Hemlock Semiconductor has been a PI System user since 1993 and in the more than three intervening decades, our use of Processbook has been a lynchpin of the service.  For many users, Processbook was PI System and problems with that application, or its displays was effectively the same as PI being “down.”  

Over the years, users had developed well over six thousand Processbook displays covering every process and square inch of the site.  A good portion of the PI System team’s duties was involved in making sure that users were properly trained to make use of the available visualization tools, and Datalink and Processbook were key parts of almost every employee’s toolbox, whether they were in plant engineering, operations, supply chain, or finance.  

When OSIsoft/AVEVA announced that Processbook was being retired in favor of PI Vision, the announcement was not met with relief from the world’s PI System administrators.  At the time of the announcement [2021-ish?], the two applications did not approach feature parity, and from my perspective, making this move was going to result in torches and pitchforks outside my office.

On the other hand, users and IT were starting to notice that Processbook was getting a bit long in the tooth, especially with the introduction of Windows 11.  That, combined with its imminent demise, made it clear to us that Processbook needed to be retired and Vision implemented.  

The presentation will highlight the various tools and resources we used to make this rollout one of the most successful software replacements in our company’s IT history.  Tools such as:

1.      Pilot teams

2.      Training sessions

3.      Conversion tools supplied by Aveva

4.      Tech support

5.      Communication

6.      Our user base’s trust in us

The first five of those points should be obvious, but the sixth was our secret trump card.  The years of PI System being reliable and ubiquitous have given us a great deal of credibility in our plant, and our insistence on top-tier customer service gave our user base the assurance that this would be a change in their best interests and not just because “it was new,” or “we had to.”

This rollout was not without speedbumps, and there were times we had to circle around and revisit something we had thought complete.  We also made some minor compromises that we will have to address at some point, but those don’t diminish the accomplishment we have achieved here.