Alarms and Audit-Trail Tutorial

Alarms → Tutorial | Concept | How-to Guide | FDA 21 CRF 11 | Reference

1: Configure Alarm Groups

1. Navigate to Alarms → Groups
2. Verify pre-defined groups exist:

Modify Critical group:

• • Open the ComboBox Sound field
  • Select Exclamation
  • Press Enter

2: Create Alarm Items

1. Go to Alarms → Items
2. Add high temperature alarm:

1. Add low level alarm:

3: Configure Alarm Areas

1. Navigate to Alarms → Areas
2. Create hierarchy:

• Plant
  • Production
    • Tank1
    • Tank2
  • Utilities

Assign alarms to areas:

• • Return to Alarms → Items
  • Set Area = Plant_Production_Tank1 for both alarms

4: Enable Audit Trail

1. Go to Alarms → Global Settings
2. In Audit Trail section:
   • Check Enable Audit Trail
   • Enable options:
     • User Logon/Logoff
     • Tag Changes
     • Operator Actions
     • Custom Messages
3. Configure database retention:
   • Life Time: 2555 days (7 years for FDA compliance)

5: Create Alarm Display

1. Navigate to Displays → New
2. Name: AlarmMonitor
3. Add AlarmViewer control from toolbox
4. Configure properties:
   • List: OnlineAlarms
   • ShowAcknowledged: False
   • Columns: Time, TagName, Message, Value, Group
5. Add AlarmArea control for navigation
6. Save display

6: Test Alarms

1. Start Runtime (Runtime → Startup)
2. Open Alarms→ Alarms Monitor
3. Simulate alarm conditions by changing tag values
4. Verify the alarms showing in the alarm viewer

7: Verify Audit Trail

1. Change AlarmViewer List to AuditTrail
2. Verify logged events:
   • User login
   • Alarm triggers
   • Acknowledgments
   • Tag changes

In this section...