COMOS Enterprise Server White Paper Worldwide applications networking with service-oriented architecture August 2010 Summary Nowadays, interoperability is a must for the efficient planning and operation of plant and equipment. Exchanging data and documents smoothly and safely between different software applications and various locations is the key to successful collaborative engineering. This must not disturb ongoing operations, however. Data exchange and data consolidation can be migrated to the COMOS Enterprise Server in a time-controlled manner. The COMOS Enterprise Server matches data and enables engineering staff to access consolidated data of other departments/sites and vice versa. Data-intensive tasks can be passed to the COMOS Enterprise Server to relieve the load on the workstations of individual employees. Users can easily perform COMOS processes on the Enterprise Server without COMOS being installed on their respective workstations. All processes of the COMOS Enterprise Server may be started manually but can alternatively be automated.
White Paper C S S Enterise Server August 2010 2 Contents Worldwide applications networking with service-oriented architecture.................................. 3 Required: optimized cross-site and cross-application data exchange................ 3 Automatic data transfer over the complete lifecycle............................. 3 Automatic data consolidation.............................................. 4 Enhanced performance................................................... 4 Service-oriented architecture.............................................. 4 Result: reduced time and cost effort efficient, error-free planning.................................. 5
White Paper C S S Enterise Server August 2010 3 Worldwide applications networking with service-oriented architecture Required: optimized cross-site and cross-application data exchange When planning and operating complex industrial plant and equipment, software applications from a number of disciplines are deployed. For example, applications for engineering and maintenance are complemented with software tools for materials procurement and manpower planning. In this era of globalization, every employee is not always involved in project work at the same site. However, effective collaboration over the complete asset lifecycle is safeguarded only if all employees can access consistent data relevant to their field of activity at any point in time. This is obviously not limited to data created in the local application or site. Local workflows often require external data or functionalities from other applications. On the one hand, individual employees usually do not have the licenses or expertise for the software tools of the other departments for carrying out necessary tasks or retrieving relevant data. The license costs and training effort for highly specialized software, such as engineering programs or ERP systems, are substantial, i.e.,companies cannot always afford to equip and train every employee. On the other hand, manual data exchange and data consolidation are highly error prone and often time consuming. Moreover, data-intensive processes, such as software-based data matching or the construction of a CAE drawing from external data, often block the workstations of individual employees to a high degree. Automatic data transfer over the complete lifecycle The COMOS Enterprise Server is based on the COMOS MotionX integration platform and supplies COMOS processes, such as data harmonization, revisioning, or the generation of drawings, to individual employees or teams. The accessing workstations are not strained or blocked by this procedure. COMOS users can migrate data-intensive processes to the COMOS Enterprise Server. External applications are networked with engineering by simply starting workflows on the COMOS Enterprise Server from within the local application and transferring the relevant data. For this purpose, COMOS need not be installed on the accessing workstations, nor is any special COMOS knowledge required. Conversely, COMOS users can address other applications or COMOS databases at remote locations via the COMOS Enterprise Server and execute processes or import data. The functionalities of the COMOS Enterprise Server can be easily automated. Workflows can be configured and timed in a company-specific manner and without any major programming skills. For instance, data required in engineering can be retrieved from other applications at regular intervals and matched with COMOS data. This means engineering is always up-to-date without the users having to initiate or constantly monitor this process. Both the planning and operation of plant and equipment require a tool that simplifies the data exchange between all the departments, sites and applications involved in the asset lifecycle by automating this exchange. To this end, functionalities of external applications have to be started and data harmonized without errors and without affecting the work of individual users.
White Paper C S S Enterise Server August 2010 4 Automatic data consolidation With the COMOS Enterprise Server, it is easy to import data from other applications into the COMOS engineering workflow or to export data from COMOS to third-party software. Via the COMOS Enterprise Server, heterogeneous applications will start processes of the respective other applications while transferring local data. Consolidation takes place automatically. The interoperability between individual departments and locations is thus guaranteed. Project stakeholders are no longer forced to laboriously assemble data from a wide variety of sources. Consistency checks and other rules that can be individually configured without programming knowledge ensure high data quality. By assigning access authorizations, the relevant data sets are made available to authorized users only. This makes sure that every user can access verified data relevant to his or her area of responsibility from any location at any time. By means of the COMOS Enterprise Server, existing applications in a company can be easily synchronized with COMOS and need not be replaced. The introduction of the COMOS Enterprise Server avoids any major retraining and familiarization efforts. As a central data and service store, the COMOS Enterprise server provides an enterprise s departments with encapsulated service steps. COMOS functionalities can be started from within other applications without COMOS being installed. To this end, the COMOS Enterprise Server is addressed directly from the user s workstation. Data-intensive tasks that would block individual workstations can be passed to the server. For example, the COMOS Enterprise Server thus handles the bulk printing of drawings and documents or the creation of graphics, revisions, and data harmonizations. Individual tasks can be easily defined for the COMOS Enterprise Server according to company-specific requirements as needed. The workforce and the corresponding workstations are thus relieved by migrating tasks to the COMOS Enterprise Server. The workflow of individual users is not affected and hence the work volume is increased. Service-oriented architecture The stable, service-oriented architecture of the COMOS Enterprise Server enables the shared utilization of services and processes across multiple departments and sites. The COMOS Enterprise Server offers COMOS processes as services that can be accessed by the members of project teams via standardized interfaces. In this context, the COMOS Enterprise Server can perform multiple processes in parallel, depending on the available COMOS Basic licenses. Enhanced performance Other applications, e.g. 3-D engineering Lifecycle Asset Information Management Automated process integration Comos Enterprise Server Administrative applications, e.g. ERP systems, etc. Project planning and execution, operations, services Enterprise management
White Paper C S S Enterise Server August 2010 5 Result: reduced time and cost effort efficient, error-free planning The COMOS Enterprise Server provides companies with the possibility of starting and executing COMOS processes from within external applications, while relieving the load on individual workstations and users. The COMOS Enterprise Server facilitates centralized and automated control, as well as data integration and secure data matching. This optimizes the networking of an enterprise s workflows, while improving the interfaces of individual departments, applications, and sites. Harmonization and exchange processes within the asset lifecycle are considerably enhanced. The COMOS Enterprise Server enables all disciplines involved to reduce the time and cost expended. The resultant improved data quality ensures more efficient and error-free engineering of plant and equipment and thus promotes prompt commissioning and a faster return on investment. Global data hub
White Paper C S S Enterise Server August 2010 6 Siemens Industry Software GmbH & CO. KG Eisenwerkstr. 1 58332 Schwelm, Germany Tel.: +49 2336 9188-2219 Fax.: +49 2336 9188-172 www.siemens.com/ comos All rights reserved. All trademarks used are owned by Siemens or their respective owners. Contact: Siemens Industry Software GmbH & CO. KG Verena Vorwerk Marketing Eisenwerkstr. 1 58332 Schwelm, Germany Tel.: +49 2336 9188-2219 Fax.: +49 2336 9188-172 E-mail: verena.vorwerk@siemens.com Siemens Industry Software GmbH 2010