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PI Data on the Web. Joey Langan BP Lima Integrated Complex, Lima, Ohio Presented at OSI PI Users’ Conference, 23-25 March 1998. Background. Wanted to link local databases to web PI Server upgrade to 2.1.1/ODBC server Local web pages on corporate intranet server
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PI Data on the Web Joey Langan BP Lima Integrated Complex, Lima, Ohio Presented at OSI PI Users’ Conference, 23-25 March 1998
Background • Wanted to link local databases to web • PI Server upgrade to 2.1.1/ODBC server • Local web pages on corporate intranet server • Corporate intranet management does not allow Internet Data Connector(IDC) or Active Server scripting (ASP) • Looked for easy to implement local solution
Found a local solution! • PI 2.1.1 or PI 3.2 with ODBC server • Microsoft Frontpage 97 • Microsoft (Internet Information Server) IIS 3.0 or Peer/Personal Web Server (PWS) on 95/NT middleware server with hyperlink from corporate web
Setup Middleware Intranet Server • Installed NT Workstation 4.0 SP 3 (1 hour) • Installed and upgraded to IIS 3.0 (1 hour) • Installed FrontPage 97 (15 minutes) • Installed PI-ODBC client (15 minutes) • Built PI query (30 minutes) • Copied query to IDC and created HTML template (.HTX) (30 minutes) • Created link from local page on corporate intranet • Total Time - 3.5 Hours
First Application - Observations • Weather data has little value - although it may bring more users to the site, more often. Also, users may ask - what other data can I get from PI • Shows potential of IDC - could add more important data • Don’t know how to format columns in SQL - not easy to use like an Excel spreadsheet - too many decimal places!
Second Application - Ops Summary • Overview for Management and Corporate Customer - PI Client not needed • Can access from any Web Browser (including dial-in from PalmPilot, etc.) • Could include margin and performance index information (as long as information is stored in PI) • SQL query took considerable time to build
Another Application • Use Excel Spreadsheet as source • Recalculate at regular interval • Can bring multiple data sources into one spreadsheet (multiple PI and ODBC calls) • Query is easy to build (5 minutes) • Spreadsheet can be maintained by content owner
Spreadsheet Application - Observations • Has broad audience - Refinery and Chemicals Operations and Corporate Propylene Supply group • Base spreadsheet is maintained by content owner! • Included data from 4 sources • One time setup of recalculation timer/workstation
Recommendations • Using IDC is only good for simple, one database tasks • Return on efforts acceptable, as not much time spent • Requires IT resources • ODBC queries to PI can be lengthy • Use ASP (which requires programming knowledge)