Viewing logged data

Data and events recorded by the devices in your system are regularly transferred by the from each device to the database. uses the to transfer this information from the database to your workstation. provides two ways to view logged data and events: the Data Log Viewer and the Event (and Global Event) Log Viewer.

The Data Log Viewer displays data logs from all devices represented in the active user diagram. You can use the Data Log Viewer to display waveform and trend data in tabular format. You can also select a range of logs from the viewer and display the data graphically in the log view plotter.

The Event Log Viewer typically displays events and alarms from each device represented in the active user diagram. The Event Log Viewer is used primarily to monitor low-priority events and alarms associated with the active user diagram. Each Event Log Viewer is associated with a single user diagram.

The Global Event Log Viewer is a special version of the Event Log Viewer used primarily to display high-priority events and alarms for your entire system. The Global Event Log Viewer is not associated with any single user diagram; the event information it displays is common, or global, to the entire system.

Using a Data Log Viewer

Use a Data Log Viewer to view system data stored in the database. Data Log Viewers display historical trend data (from data recorders) and waveform data (from waveform recorders).

You can select any data displayed in a Data Log Viewer and plot it as a graph or copy it to another application (for example, Microsoft Excel) where you can perform advanced calculations or include it in a report.

See "Using the Query Options" on page 1 for information on log viewer configuration.

Displaying a Data Log Viewer

Click on a Data Log Viewer object in your user diagram. The Data Log Viewer appears.

Each Data Log Viewer displays data as a table of columns and rows. Each labeled column contains a single type of data and each numbered row represents a single data record.

Plotting a range of data from the Data Log Viewer

You can plot data from a Data Log Viewer in the Log View Plotter.

Highlight the cells containing the data that you want to plot. The range of data can be selected in one of three ways:

To graph trends for all parameters over a particular time span, select a group of rows.

To graph the trend for a specific parameter using all available records, select the entire column.

To graph multiple parameters over a specific time span, click on the first cell in the desired range then drag to highlight the last cell of the range.

Select Edit > Plot Selected Data or click .

The Log View Plotter window appears, displaying a graphical representation of the selected data. See "Plotting Logged Data" on page 1 for more information.

Tip

To quickly plot a single waveform, double-click on its waveform symbol in the Data Log Viewer.

Copying a selection to another application

Highlight the cells containing the data that you want to copy.

Select Edit > Copy or click . This copies the selection to the Windows Clipboard. Switch to another application and paste the selection.

Using the Event and Global Event Log Viewers

Events and alarms that occur in your system are recorded by the meter and transferred via to the database.

provides two ways to view event records stored in the database:

The Event Log Viewer displays events and alarms from the device(s) represented in the active user diagram. Use it to monitor low-priority events and alarms associated with the active user diagram. The Event Log Viewer is associated with a single user diagram, so alarms only update when the user diagram is open.

The Global Event Log Viewer displays events and alarms for your entire system. Use it to monitor high-priority events and alarms for the entire system. The Global Event Log Viewer operates independently of any user diagram. The Global Event Log Viewer does not require a user diagram and updates as soon as you start .

See "Using the Query Options" on page 1 for information on log viewer configuration.

Tip

To quickly display the user diagram for any device represented in a Global Event Log Viewer, double-click on the node name (in the node column) of a device to display its user diagram.

Displaying an Event Log Viewer

Click an Event Log Viewer object in your user diagram to open the Event Log Viewer.

The Event Log Viewer displays logged events in a table of columns and rows. Each labeled column contains a single category or event description and each numbered row represents a single event record.

Typically, Event Log Viewers display the following information:

Timestamp: This indicates the event’s date and time.

Priority: This determines the relative significance of the event. Each type of event has a numeric value assigned to it that represents its relative priority level. See "Alarming Options" on page 1 for more information.

Cause: This is the label and value describing the cause of the event. For example, if the label is “Setpoint #1” and the value is “Active,” then the event was caused by setpoint #1 changing to an active state.

Effect: This is the label and value describing the effect of the event. For example, if label is “Relay #1” and the value is “Forced On,” then the effect of the event was to force relay #1 on.

Ack Time: This is the date and time that an alarm was acknowledged.

When an alarm occurs, can notify you in several ways: a beeping sound, a flashing title bar, a message box, or a custom sound. If you have sufficient security clearance, you can acknowledge alarms. See "Acknowledging Alarms" on page 1for more information.

Note

Because Event Log Viewers are associated with a single user diagram, they only update when the user diagram is open. All Event Log Viewers need to be re-opened if a diagram is closed or the software is shut down.

Displaying the Global Event Log Viewer

The Global Event Log Viewer displays event data stored in the database. It includes records retrieved from meter and event logs, as well as records transferred from the system log database. Users share a single Global Event Log Viewer and, generally, the information displayed is common, or global, to the entire system.

Note

It is recommended that you do not delete the Global Event Log Viewer. If the pre-configured Global Event Log Viewer is deleted, a new one must be created and configured. If one user deletes it, the Global Event Log Viewer is automatically deleted from all workstations. Only a user with supervisor-level access can delete a Global Event Log Viewer.

You can add multiple Global Event Log Viewers (if you have sufficient authority). You can change each viewer's filter criteria to query the database for events from a specific node or group of nodes or for events with a certain priority level.

Adding a Global Event Log Viewer

Select Edit > Add Global Event Log Viewer to open a Global Event Log Viewer window.

The new Global Event Log Viewer is preconfigured with default link and query information. However, you can link the viewer to another log server using the procedure described in "Linking a Data Log Viewer or Event Log Viewer" on page 1.

If you want to reconfigure a Global Event Log Viewer, ensure that the Toolbox is open (Options > Show Toolbox) then right-click the viewer window to display the Event Log Viewer Configuration dialog. You can edit the Caption, , Query or Alarming options in the same way you edit these options on an individual Event Log Viewer. See "Customizing a Diagram Object" on page 1 for information on configuring these options.

Note

When you add a Global Event Log Viewer to your workstation, it is automatically added to all workstations in your network.

Viewing the Global Event Log Viewer

Select Window > Global Event Viewer to open the Global Event Log Viewer.

Tip

To temporarily “hide” the Global Event Log Viewer, clear View > Show Global Event Viewer.

Acknowledging alarms

The alarm acknowledgement function is available in the application in the component. See the online help for the application for information about acknowledging alarms.

Every type of event has a prioritized value that identifies its relative significance on a scale of 0 (zero) to 255. By default, identifies any event with a priority of 128 (default) or greater as an alarm.

The event record is highlighted in red, and identified under the Ack Time column as "ALARM". The Cause column lists the source of the alarm and the Effect column describes the event.

By default, plays a "beep" to annunciate an event with a priority range of 128-191, and a beep combined with a flashing display to annunciate an event with a priority range of 192-255. To customize these options, see "Alarming Options" on page 1.

When you acknowledge an alarm, records the time the alarm was acknowledged (in the Ack Time column) and your user ID (in the User Name column).

The alarm acknowledgement function is also available in the application in the component. See the online help for the application for information about acknowledging alarms.

Note

In some cases, your access level may not be sufficient to acknowledge an alarm; for example, a critical alarm may require Supervisor access. This is a user-configurable option. See "Alarming options" on page 1 for more information.

Acknowledging an alarm

Open an Event Log Viewer or Global Event Log Viewer, then do one of the following:

To acknowledge a single alarm, click the word ALARM in the Ack Time column or highlight the row containing the alarm.

To acknowledge all alarms to date, click the Ack Time column heading.

A confirmation box appears, asking if you want to acknowledge the selected alarms.

Select Yes to acknowledge the alarms or No to cancel.

If you acknowledge the alarm but do not have a sufficient access level, the alarm remains unacknowledged and the message "Insufficient Authorization" appears in the status line.

Note

When an alarm has been acknowledged in the Web-based application, and you view the entry in the Event Log Viewer or Global Event Log Viewer, the Ack Time and User Name columns are populated with the appropriate acknowledgement entries for the ON value. However, these columns remain blank for the related OFF value even though the alarm has been acknowledged.

Silencing alarms

If you are not ready or able to acknowledge an alarm, you can silence it until it can be acknowledged by selecting Options > Silence Outstanding Alarms.

Note

Acknowledging an alarm does not change the operating condition that caused the alarm. You must ensure that the cause is corrected to remove the alarm condition.