Project Description
CGK Smart P&ID Tool
The CGK Consulting Group Smart P&ID Tool is a Microsoft Visio plug-in that allows users to easily draw and store plant information in drawings.
In 2013, CGK Consulting Group was assisting Americas Styrenics with their MOD-V to ABB 800xA migration. In efforts audit the plant documentation and prepare an accurate I/O list for the DCS Migration, Americas Styrenics invested in updating their existing MicroStation CAD drawings to Bentley OpenPlant PowerPID. Efforts to migrate the plants’ P&ID drawings to a “smart” drawing platform been frustrating. As is case in many plants today, experienced drafters, IT professionals, and control systems engineers were in short supply, making the configuration, customization, and implementation of database driven drafting software taxing on the plant staff.
To solve this problem and expedite the DCS migration document validation efforts, CGK developed the CGK Smart P&ID Tool for Micrsoft Visio. The tool uses a customization set of easy to use stencils combined with behind-the-scenes programming to create “relational database like” behavior, without the relational database. This means that no database administrator is required. The relationships between MOD-V address, P&ID I/O Tags, P&ID Equipment Tags, and Independent Layers of Protection is achieved through the use of specialized Visio connectors. You simply draw your P&ID an populate the data fields as desired and add in the relations by drawing them directly on the P&ID.
The concept behind this tool was to provide an easy to learn, easy to maintain work process for managing a set of smart P&IDs. Visio is inexpensive, easy to learn, and most engineers have had some exposure to it. The data created and stored in the drawing is exported to Excel, another staple software for engineers. By using platforms that are pervasive within the chemical plants, CGK was able to produce a tool that even someone with zero drafting or engineering experience could learn to use proficiently in a matter of days. For America Styrenics, CGK provided conversion services using our in-house drafters to convert the 800+ MicroStation drawings to CGK Smart P&ID Visio drawings. Compared to Bentley PowerPID, CGK was able to convert the drawings to smart P&IDs in 25-30% of the time, with a data model that perfectly fit the DCS migration project requirements.
Although this tool was designed for use in the conversion of a Dow Chemical MOD-V to ABB System 800xA control system, it can be easily adapted to meet your company’s standards and data requirements for any process control system.
Compared to Industry Leading Products
Bentley PowerPID
- Drafting & Management Costs
CGK Smart P&ID
- Drafting & Management Costs
Legacy P&IDs Converted to CGK Smart P&ID
Key Advantages To CGK Smart P&ID Tool
- Maintain the legacy system addresses as a patch-point reference and report it in Excel. The physical meaning of this address is not lost completely when performing a DCS migration. The signal wires will still terminate in your CRJB at these FTA locations, and many of your field instrument tags may refer to MOD-V / legacy address rather than P&ID tag names. Our tool displays the MOD-V Address associated with that IO point simply by attaching a custom connector to to the IO (see demo video.) This means you do not have to type the data in two places (the IO shape AND the MOD-V shape) in order to get reporting and graphic display the way you want.
- Compare the data to other sources. How do you know if something is on your P&IDs but not used in your DowTran code, or used in the code and not on your P&IDs? Or represented on MOD-V Graphics? Again, you could check every single point by hand, but our tools are designed to compare data sources: Dowtran Code, MOD-V Graphics, P&IDS, and your new control system IO List and highlight inconsistencies programmatically.
- Audit your P&IDs against your Process Safety Database / SIS-LOPA documentation as is required by OSHA. Our tool allows you to identify IO that is used for SIS, BPCS, or PC- protection layers and will report this data in Excel. When migrating from a Dow MOD-V, this data is also used in the hardware configuration for new control systems since most commercially available systems or project FEEDs do not allow for an integrated SIS + BPCS logic solver such as the MOD-V.
- Allow asset owners to self-maintain their drawings. Visio is easy to learn, most new engineering graduatess already have experience with it, our plug-in is easy to use and enforces data accuracy, and Visio licenses are extremely inexpensive as compared to AutoCAD, Bentley, or others that can be thousands per seat per year. These database driven tools also have a steep learning curve and require a competent database administrator to configure and maintain the system. Visio is also useful for non-engineering purposes; gone are the days of diagramming anything in Microsoft Paint or using the draw tool in PowerPoint.
- Portability. Visio drawings are based on a Microsoft object type library, which means you can just copy-paste drawings or segments of drawings into other documents (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc)
- Get it right the first time. CGK is not in the business of selling software; we sell services and we bring software and technology to improve our competitive advantage. The CGK Smart P&ID Tool is an information system that is custom tailored to your company and plant control system standards. We have drafters, software developers, experienced control systems engineers, and project management working to make sure your P&ID conversion goes very smoothly. Using CGK to do your drawing conversions will eliminate man hours in the data reconciliation and preparation process that follow the drawing conversion. We add value to the project by rapidly producing a high quality product at a cost effective price point.
