety stock

Trigger

Low limit alert on

tank 5 saety stock

Is the

unit shut

down?

No

Done

(Ignore the alert)

Yes


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WHY

WORKFLO

W?

This is the good stu where workow is concerned. It is the

steps that ollow the trigger that we are keenly interested in. The

simple notifcation that we saw initially is actually a workow

begging to be written. I it is important enough to email someone

and have a proper diagnostic perormed, it must be important

enough to capture in a workow. This will ensure that the

actions that ollow are executed consistently no matter who is

perorming them.

Intuition Executive enables users to do just this. The system

provides the tools and engine to link triggers to workows.

This allows us to describe a wide variety o work processes

and activate them on common triggers. This can be as simpleas an e-mail notifcation or a series o steps that orchestrate a

team o individuals.

Figure 6: Intuition Event Notifer links triggers to workows

Standard workow systems typically require workows to be

activated explicitly. For example, the deault engine included

with SharePoint can run a workow when an item is added to a

list, when a list entry is changed, or manually invoked. Intuition

Executive Event Notifer takes this one step urther by linking

workows to OPC UA Events. So, or example, using the Intuition

Stream Processor one can register a data pattern which is used

to generate an event. The data pattern could be a limit check,

calculation, or other kind o pattern match against incoming real-

time data or events.

Run tanksaetystock

workow

IntuitionEvent

Notifer

OPC UAEvent:

Low limit on

Tank 5

OPC UAServer


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IMPLEMENTINg WORKFLOWSIN INTUITION EXECUTIVE

IMPLEMEN

TINg

WORKFLO

WS

Workow authoring tools allow the user to draw the steps rom start to fnish.

The output is a descriptive script that a workow engine can execute.

Intuition Executive leverages the open-standard based

Microsot Windows Workow Foundation (WF) that is standard

to SharePoint. This engine is at the heart o the platorm and

automates the execution o workows. Here are some reasons

why this is a good thing.

Users have the exibility to choose rom a variety o workow

authoring tools, choosing the one that best suits their needs.

Integration with Active Directory. This enables browsing or

groups or users when creating e-mail notifcations, task list

entries, etc.

An extensible mechanism to plug-in new workow activity

libraries. This is handy or situations where you need to

include a non-SOA based legacy system that doesnt support

existing workow data access mechanisms.

Integration with SharePoint 2010

Extensible auditing interace

Intuition Executive takes things one step urther, enhancing

the out-o-the-box Microsot Windows Workow Foundation

unctionality to deliver operational excellence. Here are some o

the enhancements Intuition Executive adds:

Intuition Executive workow activitiesWe created product-specifc workow activities (or example,

accessing the Intuition model, executing analyses, etc.) that are

not part o the deault SharePoint workow engine.

Special purpose workow hostsIntuition Executive leverages the SharePoint workow engine,

but also hosts a separate instance or system workows. This

isolates the load between human-centric workows and analysis

based workows.


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IMPLEMEN

TINg

WORKFLO

WSTrigger workows rom eventsThe Intuition Event Notifer matches system events to workows.

The basic workow unctionality within SharePoint can only

trigger events by list actions. Intuition Executive is able to trigger

events based on arbitrary OPC UA events.

The Intuition amily does not prescribe one size fts all

architecture or workow and is authoring tool agnostic. Althoughwe use WF at the core, WF also acts as an excellent launch pad

or external workows and can host workows authored by other

tools, such as K2 and Nintex. Enterprise workow systems can

be called upon through WF activity. Figure 7 shows an example

where a KPI, process value, or other real-time data pattern

triggers a workow to start. The workow then calls upon another

workow in an enterprise workow engine, external to Intuition

Executive. This is a typical kind o distributed workow that

involves multiple engines.


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CONCLUSION:LIFE IS bETTER WITH WORKFLOW

CONCLUSION:

LIFEISbETTER

Simply put, a procedure document intends to make things better. Workow, on the other hand

is a commitment. Here is a quick summary o the benefts o workow.

Lie Without Workow Lie With Workow

Critical operating knowledge is lost when experts retire,

move to another position in the organization, or simply go

on vacation.

Workow allows us to capture expert knowledge and

replay it in the experts absence. It is also a valuable

tool to transer knowledge to junior team members.

Operating conditions change ater the procedure

document was created: New systems are added, assetsare bought and sold, and processes change. Written

procedure documents all out o date.

Sotware based workows can be modifed online to suit

changes in the operating environment. Procedures arekept up to date.


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CONCLUSION:

LIFEISbETTER


Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not always

ollowed. They are documented and oten let on the shel.

SOPs are codifed using a sotware based workow

system. This elevates the SOP rom an optional reerence

to a live orchestration o people and processes.People are notifed when they need to do something and

acknowledge when tasks are completed.

Was a procedure actually ollowed? When was the

procedure initiated and completed? Who was responsible

or perorming the actions in the procedure? Manual

processes are used today to answer these questions.

Workow Conormance: Sotware based workow is

auditable. It provides a rich history o what actions were

perormed, by whom, and when.


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CONCLUSION:

LIFEISbETTER


Long running procedures are difficult to track. Sometimes

we have complex procedures that span multiple shifts

and therefore many people are involved. Manual andpaper-based processes require managers to babysit

the procedure.

Workow engines are built to monitor short and long

running procedures. Workows can be created with built-

in escalation procedures to handle cases where someonehas not responded to a critical task. Task reminders and

notifcations are day-to-day eatures o a workow.

Corrective actions are delayed because the process is

initiated and managed manually. Production is lost while

the system is performing at sub-optimal levels.

Workow engines progress corrective actions through to

completion. This closes the loop as ast as possible to

minimize production loss.


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EB-12-002April 2012

2012 Honeywell International Inc.

Many o the procedures we perorm on a regular basis are great candidates or

workow orchestration. Start capturing this hard earned knowledge today so that it

can be established as standard processes, audited, and shared with junior team members.Procedures are valuable corporate assets. Intuition Executive triggers workows based on

events or conditions and ensures action is taken to close the loop.

And, by the way, aside rom some bickering between the in-laws and a missing napkin ring,

our dinner party was a success.

Honeywell Process Solutions

1250 West Sam Houston Parkway South

Houston, TX 77042

Honeywell House, Arlington Business Park

Bracknell, Berkshire, England RG12 1EB

Shanghai City Centre, 100 Junyi RoadShanghai, China 20051

www.honeywellprocess.com

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