FactoryTalk® VantagePoint® EMI Lab:

Introduction to Analytics

For Classroom Use Only!

 Important User Information
This documentation, whether, illustrative, printed, “online” or electronic (hereinafter “Documentation”) is intended for use only as
a learning aid when using Rockwell Automation approved demonstration hardware, software and firmware. The Documentation
should only be used as a learning tool by qualified professionals.
The variety of uses for the hardware, software and firmware (hereinafter “Products”) described in this Documentation, mandates
that those responsible for the application and use of those Products must satisfy themselves that all necessary steps have been
taken to ensure that each application and actual use meets all performance and safety requirements, including any applicable
laws, regulations, codes and standards in addition to any applicable technical documents.
In no event will Rockwell Automation, Inc., or any of its affiliate or subsidiary companies (hereinafter “Rockwell Automation”) be
responsible or liable for any indirect or consequential damages resulting from the use or application of the Products described in
this Documentation. Rockwell Automation does not assume responsibility or liability for damages of any kind based on the
alleged use of, or reliance on, this Documentation.
No patent liability is assumed by Rockwell Automation with respect to use of information, circuits, equipment, or software
described in the Documentation.
Except as specifically agreed in writing as part of a maintenance or support contract, equipment users are responsible for:
 • properly using, calibrating, operating, monitoring and maintaining all Products consistent with all
Rockwell Automation or third-party provided instructions, warnings, recommendations and
documentation;
 • ensuring that only properly trained personnel use, operate and maintain the Products at all times;
 • staying informed of all Product updates and alerts and implementing all updates and fixes; and
 • all other factors affecting the Products that are outside of the direct control of Rockwell Automation.
Reproduction of the contents of the Documentation, in whole or in part, without written permission of Rockwell Automation is
prohibited.
Throughout this manual we use the following notes to make you aware of safety considerations:

Identifies information about practices or circumstances that can cause an explosion in a hazardous
environment,which may lead to personal injury or death, property damage, or economic loss.

Identifies information that is critical for successful application and understanding of the product.

Identifies information about practices or circumstances that can lead to personal injury or death, property
damage, or economic loss. Attentions help you:
• identify a hazard
• avoid a hazard
• recognize the consequence

Labels may be located on or inside the drive to alert people that dangerous voltage may be present.

Labels may be located on or inside the drive to alert people that surfaces may be dangerous temperatures.
FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI: Introduction to Analytics

Contents
Before you begin ........................................................................................................................................... 5
About this lab .................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Tools & prerequisites ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Files required: ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Exploring the Connected Enterprise ........................................................................................................... 11

Connected Enterprise Configuration ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Connected Enterprise Reporting ..................................................................................................................................................... 15
Connected Enterprise Mobile Reporting ......................................................................................................................................... 23

VantagePoint Manager ............................................................................................................................... 41

FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI Reporting ................................................................................................... 45

Mobile Reports ................................................................................................................................................................................ 45
Trends ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 70
Excel Reports.................................................................................................................................................................................. 82

Configuring VantagePoint Data Sources .................................................................................................... 99

Connecting to a FactoryTalk Directory............................................................................................................................................ 99
Importing Data from FactoryTalk Live Data and FactoryTalk Historian SE .................................................................................. 101
Importing FactoryTalk Alarms and Events .................................................................................................................................... 112

VantagePoint Types and Modeling ........................................................................................................... 115

Introduction to Types .................................................................................................................................................................... 115
Importing Controller UDTs ............................................................................................................................................................ 118
Manually Adding a Type Instance ................................................................................................................................................. 125
Using Types to Expand The Connected Enterprise ...................................................................................................................... 129

Integrating FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI with FactoryTalk View SE ..................................................... 133

Connecting to FactoryTalk View SE HMI Tags ............................................................................................................................. 133
Reporting on FactoryTalk View SE DataLogs (or a SQL Data Source) ........................................................................................ 133
Accessing Trend and XY Plotter Data from FactoryTalk View SE ................................................................................................ 140

3 of 180
Accessing Report data from FactoryTalk View SE ....................................................................................................................... 148

Advanced Reporting .................................................................................................................................. 153

Using SQL CLR ............................................................................................................................................................................ 153
Creating a SQL Reporting Services Report .................................................................................................................................. 159

4 of 180
Before you begin

311
5 ofof180
311
6 of 180
7 of 180
About this lab
This Hands-on lab allows you to learn how to take advantage of The Connected Enterprise by integrating and accessing data
from Rockwell Automation systems with FactoryTalk® VantagePoint® EMI. In this introductory lab, you’ll explore the key building
blocks and analytic capabilities of FactoryTalk VantagePoint, and build a mobile dashboard using data from FactoryTalk®
Historian’s Asset Framework.
This lab is pick and choose and the following sections can be completed in any order. It is suggested that users new to
FactoryTalk VantagePoint follow the lab exercises in order. The times provides are estimates for the completion of each
exercise.
 Exploring the Connected Enterprise – 15 minutes
 VantagePoint Manager – 5 minutes
 FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI Reporting – 40 minutes
 Configuring VantagePoint Data Sources – 10 minutes
 VantagePoint Types and Modeling – 15 minutes
 Integrating FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI with FactoryTalk View SE – 15 minutes
 Advanced Reporting – 20 minutes

8 of 180
Tools & prerequisites
The VMWare image for this Lab uses various Rockwell Automation software products to demonstrate the power of the
Connected Enterprise and FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI’s ability to bring data together from multiple sources into a single
reporting view:
 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 SP1
 Microsoft SQL 2012
 Microsoft Office 2013
 FactoryTalk Services Platform 3.00.00
 FactoryTalk Alarms and Event 3.00.00
 RSLinx Classic 4.00.00
 FactoryTalk Linx 6.00.00
 Studio 5000 Logix Emulate 30.01.00
 FactoryTalk Gateway 3.90.00
 Studio 5000 Logix Designer 30.01.00
 FactoryTalk View SE 10.00.00
 FactoryTalk Historian SE 5.01
 FactoryTalk Historian SE Interface Node
 FactoryTalk Metrics 11.50
 FactoryTalk AssetCentre 8.00.00
 Report Expert 3.20
 FactoryTalk VantagePoint 8.00.00

Files required:
 Lab files located on image in the C:\Lab Files folder

9 of 180
This page intentionally left blank

10 of 180
Exploring the Connected Enterprise

Information is power. Helping customers harness it to bring our Connected Enterprise vision to life has been a priority for
decades. Smart manufacturing is the gateway to digital transformation. Connected smart devices open new windows of visibility
into processes. Data and analytics enable better and faster decision making. Seamless connectivity spurs new collaboration.
The Connected Enterprise makes all this possible. It converges plant-level and enterprise networks, and securely connects
people, processes, and technologies.
Our Integrated Control and Information portfolio and solutions break down barriers, securely providing access to data that has
traditionally been trapped in operations’ historians and contextualizing it to provide the right intelligence to the right people.
Actionable information is related to key performance indicators and improved business value, including production throughput,
process quality, asset health and energy efficiency, and delivers true customer value in the forms of faster time to market, lower
total cost of ownership, improved asset utilization and enterprise risk management.

Connected Enterprise Configuration

The simulation content in this lab is a demonstration of The Connected Enterprise. This demonstration simulates a fictitious
company named MightyQ’s. MightyQ’s is a global Cookie Manufacturer with baking facilities in:
 Brussels, Belgium
 Chicago, USA
 Singapore, Singapore

11 of 180
Brussels and Singapore contain line level data, while Chicago has a fully simulated plant consisting of a Mixer, Depositor, Oven,
Cooling Tunnel, Tray Loader, Tray Wrapper, Case Packer, Palletizer, and Shrink Wrapper. In this section of the lab we’re going
to familiarize ourselves with The Connected Enterprise analytical content available in the lab image.

To begin exploring the Connected Enterprise Demo, we can first look at a FactoryTalk View SE HMI client attached to Line 1 in
our Chicago plant.

Verify that Emulate 5000 is open with controller in run mode (green RUN light) – if not running, see next step.

If Emulate 5000 is not running, double-click on Automatic Startup.bat file on desktop. Please wait
approximately 5 minutes for batch file to run to prepare image for lab (DO NOT just click Studio 5000 Logix
Emulate shortcut, you need to run the Automatic Startup batch file!).

12 of 180
Open the FactoryTalk View SE client file named MightyQ.cli from the lab image desktop.

You are presented with a HMI screen showing an overview of Line 1 in the Chicago Plant.

Select Depositor.

You will see an overview of the Depositor with information about its operation. Note that this information is coming from
various data sources. These data sources are collecting data from an emulated controller running a cookie factory
simulation on this server. Note that if the system hasn’t been running for long, which may be the case when performing lab
exercises, the VantagePoint dial may not show up the first time you browse to the screen. Simply browse to a different
screen and back again to see the content.

13 of 180
Feel free to browse through the HMI demo to familiarize yourself with the Chicago Cookie Line. As you explore the HMI
content, you will see data from FactoryTalk Live Data, FactoryTalk Historian, FactoryTalk Alarms and Events, and
FactoryTalk Metrics. In some cases the content on the HMI screens is a combination of FactoryTalk View SE content and
containers showing VantagePoint reporting content.

Select Exit from the menu to shut down the View SE Client when finished.

14 of 180
Connected Enterprise Reporting
Next we’re going to explore the FactoryTalk VantagePoint Reporting content for the Connected Enterprise.

1. Open the FactoryTalk VantagePoint Portal from the Start menu or by opening Internet Explorer and browsing to
http://racesa. (racesa is the name of our server)

The VantagePoint Portal has many of the same characteristics as other commonly known portals. It is web based and users
browse to it using a standard web browser. It can be fully customized to suit your business and individual users can
personalize parts of the portal for their own use. The Portal is extensible; it can reach out to other sources of data beyond
VantagePoint data: other web based objects and content can be incorporated into the portal that VantagePoint may not
know about at all. The VantagePoint Portal can easily link to other sites for content such as weather or news.
What makes the VantagePoint Portal especially powerful, however, is its ability to find data that is already inside
VantagePoint - with only a browser. This includes enterprise data that VantagePoint can access via data connectors as well
as any items created in the VantagePoint Model.

2. In the Portal menu, browse to Reports > Chicago Site Analytics.

15 of 180
3. The Connected Enterprise demonstration has been modeled in VantagePoint using the following hierarchy:
Site  Area  Lines Assets (Equipment)
The Unified Production Model in VantagePoint provides the ability to integrate information from business and manufacturing
systems scattered across the enterprise into a single unified view. This allows users to deal with real world abstractions
such as pumps, people, and tags without being concerned about how the data for those items got into the system. The
benefits of creating a model in VantagePoint will be further explored later in this lab.

16 of 180
4. The first report we see is a live dashboard of all of our Assets for the Chicago line. If left open this dashboard
will periodically update as values change.

5. Select the Production Waterfall report under Line1.

17 of 180
6. This is a SQL Reporting Services report showing a summary of production data for Line1. The connectivity to
this report has been imported automatically into the VantagePoint Model using the FactoryTalk Metrics
Connector.

7. Under Assets  Mixer, open the Machine Current Status report.

18 of 180
8. This report presents information regarding the current status of the selected Asset, in our case the Mixer. This
data is coming from a combination of FactoryTalk Metrics, FactoryTalk Historian, and FactoryTalk Live data.
This is an Excel report which has been published to the VantagePoint Portal.

NOTE: While Excel is required to develop Excel reports, clients do not need Excel to view the reporting
content from the VantagePoint Portal.

9. Select the Parameters tab.

Types define the items and properties such as equipment that represent a high-level view of your plant. Once you create a
type package, you can create instances of these types and map them to actual data sources. Instances represent real world
objects in your plant. For example, you might create a type for an Electric Pump in the Type System that consists of a motor
and pump. The motor includes properties for voltage, current, and power. Your plant may use multiple pumps, such as a
pump that moves mixture from a tank, a pump that moves water to a piece of equipment, etc. You would then create an
instance of the Electric Pump for each individual pump in your plant, and would connect the power, voltage, and current
properties to a FactoryTalk Historian, or some other data source that collects that information. After you have defined the
pump type, you can create a report for the pump type. Once this report has been created, you will be able to pass any
instance of a pump in the system into the report as a parameter. This allows you to use the same report for all existing or
new pumps in your system. Also, you would only need to modify the report one time in order to see the changes for every
pump in the system.

19 of 180
 Once you have created a model that accurately describes your business or process, you can share it with other business
units that operate using the same structure.
This report has been built based on a VantagePoint type called machine. All of our assets (Mixer, Depositor, Oven, etc.) in
VantagePoint are instances of our machine type.

10. Using the Machine drop down, select the Depositor from the Chicago line (one item above the currently select
Mixer instance).

11. Click the Generate Report button.

You will now see the reporting values for the Depositor. Note that if you click on the Chicago Site tab, you will notice that
the Machine Status report under the Depositor is now highlighted. This single report has been linked under each instance
of a machine type in our reporting view for easy access by users. This is accomplished in VantagePoint using Content
Types. Content Types are covered in Advanced VantagePoint labs.

20 of 180
12. Return to the Chicago Site tab and select Unit Batch History under the Mixer asset.

13. This SQL Server Reporting Services report provides a list of every batch that has ran on the Mixer for the
selected time period. Note that you can select another line or machine to run this report easily using the
parameter bar on top of the reports.

21 of 180
14. This report also has drill-through capabilities. Click on any of the Batch ID’s to drill down to the Batch Detail
Report.

15. In this report we see details about the batch including start and stop time, OEE, product counts, and associated
process data.

Feel free to browse any of the Connected Enterprise reporting content in the VantagePoint portal to familiarize yourself with
VantagePoint reporting capabilities.

22 of 180
Connected Enterprise Mobile Reporting
Next we are going to explore the available VantagePoint Mobile content for our demo.

Access VantagePoint Mobile by selecting Tools > VantagePoint Mobile from the VantagePoint Portal menu.

We could also have accessed the portal using one of the following methods:
 From Internet Explorer, browse to http://racesa/incuity/thinui/index.html?v8.00#/thinui/home (where racesa is the name
of our VantagePoint server)
 From alternate browsers, browse to http://racesa (where racesa is the name of your VantagePoint server). This can be
done using Google Chrome on the lab image.
For the purposes of this lab exercise, we are simply going to browse to several mobile reports. The VantagePoint Mobile
section of this lab provides a full overview of the Mobile site and its capabilities.

Click the Model link.

23 of 180
This is a list of Mobile Views pointing to locations in your Unified Production Model (UPM). Mobile Views are
typically created by the System Administrators or Application Developers.

Select MightyQs Enterprise.

24 of 180
Select Analytics.

You will see that the navigation bar has disappeared. This is because we’ve reached the lowest level of this part
of the model. You will also see that there is now available mobile reporting content in a slider at the bottom of
the mobile view.

The links to content include the name of the content, a brief description, and an indication of the type of report and the
audience of the report. Pausing the mouse pointer over the type and audience icons will provide additional information.

25 of 180
Select the Corporate Overview report.

It may take a moment for the data to populate the first time you use a mobile report. This mobile display shows
an overview of the status of all three of our plants. This data is coming from FactoryTalk Historian SE and
FactoryTalk Metrics.

NOTE: that the gauges may not show up depending on how the screen is sized. Selecting the Maximize
button above the report will put the report in full screen mode and the gauges will be displayed.

Feel free to change the window size to see how it changes the formatting of the report. VantagePoint Mobile is capable of
resizing itself based on the viewing window in order to best show its reporting content. This is helpful when using smaller
sized mobile devices.

26 of 180
Select the Site Comparison Score Card (12-month).

This is an Excel report being rendered in VantagePoint Mobile. Similar to the full portal, mobile clients do not need to have
Excel installed to view this content. While no changes need to be made to existing Excel reporting content in VantagePoint
to display them in mobile, it is advised to keep mobility in mind when designing Excel reporting content. Excel reports with
large footprints require scrolling which can make the reporting content harder to use on smaller devices.

Navigate back to MightyQs Enterprise by either selecting the back button or by clicking on MightyQs in the
navigation bar.

Navigate to Chicago > Line1.

27 of 180
While we have reporting content at this level of the model, we are not at the lowest level yet so we are still
provided with a navigation option.
Select the Energy Intensity Analysis report.

This is a Report Expert report is showing Energy Data from Historian using a mobile table widget. Note that if
there is more data than fits on the size of the device rendering the content, you can easily browse the content
using the page buttons for each table widget.

28 of 180
Return to the list of available Mobile Models using the back button in the Mobile Portal. You could also select the
Home button in the upper right corner of the Mobile portal and then select Model again.

New to The Connected Enterprise is the addition of Personas and Use Cases.

29 of 180
Select Personas.

Select EHS Manager.

Select Safety – Dashboard.

30 of 180
The Safety Dashboard provides information on the overall safety data for the plant. At a quick glance we can
see that the Chicago plant has too many daily safety events today. It also provides drill-through for a more
detailed view of the information.
Click on the Daily Safety Device Events dial.

The Daily Safety Event Summary report provides details about the safety events that have happened today.
We can see that the Palletizer Light Curtain has been tripped too many times already today.

31 of 180
Looking further we can see that our operator, Rob, is the one who has been triggering the palletizer. We may
want to follow up with Rob to see if there are other issues that need investigating. We can also drill down to see
additional information about the device that triggered the Safety Event.

32 of 180
Click on one of the Palletizer Safety Events at the bottom of the report to drill down further.

In the Safety Compliance Report we can see information about all of the safety devices for the asset we chose
for the drill down (in this case a Palletizer safety event was chosen)
Here we see that there’s an issue with the stop time for the palletizer light curtain that may need to be investigated. We can
also see the life left on the devices and can easily tell whether we’ll need to worry about replacing any of our devices yet.
Finally, we can drill down and easily access information about the safety device.
Select the Part ID for any of the safety devices to view the devices documentation.

33 of 180
Selecting the Palletizer Light Curtain part id brought up the user manual for the light curtain.

Select the Browser back button to return to the VantagePoint Mobile Portal.

Return to the Roles view by clicking on Roles in the mobile tool bar.

Select Mfg Administrators.

Select FT Alarms and Events.

34 of 180
Select Top Alarms – Duration.

FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI provies a connection to the FactoryTalk Alarms and Events database. Default
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events reports are avaliable on the Rockwell Automation Support and Sample Code
sites. These reports have been added to the system and are available in the Connected Enterprise demo.
The Top 10 Alarms by Duration shows the top longest active alarms on the system for the chosen time period.
Select the small down arrow at the top of the report to see the reporting parameters.

35 of 180
This report has a number of parameters that can be used to customize how the report is viewed. While the
values you see in the parameters are the report defaults, it’s possible to customize the default report by either
modifiying the report itself or pasing in these parameters when running the report. It is also possible to have the
parameters be shown when the report is opened rather than appear minimized.
 Set the start date back an extra hour in the Report Start parameter.
 Change the Top N parameter to 5.
 Select the drop down for the Columns parameter.
 By default, this report shows only a couple of values associated with the alarms. Using the Columns parameter
allows you to customize how much alarm data is show in the report.
 Check the box next to (Select All).
 When finished click off of the Columns parameter drop down to close it.

Select View Report to see the report rendered with the newly chosen parameters.

36 of 180
This report also features two different types of drill-through functionality.
Click on any of the duration values in the report to drill down to a detailed list of every entry in the database for that alarm.

In most cases in this demo there will be only one or two entries in this list for when the alarm went active or
inactive. This history becomes useful when you have a system with alarms that are being disabled, suppressed,
and shelved.

Also, in the case where level alarms were being used, we would se a detailed history of any level switches that may have
occrred (HIHI, HI, LO, LOLO) between the time the alarm went active and inactive.

Use the back button in VantagePoint Mobile to return to the Top alarms report.

Click on any of the Alarm names (that are not for the Status of the controller) to drill down to a report for the
specific alarm.

37 of 180
This report is showing a graphical representation of the alarms active state along with process data that has
been associated with it.

The process tags are associated to alarm instances in the model under System.Solutions.FTAE. When using
the Alarms and Events VantagePoint content from the Knowledgebase, the procedure for importing the reporting
content along with the Alarms in the VantagePoint model is provided. Up to four tags can be associated with an
alarm instance to be displayed in this report. Users can add the tags to each alarm by simply copying the tags
from elsewhere in the model and pasting the shortcut under the Associated Tags property of the alarm instance.

NOTE: VantagePoint doesn’t just allow you to display reporting content through a mobile browser. It allows
you to easily combine data from multiple data sources into reporting content. In this case, our report is
querying the VantagePoint server for all of its historical data. Alarms and Events data is coming from the
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events historical database and the process data is coming from FactoryTalk
Historian.

38 of 180
Select the Open Values in Trend button. Select Run if prompted with a Security Warning by the application.

This will open VantagePoint trend and pass in the Alarm tag, selected process tags, and the current report time
period. This allows users to quickly pull up the Trend tool in order to further analyze the data utilizing all of the
capabilities of VantagePoint Trend. Using the VantagePoint trend is discussed later in this lab.

Select the back button in the browser to return to the mobile portal.

Feel free to explore additional VantagePoint Mobile content. When finished, close the browser.

39 of 180
This page intentionally left blank

40 of 180
VantagePoint Manager

VantagePoint Manager is used to configure and manage a VantagePoint server. In this lab exercise we’re going to explore the
VantagePoint Manager tool.

Open VantagePoint Manager using one of the following methods:

 Select Manager from the Start menu.

NOTE: The links to the VantagePoint tools (Manager, Portal, Trend, and XYPlotter) will always be available
on the Server. They can also be added to the Start Menu of VantagePoint clients by selecting Tools >
Install Clients from the VantagePoint Portal menu)

 From the VantagePoint Portal, browse to Tools > Manager

41 of 180
VantagePoint Manager is composed of three main sections:
 MyEnterprise - MyEnterprise is the “sandbox” for structuring what you want users to see in the VantagePoint Portal.
Under MyEnterprise you can create a tree structure that contains links to all of the data and reports in your plant.
 System - System is where the majority of the configuration for VantagePoint is done. Under System you configure
security, connections to data sources, and all other VantagePoint tools
 TypeSystem - You can use the type system to add packages, types, properties, etc., to create a model of your plant on-
the-fly from VantagePoint Manager. You can also create operations, add inheritance so an item can inherit properties
from another item, create enumerated types to provide a list of drop-down options you can select when creating an
instance, and rename properties, items, etc.

NOTE: The ability to customize MyEnterprise allows you to provide an easy format for non-technical users
to access your data and reports without needing to know where the data is located in the control system.
Once you have configured data sources, created data types, and modeled out your system under
MyEnterprise, users will only need to know how to access that data.

Now we’re going to take a look at how The Connected Enterprise demo has been modeled in VantagePoint.

1. Browse to MyEnterprise  MightyQs.

Here we see our 3 cookie sites. We’re going to continue to focus on the Chicago site.

42 of 180
Drill down to Chicago > Areas > Production > Lines > Line1 > Assets and select Mixer.

NOTE: While we had to drill down a ways to get to the machines in the Chicago site, the model has been
laid out this way in order to provide the ability to expand. We can easily add additional machines, lines or
areas to each plant without having to make modifications to data layout. MyEnterprise is fully customizable
and can be configured to reflect any operation or hierarchy. We can also hide piece of this hierarchy in the
Portal settings so that reporting users don’t have to drill down as far to get to content.

Select the Properties tab to view the data that has been associated with the Mixer.

In this tab we see all of the data points that have been associated with the Mixer. As you look at the Value definition of
many of the Mixer’s tags, you can see the path to the data points within the VantagePoint system. These data points are
coming from multiple data sources (FactoryTalk Historian, FactoryTalk Metrics, and a SQL database holding batch
information). When users want to report on these points they only need to browse down to the BatchID tag under Mixer in
order to create a report, they don’t need to know how to setup a query to the SQL database in order to report on Mixer
batches.

43 of 180
The data type for the Mixer is RA.CE.Cookie.Mixer, this is a custom data type that was created for The Connected
Enterprise Demo. We can add as many Mixers instances to our system as we’d like. If we did so, every mixer of the
RA.CE.Cookie.Mixer data type would have the same list of properties that we see in the Properties tab right now. Once
those properties have been pointed at a data source, we can create a report based on the RA.CE.Cookie.Mixer type and it
would work for every instance of a Mixer we’ve created.

The combined ability of VantagePoint to abstract data sources and utilize types for reporting reusability are some of the
most powerful parts of the software. VantagePoint data sources only need to be configured once, after the initial
connections are made users and developers will only need to know where to find the data in the VantagePoint model. In
the following lab section, we’re going to create reporting content using the data sources and model that has already been
configured for us.
Configuring data sources (System) and data types (TypeSystem) is covered in later sections of this lab as well as advanced
VantagePoint labs.

44 of 180
FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI Reporting

FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI includes some of the most powerful reporting components in the industry. You may begin by
creating an ad-hoc report, then when you have it just right, you can publish it with a simple click of the mouse. The objects are
immediately a part of the Model and are accessible from the reports list by anyone with a web browser and user permission. You
may view the reports directly or via the Content Viewer Portal.
The reporting section of this lab will cover the following:
 Mobile Reporting: FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI is enabling frictionless productivity by providing out of the box web-
enabled content browsing and display creation. Your users will have the ability to browse the Unified Production Model as
well as view displays from their PC, tablet, or mobile device. Through simple drag and drop gestures, your users will have
the ability to create displays and save them as favorites from any device. Once they log in, they will have access to
content that has been organized and created just for them.
 Trending: FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI incorporates two of the most versatile and powerful trending and plotting
applications in the world. With drag-and-drop simplicity, you can drop simple tags or complete objects onto the plot.
Change time periods, stack traces, and switch between historical and real-time data...all with a single button click.
 Excel Reporting: The VantagePoint Function Wizard Excel Add-In provides a wizard-based interface and leads users
through the sometimes complex process of connecting to data sources, selecting specific items of interest, and building a
function to return data into a worksheet. Once you have published the report, you no longer need the worksheet. It is
perfectly preserved for you in the Model. It is not necessary to have Excel installed on any client to be able to view the
report.

Mobile Reports
In this section of the lab we are going to create a mobile dashboard using data from Historian’s Asset Framework.

NOTE: Developing dashboards using the VantagePoint Composer Tool is only available on devices with
large enough screens – typically tablets and desktop browsers.

What is Asset Framework?

FactoryTalk Historian Asset Framework is a single repository for asset-centric models, hierarchies, objects, and equipment
(hereafter referred to as elements). It integrates, contextualizes, refines, references, and further analyzes data from multiple
sources, including one or more FactoryTalk historian Data Archives. Together, these metadata and time series data provide a
detailed description of equipment or assets. Asset Framework is a key component of FactoryTalk Historian v5. System Explorer
and PI Builder are the primary tools used to create and manage Asset Framework objects (called Elements). Two important
areas of functionality they provide are:
 Support for Event Frames (EF) - which enable you to capture important process events; and
 Asset analytics - Integrated into System Explorer, asset analytics enables you to create calculations and set up
conditional statements involving asset values.
For additional information please refer to Answer ID 47159 - FAQ: FactoryTalk Historian SE Asset Framework Server on the
Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase.

45 of 180
Why use the Asset Framework to model your Assets?
A best practice for many Analytics applications is to perform your asset definitions, calculations and analytics as close to the
source of data as possible. Along these lines, your Assets can be modelled, within System Explorer, using the tags available
from within FactoryTalk Historian. In addition, calculations and analytics can be added to the Asset model to provide more
information to the User. For example, you may have many Pumps that have the following tags within FactoryTalk Historian:
 Status (Discrete ON/OFF)
 Flow (m3/hr)
 Pressure (kPa)
Using System Explorer, you could create a generic Pump Element Template that incorporates the attributes above along with
additional analytics like:
 AverageHourlyFlow - which would calculate the average hourly flow on the hour
 MaximumHourlyPressure - which would calculate the maximum hourly pressure on the hour
 DurationHourlyRunning - time over the last hour, that the pump as running
Such that the pump looks as follows when complete in System Explorer:

The element above (the pump) would then be imported into VantagePoint to be either consumed directly, or to be further
modelled with additional information available to VantagePoint.

46 of 180
Exploring Asset Framework Content
To begin, we’re going to look at the AssetFramework content that has been imported into VantagePoint.

From VantagePoint Manager, browse to System > Solutions > AF > FTHAF > Databases > Cookies > CE-
Chicago.

The Asset Definitions have been imported into VantgePoint using the VantgagePoint AF (Asset Framework) Import Tool.
The VantagePoint AF (Asset Framework) Import Tool allows Users to Import the Asset Definitions (Elements) created in the
FactoryTalk Historian (FTH) Asset Framework into FactoryTalk VantagePoint as Types and Instances allowing users to
reuse asset definitions between products without having to replicate modeling efforts. Once imported into FactoryTalk
VantagePoint, users can use these types to augment their VantagePoint model.
This tool is provided as an interim solution until an official productized version is available in a future release of FactoryTalk
VantagePoint (this is currently planned to be v9 but is subject to change).
For additional information please refer to: 1034411 - FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI - Asset Framework (AF) Import
Tool.

NOTE: This lab image does not have the Asset Framework content integrated into The Connected
Enterprise cookie demo. We could be using the Asset Framework imported content to model our cookie
factory. For the purposes of this lab exercise, we will be copying the Asset Framework content to the Public
location of our model and using the content to create a mobile report.

47 of 180
Right click on Cookies under System > Solutions > AF.FTHAF > Databases and select Copy.

Right click on the RATechED2018 folder under MyEnterprise > Public and select Paste Shortcut.

48 of 180
Browse to MyEnterprise > Public > RATechED2018 > Cookies > CE-Chicago > Mixer and select Attributes.

A set of tags have been imported from Asset Framework into VantagePoint for each of these assets. Further information on
importing Asset Framework assets is covered in Historian SE labs.

Select the Batch ID tag and then the Properties tab.

49 of 180
 In the right hand window we see information about the tag including its source, current value, and an address to the
FactoryTalk Live data point from the emulated controller. Next we will use some of these attributes to create a mobile
report.

Creating a Dashboard for the Asset Framework Mixer

For this section of the lab we be creating a dashboard for the mixer imported from Asset Framework. This dashboard will
monitor the current shift performance of the line.

Access VantagePoint Mobile using one of the following methods:

 From the VantagePoint Potal menu, select Tools > VantagePoint Mobile

 From Internet Explorer, browse to http://racesa/incuity/thinui/index.html?v8.00#/thinui/home (where racesa is the name

of your VantagePoint server)
 From alternate browsers, browse to http://racesa (where racesa is the name of your VantagePoint server). This can be
done using Google Chrome on the lab image.

50 of 180
Select Model.

Drill down to RATechED2018 > Cookies > CE-Chicago > Mixer.

This is where the mobile dashboard will be saved.

Select the create (+) icon in the upper right-hand side of the screen.

If using Internet Explorer, you will be prompted to choose what item you’d like to create. Note that you will not
see this prompt when using other browsers since they are only capable of creating displays.
If prompted select Display.

NOTE: The Trend choice opens VantagePoint Trend. Trends saved to the model using Trend are
available in VantagePoint Mobile.

51 of 180
An overview of the available menus is shown below:

Select Attributes to drill down one level further and see the attribute tags.

Select the Data tab.

52 of 180
Taking a look at the VantagePoint Model, we can see that the data shown in Mobile are properties (tags) that
are configured for the Mixer.

The first item we’re going to add is an indicator for whether the Mixer is running. Click and hold the
MachineActive tag and drag it onto the canvas.

Based on the data type, dashboard builder automatically selected the indicator widget.

53 of 180
Select the Widget tab at the bottom of the data panel to see all available widget types.

Widgets can also be added to the dashboard and data points can be defined later. It is up to the dashboard designer to
choose how they’d like to create their dashboard.

54 of 180
Drag and drop the Trend widget from the Charts and Grids section onto the bottom of the dashboard.

Return to the Model tab and drag and drop the Energy tag onto the trend.

55 of 180
Select the Settings icon to bring up a menu for configuring the Trend widget.

Select Properties.

All of the properties of the trend have been configured using default value or data connected to the Energy data
point that we added to the trend. These values can all be modified.
Select Widget.

56 of 180
We’re going to change the time period of the trend. Select the drop down under Time period and then Last
hour.

We’ll also configure the trend to automatically update. Under Live mode, select the slider next to Enabled to
show YES.

Type in 5 under Update rate (sec).

Select OK to close the trend Properties dialog.

57 of 180
Adjust the size and position of the indicator and trend on the dashboard to match the picture.

Next we’ll add additional values for the Mixer that might be useful. Drag and drop the MachineID tag next to the
indicator.

58 of 180
Adjust the size and location of the Value Box widget.

Drag and drop the following values into the same ValueBox as the MachineID:
 Product Code
 MachineStepString
 Operator

59 of 180
Drag and drop the Energy tag onto the dashboard next to the MachineActive indicator.

Select the properties icon on the Energy gauge and select Properties.

The default range for this meter is 0 - 100, but the Energy value does not go above 1kWh on our system.
Select the link icon next to the Maximum value property to unlink the property from the VantagePoint model.

Modify the Maximum value property to 1.

We also could have modified the property for the tag in FactoryTalk VantagePoint, but wanted to note that the value can be
customized on individual reports.

Next we’re going to setup a range to show when the energy usage is too high. Under Ranges select Add.

60 of 180
Create a range that is Green from 0 to 0.6.

Add an additional range using the + button on the left side of the Properties dialog.

Create a range that is Yellow from 0.6 to 0.8.

61 of 180
Add an additional range that is Red from 0.8 to 1.

Select OK to close the properties dialog.

Now we have a gauge showing a clear and quick indication of our current energy usage along with a historical trend.

62 of 180
The final item we’re going to add to our dashboard is the batch history for the Mixer. Drag and drop BatchID to
the bottom of the dashboard.

Select the Settings icon on the Value Box widget and then select Compatible Widgets.
We’re shown a dialog containing the available widgets that will work with the data type of the tag(s) assigned to this widget.

Select Time Series Table and then OK.

63 of 180
Expand the widget to fill in the remaining space at the bottom of the dashboard.

Change the properties for the Time Series Table to show the Last hour of data.

Turn on Live Mode and set the update rate to 5 seconds.

NOTE: We did not need to do this step for all widgets. Widgets that bring back the current value rather than
history will automatically update when a new value is available.
NOTE: We can scroll through the data using the navigation tool at the bottom of the Time Series Table
widget.

64 of 180
 We now have a fully configured dashboard. The final touches for the dashboard will be to adjust the background color of the
cells and the overall dashboard.

Click the Display Styles button in the footer

Change the following properties.

 Display Background Color = Black
 Cell Background Color = Light Grey

Click the Ok button.

The configuration of our dashboard is now complete.

Select Save.

65 of 180
 Name the dashboard Machine Dashboard.

Select Yes for Favorite to make this dashboard easy to find.

Select No for Private so that anyone can see this dashboard.

Select Yes to Show In Portal.

Select OK to save the Mobile Dashboard

When prompted, select to save the default settings for adding the display to your Favorites.

Select the Back button to exit editing mode.

Great job! You have developed your first dashboard.

More than just a Mixer Dashboard

As a final section of this lab it is important to understand that you have not just created a dashboard for the Mixer, but any item
within the UPM that is derived from the type PIAF.Element (Mixer is an instance of this type), see the image below for more
information.

66 of 180
When you create a report within the mobile site against items in the model, you are creating reports and dashboards that work
against the type of the item, not the item itself. This means that the reports themselves are also type based and will work against
any item that derives from the type of item that report was created for. In our case, if there is another machine based on the type
PIAF.Element, the report (our dashboard) will also work for that item as well.
In our example, all of the machines under CE-Chicago are the same type.

In Mobile, select CE-Chicago to navigate back.

NOTE: You will see a Machine Dashboard under CE-Chicago. This is because CE-Chicago is also a
PIAF.Element data type. However, since CE-Chicago doesn’t have the same tags as the rest of the
machines this report will not work correctly here. The solution would be to either 1) Build a new data type
that utilizes PIAF.Element and build the dashboard off of that data type, or 2) Simply utilize rules in
VantagePoint configuration to hide the report in this location. For now we’re just going to browse and look at
how the dashboard works with other machines.

67 of 180
Select Oven.

68 of 180
Select Machine Dashboard.

You will now see the dashboard we created using the tags from the Oven. You can select any other machine to see the
dashboard as well.

NOTE: The take-away is that if you build your model based on types, you will gain economies of scale when
it comes to reporting. You will be able to develop individual reports that can function against many pieces of
equipment in your facility.

69 of 180
Trends
Trend is a client application that runs in an Internet Browser and allows you to query data and plot them on a graphical display.
Trend relies on the VantagePoint Server to present data from multiple sources in an orderly fashion, allowing you to navigate to
specific data, and then plot that data.
Trend:
 Allows users to see the values of tags over an historical period of time, over a pre-set period of time, and in real time.
 Allows users to easily identify the boundaries that define “normal” conditions for a trace, by employing user-defined
shapes.
 Can determine that the value of a tag is outside of a defined boundary.
 Can display and compare multiple tags concurrently.
 Trends can be saved as time-periods, or batches, and used to compare trends over different time periods.
Once you have selected a tag, or multiple tags, you can manipulate the data in a graph in a variety of ways, including panning,
zooming, and scaling. Trend graphs and their associated data can be printed so that the data can be analyzed away from the
client machine. You can customize any graph by configuring display options, and set general options for use with all graphs.

Start VantagePoint Trend by opening the Start menu and selecting Trend. If prompted select Run.

70 of 180
Browse to MyEnterprise > MightyQs > Chicago > Areas > Production > Lines > Line1 > Assets > Oven.

Drag and drop (or double-click) on the BatchID and Energy Demand tags to add them to the trend.

Even though Batch ID is a string tag, it is still visualized in the trend with a marker. Holding the mouse pointer
over the marker will show the BatchID information.

71 of 180
Browse to Zone1 under Oven and also add the InZone and TempZone tags.

Right-click anywhere in the trend area and select Properties > Application.

Select the Chart tab and add the title Oven Zone1 and select OK (not shown).

72 of 180
Right-click on the tags list pane under the trend and select Columns.

We’re going to customize the information shown for the tag in the trend. Select only Tag, Visible, Description,
and Style. Select OK when finished.

Expand the columns in the tags list pans so that all values are easy to read.

The Tags List pane displays details of the current traces, and other data applicable to the selected tags. Many aspects of
the plot surface are controlled by the Tags List pane, such as which traces are visible (you can "hide" traces) and which is
the currently active -or controlling- trace and thus will control the axes.
The trend allows users to change the style of every trace.

In the tags list pane, double-click on the line under the Style column for the Energy Demand tag.

73 of 180
In the Style window, change the thickness to 3 and select OK.

The Plot Surface itself has many attributes, such as the ability to move the axes, stack traces and display background
graphics. A right-click on the plot surface will bring up a sub menu which allows you to manage time-periods, axes, and to
adjust trace properties. In the next step we’re going to enable shading for the InZone tag.

Select the InZone tag by clicking the tag name in the tags list pane.

Right-click anywhere in the plot surface and select Properties > Trace.

74 of 180
Check the boxes to Enable shading for Discrete and Time tags and Use the trace color. Select OK (not
shown).

We can now clearly see when Zone1 is being used and visualize how the temperature and energy change
during that time.

75 of 180
Trend displays the value of a tag over a period of time and/or in real time. The X axis of a Trend always
represents time. The time period plotted is changed using the Time-Period Selector. There are two time modes:
Absolute and Relative. In Absolute mode, the user selects specific dates and times for the start and end of the
time period. In Relative mode, the user selects a typical time period from a drop down box, such as the Last 5
minutes, or Last 1 hour. When a trace saved in Relative mode is opened and redrawn, it will retrieve data
relative to the present time.
The Time-Period Selector at the top of the plot surface is where this parameter is set.
When you have chosen a custom date, note that the arrow between the dates converts to an exclamation point. This is a
refresh button that must be pressed to refresh the plot once you complete the date–time changes.

The third drop down box provides quick picks for more typical time periods that you may want to trace, such as Last minute,
Last 5, 10 or 20 minutes, etc., up to and including typical periods of up to the last 6 months. This is Relative Mode.

76 of 180
Change the time period to Last 30 minutes.

Aside from the regular Zoom In and Zoom Out features, VantagePoint Trend also has a Rubberband Zoom
feature. Click the Rubberband Zoom tool from the tool bar.

Click and drag diagonally until the desired area of the trace is selected and then release to zoom into that area.

After exploring the Zoom features, select Reset Zoom from the tool bar.

77 of 180
From the tool bar, select the X-Axis cursors.

The cursors can be moved by clicking on the cursor and dragging it to another spot on the trend.

Let’s look at some averages and other useful data for analysis that the trend calculates for us on the fly based on
where the cursors are. From the Toolbar, click on the Statistics tool.

The Statistics window should now be shown. In the Calculate statistics field use the drop down menu and
select For time period defined by cursors.

You are now looking at statistics data calculated based on the where the cursors are. You have the tag names listed first,
Min, Max, Average, Std. Deviation, the count and more. Note the options you have to Print or Save to a csv file.

Close the statistics window.

VantagePoint Trend also has the ability to quickly display a tabular view of the trace data. Right-click anywhere
on the plot surface and select Trace Data.

78 of 180
Explore the different views in the Trace Data window (Narrow, wide, and Sparse Wide). Also, note the Print and
Save as csv options at the bottom of the window

Close the Trace Data window.

Next we’re going to publish the Trend to the Model. Publishing the trend to the model allows the trend to be viewable as
reporting content from the VantagePoint Portal. Note that any trend settings that we’ve chosen will be included in the
published report. This includes the Live Mode option, so if we had chosen to put the trend in live mode prior to publishing,
the published report in the trend model would automatically update.

Select File > Publish from the menu.

79 of 180
Browse to MyEnterprise > Public and select the RATechED2018 folder.

Name the trend Oven Zone 1 Trend and select Publish.

Select File > Close.

Browse to MyEnterprise > Public and select the RATechED2018 folder.

Double-click on the Oven Zone 1 Trend item to re-open the trend we were working on.

80 of 180
Close VantagePoint Trend.

Access the Portal from the Start menu.

Select Reports > RATechED2018 from the Portal menu.

Select the Oven Zone1 Trend item. If prompted select Run.

81 of 180
 The trend has been rendered in the Portal. Note that we can easily call back up this trend in the full version of
VantagePoint Trend using the Trend button.

Excel Reports
Microsoft Excel is a broad-reaching and capable product, and the VantagePoint EMI Office Add-In for Excel leverages its
capabilities to allow users to produce powerful reports and impressive dashboards based on VantagePoint-sourced data.
The VantagePoint EMI Function Wizard provides a wizard-based interface and leads users through the sometimes complex
process of connecting to data sources, selecting specific items of interest, and building a function to return that data into a
worksheet.
VantagePoint EMI functions behave a lot like native Excel functions. They are based on Excel control arrays and obey the same
rules. They can be built or changed directly in the formula bar or using Excel's own function editor. As data is refreshed,
formatting of VantagePoint EMI functions remains persistent. You can also use all of Excel's charts, internal functions and
formatting features to operate on VantagePoint EMI data.
In this exercise we will create a report based on the RA.CE.Cookie.Machine data type. Creating the report based on a datatype
will allow us to use the same report for all instances of the RA.CE.Cookie.Machine data type.

82 of 180
Start Microsoft Excel from the task bar.

If you get Office Activation Wizard dialog like the one below, click Cancel.

Open a new workbook and from the Excel menu bar select VantagePoint.

The VantagePoint Add-In has the following options:

New
Opens a new Excel Workbook.
Open
Opens a published VantagePoint report.
Publish
Publishes the current book to the Model via the Publish Wizard.
Insert
The easiest way to add functions to the current workbook. It is not the only way, however. You can also use the toolbar
button, manually enter a function into the formula bar, or use Excel's generic built-in function wizard.
Edit

83 of 180
Edits the currently selected VantagePoint function
Refresh
Updates every VantagePoint function contained on the active sheet or workbook
Convert to Values
Converts the select function or entire sheet to values. All functions are converted (Excel + VantagePoint).
Contents
Opens the Excel Add-In section of VantagePoint help in a web browser.

Select cell C3 in the worksheet Sheet1.

From the VantagePoint Add-In menu, select Insert to open the function wizard.

The VantagePoint function wizard provides the following options:

Current Value
Enables the selection of current values of any tag items in the system.
History
Enables the selection of raw data, sophisticated re-sampling of the data according to engineering and analysis
requirements, and post-processing of the data using a Query Filter to build SQL statements.
Value at Time
Enables the selection of values of any tag items in the system at a certain point in time.
Database Query
Allows the creation and execution of a SQL query against any connector in the system that supports it. For example,

84 of 180
IndustrialSQL Server (Invensys/Wonderware Historian) and MS SQL Server support SQL queries.
Get Item Properties
Returns the Properties of selected items.
Set Item Properties
Allows changing the writeable property values of selected items.
Link to a VantagePoint Report
Creates a hyperlink to an existing VantagePoint report.

We want to create an Excel report that shows batch information about a mixer. To get this information, we need
to select History. Since we will be creating the report based on a type, select the Use advanced Type
Mapping features checkbox. Select Next (not shown) to continue.

85 of 180
Select the Items that contain Core.Tags option and then Type View. We are provided a list of all of the
defined data types in the VantagePoint system. Choose the VantagePoint type RA.CE.Cookie.Machine.
Select Next (not shown).

In the next step, the wizard is asking us to choose a specific item. This item will be used as the default when the
Excel report is opened.
Browse to MyEnterprise > MightyQs > Chicago > Areas > Production > Lines > Line1 and select Assets.
The list has been filtered for the type we selected in the previous step. Select Mixer and then the right-arrow (>) to move
the Mixer instance to the list and then select Next (not shown).

86 of 180
The next screen indicates that the next step will require us to choose which properties of the
RA.CE.Cookie.Machine type to include in our report. Select Next.

Select the BatchID item and then the right arrow (>) to add it to the tag list. Select Next (not shown).

We’d like to be able to use this report for multiple machines, so we are going to make the Machine type an
external parameter. Check the checkbox next to Make this an External Parameter when published. Change
the Name to Machine and select Next (not shown).

87 of 180
Change the time period to the Last 30 minutes and then select Next (not shown).

In the Data Options screen, make sure that the Narrow data format is selected. Also, we will not be using any
advanced options yet so make sure the Skip advanced options checkbox is selected. Click Next to continue.

The next dialog allows configuration of the function options. Under Columns to display, make sure that only the
Datetime and Value columns are selected. Select Finish (not shown) to add the Batch History data to the Excel
report.

You will now see that there is a historical list of Batch data below the current data for the Mixer. While this report provides
us with information about when each batch started, it would be nice to know how long it took each batch to run. While we
could determine this information using Excel calculations, VantagePoint has the ability to apply SQL post processing against
the data set before it is returned to the worksheet. We will add a new worksheet to show the difference.

88 of 180
Right-click on Sheet1 and select Insert.

Leave Worksheet selected and select the OK button.

Select the newly created Sheet7.

Select cell C3 and choose Insert from the toolbar.

Select History and the Use advanced Type Mapping features.

Select Next.

We’re going to use the same dataset from the previous steps, so leave the Machine Range selected and choose
Next.

Leave the timespan at Last 30 minutes and select Next.

Select Narrow for the data format and then Next.

The Sampling Options dialog provides users with the ability to apply many forms of sampling against their
returned data. We will not be using this option, so uncheck the Apply aggregation sampling checkbox
unchecked and select Next (not shown).

89 of 180
Select the checkbox next to Apply SQL Post Processing.

Under Query templates, select Time In State query, returns Start, End, Duration (seconds), Tag Value, Tag
Name.

Select the Test button to preview what the report output will look like. You’ll see that there is now a Start, End,
and duration for each time the BatchID tag changes

Select Finish.

Next we’re going to adjust the formatting.

Select the Formats tab.

90 of 180
Select Cells A:5-B:7 to format the first two columns of our returned dataset for date/time values. Right-click on
the selected cell block and choose the Format Cells option.

In the Number tab, select the Custom category. Enter the Type text m/d/yyyy h:mm:ss.

Select Row 6. Right click on the selected row and select Format Cells.

91 of 180
In the Fill tab select light gray. This will filter every other row to be highlighted light gray in order to make the
dataset easier to read. Select OK (not shown).

Return to the Sheet7 tab.

From the VantagePoint Add-in ribbon, select the drop-down under Refresh and then Refresh Function.

NOTE: You may need to expand the C and D columns to see the full date/time.

Right-click on the tab for Sheet7 at the bottom of the worksheet and select Rename. Change the name to Batch
Data.

92 of 180
Hide the Parameters and Formats sheets by right-clicking on them and selecting Hide.

Select the Batch Data sheet.

Now that we have a simple report, the final step is to publish it to the VantagePoint Portal. From the
VantagePoint Add-In, select Publish. (If you cannot see the VantagePoint Add-In, you need to select any cell in
the current workbook to get out of the editing menu for the Pie chart in Excel)

Since we want users to be able to select alternate Machines or Time Periods, select A report with parameters
and then Next.

Leave the Machine parameter checked and select Next.

Select the RATechED2018 folder under MyEnterprise > Public.

Change the name to Machine Batches and select Next (not shown).

93 of 180
Select the checkbox next to Browse to published report and leave Show parameters checked. Select Finish
to view your completed report.

The published report will be shown in the VantagePoint portal. Note that you can switch between the worksheets using the
tabs at the bottom of the report just like in Excel. While we have created a very simple report, any minor formatting changes
made in Excel, as well as visual objects like a Pi chart, come through to the Portal when the report is published. Users can
take the raw data from VantagePoint and use the features available in Excel to make the report have the desired look/feel
that they require. End users do not need to have Excel on their system to view the published reports in the Portal.
Note that the Machine can be changed from the Portal by choosing a different machine from the drop down list which has
been pre-filtered with instances of the datatype RA.CE.Cookie.Machine and selecting Generate Report.

Close the report.

Return to Excel and close the Excel workbook by selecting File and then Close. Do not save changes to the
workbook.

From the VantagePoint Add-in select Open.

94 of 180
Browse to MyEnterprise > Public and select the RATechED2018 folder. Choose the Machine Batches report.

Select Open to retrieve the saved Excel report from the VantagePoint model.

NOTE: Even though we didn’t save the Excel report, we were still able to retreive it from the VantagePoint
Model. If we wanted to, we could now make edits to the report and save it back to the Model. This allows
us to have a single version of the Excel report that exists only in the VantagePoint Model that anyone with
proper security rights can edit. When changes are made to the report and published back to the Model, all
users will be able to see those changes in the VantagePoint Portal.

A useful feature we can add to the report is the ability to also allow reporting users to interactively change the
timeframe for the report. Select cell C3 from the Batch Data tab and then choose the Edit option from the
VantagePoint menu.

Select Next.

We’re going to select a time range from VantagePoint so select Use this Range and then the New button.

95 of 180
Browse to MyEnterprise > Public. Since we don’t have a relative time tag to use, we need to create one.
Right-click on Public and select New > Item

Select Core.TimePeriod.Relative (form Core.TimePeriod). Select Create.

Name the time period Past 1 Hour and change the TimeSpan to 1 hours as shown in the screenshot below.
Select Create.

96 of 180
Select the newly created time period and then the right arrow (>) to move it to the selected items list. Select
Next (not shown).

Select Finish.

At this point the report will have lost its formatting changes. To fix this, you can unhide the formats sheet by
right-clicking on the current sheet name and selecting Unhide. You could then make the same formatting fixes
we made earlier in this exercise.

Select Publish from the VantagePoint Add-in.

Select A report with parameters and then Next.

Select the checkbox next to TimePeriods to add it as a user selectable parameter and then select Next (not
shown).

97 of 180
Select the Machine Batches report from MyEnterprise > Public > RATechED2018 and then Next. Select Yes
when prompted to overwrite the file.

Select the Browse to published report checkbox and then Finish.

We now have the option to specify an absolute or relative time period for the report.

The name of the reporting parameters could be changed by modifying the data in the hidden Excel sheet named IncuityInfo
prior to publishing (Column C). Care should be taken when editing any values in this sheet as they may cause the report to
no longer render properly.

Close the report and Excel. When prompted do not save.

98 of 180
Configuring VantagePoint Data Sources

FactoryTalk VantagePoint offers out-of-the-box, direct connections to FactoryTalk Live Data sources such as Rockwell
Automation (Logix, PLC/SLC, and FactoryTalk View), 3rd-party controllers, FactoryTalk Historian, and real-time data sources.
FactoryTalk connectors install automatically and access FactoryTalk Directory services to locate sources of data.
Outside of FactoryTalk, VantagePoint is capable of connecting to a wide variety of alternate data sources (Some connectivity
may require additional licensing). An example of connecting to a SQL database table is provided in this lab in the following
section: Reporting on FactoryTalk View SE DataLogs (or a SQL Data Source).
While connectivity has already been configured for the Connected Enterprise demo, we will walk through the simple steps of how
to initially setup connections to FactoryTalk, FactoryTalk Live Data, FactoryTalk Historian SE, and FactoryTalk Alarms and
Events. Note that these steps only need to be done one time on a VantagePoint system, after the initial configuration users and
developers will only need to know how to access the parts of the VantagePoint model that they need for reporting.

Connecting to a FactoryTalk Directory

FactoryTalk® Directory allows FactoryTalk-enabled products to create and organize applications, define and share definitions
and define and manage services. FactoryTalk Directory provides a central lookup service for a FactoryTalk system so all
definitions do not have to exist in a single physical project file. References or "pointers" are saved by FactoryTalk Directory and
are used by FactoryTalk-enabled products and FactoryTalk services to locate definitions when they are needed. It allows clients
to locate key configuration information such as system organization, server locations and policy information. FactoryTalk
Directory provides a common address or phone book of factory resources that are shared among FactoryTalk-enabled
applications in a distributed system.
This section of the lab will demonstrate how to setup a connection from VantagePoint EMI to the FactoryTalk Directory.

From VantagePoint Manager, Expand the System > Sources tree to FactoryTalk.

NOTE: Each item listed under Sources is a connector to a different data source.

99 of 180
Right click on FactoryTalk and select New > Item.

You are presented with a dialog that allows you to configure your FactoryTalk Directory data source for VantagePoint to
access FactoryTalk Live Data, Historian Data (from FactoryTalk Historian SE), and FactoryTalk Alarms and Events data
(Historical Database Values). FactoryTalk VantagePoint is capable of connecting to a single FactoryTalk Directory at a
time. An existing FactoryTalk user can be used or a new account can be created.

NOTE: VantagePoint knew to point to the FactoryTalk Directory on the local server. This is due to the fact
that the server hosting VantagePoint is already pointed to the FactoryTalk Directory (localhost).

We would only need to enter a user name and password in order to configure connectivity to the FactoryTalk
Directory. Our demo already has this connectivity setup for the Connected Enterprise, so select Cancel.

Expand the System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost node.

An instance named localhost has already been imported under FactoryTalk. Under localhost access to the FactoryTalk
data sources is provided. Also note that if VantagePoint is installed with Historian SE, the connectivity to the FactoryTalk
directory and Historian SE system are automatically configured when using the basic installation options.

100 of 180
Importing Data from FactoryTalk Live Data and FactoryTalk Historian SE
FactoryTalk Live Data is part of the FactoryTalk Services Platform. It allows FactoryTalk-enabled products to discover, connect,
and share real-time data in a secure, scalable manner. The basic services provided by FactoryTalk Live Data are: Read, Write,
Browse and Subscribe to data items. The overall benefit is a consistent or standard architecture for communicating real-time
values between clients and data servers that embraces OPC standards and provides extended benefits to any FactoryTalk
Services-enabled products.
FactoryTalk Historian collects time-series data which can be used as a basis for various calculations, estimations, statistical
processes and quality controls throughout the processes and applications in the enterprise. When VantagePoint is connected to
a FactoryTalk Historian system within the same FactoryTalk directory as its FactoryTalk Live Data connection, VantagePoint is
able to link these sources so that users can seamlessly report on the combination of historical data and live data points that may
have not yet made it into the Historian system.
In this exercise, we’re going to add the Mixer Machine tags to Historian SE and import them into VantagePoint for Line 2. This
process will automatically import and link the FactoryTalk Live Data and Historian SE tags.
Note that this lab exercise assumes that basic connectivity to FactoryTalk Historian SE has already been configured. If
VantagePoint is installed with Historian SE, the connectivity to the FactoryTalk directory and Historian SE system are
automatically configured when using the basic installation options. Otherwise, connectivity to Historian can be established by
one of the following methods:
 Right-click on the FactoryTalk instance under System > Sources > FactoryTalk and select Import followed by the I would
like to import FactoryTalk Historian tags option
 To connect to a FactoryTalk Historian system outside of the VantagePoint FactoryTalk directory, right click on FactoryTalk
Historian under System > Sources and select Add Stand-Alone FactoryTalk Historian Connector
First let’s take a look at the tags we’ll be importing.

On the lab image desktop, open the Lab Files folder.

Open CookieLine.ACD.

Browse to Tasks > MainTask > Mixer.

101 of 180
Double-click on Parameters and Local Tags to view the tags for the Mixer.

Locate the mMachineUDT User Defined type and expand it to see its underlying properties.

mMachineUDT is an instance of a user-defined data type named MachineUDT in this controller program. User-defined data
types (structures) let you consolidate multiple fields (members) of data into a single contiguous group with a hierarchical
layout. The user-defined data types can be used throughout the program to create consistency. In our program you will
find an instance of the MachineUDT type for every asset.
In the next steps we will be importing these values into FactoryTalk VantagePoint as simple tags. VantagePoint does have
the ability to associated User Defined Types with objects in the VantagePoint model, this concept will be explored in the
VantagePoint Modeling section of this lab.

102 of 180
Next we’re going to add a controller program shortcut to the RSLinx Enterprise controller device shortcut. This
allows VantagePoint to search the controller program for tags to import . Open the FactoryTalk Administration
Console from the Start menu.

When prompted, select OK to open the Network directory.

Expand Cookies > Data > RSLE.

Cookies is the name of our FactoryTalk application, Data is an area we created to hold the data sources in FactoryTalk,
and RSLE is the name of the instance of RSLinx Enterprise running on this image.

103 of 180
Double-click on Communication Setup.

Select the L2 device shortcut.

You will see that the L2 shortcut is pointed to the same emulated controller as the L1 shortcut. In a non-demo environment,
this shortcut would point to a different controller running a different line, but for demonstration purposes we used a single
controller.

Select the Browse button next to Offline Tag File.

Select the CookieLine.ACD file from C:\Lab Files and then Open.

104 of 180
 Select OK to save the changes, and the Yes when asked to apply the changes.

NOTE: Recent versions of VantagePoint have added workflows that allow users to easily configure parts of
the VantagePoint system from a mobile browser provided they had proper security credentials. In this lab
exercise we will be importing our tags from the VantagePoint Mobile Portal.

Access VantagePoint Mobile by selecting Tools > VantagePoint Mobile from the VantagePoint Portal menu.

We could also have accessed the portal using one of the following methods:
 From Internet Explorer, browse to http://racesa/incuity/thinui/index.html?v8.00#/thinui/home (where racesa is the name of
our VantagePoint server)
 From alternate browsers, browse to http://racesa (where racesa is the name of your VantagePoint server). This can be
done using Google Chrome on the lab image.

105 of 180
Select Import.

Using the navigation bar on the left side navigate to Cookies > Data > L2 > Online > Program:Mixer >
mMachineUDT.

106 of 180
We just used the FactoryTalk connector that was previously configured to browse down through the RSLinx
Enterprise connection configured in the FactoryTalk Data area. We then browsed through the L2 topic
configured in RSLinx Enterprise to the online controller.

Select the top checkbox next to Tag Name to select all of the tags under mMachineUDT.

107 of 180
Select BatchID from the browser on the left side and the checkbox next to the BatchID tag. Select the > to go
to the next screen.

NOTE: We could have gone into other folders and chosen other tags to import into FactoryTalk
VantagePoint as well.

The next dialog allows you to configure how the tags will be historized in FactoryTalk Historian SE. We can also
see which Historian SE server they’re being added to. Select Import to continue with the default options.

108 of 180
The dialog will show how many tags were imported. The import process added the 1 new controller tags
(FactoryTalk Live Data), and 10 new FactoryTalk Historian tags. (One of the tags was already imported for the
controller) Once added, the Historian SE tags will immediately begin to collect historical data. The import
process also synchronized the FactoryTalk Historian SE connector in VantagePoint.
Select Exit Import.

From VantagePoint Manager, browse to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost > Historians >
Production Historian and then select the Tags folder.

The list view will show all of the tags that have been imported from the FactoryTalk Historian SE system. To make it easier
to find a specific tag, the Filter option can be used.

109 of 180
Turn on the Filter option above the model viewer.

L2

Type L2 into the filter field above the item list and note that only tags that contain the text ‘L2’ are now displayed.

This makes it easier to find tags that you’re looking for in systems with large configuration. This filtering capability can be
used anywhere in the VantagePoint Model.

Select all L2 tags (select the first tag, then while holding shift select the last tag)

Right click on the selected tags and select Copy.

Right-click on the RATechED2018 folder under MyEnterprise > Public and select Paste Shortcuts.

NOTE: We haven’t actually made a copy of the original tags, we’ve only made a shortcuts to the original tags
location in VantagePoint. Deleting the reference from the RATechED2018 folder will not remove the item from the
system. If the item was deleted from its original location in the FactoryTalk connector then it would be also be
removed from the Mixer folder as well.

110 of 180
Remove the L2 text from the filter field.

Browse to MyEnterprise > Public and select the RATechED2018 folder.

Select one of the new tags and look at its properties. We can see that it is a Historian tag and has a FactoryTalk
Live data tag associated with it in the system.

111 of 180
Importing FactoryTalk Alarms and Events
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events allows multiple FactoryTalk products to participate together in a common, consistent view of
alarms and events occurring throughout an entire FactoryTalk system. When using FactoryTalk Alarms and Events, it can
optionally be configured to log data to a historical database.
FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI provides access to the historical Alarms and Events database through the FactoryTalk connector.
This is done by creating a connection from VantagePoint EMI to the historical Alarms and Events database and providing basic
reports for viewing the historical alarm data.
Additional SQL Reporting Services Alarms and Events reports have been added to the image as well. These reports are
available on the Rockwell Automation Knowledgebase in Answer ID 68296 – FactoryTalk VantagePoint Reporting for
FactoryTalk Alarms and Events.

If it is not already open, open VantagePoint Manager.

Expand the tree to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost.

Right click on localhost and select Import.

112 of 180
Select I would like to import FactoryTalk Alarms and Events Information and then Next (not shown).

The next dialog shows that the FactoryTalk Alarms and Events databases that are defined in the FactoryTalk
Administration Console.
Select the checkbox next to the FTAE database and then select Finish (not shown).

When prompted to deploy the necessary stored procedures to the FTAE database select Yes to continue.

Select Ok when the import completes.

Feel free to return to the Portal and browse FactoryTalk Alarms and Events reporting content. All of the available reports
can be found in the Manufacturing Operations role under Maintenance > Alarms and Events. These reports were designed
to work on any system using FactoryTalk Alarms and Events.

113 of 180
This page intentionally left blank

114 of 180
VantagePoint Types and Modeling

Central to VantagePoint EMI is the ability to integrate information from business and manufacturing systems scattered across the
enterprise into a single unified view. In VantagePoint EMI, this view is known as the Unified Production Model, or "Model."
VantagePoint EMI is built and engineered around the VantagePoint EMI Model. The model provides a unified view of all
manufacturing data and provides a framework for understanding relationships among equipment, product, materials and people.
This allows users to deal with real world abstractions such as pumps, people, and tags, without being concerned about how the
data for those things got into the system.
From the Modelers' viewpoint, the Model becomes the tool whereby he can visualize and integrate information about his
business process. Through the Model-building process, concrete relationships between data and machines, machines and
production lines, production lines and supplies, supplies and suppliers, can be woven together to illustrate and integrate
information necessary for business analysis. The relationships defined in the Model are enriched by the access to data which
underlay those relationships.
The next few sections of the lab will introduce users to VantagePoint types and show how types are used in the Connected
Enterprise to make modeling quick and easy.

Introduction to Types
Types define the items and properties such as equipment that represent a high-level view of your plant. Once you create a type
package, you can create instances of these types and map them to actual data sources. Instances represent real world objects
in your plant. For example, you might create a type for an Electric Pump in the Type System that consists of a motor and pump.
The motor includes properties for voltage, current, and power. Your plant may use multiple pumps, such as a pump that moves
mixture from a tank, a pump that moves water to a piece of equipment, etc. You would then create an instance of the Electric
Pump for each individual pump in your plant, and would connect the power, voltage, and current properties to a FactoryTalk
Historian, or some other data source that collects that information. After you have defined the pump type, you can create a report
for the pump type. Once this report has been created, you will be able to pass any instance of a pump in the system into the
report as a parameter. This allows you to use the same report for all existing or new pumps in your system. Also, you would
only need to modify the report once in order to see the changes for every pump in the system.
Once you have created a model that accurately describes your business or process, you can share it with other business units
that operate using the same structure. In this section we are going to explore FactoryTalk VantagePoint types.

From VantagePoint Portal, browse to Reports > RATechED2018.

This reporting view has been anchored to MyEnterprise.Public.RATechED2018 to make it easier to locate content created
in the lab exercises.

115 of 180
Select MachineUDT Report.

This Excel report has been created based on the MachineUDT type and is currently displaying data for the Mixer.

Select the Parameters tab.

Since this report was created based on the MachineUDT type, we can pass in any instance of a MachineUDT
from the VantagePoint model as a parameter.
Using the drop-down, select the Oven MachineUDT instance Program:Oven.mMachineUDT.

116 of 180
Select the Generate Report button.

The report will now be rendered for the Palletizer. Next we will take a look at the datatype this report is based on.

From VantagePoint Manager, browse to TypeSystem > Packages > RA.CE.Cookie.Package > ItemTypes.

A list of types for the Connected Enterprise demo are displayed. Creating a type is covered in the advanced VantagePoint
lab. By default VantagePoint is installed with a large library of generic types that can be used in your model (either directly
or as examples for creating custom types).

117 of 180
 Find the RA.CE.Cookie.MachineUDT type and browse to its Properties.

The MachineUDT type has a list of properties that have already been defined. While it is generally best to layout your types
in the design stages of the system, additional properties can be added. If there are already instances of the type being
used in your model, the changes would propagate to all instances.

Importing Controller UDTs

The VantagePoint system leverages two capabilities that enable quick and powerful usage of Logix data types: the unified
production model, or model, and controller type mapping, or Logix data type mapping.
The unified production model provides the ability to logically structure data in a manner end users can understand. The model
can help to mask the complexities of controller information from end users, and present the users with only the information they
need, in context, using terms they can clearly understand. For example, VantagePoint has a predefined mapping rule to bring in
a PID data type from a controller. In the controller, the members of a PID include PV, PVH and PVHA. When imported into
VantagePoint, these items become ProcessVariable, ProcessVariableHighAlarmLimit and ProcessVariableHiAlarm; items that
end users can more readily understand. Furthermore, controller data type members that are not useful for reporting can be left at
the controller and not brought into VantagePoint at all.
Another result of using the model in this way is that anytime a system is expanded with more items - more pumps, or tanks, or
production lines - the new items can automatically be brought into the model and reported on immediately, in the same way the
original items were. Furthermore, Model schemas can be exported from VantagePoint and imported into other VantagePoint
systems to duplicate the system in another plant, or location.
The controller type mapping is the enabling feature that allows data to flow from Logix controllers into pre-existing logical
structures in the model. By creating rules that determine what Logix data types should map onto what VantagePoint types,
mapping will automatically occur each time data from the controller is accessed.
In the next steps we are going to import the Controller UDTs for Line 2 in the Chicago plant. First let’s take a look at how
VantagePoint maps a Controller UDT to a VantagePoint type.

118 of 180
Browse to System > Common > Connectors > FactoryTalk > ImportRules > DataTypes.

These are all of the known Controller UDT types. Many of these types are defined in the default installation of FactoryTalk
VantagePoint, only a few custom rules have been added to support the Connected Enterprise demonstration.

Locate the MachineUDT Data Type and expand its MappingRule to look at the mapped members.

With MappingRule selected, we can see in the right pane that we’re mapping this Controller UDT to the
RA.CE.Cookie.MachineUDT VantagePoint type we explored in the previous exercise. We can also where the individual
properties are mapped from the UDT to the VantagePoint type under Members.
Once this mapping rule is in place it can be used to import the MachineUDT type from any controller in to the VantagePoint
system. Putting in this design work upfront saves a great deal of time and effort since it automates the creation of type
instances. In the next steps we’re going to import the types from the controller.

119 of 180
Browse to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost.

Right-click on localhost and select Import.

Select I would like to import FactoryTalk Live Data tags and then Next (not shown).

Select I would like to import Logix controller structures as VantagePoint items and then Next (not shown).

Browse to Cookies > Data and select L2.

In this step we are selecting the Live Data path for the controller we want to import.
Select Next (not shown).

120 of 180
Using the elipse button select the project file C:\Lab Files\CookieLine.ACD.
In this step we are selecting the controller application file. VantagePoint needs the controller file so that it can read the data
structures present in the controller. During the import process, VantagePoint will associated the structures it finds in the
program file to the addressing of the Live Data path selected in the previous step.
Select Next.

Select all of the known structures. Highlight MachineUDT.

Select the Member Settings button.

121 of 180
This shows how the UDT will be mapped into VantagePoint. The Member name is the name of the property in
the UDT in the controller. The Imported As Item Property is the name of the property being mapped to in
VantagePoint. In our case we’ve kept the values the same to avoid confusion.
Close the Member Settings.

Select the View Tags button.

This shows all of the instances of the MachineUDT in the controller program and where they’re located.
Close the View Tags dialog.

122 of 180
We’re only going to import the MachineUDT tags right now, so select the Unselect All button.

Select the checkbox next to MachineUDT and then select Next.

The next dialog lists all of the structures that are unknown to the VantagePoint system. These structures can
also be imported, but will not be imported into a type universal to the rest of the VantagePoint system. This
means that if a report created on the AXIS_CIP_DRIVE type from this import, if another controller with that same
type were imported the report would not work for both controllers since the types do not link. If that type of
reporting is not being used, using this import step would be a very simple way to get the rest of the controller
data structures into VantagePoint. For our lab we will not be importing these types.
Select the Unselect All button if needed. Select Next.

123 of 180
Select No when given the choice to import additional simple tags.

Click on Finish.

The first step imports the types, select OK when presented with the successful message.

The next step imports the Live Data tags, select OK again when the import completes.

Browse to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost > Applications > Cookies > Data > L2 > Online.

All of the MachineUTD instances have been imported and can be used immediately for modeling. If we go back to the
MachineUDT report and refresh the browser we will see that we can now use the L2 MachineUDT instances in our report.

NOTE: that the new instances will be missing Batch History because Historian SE connectivity has not yet
been configured for these tags.

124 of 180
Manually Adding a Type Instance
We’ve seen how we can import types if the controller has a matching UDT, but what if we didn’t have that UDT available and still
wanted to utilize the MachineUDT type. In this exercise we will manually create an instance of the MachineUDT type.

Browse to MyEnterprise > Public > RATechED2018.

Right-click on the RATechED2018 folder and select New > Item.

Select RA.CE.Cookie.MachineUDT and then Create.

Type in the Name L2Mixer.

Select the ellipse button next to CRID.

This will open a VantagePoint model browser which allows you to assign tags to the new type. These tags can come from
any source as long as they match the data type defined within the RA.CE.Cookie.MachineUDT properties.

125 of 180
Browse to System > Sources > FactoryTalk > localhost > Applications > Cookies > Data > L2 > Online >
Program:Mixer and select the mMachineUDT instance.

Drag and drop the CRID tag into the CRID field for L2Mixer.

126 of 180
Use the drag and drop technique to assign the rest of the tags under the mMachineUDT folder to L2Mixer.
In this exercise we copied all of the tags from another instance of mMachineUDT, however it shows the process for
manually adding tags to an instance of a type. These tags could have been assigned from anywhere within the model and
could come from multiple data sources.
When finished, select Create.

L2Mixer can now be found under MyEnterprise.Public.RATechED2018.

127 of 180
Return to the MachineUDT Report in the Portal. If the report was left open the browser will need to be
refreshed prior to the next step.

Using the parameter tab, select the L2Mixer that was just created to it in the report.

128 of 180
Using Types to Expand The Connected Enterprise
For the Connected Enterprise, many advance typing features have been used to setup a standard Site > Area > Line > Assets
model that all plants in our corporation use. Defining a standard model that can be used across assets, lines, areas, or even
sites allows reporting to be standardized and reusable. For our purposes we will be utilizing the configured Connected
Enterprise type system to see how simple it is to add Line 2 to our Chicago site, advanced type modeling is covered in the
Advanced VantagePoint lab.

In VantagePoint Manager, right-click on Lines under MyEnterprise > MightyQs > Chicago > Areas >
Production and select New > Item.

You might have noticed that we were not prompted to choose an item type, the RA.CE.Cookie.Line type was automatically
chosen for us. This is because the Parent type (RA.CE.Cookie.Production where Production is the instance under the
Chicago site) has been configured to have a collection of Lines of the type RA.CE.Cookie.Line.

129 of 180
Name the line Line2 and select Create.

Note that we were not required to assign the properties for Line2. If we wanted to assign them we could edit
Line2 later.

130 of 180
The type that Line2 is based on is defined to have the properties you now see under Line2. One of those
properties in a collection of Assets. This is where we will add our mixer for Line2.
Select Assets.

NOTE: that the Assets collection is configured to accept the RA.CE.Cookie.Machine type.

Right-click on Assets under Line2 and select New > Item.

We are presented with a list of types that we can add to the Assets collection. While all of these types are different, what
they have in common is that they inherit the properties of the RA.CE.Cookie.Machine type.
Select RA.CE.Cookie.Mixer and then Create.

131 of 180
Name the Mixer CL2Mixer and then select Create.

Following the same procedure we could configure the rest of the assets for Line2. The tags assigned to the properties for
the Line and Assets could come from any data source. Once the tags have been assigned, all the reports that have already
been created for the various levels of the Connected Enterprise could also be used for Line2. End users who want to create
new reporting content can utilize the Site > Area >Line > Asset layout of the Connected Enterprise rather than needing to
needing to understand the underlying systems.

132 of 180
Integrating FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI with FactoryTalk View SE

FactoryTalk View® Site Edition (SE) is a supervisory HMI software package for enterprise solutions. It has a distributed and
scalable architecture that supports distributed-server/multi-user applications, giving maximum control over information where you
want it.
FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI is capable of integrating with the following FactoryTalk View SE data sources:
 FactoryTalk View SE HMI Tags (Through the FactoryTalk Live Data Connector)
 FactoryTalk View SE Data Logs (similar to connecting to any SQL data source)
 FactoryTalk Alarms and Events Data (reporting and trend capabilities)
 FactoryTalk View SE Classic Alarming (similar to connecting to any SQL data source)
Additionally, FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI trends and reports can be easily integrated into a FactoryTalk View SE client
application.

NOTE: Solutions for FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI connectivity to Rockwell Software products can be
found on the Rockwell Automation Technical Support Site (Answer ID #278467 – FactoryTalk VantagePoint
EMI Integration TOC)

Connecting to FactoryTalk View SE HMI Tags

FactoryTalk View SE HMI Tags are made available through FactoryTalk Live Data. While not covered in this lab exercise, in
order to import the HMI tags into VantagePoint EMI, select the HMI tag folders while following the same instructions from the lab
exercise: Importing Simple FactoryTalk Live Data.

Reporting on FactoryTalk View SE DataLogs (or a SQL Data Source)

If FactoryTalk View SE is logging data to a SQL database, FactoryTalk VantagePoint EMI is capable of reporting on that data.
This lab image has a simple View SE data log configured which collects several FactoryTalk Live Data tags and stores them to a
SQL database named ViewDataLogging.

Open FactoryTalk View Studio from the Start menu.

133 of 180
Select View Site Edition (Network Distributed) and then Continue.

Select Cookies (the name of the HMI Application) and then Open.

Under Network > Cookies > HMI > L1 > Data Log > Data Log Models, double-click on the data log model
Mixer to look at its properties. The data log model is configured to log data to a SQL database named
RACEDEMO using ODBC.

Select the Tags in Model tab. You’ll notice that the system is currently logging 4 FactoryTalk Live data tags to a
SQL database. Select Cancel to exit the dialog.

134 of 180
 Start VantagePoint Manager by selecting Manager from the Start menu.

Expand the VantagePoint tree to System > Sources > Db > MsSql > RACEDEMO > Tag Providers.

NOTE: This lab exercise shows how easy it is to connect to a known database structure, such as the
FactoryTalk View SE Data Log, by using some pre-configured templates also available on the Rockwell
Automation Technical Support site. Further details for using tag providers are covered in Advanced
VantagePoint EMI labs.

6. Right-click on FTViewAnalogTags and select Edit.

7. The tag provider template for getting data from the View SE datalog database has already been added to
VantagePoint. Select Edit next to template to review the queries.

135 of 180
The drop-down box next to query will allow you to review the queries for returning History, Live, and Point in
Time data from the datalog database. Note that these queries are generic and can be used against any View
SE datalog database. They are available on the KnowledgeBase and take no knowledge of writing SQL queries
to implement.

Select the Tag Population query.

The tag population query reads the datalog database and is used by VantagePoint to create a tag for every data point being
logged in that database. Those tags will then use the History, Live Data, and Point in Time queries to pull data for those
VantagePoint tags from the datalog database. When finished, the tags will look just like the Live Data or Historian tags we
used in previous exercises, end users do not need to worry about the queries being used to get the data into the tags.
Keep in mind that similar queries can be used against any SQL database under the Db connector.
Select Cancel.

136 of 180
Note that if we did not have a tag population query, the Add button next to the tags list could be used to
manually populate the tags list.

Select Cancel to exit the tag provider dialog.

Now we’re going to have VantagePoint create the tags for the tag provider.

Right-click on RACEDEMO and select Populate Tags.

Any tag providers with a Tag Population query for the RACEDEMO database will be evaluated and new tags will be created.

137 of 180
Browse to RACEDEMO > TagProviders > FTViewTags and select Tags.

The tags have been created under the tag provider. Selecting a tag and looking at its properties will show that the Live Data
query is being used to return live data results in VantagePoint manager.

Now that these tags are available in the VantagePoint model, they can easily be used in reports or trends just like the
FactoryTalk Live Data and Historian SE tags used previously in this lab.

Start VantagePoint Trend by opening the Start menu and selecting Trend.

138 of 180
Select Run if prompted by the application.

Double click on any of the new tags (the first 4 in the list) in the database connector to see the FactoryTalk View
SE data log tags trended.

139 of 180
Accessing Trend and XY Plotter Data from FactoryTalk View SE
FactoryTalk VantagePoint has an ActiveX control which can be embeddd in a FactoryTalk View SE display for viewing Trend and
XY Plotter data. In this exercise we will add an ActiveX control to an existing FactoryTalk View SE display.
Note that there are instructions for entering VBA code in this lab exercie. The code can be manually typed in or copied from the
text file located on the lab image: "C:\Lab Files\VBA Code\FactoryTalk View VBA Code.txt"

If not already running, open FactoryTalk View Studio from the Start menu.

Select View Site Edition (Network Distributed) and then Continue.

Select Cookies (the name of the HMI Application) and then Open.

Under Network > Cookies > HMI > L1 > Graphics, right-click on Displays and select New.

140 of 180
From the View SE menu, select Objects > ActiveX Control.

Click near the top left corner of the Untitled display and drag down to the bottom right corner of the display to
draw an ActiveX container.

Choose the Incuity.AxTrend Control item and select OK.

141 of 180
The Control Properties dialog will be displayed. Choose the Connections tab.
These are the properties that can be defined for the ActiveX control. They can be assigned here by linking to ViewSE tags
containing the desired assigned value, or they can be assigned using VBA.
In this exercise, we are going to assign the properties using VBA. Select OK to close the properties dialog.

In the View SE toolbar, select the Test Display button.

142 of 180
You will see that a basic version of the Trend is displayed. Note that we did not need to point the View SE
server to the FactoryTalk VantagePoint Server location. We installed the client tools from the VantagePoint
server which installed the server locator tool on the View SE server. This tool can be accessed from the Start
menu if a change to the VantagePoint Server location was required.
We’d like to allow users to edit the trend, so next we will change the properties of the toolbars to visible.

Change back to Edit mode by pressing the stop button in the View SE toolbar.

Right-click on the ActiveX control area (center of the display) and select VBA Code.

NOTE: The VBA editor may open in the background and need to be selected to view.

143 of 180
From the first dropdown area, select Display. We’re going to add some code to modify the ActiveX control
object properties when the display is ran.

Add the following Code under Private Sub Display_AnimationStart().

With IncuityAxTrendControl1
.ShowDateTimeCtrl = True
.ShowNSExplorer = True
.ShowToolbar = True
End With

When you’re done the code should look like the screenshot below. Close the VBA editor.

144 of 180
Select the Test Display button. You will now see the toolbars that are normally available in VantagePoint
Trend.

We may want to autoamtically populate the trend with tags. We can set these properties in VBA as well.
Return to edit mode.

Right-click on the ActiveX control area in the display and select VBA Code.

Add the following text in the With statement under Display_AnimationStart().

.AddTag "MyEnterprise.MightyQs.Chicago.Areas.Production.Lines.Line1.Assets.Mixer.Energy Demand"
.BackColor = "&hFFFFFF"
.AddTimePeriod "Rel", "+120m()", True

145 of 180
When you’re done the code should look like the screenshot below. The code we added shows the
EnergyDemand tag for our Mixer in the Chicago plant and changes the background color of the trend to white.
Close the VBA editor.

Select the Test Display button to see the energy tag trend.

146 of 180
Note that we’ve added an additional time period to the trend, we can switch which one we’re using by selecting
the drop down next to the time control.

NOTE: There are many other properties that can be modified in the ActiveX trend control. For more
information, see the VantagePoint Help topic ActiveX Control Properties.

Return to edit mode and close the Untitled View SE display. Do not save the display if prompted.

147 of 180
Accessing Report data from FactoryTalk View SE
The VantagePoint Portal contains default web pages which can be used in combination with the Web Browser ActiveX control
from FactoryTalk View SE to view VantagePoint EMI content. With these web pages, it is possible to view Report content from
VantagePoint EMI in a View SE display.

NOTE: There are instructions for entering VBA code in this lab exercie. The code can be manually typed in
or copied from the text file located on the lab image: C:\Lab Files\VBA Code\FactoryTalk View VBA
Code.txt

Under Network > Cookies > HMI > L1 > Graphics, right-click on Displays and select New.

From the View SE menu, select Objects > ActiveX Control.

148 of 180
Click near the top left corner of the Untitled display and drag down to the bottom right corner of the display to
draw an ActiveX container.

Select the Microsoft Web Browser item and then select OK.

We are going to configure the web browser control using VBA. Right-click on the control (center of the display)
and select VBA Code.

Right-click on the ActiveX control area (center of the display) and select VBA Code.

NOTE: The VBA editor may open in the background and need to be selected to view.

From the first dropdown area, select Display. We’re going to add some code to modify the ActiveX control
object properties when the display is ran.

149 of 180
Add the following Code under Private Sub Display_AnimationStart().
MicrosoftWebBrowser1.Navigate
“http://racesa/VantagePointPortal/GetContentViewer.aspx?Report=MyEnterprise.MightyQs.Chicago.Reports.Historian
Dashboard&Showparams=false”

NOTE: that if you are copying/pasting the text above into the image, the quotation marks (“) will not be
pasted correctly. You can delete them and type in regular quotation marks to make the code function
correctly.

When you’re done the code should look like the screenshot below. Close the VBA editor.

In the View SE toolbar, select the Test Display button.

150 of 180
You will see the Historian Dashboard report rendered in the ViewSE display.

Change back to Edit mode by pressing the stop button in the View SE toolbar.

Close the Untitled View SE display. Do not save the display if prompted.

151 of 180
This page intentionally left blank

152 of 180
Advanced Reporting

The VantagePoint SQL CLR feature provides you with the ability to talk to the VantagePoint model via SQL calls to stored
procedures and functions. The SQL CLR feature adds flexibility to the reporting capabilities of VantagePoint through the support
of SQL Server Reporting Services.
Consider using the SQL CLR feature with SQL Server Reporting Services to:
 Combine datasets from multiple VantagePoint servers into a single Reporting Services report.
 Create reports that use cascading parameters. For example, a user selects a Line from the model, and the list of Equipment
is then filtered by which Line was selected.
 Create lengthy, paginated reports such as a Batch report that are designed to be printed easily.
Use features of Reporting Services with the VantagePoint model, including the following:
 Sparklines and Data Bars
 Charts and Gauges
 Tables and Matrixes
In the following lab exercises we are going to use SQL CLR to find items in the VantagePoint model. We will then create a
simple example of an SSRS report using the SQL CLR data.

Using SQL CLR

In this lab exercise we are going to look at how SQL CLR can be used to return data from the VantagePoint model.

Open SQL Server Management Studio from the Start menu.

Select Connect when prompted.

153 of 180
Select File > Open > File.

Open SQL CLR Examples.sql from c:\Lab Files\SQL CLR.

This file contains a set of queries that have already been created to show how SQL CLR can be used against the
VantagePoint model.

Use the dropdown in the menu bar to select the VantagePointCLR database. This is the database the queries
will run against.

154 of 180
The QueryItemsForItemTypeNames query allows you to find all instances of a specified type in the
VantagePoint model. In the first query, we’re going to find all of the Sites for our Cookie Company. Highlight
the first query and select the Execute command from the toolbar.

The results show that there are three cookie sites in our model. The results also provide details about where the sites are
within the model.
Executing the next query will show all Mixers in the model.

155 of 180
The final query shows all items that are using the Base.Equipment type. You may notice that all of the equipment from the
cookie sites show up in this list even though they have a different type name. This is due to the fact that their types were
configured to implement the Base.Equipment type. This allows these types to also have all of the same properties as every
other Base.Equipement instance in the model. Advanced type features are covered in the Advanced VantagePoint lab.

The GetItemsProperties query allows you to query the properties of a specific item in the model. Select the
GetItemProperties query and then Execute.

This query is returning all of the items properties for the Mixer, Depositor, Oven, and Cooling tunnel under Chicago Line1.

156 of 180
The ValueAtTime query returns the current value of items in VantagePoint. Execute the ValueAtTime query.

In this dataset we see the current values for the Mixer in Line 1 of the Chicago site.
The final query we’re looking at brings back the History of an item in VantagePoint. Execute the History query.

In this example we see a History of batches for the Mixer.

157 of 180
This lab provided a few examples of the types of data that can be returned using SQL CLR. There are many
other queries which can be utilized to mine data from the model. The best resource for information on SQL CLR
is the SQL CLR section of VantagePoint help.

158 of 180
Creating a SQL Reporting Services Report
Reporting Services is a server-based reporting platform that provides comprehensive reporting functionality for a variety of data
sources. SQL Server Reporting Services provides a full range of ready-to-use tools and services to help you create, deploy, and
manage reports for your organization, as well as programming features that enable you to extend and customize your reporting
functionality. Reporting Services tools work within the Microsoft Visual Studio environment and are fully integrated with SQL
Server tools and components.
With Reporting Services, you can create interactive, tabular, graphical, or free-form reports from relational, multidimensional, or
XML-based data sources. Reports can include rich data visualization, including charts, maps, and sparklines. You can publish
reports, schedule report processing, or access reports on-demand. You can select from a variety of viewing formats, export
reports to other applications such as Microsoft Excel, and subscribe to published reports. The reports that you create can be
viewed over a Web-based connection or as part of a Microsoft Windows application or SharePoint site. You can also create data
alerts on reports published to a SharePoint site and receive email messages when report data changes.
Reporting Services is another tool which can be utilized for VantagePoint reporting. In this lab exercise we’re going to see how
to use SQL CLR information to create a simple SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) report which will provide the Batch History for
Equipment in the Chicago cookie site.

Open the Batch History Queries.txt file from C:\Lab Files\SSRS.

The queries that will be used to create the SSRS report have been added to this text file to make the lab easier. The
following lab exercises will direct you to copy and paste these queries into our report.

Open Internet Explorer and browse to http://racesa/reports.

159 of 180
 Report Manager is a Web-based report access and management tool that you use to administer a single report server
instance from a remote location over an HTTP connection. You can also use Report Manager for its report viewer and
navigation features. You can use Report Manager to perform the following tasks:
 View, search, print, and subscribe to reports.
 Create, secure, and maintain the folder hierarchy to organize items on the server.
 Configure role-based security that determines access to items and operations.
 Configure report execution properties, report history, and report parameters.
 Create report models that connect to and retrieve data from a Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services data source or
from a SQL Server relational data source.
 Set model item security to allow access to specific entities in the model, or map entities to predefined click through
reports that you create in advance.
 Create shared schedules and shared data sources to make schedules and data source connections more manageable.
 Create data-driven subscriptions that roll out reports to a large recipient list.
 Create linked reports to reuse and repurpose an existing report in different ways.
 Launch Report Builder to create reports that you can save and run on the report server.
You can use Report Manager to browse the report server folders or search for specific reports. You can view a report, its
general properties, and paste copies of the report that are captured in report history. Depending on your permissions, you
might also be able to subscribe to reports for delivery to an e-mail inbox or a shared folder on the file system. Note that
some Report Manager features are only available in specified editions of SQL Server.

We’re going to create our report for the Cookie Demo, so select the CookieDemo folder.

160 of 180
Select Report Builder.

In this lab exercise we will be using Report Builder to create a report. Reports could also be created and
deployed using Visual Studio.
If prompted, select Run.

Select New Report and then Blank Report.

161 of 180
The first task we need to complete is to add connectivity to the SQL CLR database. Right-click on Data Sources
and select Add Data Source.

Change the name of the data source to FTVPSQLCLR.

Select the Use a connection embedded in my report option.
Add the connection string “Initial Catalog=VantagePointCLR;data source=racesa”. This will connect us to the
VantagePoint SQL CLR database on the host named racesa (our lab image).

162 of 180
Select the Credentials tab and then choose the Use current Windows user option.

Return to the General tab and select the Test Connection button. After receiving a successful message, select
OK. Click OK to close the Data Source Properties dialog (not shown).

Next we’re going to add a dataset to return the Chicago cookie line information. Right-click on Datasets and
select Add Dataset.

163 of 180
Name the dataset Lines.

Choose Use a dataset embedded in my report.

Select the FTVPSQLCLR data source that we created in the previous steps.

Copy and paste the first query from the text document into the Query textbox.

Select the Refresh Fields button.

Select the Fields tab.

This query returns the name and fully qualified name of the Chicago line. If we omitted the Chicago filter it would also return
the other two lines. Only the Chicago line has been fully implemented in our demo, so in our case we only want this report
to see information from the Chicago line.

164 of 180
Return to the Query tab and select Query Designer.

Select the Run (!) icon to see the query results.

Optionally temporarily remove the Where clause at the end of the query to see what the query would return without the
filter.

Select Cancel when finished viewing the query output.

Select OK on the Dataset Properties dialog.

Next we’re going to add a dataset that returns the equipment for our Chicago Line. Using the same steps used
to create the Lines dataset, create an Equipment dataset using the second query in the text file.

The Equipment query will return all of the equipment from a line that is passed into the query as a parameter. In our report,
we will be passing in the line information from the Lines dataset we already added.

165 of 180
Select OK to save the dataset.
When the dataset was saved a new parameter was automatically created for the Line input of the equipment query.

If we re-open the equipment dataset we will see that the newly created parameter has already been assigned to
the query parameter.

166 of 180
The final dataset we need is the history of batches for the selected equipment. Create a new dataset named
BatchHistory which uses the last query from the text file.

This query has three input parameters; Start Date, End Date, and the Machine (equipment) fully qualified name. The query
returns a batch history which has been filtered to omit the historical entries when a batch is not active.

Select OK.
Three new parameters have been created for the BatchHistory dataset. The parameters have also been automatically
assigned to the query within the dataset.

167 of 180
Now that we have all of our datasets, we need to properly setup the parameters. Starting with the LineFQN
parameter, right-click and select Parameter Properties.

We’re going to configure this parameter to use the values from the Lines dataset. Select Available Values.
Select Get values from a query, Lines for the dataset, and FQN for the Value field. This is the value that we want to use
when other queries use this parameter. In our case the Equipment dataset expect the Line fully qualified name.
Select Name for the Label field. This allows users of the report to only see the shorter name of the line rather than the fully
qualified name from VantagePoint.

168 of 180
We’re also going to configure the Default values property of the parameter so that a user doesn’t need to select
a value in order for the report to run when opened. Select the Default Values tab.
Select Get values from a query. Select Lines for the dataset and FQN for the Value field. This will choose the first value
in the Lines dataset as the default value when the report runs. Select OK when finished (not shown).

Next we’re going to edit the Start and End date parameters. For the StartDate parameter, change the Data
type to Date/time.

169 of 180
Under default values, choose Specify values, the Add button, and add the value
“=DateAdd(DateInterval.Hour,-1,Now())”. By default, this will cause the Start time of the report to be an hour
previous to the time the report is being ran.

For the EndDate parameter, change the Data type to Date/time.

For Default Values for the EndDate parameter, select Specify value, the Add button, and add the default value
=now(). By setting up the Start and End date default values we’ve created a report that will always show the
past hour worth of data when first ran.

170 of 180
The last parameter we need to configure is the Machine parameter. This parameter will use the values from the
Equipment dataset. For the Machine parameter, set the Available Values to the properties indicated in the
screenshot below.
Select Get values from a query. Select Equipment for the Dataset, FQN for the Value field and Name for the Label field

For the Default Values, set the properties as indicated in the screenshot below.
Select Get values from a query. Select Equipment for the Dataset, and FQN for the Value field.

When finished editing the parameters, click on the title area and add Batch History as the title.

171 of 180
We’re going to add a table to show the batch history. Right-click in the reporting area and select Insert > Table.

Hold the mouse pointer over the lower left cell of the table until a small square appears.

172 of 180
Select FTVPSQLCLR > BatchHistory > shortName to add the Batch name to the table from our BatchHistory
dataset.

Select the next cell over and select BatchStart for the second column of data.

NOTE: We did not need to choose the dataset again since the table is already tied to the BatchHistory
dataset.

Add BatchID to the last column.

173 of 180
Run the report.

We now have a report which shows an hour worth of batch history for the selected machine.
Change the StartDate and Machine to other values and select the View Report button to see how the report changes
based on the parameter set.

174 of 180
Save the report in the CookieDemo folder as “Batch History”

Return to the Report Manager page in Internet Explorer and refresh the browser. Select the new Batch
History report to view it in the browser.

175 of 180
VantagePoint allows you to easily integrate SQL Reporting Services content into the model. From VantagePoint
Mangager, right-click on RSTechED2018 under MyEnterprise > Public and select New > Item.

Select Core.Template.Report (from the bottom of the dialog) and then Portal.SqlServerReportTemplate
followed by the Create button.

Name the report Batch History.

176 of 180
Enter http://racesa/ReportServer?/CookieDemo/Batch History as the ReportingServicesUrl.
Select Create.

NOTE: We can configure other features like showing the toolbar and collapsing reporting parameters in this
configuration.

From the VantagePoint Portal, browse to RATechED2018.

177 of 180
Choose the Batch History report to see the SSRS reporting content within the VantagePoint portal.

This completes the SQL Server Reporting Services report. While we only created a simple report in this lab showing Batch
History, we could have utilized the many other features of Reporting Services for reporting within FactoryTalk VantagePoint.
We could also use advanced reporting features in VantagePoint to pass parameters into the SQL Reporting Services
reports. For more information about this, explore the “Creating parameters for SSRS reports” help topic in FactoryTalk
VantagePoint.

178 of 180
This page intentionally left blank

179 of 180
Publication XXXX-XX###X-EN-P — Month Year Copyright© 2018 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Supersedes Publication XXXX-XX###X-EN-P — Month Year

180 of 180