MSI Central Mapping

One of the key problems with data integration between the shopfloor and the MES is the different naming conventions and actual names given to devices and data.

While the shopfloor layer is driven by automation engineers who define thousands of tags in a technical manner, the MES layer uses the same data in an pharmaceutical context, where the naming is not derived from the technical origin of an information, but rather indicates its meaning within the MES.

Therefore, we added several means to use a harmonized mapping between an EquipmentId+Tag on the MES side and a fully qualified path on the system side.

This mapping can be generated automatically based on information given in the ISA95 equipment model.

A Central Mapping is done once per 'Message Processor' as described in the System Objects for MSI Integration. A mapping must be made unique in both directions, so that each EquipmentId+Tag pair matches exactly one path in the system.

Mapping Content

The mapping table itself holds the following information:

Entry Meaning

EquipmentId

Equipment Id with the name known to the MES

Tag

Tag(name) for the given equipment as known to the MES

Path

The path within the system, which holds the requested data

Historian

The type of historian, which holds the information for this path

The mapping between the EquipmentId+Tag pair to a system path shall be unique in both directions (bijective).

Additional information may follow in further releases.

Auto-generation of Mapping

The Message Processor Object allows for the automatic generation of mapping content. This feature is intended to keep the configuration consistent between different use cases without adding additional effort.

This automatic generation requires that the ISA95 model includes all MES relevant equipment with configured Data Mesh items for all relevant MES Tags.

The Supported Equipment elements are:

  • Unit (Processing)

  • Equipment Module

  • Control Module

The supported Data Mesh items are:

  • Analog Measurement

  • Calculated Value

  • Binary State

  • Discrete State

  • Textual State

  • Performance Index

For all of the MES relevant elements, an MESName must be configured, which is then used for the mapping. Each Data Mesh item must be linked to an item in the I/O Model (for example, an I/O Item beneath a Datasource). This is required to provide the data from the shopfloor via the Data Mesh configuration to the MSI interface.

The automatic generation works as follows:

  • Starting from the path defined in the Root Folder property of the Message Processor object, all relevant equipment is searched for in the catalog. If no Root Folder is given, "/" is used as default.

  • For all equipment found, the Data Mesh items below each equipment are identified.

  • For each Data Mesh item, one entry in the mapping table is generated.

  • If an I/O Item is linked to the Data Mesh item, the path of the linked I/O Item is used. Otherwise, the path of the Data Mesh item is used.

  • The historian type is currently fixed at "inmation". If another historian shall be used, a manual configuration of the mapping table is required. This is required to provide the data from the shopfloor via the Data Mesh configuration to the MSI interface.

The automatic generation works as follows:

  • Starting from the path defined in the Root Folder property of the Message Processor object, all relevant equipment is searched for in the catalog. If no Root Folder is given, "/" is used as default.

  • For all equipment found, the Data Mesh items below each equipment are identified.

  • For each Data Mesh item, one entry in the mapping table is generated.

  • If an I/O Item is linked to the Data Mesh item, the path of the linked I/O Item is used. Otherwise, the path of the Data Mesh item is used.

  • The historian type is currently fixed at "inmation". If another historian shall be used, a manual configuration of the mapping table is required.

  • If the "Add EquipmentId" setting is active, an additional entry is generated for each equipment, with the Tag="EquipmentId" and the path pointing to the 'MESName' property of the S95 equipment object. The historian type is set to "inmation".

Usage of the Mapping

The mapping in the Message Processor can be used by all types of message configurations but the usage of this feature depends on the individual mapping type. Usage details for each mapping type can be found below:

Abort Messages can also make use of the Central Mapping, depending on their Message Configuration as described here: Notes on Mapping.

Exception Messages themselves are not linked to the Central Mapping, but the exception provider may use the central mapping as well as described here: Exception Messages.