Console Reader Helps Track Operator Performance
Longwatch has announced that its video productivity suite of software can now work with any ACP-enabled thin client, including the Video Historian, live and archived video and the Console Recorder. With the Console Recorder, customers can now record thin client screens for use by operations for troubleshooting, training and compliance. The Longwatch Console Reader, when used with ACP-enabled thin clients, helps customers reduce downtime and see exactly what their operators were viewing during shutdown, line stoppages and other system events.
The software records what is seen on the ACP thin client, and the operator's responses on the keyboard and mouse, but does not have any impact on terminal services sessions or servers. Managers and supervisors can view recorded screens to determine what really happened during an 'event' from the operator's perspective. The Console Reader can synchronise recorded video from the operator console with manufacturing databases and process historians, so that when managers and supervisors view the recorded operator screens, they can also view archived data from the historian or databases on additional thin client screens.
This is said to be valuable when doing root cause analysis and troubleshooting because it recreates the event. The recordings can also be used as a training tool for new operators or to share with operators for continuous improvement. A claimed benefit of an ACP Thinmanager system is that the main Longwatch software application resides on a secure central server, which can support multiple Thinmanager stations. The Thinmanager terminals do not host the software, so a customer does not have to worry about making software or security upgrades on multiple systems.
Because a single ACP thin client device can support up to five monitors, a user in one location can view one or more video screens plus displays from multiple applications running on the main server or on other computers on the network. Running Longwatch video software in conjunction with a thin client is seamless from the administrator or operator perspective. The Longwatch Console Recording Engine interacts with the thin client software without any changes to the ACP system overall.
The result is the same as capturing screens from a standard PC; that is, menus, commands and screens appear and react exactly the same to user entries from a keyboard, touch screen or mouse. Steve Rubin, president of Longwatch, said: 'Because the ACP system is seamless, customers running Longwatch console monitoring software with HMI/Scada platforms such as Wonderware, Intellution, Thefix or Clearscada, can implement a thin client application without any changes to the HMI or Longwatch software.
The software records what is seen on the ACP thin client, and the operator's responses on the keyboard and mouse, but does not have any impact on terminal services sessions or servers. Managers and supervisors can view recorded screens to determine what really happened during an 'event' from the operator's perspective. The Console Reader can synchronise recorded video from the operator console with manufacturing databases and process historians, so that when managers and supervisors view the recorded operator screens, they can also view archived data from the historian or databases on additional thin client screens.
This is said to be valuable when doing root cause analysis and troubleshooting because it recreates the event. The recordings can also be used as a training tool for new operators or to share with operators for continuous improvement. A claimed benefit of an ACP Thinmanager system is that the main Longwatch software application resides on a secure central server, which can support multiple Thinmanager stations. The Thinmanager terminals do not host the software, so a customer does not have to worry about making software or security upgrades on multiple systems.
Because a single ACP thin client device can support up to five monitors, a user in one location can view one or more video screens plus displays from multiple applications running on the main server or on other computers on the network. Running Longwatch video software in conjunction with a thin client is seamless from the administrator or operator perspective. The Longwatch Console Recording Engine interacts with the thin client software without any changes to the ACP system overall.
The result is the same as capturing screens from a standard PC; that is, menus, commands and screens appear and react exactly the same to user entries from a keyboard, touch screen or mouse. Steve Rubin, president of Longwatch, said: 'Because the ACP system is seamless, customers running Longwatch console monitoring software with HMI/Scada platforms such as Wonderware, Intellution, Thefix or Clearscada, can implement a thin client application without any changes to the HMI or Longwatch software.
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