Sabp Z 017

Best Practice
SABP-Z-017 16 November 2014

Control Layer Performance Monitoring
Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee
Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards

Table of Contents
1 Introduction..................................................... 2
2 Conflicts with Mandatory Standards............... 2
3 References..................................................... 2
4 Definitions...................................................... 3
5 General........................................................... 4
6 System Integration and Integrity Checks….... 4
7 Assessment, Monitoring
and Reporting Workflow......................... 7
8 Roles and Responsibility.............................. 10
9 Corporate Portal Dashboards...................... 12
Appendix A – Audit Check List........................... 13

Appendix B – System Configuration................... 14
Appendix C – Diagnostic Workflow.................... 42
Previous Issue: 3 February 2013 Next Planned Update: TBD

Revised paragraphs are indicated in the right margin
Primary contact: Al-Saif, Fouad Ali (saiffa0e) on phone +966-13-8800780
Copyright©Saudi Aramco 2014. All rights reserved.

Document Responsibility: Process Optimization Solutions Standards Committee SABP-Z-017
Issue Date: 16 November 2014
Next Planned Update: TBD Control Layer Performance Monitoring
1 Introduction
1.1 Purpose and Intended Users
The objective of this Best Practice is to establish guidelines to monitor and

maintain control assets in the best possible condition using Matrikon’s control
performance monitoring (CPM) application. The intended users may include
control/DCS engineers, process engineers, and operation foremen/supervisors
working at Saudi Aramco’s operating facilities.
1.2 Scope
This Best Practice details the guidelines that should be followed by each facility
to ensure the CPM application is achieving its intended objectives. It dictates
the directions each plant should follow, however the specific workflow for bad
actor reporting and rectification is left out for plants’ discretion. It also includes
several appendices that serve as a quick reference to assist system administrators
to fulfill their duties. In addition, an audit check list is also attached as part of
the appendices. The list will serve as a measure of compliance, for each site,
with Saudi Aramco’s CPM best practices.
1.3 Disclaimer
This SABP is not intended to detail all aspects of the configuration and does not
include adequate information to enable it to be used as an instruction or user
manual. The applicable instruction or user manual should be referenced, as
applicable.
2 Conflicts with Mandatory Standards
In the event of a conflict between this Best Practice and other Mandatory Saudi Aramco
Engineering Requirements, the Mandatory Saudi Aramco Engineering Requirements
shall govern.
3 References
Specific sections of the following documents are referenced within the body of the
document. Material or equipment supplied to this best practice, shall comply with the
referenced sections of the latest edition of these specifications. Where specific sections
are not referenced, the system shall comply with the entire referenced document.
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 Saudi Aramco Documents
Saudi Aramco Engineering Procedure

SAEP-16 Project Execution Guide for Process Automation
Systems
Saudi Aramco Engineering Standards

SAES-Z-001 Process Control Systems
SAES-Z-010 Process Automation Networks Connectivity
Saudi Aramco Materials System Specifications

23-SAMSS-010 Distributed Control Systems
23-SAMSS-020 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Systems
23-SAMSS-050 Terminal Management Systems
4 Definitions
This section contains definitions for acronyms, abbreviations, words, and terms as they
are used in this document.
Service Factor: The portion of the analysis time, in a percentage, the controller is active.
Percent Saturation: The fraction of time that a controller’s output is at the output limit.
Relative Performance Index (RPI): a ratio between the benchmark response speed
and the actual response speed.
Stiction: The force required to move the valve. Stiction can cause oscillations in the
system. The typical threshold value is 1 and any value higher than the threshold should
be resolved.
Oscillation Index: The amount of oscillation for a controller. The typical threshold
value is 0.4, and values greater than that indicate an oscillation problem in the controller.
Std. Dev. Error: The amount of variability in the error signal. A very high value
indicates high controller action.
APC Advanced Process Control System
APCU Advanced Process Control Unit
ARC Advanced Regulatory Control
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CV Controlled Variable
DV Disturbance Variable
DCS Distributed Control System
KPI Key Performance Indicators
MIS Management Information System
MV Manipulated Variable
MVC Multivariable control
P&CSD Process & Control Systems Department
PID Proportional, Integral, Derivative feedback controller
OSI PI Oil System Incorporation, Plant Information Historian
OPC Ole for Process Control
ODH OPC Desktop Historian
5 General
There is a significant installed base of regulatory and multivariable model predictive

controllers within Saudi Aramco’s extensive network of oil production facilities,
refineries and gas processing plants. These controllers, in many cases, don’t operate at
their true potential. The Control Performance Monitoring (CPM) technology was
deployed across Saudi Aramco’s operating facilities to assist in bridging the gap
between desired and actual controllers’ performances. These applications are installed
in around 15 virtual servers, accessible via Saudi Aramco business network. The CPM
makes use of the vast amount of raw data available via Plant information system (PI) to
provide meaningful information that can be employed to make decisions to improve
plant performance. The system provides benchmark analysis of the control loops as
well as diagnostic information to help plants’ engineers identify and troubleshoot bad
actors. A corporate Dashboard was also developed to provide each site with an overall
control effective utilization metric and it serves as a platform to benchmark each plant
overall control status with the rest of Saudi Aramco operating facilities.
6 System Configuration and Integrity Checks
Maximizing the benefits of Matrikon’s control performance monitoring application

depends on the proper configuration and setting of the KPI metrics used in the
configured monitored assets. Therefore, it’s recommended to check the configuration
and settings to guarantee the system integrity and practicality of the reported
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information by the application. Detailed methodologies to carry out these integrity

checks are described in Appendix B as well as the product documentation.
6.1 Ensure proper configuration of PID/APC controllers (Master/Slave, split

range, normally saturated, etc.).
a. Ensure proper weights are set for all loops.
b. Apply recommended KPI metric goals for each PID/APC Control Loop.
c. Configure required flag to exclude assets, when equipment/unit is down.
d. Check PID/APC Control Loop data compression. It shouldn’t exceed
three (3.0).
e. Check/follow the recommended scan rate and compression factor as
detailed in SABP-Z-001, Plant Information System Data Compression, for
the PI/ODH tags.
6.2 Ensure proper Controller Weight settings
Almost all controller loops are configured with a default normal weight setting.
However, there might be a need to give few controllers a higher weight, if the
plant personnel (operations and process engineers) identified these controllers as
critical to process performance; for example unit feed, column pressure,
compressor discharge pressure, product quality controllers, etc. Others might be
categorized as lower priority loops, such as boot controller, normally saturated.
The THREE recommended weights are listed in the below table:
Table 1 - Asset Weight Setting
Impact Importance CPM Weight

High Impact on
High Priority Weight Setting 2.0
Safety/Quality/Production/energy
Indirect Impact on
Normal/Mid Weight Setting 1.0 (Default)
Safety/Quality/Production/energy
Low impact on Process Stability Low Priority Weight Setting 0.2
All plants should comply with the above weight settings and no other weight
should be used for the configured loops, without pre-approval from P&CSD.
6.3 Ensure proper Controller Settling Times
When the loops are initially setup for monitoring certain defaults are assigned
for settling time benchmarks of each loop based on its type. At the time of
configuration little information is available about the individual control loop and
its objectives. The settling time choice impacts a key loop performance
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indicator – RPI or relative performance index. A loop with low RPI may be
categorized as too slow and a loop with a high RPI may be categorized as too
fast. The initial default settings for each loop need to be reviewed from time to
time, if the loop has been flagged as problematic, and the settling time
benchmark adjusted accordingly. The table below gives overall guidelines
based on loop types for the ranges of settling time benchmarks
Table 2 - Benchmark Settling Time Ranges Based on Loop Types
Impact Benchmark Settling Time

Flow Loops 1-2 min
Pressure Loops (fast - slow) 2-10 min
Temperature Loops (fast – slow) 10-60 min
Level Loops (Surge vessels – loose control) 20-30 min
Level Loops (Heat exchangers – tight control) 5-10 min
Composition Loops 30-60 min
All plants should comply with the above weight settings and no other weight
should be used for the configured loops, without pre-approval from P&CSD.
6.4 Ensure proper Control Performance Indices settings
The following table is the adopted KPI metrics for PID loops by the different
Saudi Aramco operating facilities.
Table 3 - PID Study Metric Indices

Valid
(Metric) KPI Category Units 7-day 30-day
Range
1. Service Factor Utilization 0-100% % >75% >90%
2. Saturation Utilization 0-100% % <25% <10%
3. Oscillations Performance 0-1 - <0.3 <0.2
4. Variability (RPI) Performance >0 - 0.75><1.5 0.75><1.25
5. Stiction Diagnostics >0 % <1.0% <0.5%
6. Valve Travel Performance >0 % <2000% <2000%
7. Setpoint
Diagnostics (-1,1) - <0 <0
Activity
8. Compression
Diagnostics >0 - <1.5% <1.5%
Factor
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The following table is the adopted KPI metrics for APC controller by the
different Saudi Aramco operating facilities.
Table 4 - APC Key Performance Indicators

Valid
Metric (KPI) Category Units Goal
Range
Service Factor Utilization 0-100% % Weekly >90%, Quarterly >95%
CV Effective
Service Factor
Utilization 0-100% % Weekly >90%, Quarterly >80%
MV Effective
Service Factor
0.5 < Model Index <1.5
Model Index Diagnostics >0 - (Track weekly but address in
condition-based manner)
OI < 0.4
Oscillation Index Performance >0 - (Goals: % of CV/MVs cycling
<10%)
There are many performance metrics available in the CPM application, those
highlighted in the aforementioned tables are the most useful metrics. They have
been endorsed by most of Saudi Aramco operating facilities and should not be
modified without proper justification.
7 Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting Workflow
The assessment & diagnosis report for the loops flagged as a poor performance by the
CPM, based on the set KPI metrics, should be investigated with operation and
maintenance to confirm the validity of the CPM reporting. The following are the
proposed steps that ought to be followed by each plant to carry out the assessment
evaluation:
7.1 Bad Actor Reporting
CPM provides several mechanisms to report its information. The following are
recommended interfaces used to report the asset KPIs:
a. CPM Web interface
Site Process Control uses web interface for initial assessment, once a
week, uses this information for prioritization and development of action
plan that will rectify the highlighted issues.
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b. Email notification
i. Disposition reports shall be configured to report bad actors for assets
that do not conform to the benchmark details in Tables 1 & 2.
This disposition report shall be generated once a week and it shall be
addressed to the process control engineer responsible for each area of
the facility.
ii. Sites need to identify responsible party to be informed with the
generated disposition report. It is recommended to assign area
process control engineer responsible to act on the findings of these
disposition reports.
iii. Area process control engineer shall investigate and validate the
findings of the disposition reports and shall escalate the required
action to plant operation foreman.
iv. Area process control engineer is responsible to address any issues
related to tuning and loop oscillation.
v. Plant operation foreman is responsible to take proper action to clear
the disposition report escalation items. For example:
● Create maintenance work orders to address valve mechanical
problems, such as stiction.
● Investigate why control loops are not in the normal mode.
Proper action shall be taken to ensure loops are in the right mode.
c. Site Management Report

i. Site process control engineers are responsible to configure and
develop management monthly report to reflect the status of their PID
control layer.
ii. Management report shall include, but not limited to the following:
● Plant overall effective KPI and unit specific effective KPI
● Number of loops not in the right mode
● Number of removed assets and justification for removal
● Key action taken during the previous month to improve the
system performance
● Status of the current actions
● Planed action items to address shortcomings
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● Current status of the facility compared with other Saudi Aramco

similar facility as displayed in the corporate dashboard.
iii. In addition, Management shall use the portals to monitor control
assets status.
iv. Shift superintendent and units supervisors will view information here
for monitoring and follow ups.
7.2 Analysis and Troubleshooting
The diagnosis report for the loops flagged as a poor performer by the CPM,
based on the set KPI metrics, should be investigated further to confirm the CPM
reporting. The Site Process Control Engineer is responsible to study the report
and escalate the issues with the pertinent parties to resolve them promptly.
a. Control issues – Site process control is the responsible party to resolve
these issues. P&CSD provides second level support.
b. Instrumentation – Measurement devices and valve issues should be
reported by Site PC engineer to the site instrumentation group. P&CSD
provides second level support.
c. Process – Report to operations or site process engineering. Site process
control provides support as necessary to resolve these issues.
Organization needs to understand the value of keeping control assets

performance high. Thus, it is of a paramount importance that these control
assets KPIs are monitored regularly. Site Management has an obligation to at
least monitor the system on a monthly basis and facilitate the continuous
improvements to the control assets by providing adequate resources.
Despite the fact that the Control performance monitoring applications provides
useful information that could be utilized to solve control issues, an initiative was
taken to facilitate the troubleshooting process even more by providing a
structured methodology to interpret these numbers. Several flow charts were
developed to help with investigating the root cause of PID and APC
performance problem. The flow charts assist in pointing out the right path on
where to look and what to do to help eliminate performance issues. These flow
charts could be referenced in Appendix C.
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8 Roles and Responsibility
Managements at Saudi Aramco’s operating facilities should recognize that monitoring,

diagnosis, and repair is a well-defined job that requires their acknowledgments and
support. Operating facilities should clearly realize that each operating facility could
develop their own customized framework for CPM activities to enable them to better
monitor and resolve performance issues associated with PID loops and MVC
applications. Determining roles and responsibilities are crucial to the continuous
success of the application. The following is a proposed work process for the roles and
responsibility within an operating plant that shall be followed initially and could be
refined as time progress.
a. System Administrator Roles
One of the site process control engineer shall be designated as the system
administrator. His role includes, but not limited to the followings:
● Full administration of the system which includes adding all the site PID loops
and configuring them appropriately as per the procedures in Appendix B of
this document.
● Setting up the PID KPIs, as per Appendix B.
● Configuring disposition reports as per Appendix B.
● Monitoring the system health and ensuring the diagnostics reports are
generated periodically.
● Administering & complying with the audit check list per Appendix A.
b. Process Control Engineer Roles
Each process Area shall have a designated control engineer. His role includes, but
not limited to the followings:
● Assigned area process control engineer shall investigate and validate the
findings of the disposition reports and shall escalate the required action to
plant operation foreman.
● Area process control engineer is responsible to address any issues related to
tuning and loop oscillation.
● Ensuring compliance with the audit check list per Appendix A.
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c. Operations Roles
The unit foreman shall be designated as the operation representative that monitors
the control assets on a daily basis. Their roles includes, but not limited to the
followings:
● Urge operation to always keep loops in normal mode, if possible.
● Identify issues / Highlight concern of loops in manual or not normal mode.
● Escalation of unresolved problems of critical loops with the assigned process
control and/or maintenance.
● Initiation and follow up of a workflow to resolve identified problems.
d. Process Operation Engineer Role
The role of each area process engineer includes, but not limited to the following:
● Provide guidance on process issues.
● Assess PID/APC controller performance monthly.
e. Maintenance Role
● Maintain performance of key instruments/valves.
f. Management Role
● Ensure proper support resources in place.
● Review Control Asset report on Monthly/Quarterly.
● Approvals of removed assets.
g. P&CSD Role
The role of P&CSD is a supporting one to help and complement the site support
engineer. The following are the activities that shall be taken by the second level
support engineer to fulfill his role:
● Assist Site Support Engineer troubleshoot / resolve problems, as required.
● Provide hands on training to Site Support Engineers.
● Assist Site Support Engineer with software upgrades, as required.
● License Administration.
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9 Corporate Portal Dashboards
The corporate dashboard is an in-house portal that was developed by P&CSD to provide
a comprehensive access to all of Saudi Aramco operating facilities that implemented the
Matrikon’s CPM application. The benefits from implementing a visualization
dashboard include the following:
● Visibility into the entire corporate process control landscape.
● Streamlined business efficiency by identifying areas for business performance and
efficiency improvement.
● Increased control availability.
● Created a sense of competition among the operating plants; especially plants in the
same business line.
The portal calculates and reports an overall performance index for every operating
facility, based on a collective overall figure that takes into account the collective
individual loops performance. The following is the formula used for the overall
performance index:
OVERALL PERFORMANCE INDEX
The plant Overall Performance Index indicates how the plant PID regulatory controllers
are performing for the selected time period. The rating classifications are described
below.
Overall Performance Index = [w1 * Service Factor]
+ [w2 * % Saturation]
+ [w3 * % Effective Utilization]
+ [w4 * (1 - Oscillation Index) * 100%]
+ [w5 * (100 - % Standard Deviation)]
+ [w6 * (RPI for RPI<1 or 1/RPI for RPI>1) * 100%]
+ [w7 * (% Effective Utilization * Average (RPI for RPI<1
or 1/RPI for RPI>1)) / 100%]
Where: w1 + w2 + w3 + w4 + w5 + w6 + w7 = 1
Weight for individual calculations input.
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7
0.1 0.1 0.25 0.2 0.25 0.05 0.05
Revision Summary
3 February 2013 New Saudi Aramco Best Practice.
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Appendix A - Audit Check List
Each facility shall use the below check list to verify their compliance with Saudi Aramco’s
CPM best practices. An audit might be conducted by P&CSD or a different entity within Saudi
Aramco to check plant’s compliance with this best practice document.
1. Configuration of PID/APC Controllers
● Is the configuration done with proper relationship and hierarchy for master/slave
controllers and split range?
● Do all normally saturated controllers (high/low) are properly configured with the
right template?
● How many weight settings used in the configuration? Are they different from the
recommended settings? If yes, is justification documented?
● Are required flags configured for needed assets?
● Do all configured controllers’ reports get generated?
2. PID/APC Control Loop Data Compression
● Does the reported compression compromise the loops’ result? The recommended
compression factor shouldn’t exceed three (3.0).
3. KPI metric goals Settings
● Are the recommended KPI metrics set for all loops?
● If different metrics settings are used, is justification documented?
4. Removed Assets Justification
● Do all removed assets have justification in the system?
● Do they have an expected date to be returned back to monitored list?
● Could a required flag be configured/triggered for the asset, instead of putting it in
the removed asset?
5. Bad Actor Reporting and Work Flow
● Does disposition report get generated/e-mailed regularly to the stake holders
(System Administrator and Area Foreman)?
● Does a monthly or quarterly report get generated for the plant’s management?
● What is the established rectification and work flow procedure within the plant?
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Appendix B – System Configuration
This appendix describes common changes and settings for the CPM system that are performed
by system administrators. The guidelines to each of following tasks are documented in further
detail.
B.1 Adding required flags
B.2 Creating calculations for required flags
B.3 Changing Controller Templates
B.4 Changing Benchmark metrics
B.5 Moving Controllers locations
B.6 Deleting controllers
B.7 List of Key system processes and Impact of their failure
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B.1 Adding Required Flags
These changes are necessary to account for process/equipment condition while

calculating the loop KPIs.
Step # Description Screenshot

1 Export Current a. Select All the Loops in the relevant Area
Configuration for all
controllers
b. You should all the loops selected – see screenshot below
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c. Right Click on “Configure” and Select “Export Configuration to CSV”
d. A popup will appear prompting you to save the file.
e. Save it a to work folder – say – “D:\Aramco\Configuration Work” with the extension

backup in the name
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2 Edit Current a. Open the CSV file in Excel and Edit the “Required Datasource”, “Required Flag” and
Configuration “Required Web Tag Name” fields. Note that the “Required Flag” and “Required Web
spreadsheet for the Tag Name” Flags are one and the same. “Required Datasource” is the name for the
subgroup of local ODH historian – it can be copied from one of the datasource fields for any of the
controllers needing controllers in the spreadsheet.
required flag and the
relevan parameters
b. Save and Close the CSV file – as a best practice use the extension “Required” in the
name as a reminder.
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3 Ensure Required a. Load the required flags from the Excel Add-In for Desktop Historian.
flags exist in
historian
b. Use OPC explorer to validate that they are reading good values
c. If the tags do not exist ODH then add them using the Excel Add-in. Below is an
example tag that was added to ODH as a required flag
d. Commit the changes to ODH and once again use OPC explorer as in b. to validate the
data quality
Map Required flags

4 Please see Section 1.1 for Creating the Required Tag Calculations
to 0/1 if necessary
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5 Run import utility a. Start the Controller Import Utility and point to the saved CSV configuration file with
and re-import CSV the changes for the required flag
file with the changes
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b. Select All the Controllers to be reimported and proceed to import. Note that the CSV
file has to be closed in order for the import utility to proceed after step a.
c. Select “Next” and wait for the import to finish. Close the import utility once the import
is done successfully.
6 Open Analysis a. Open Analysis Designer and Open the relevant area where you have made the changes.
Designer and run one Use Ctrl-F to find one of the controllers you made the changes to the required flag.
of the controllers
where the required
flag has been added
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b. Right click on the controller object (looks like the ISA symbol for PID loop –
highlighted in the above snapshot) and “Generate Report”
7 Verify that the a. Once the controller report has generated(Various blocks in the analysis will turn
generated report is in green, yellow or red depending on the data), right click on the controller block and
line with expected select “View Reports”
results – if the
required flag is 0, the
percent not required
KPI should be 100%
and no service factor
should be calculated
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b. The “Percent Not Required” Column will show 100% for those loops which are not
required and no KPIs – service factor, etc., are calculated.
c. Ensure that Analysis Designer is closed after all the validation/checks are done.
Leaving a particular analysis (Area) open will prevent its scheduled execution.
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B.2 Creating the Required Flag Calculations
These steps are necessary when the required flag is not available in binary form
(0-shutdown, 1-running).

1 Open Analysis a. Create a New Analysis in the “ONLINE” Project
Designer and create a
new analysis for
Required Tag
Mapping
b. Drag and Drop a Data Source on the worksheet and double click on the data source
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c. Point the data source to the PI-historian and read the tags to be used for creating the
required flags.
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2 Read in the current a. Click “Finish” at the last step above. This should run the data source block. Right click
required flag on the data source block and select view data to confirm that the data is being read
correctly.
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3 Connect the data

source to a multimath
block
4 Edit the multimath

block to add the
necessary logic to
map the required flag
to a 0/1 signal
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5 Connect the output of

the multimath block
to a data sink
6 Edit the data sink to

point to ODH and
write to a calculated
required flag
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Leave the default output tag as “{Tag}” and click Finish.
7 Run the analysis Use OPC Explorer to read the tags that have been created via Analysis designer in the
manually and verify previous step.
that the calculated
required flag works
correctly
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8 Ensure that the

start/end times in the
data source are
synchronized with the
start/end times of the
controller data source
Schedule the analysis Please contact P&CSD for assistance with this step as it is to be added to an existing
9 to run as the first step online schedule. Note that this step has to be done only once, any future
in the online analysis changes/additions to the required tag calculations do not require this step to be redone.
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B.3 Changing Controller Templates – From Standalone to Normally Saturated
These changes typically apply to those controllers which have their valves typically
fully closed or fully open – for example flare valves – but have not been setup as
normally saturated controllers.

1 Export Current a. Select All the Loops in the relevant Area
Configuration for all
controllers
b. You should all the loops selected – see screenshot below
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c. Right Click on “Configure” and Select “Export Configuration to CSV”
d. A popup will appear prompting you to save the file.
e. Save it a to work folder – say – “D:\Aramco\Configuration Work” with the

extension backup in the name
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2 a. Edit Current
Configuration
spreadsheet for the
subgroup of
controllers needing
template change
b. Change “Template”
field from
“Standalone” to
“Normally
Saturated”
c. Add an additional
column at the end
titled “Normal
Saturation”
d. Change the value of
the “Normal
Saturation” field to
“Low” or “High” or
“Both” Depending
on the controller
Save and close

configuration
3
spreadsheet (CSV)
after changes
4 Run import utility and a. Start the Controller Import Utility and point to the saved CSV configuration file
re-import CSV file with the changes for the required flag
with the changes
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b. Select All the Controllers to be reimported and proceed to import. Note that the
CSV file has to be closed in order for the import utility to proceed after step a.
c. Select “Next” and wait for the import to finish. Close the import utility once the
import is done successfully.
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5 Open Analysis a. Open Analysis Designer and Open the relevant area where you have made the
Designer and run one changes. Use Ctrl-F to find one of the controllers you made the changes to the
of the controllers required flag.
where the template has
been changed
b. Right click on the controller object (looks like the ISA symbol for PID loop –
highlighted in the above snapshot) and “Generate Report”
c. Once the controller report has generated(Various blocks in the analysis will turn
green, yellow or red depending on the data), right click on the controller block
and select “View Reports”
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6 Verify that the

generated report is in
line with expected
results – if the valve is
fully closed and
normal saturation is
“Low”, the percent not
required KPI should
be 100% and no
service factor should
be calculated
 The “Percent Not Required” Column will show 100% for those loops which
are normally saturated and no KPIs – service factors, etc. are calculated.
 Ensure that Analysis Designer is closed after all the validation/checks are
done. Leaving a particular analysis (Area) open will prevent its scheduled
execution.
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B.4 Changing Benchmarks
The following benchmarks may be changed in bulk fashion from the web interface
(you need to be logged in with administrator privileges). The standard product user
manuals adequately cover the steps to make these changes and hence screenshots
are not reproduced in this document.
a. Benchmark settling time: The options to change this parameter include:
i. Changing it to a fixed value for a group of controllers
ii. Changing it to the current achieved settling times for a group of
controllers
iii. Changing it to a multiple of (ii)
b. Benchmark Standard Deviation: The options to change this parameter include:
i. Changing it to a fixed value for a group of controllers
ii. Changing it to the current achieved standard deviation for a group of
controllers. This approach is useful when you want to benchmark the
unit at current levels.
iii. Changing it to a multiple of (ii)
c. Controller weights: The controller weights are used to assign relative
importance to different controllers. In general, any positive number may be
assigned for the weight. The weights are used in calculating the unit level
aggregates for the controller KPIs such as service factor, saturation, etc.
Below are the recommended values for Saudi Aramco:
i. High Importance – 2: These are loops that have a direct impact on
safety/production/quality/energy
ii. Medium Importance – 1: These are loops that have an indirect impact on
safety/production/quality/energy and would form majority of the loops
iii. Low Importance – 0.2: Related to loops with low impact on process
stability.
Changes to other benchmarks listed below may be made from the web interface one
controller at a time. It is not recommended that the default best practice values be
changed for these benchmarks. Note that these benchmarks get used in the
disposition workflow and notification system in the identification of bad actors.
(1) Service Factor Low Limit (85%)
(2) Saturation High Limit (25%)
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(3) RPI Low and High Limit (0.4-2.5)

(4) Oscillation Index High Limit (0.4)
(5) Stiction High Limit (1%)
If a configuration error exists for one of the above benchmarks, for example the
oscillation index high limit is mistakenly set to 1 for all controllers; this can be
corrected via a SQL query for all the controllers. It is recommended to contact
either P&CSD or the vendor to make this change via the SQL query.
B.5 Moving Controller Locations

a. For moving a few controllers, it is recommended to do this task from the web
interface. After logging in as Administrator, click on Object Hierarchy
Designer in top left hand pane. Drag and drop the controller from the current
location in the hierarchy to the desired location.
b. For moving more than 10 controllers, it is best to do so in the following
manner:
i. Export the current configuration for the controllers to be moved and save
it as a CSV file
ii. Edit the CSV file and change the location field to the desired location
iii. Save and close the CSV file
iv. Open Analysis Designer and open the analysis for current location where
the controllers are currently located
v. Delete each controller to be moved by selecting its corresponding
analysis – you can use the Find option to locate the relevant controller
names and delete them one at a time
vi. Open the controller import utility and re-import the controllers using the
saved CSV file
vii. Open the analysis where the controllers are now located and run one of
the controllers manually
Open the web interface and validate that the location has changed. Note that if you
make changes in this way to the location, the past history of the controller results is
lost. Changing it from the web interface (Option a) ensures the history is carried
over to the new location.
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B.6 Deleting Controllers

a. Deleting individual controllers is best done by opening Analysis designer, finding
and selecting individual controllers and deleting them. Always save a copy of the
configuration CSV before making changes so the last configuration can be
retrieved. Note that if a controller is mistakenly deleted, it can be re-imported and
its history will still be preserved so long as location has not been changed.
Also note that any changes in the analysis designer are saved immediately.
b. Deleting controllers in bulk: If an entire unit has to be deleted, it is best done
by deleting the relevant analysis itself from analysis designer.
B.7 List of Key system processes and Impact of their failure

Loss of Raw Loss of KPI
# Name Purpose Failure Consequence Executable Name
Data Data
Database – holds Users will not be able see
SQL No loss of raw Using backfill it
1 configuration/results results, new results will not be Sqlservr.exe
Server data may be possible
database generated or stored
SQL Scheduling agent that Users will not be able to see new
No loss of raw Yes – using
2 Server runs daily reports and results or receive email Sqlagent.exe
data backfill
Agent email jobs notifications of issue lists
Users will not be able to see the
Net Objects Service – plant hierarchy in the web
holds all of the hierarchy reports or any of the loop No loss of raw No loss of KPI
3 NOSvc NetObjectsSvc.exe
and web interface related reports. New results will still be data data
information generated but not accessible
from the web interface
ProcessNet ProcessNet – user info, No loss of raw No loss of KPI
4 Users will not get a logon screen PNServerSvc.exe
DataServer data source, profile setup data data
Firebase Manages the web server No loss of raw No loss of KPI Fbserver.exe,
5 Users will not be able to log in.
server configuration database data data fbguard.exe
PV/OP/SP/Mode data will not be
updates for any loop. Users will Loss of raw
ODH OPC Collects data from the KPI data cannot
6 see flatness for these points and data, ArchiverOPC.exe
client PI-OPC server be recovered
no new results will be unrecoverable.
calculated.
Users will not see any new
Loss of raw data
results or trends in the detailed
Delivers data to CPM for (mode
ODH OPC reports. The underlying data will Yes – using
7 analysis/trending calculations) on OPCMatArc.exe
server still be in ODH and could be backfill
purposes some servers,
used to regenerate the missing
unrecoverable
results using a backfill utility.
No raw data will be stored; no
Core ODH service that new results will be available. If
Loss of raw data No –
8 ODH manages data storage this service fails, the results will Archiver.exe
– unrecoverable unrecoverable
and delivery be unrecoverable for the period
of failure.
No new PV/OP/SP/MODE data
PI-OPC Collects data from the will be stored in ODH. New Loss of raw data No –
9 PI_OSIOPC.exe
DA server PI-snapshot results will not be calculated. – unrecoverable unrecoverable
The data loss is not recoverable
IIS Admin Will not be able to get a logon No loss of raw No loss of KPI
10 Webserver management Inetinfo.exe
service screen data data
Page 41 of 59
Appendix C - Diagnostics Workflow
C.1 Generic Work Flow for PID Diagnostic
This work flow requires dedicated personnel to be responsible for a group of

process units, to get the reports and action the recommendations. The tasks in the
work flow are repeated on a monthly basis. The CPM Disposition Reporting system
runs on a weekly basis and emails a summary of loops with bad status according to
our performance metrics. The engineers performing loop analysis and tuning need
to be capable of understanding the process objectives and the process flow, in
particular so that they can understand how one PID loop can affect another via the
process. The work flow interacts with existing maintenance planning, with the most
common input being to submit requests for valve tests but can include outside
checks of the instrumentation and transmitters. Care needs to be taken to ensure
that the workload of the maintenance team is not excessively increased by requests
generated by CPM. For this reason it is recommended that issues identified by the
software are first checked by an engineer, with discussion with the panel operators.
It makes good sense to use Oscillation Index, RPI and the Stiction filter as part of
the work-flow for finding valves that require action by the maintenance team.
Loops not in auto or cascade requires follow-up with operators normally. Check the
reports for multiple loops with same oscillation period. Find fighting loops and look at
them all. Think about the process flow to help see which loops are ‘causes’ and
which loops are being disturbed. Hands on methods to test the findings (for example
putting loops in manual and looking for disturbances on the PVs) will typically be
needed before transferring loops from the CPM list of bad actors on to the work list of
the engineer or technician responsible for fixing equipment problems.
The detailed steps are outlined below in a series of flow charts. The boxes represent
actions and the diamonds represent questions. Boxes with additional vertical lines
represent ‘subroutines’ which are separate flow charts on subsequent pages in the
report.
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C.2 Generic Work Flow for APC Diagnostics
The APC engineer job comprises the following tasks:

a. Understand the process objectives.
b. Understand the process in the context of the refinery plan.
c. Ensure that the MPC design matches those needs and if possible at low cost
make modifications as appropriate.
d. Review application performance against the above objectives on a regular
basis (typically every month).
e. Review application performance in terms of service factors and stability of
operation (typically every week).
f Meet with operators (at least weekly) to check they are happy and have no
problems with the MPC or related applications, arranging and giving training
as necessary.
g. Spending a lot of time in the control room is a significant factor in building
operator confidence, getting their feedback always leads to improvements in
design, strategy and acceptance.
h. Update controller tuning and models on an as needed basis to ensure
acceptable performance.
i. Be available to operators to advise and respond to problems.
The reports available in the CPM software can assist in the MPC performance
monitoring task. The act of diagnosing and determining possible fixes for problems
is outlined in the detailed work flow. The work flow is represented as 12 flow
charts on the following pages. On each of the flow charts we have indicated where
the CPM reports can help. It is worth noting that there are many problems with
MPC that CPM does not seem to have a report to deal with. This means check
variability of the MVs before believing there is a problem with predictions. (In the
CPM software they do check the CV for variability before presenting prediction
statistics but this does not seem to take in to account the fact that a multivariable
controller can be moving several MVs at the same time and the related CV will not
be moving, because the individual contributions from the MVs are cancelling each
other out. I like to check that related MVs are moving.)
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Best Practice

SABP-Z-017 16 November 2014

Saudi Aramco DeskTop Standards

Appendix A – Audit Check List........................... 13

Previous Issue: 3 February 2013 Next Planned Update: TBD

Copyright©Saudi Aramco 2014. All rights reserved.

1.1 Purpose and Intended Users

The objective of this Best Practice is to establish guidelines to monitor and

2 Conflicts with Mandatory Standards

 Saudi Aramco Documents

Saudi Aramco Engineering Procedure

Saudi Aramco Engineering Standards

Saudi Aramco Materials System Specifications

There is a significant installed base of regulatory and multivariable model predictive

6 System Configuration and Integrity Checks

Maximizing the benefits of Matrikon’s control performance monitoring application

information by the application. Detailed methodologies to carry out these integrity

6.1 Ensure proper configuration of PID/APC controllers (Master/Slave, split

6.2 Ensure proper Controller Weight settings

Table 1 - Asset Weight Setting

Impact Importance CPM Weight

6.3 Ensure proper Controller Settling Times

Table 2 - Benchmark Settling Time Ranges Based on Loop Types

Impact Benchmark Settling Time

6.4 Ensure proper Control Performance Indices settings

Table 3 - PID Study Metric Indices

2. Saturation Utilization 0-100% % <25% <10%

3. Oscillations Performance 0-1 - <0.3 <0.2

4. Variability (RPI) Performance >0 - 0.75><1.5 0.75><1.25

5. Stiction Diagnostics >0 % <1.0% <0.5%

6. Valve Travel Performance >0 % <2000% <2000%

Table 4 - APC Key Performance Indicators

7 Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting Workflow

7.1 Bad Actor Reporting

a. CPM Web interface

c. Site Management Report

● Current status of the facility compared with other Saudi Aramco

7.2 Analysis and Troubleshooting

Organization needs to understand the value of keeping control assets

8 Roles and Responsibility

Managements at Saudi Aramco’s operating facilities should recognize that monitoring,

a. System Administrator Roles

b. Process Control Engineer Roles

d. Process Operation Engineer Role

9 Corporate Portal Dashboards

OVERALL PERFORMANCE INDEX

Appendix A - Audit Check List

Appendix B – System Configuration

B.1 Adding Required Flags

These changes are necessary to account for process/equipment condition while

Step # Description Screenshot

b. You should all the loops selected – see screenshot below

Step # Description Screenshot

d. A popup will appear prompting you to save the file.

e. Save it a to work folder – say – “D:\Aramco\Configuration Work” with the extension

Step # Description Screenshot

Step # Description Screenshot

Map Required flags

Step # Description Screenshot

Step # Description Screenshot

Step # Description Screenshot

Step # Description Screenshot

B.2 Creating the Required Flag Calculations