SystemPipelines, Midstream & LNG

Control Room Management

Control room management that reads each shift handover note against what stood on the alarm list at that minute, then leaves the finding to people.

See the demo Book a demo

Follow one handover from 18:00 to the signature ↓

The problem

A handover note can call the night quiet while alarms stand on the console

Each console changes hands twice a day. The off-going controller writes a note, and both controllers sign a form. A compliance analyst reads a handful of those notes against the alarm history each month, and the rest go into the file unread.

So a note can say nothing else to pass on while alarms still stand and a box on the form sits empty, and nobody sees it until an inspector asks. Then the proof has to come out of historian exports, scanned forms and spreadsheets, sorted by folder rather than by the question.

Built forControl room managersCompliance analystsLead controllersAlarm engineersCompliance auditors

The Problem Today

Proof of each handover, alarm review and shift sits in exports and forms that nobody reads side by side.

15 mo: longest gap allowed between yearly alarm set-point checks published

Pieced together by hand

Alarm logs
Shift notes
Forms
Hours

Signed, box untickedA form can pass with a step left blank
Binder built by handInspection evidence gathered file by file

The Solution

One tape per consoleAlarms, setpoints, hours, log and forms on one time line for the day
Note against the recordEach note compared with what stood at that minute, each line cited
A person checks the momentThe manager moves the tape to that minute, opens the form and signs
Filed by rule sectionSigned records file themselves by section, each with its own clock

Built-in controls

Each controller can reply before a finding stands
Agents read exports, never the control system
No controller is scored or ranked

What You Get

Managers see each gap with its evidence, and inspectors get the proof sorted by rule section.

1,460: hours a year if each note were read, 20 minutes apiece our estimate

Alarm load per consoleRates and top tags against your own alarm plan
Clocks with days leftYearly tests tracked to their date, each with an owner
Hours and training togetherA shift outside the plan stops the month until recorded

One handover, by the clock

The 05:58 handover on Console 3, read against its own night

A cleaning pig pushed debris into a suction strainer at 03:14. Six alarms stood until 10:31, and the handover note in between called the night quiet. Here is how the analyst, the lead controller and the manager work that one handover.

demoConsole 3, its badges and each reading shown here are sample data.

0118:00
The night on one strip: 251 alarms, 114 of them before the handover
Compliance analyst
The analyst opens Console 3 on the crude trunk and starts the tape at 18:00. One dark strip holds the console’s day: alarm bars, an orange band of six standing alarms at Station 12 suction, setpoint marks and the two badges on duty. Three panels follow the playhead: the alarm list, the note in force and what that note leaves out.
0205:58
Quiet night, says the note, with six alarms standing for 2 h 44 min
Compliance analyst
At the handover pin the left panel shows what the alarm list held: suction at 73 psig, 35 psi across the strainer, discharge at 868 psig and flow at 7,130 bbl/h. The middle panel holds the off-going note: pig received, crew released, nothing else to pass on. Counted by alarms the night was quiet, which is why a note like this reads naturally.
0305:58
Both controllers signed a form with item 2 left unticked
Compliance analyst
The signed handover form opens over the tape. Seven of eight items carry a tick. Item 2, standing and inhibited alarms reviewed, is empty and marked, and both badges signed at 05:58 after a handover of 3 min. One inspection report found the same: forms signed by both operators, some never reviewed, and no telling which.
0405:58
The comparison runs as five timed steps, then hands over to a person
Handover comparer
Compare again shows the agent’s work in place of a verdict. It reads the note, lists what had stood for over 30 minutes at 05:58 out of 251 alarms, checks each one against the words of the note, reads the ticks on the form and hands the result to the analyst. It reads exports only and has no way into the control system.
0505:58
Each cited number opens its own line of the alarm export
Compliance analyst
Clicking a cite opens the export row behind it: PDT-1203, the strainer A difference high at 03:14:08, reading 36 psi against a limit of 15, acknowledged, cleared at 10:31. Before writing a word, the analyst can test any line of the comparison against the historian’s own record, which is what an inspector will do later.
06After the handover
A cited draft, a line of the analyst’s own, and the easy answers ruled out
Compliance analyst
The record opens with the agent’s draft, the analyst’s to edit. Below it, the agent lists what it checked first: both controllers were inside the fatigue plan, and PDT-1203 had a point check, so it is no known false reading. About 4,500 barrels ran under plan with no release. The analyst adds a line and names the owner.
07Before it stands
Each badge answers in its own words before the finding goes on
Lead pipeline controller
The lead records a reply for each controller. Off-going, the badge agrees and says it was said at the desk; on-coming, it agrees and saw it on the alarm list. A record cannot show what was said aloud, and standing alarms sit on the incoming controller’s own list. So the finding reads not in the note and blames nobody.
08With the manager
Sign stays grey until the manager opens the minute and the form
Control room manager
The finding reaches the manager with both replies under it and a reason already chosen. Sign is greyed out behind two amber chips: move the tape to 03:14, and open the signed form. Playing the tape does not count. A manager who signs this finding has looked at the minute the alarms came in and at the empty box.
0903:14 on the tape
At 03:14 all six alarms read 0 min, and the 18:00 note is in force
Control room manager
The manager drags the record back to the first alarm. Six alarms show at 0 min, with suction at 67 psig and 36 psi across the strainer. The note in force is the one from 18:00, about the cleaning pig due into the Station 12 trap. The check bar at the foot now reads tape moved to 03:14 and signed form opened.
10Signed
F-27-0131 signed with its reason and sent to the alarm engineer
Control room manager
The manager signs, with the reason that the record shows it and the note does not. A green bar names who wrote the finding, says both controllers replied, and gives the alarm engineer 14 days. The evidence clerk then files it under its rule sections, and the year’s findings move to 288.

Six alarms in 44 seconds at 03:14, and a handover note that skips them

What the alarm history holds for the hours around the 05:58 handover, against what reached the note.

Time	What the record shows	In the note
03:14	Debris reaches suction strainer A: six alarms in 44 seconds	No
03:21	Discharge setpoint cut from 905 to 880 psig; flow falls to 7,130 against a plan of 7,750 bbl/h	No
03:31	Pig received at Station 12, trap closed in	Yes
05:58	Handover in 3 minutes; six alarms standing, item 2 on the form unticked	No
08:44	On-coming controller opens a field call-out, 2 h 46 min after the handover	After the note
10:31	Field swaps strainers, setpoint goes back to 905, alarms clear after 7 h 17 min	After the note

demoSample data, from the working solution. Flow ran 620 bbl/h under plan, about 4,500 barrels in all, with no release and no pressure limit reached.

Around the console

Control room management past the handover: alarms, hours, checks, training

The rest of Console 3’s control center, from the alarm engineer’s desk to the auditor’s.

Findings list for a pipeline control center: 4,380 handovers, 436 flagged, 288 findings, each with console, source, owner, due date and status — **The year’s findings**From 4,380 handovers, 436 flagged and 287 findings, and this one makes 288. Each has an owner, a due date and a status; one is past due.

Alarm management screen: six consoles with new alarms per 10 minutes, peak, flood, stale and chatter, and Console 3’s most frequent tags — **Alarm health by console**New alarms in 10 minutes for each console against the plan’s guide. Console 3 runs at 1.81, and its ten most frequent tags make 41% of its load.

Controller fatigue management screen: one 15 h 10 min shift with no record, two deviations on file, and a crew strip of day and night shifts — **Hours against the fatigue plan**Of 336 console shifts, 3 fell outside the plan. One shift of 15 h 10 min has no deviation on file, so the month stays open until it is recorded.

Point-to-point verification list: tag, console, change record, field side and control room side dates, with one open and one late — **Point checks, field side and control room side**Each change to field equipment or a display, checked from both ends. One meter run change has no control room side, and one check came 11 days late.

Controller training screen: 34 people across 6 consoles, one lapsed badge blocked from next week’s roster, six due within 60 days — **Training and the roster**A badge whose qualification lapsed cannot go on next week’s roster. The lead swaps in a qualified controller and confirms.

Exports read by the agents: alarm history, setpoints, handover log, signed forms, hours, training and changes, with one export held for a gap — **The exports the agents read**Files only, each with its schedule. One alarm export is missing 30 minutes, so that handover stays not compared and the month cannot close.

Audit trail of a control room finding: export read, forms read, handover compared, finding written, replies recorded, signed, filed by section — **Audit trail**People and agents in one order. The signature carries the reason and what was opened first, and the evidence clerk’s filing follows it.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

A chattering switch, a dropped gauge outage and two unticked leak boxes

Findings from the same sample year, each with an owner and a date.

A switch that chattered 612 times

LSH-1143 at Station 11 chattered for a month and was then inhibited. The finding goes to the alarm engineer to replace it.

A gauge outage dropped between shifts

A tank gauge outage at Terminal 5 was not carried through two shift changes. That finding is now 12 days late.

The leak detection box left empty

On two signed forms at one console, the leak detection item was never ticked, and both controllers signed anyway.

A meter run change checked from one end

The field side of the point check is done. The control room side is not, so the finding stays open.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The agents

Seven agents line up the night, and none of them touches a console

Each reads exports for one job and hands the result to a person.

Export reader

Reads each export and checks that it is complete.

Never connects to the control system
Never fills a missing period

Tape builder

Puts alarms, setpoints, log entries and hours on one console clock.

Never changes a source time

Handover comparer

Compares each note with what stood at the handover, and asks the lead to collect replies.

Never scores a controller
Never says what was said aloud

Form reader

Reads the ticks, signatures and times on each signed form.

Never guesses a faint mark

Alarm review assistant

Counts rates, standing alarms and chatter, and lists the monthly points.

Never changes an alarm

Hours and training checker

Compares hours and training dates with the plans.

Never judges anyone’s fatigue
Never contacts a controller

Evidence clerk

Files signed records by rule section for the inspector.

Never marks a section ready while a record is held

Eight exports behind one console’s tape, each read only

The agents work from files. An export with a hole holds its handovers as not compared.

Alarm historyFrom the control system historian

Setpoint changesEach change, by the hour

Handover logThe electronic shift log

Signed handover formsScans from document management

Hours workedTime and roster system

TrainingQualifications by badge

ChangesManagement of change records

Work ordersLinked by tag

What control room managers ask about control room management software

What is control room management software?

Control room management software keeps the records a pipeline control center needs to show its plan is followed: handovers, alarm reviews, hours, point checks and training. This one compares each handover note with what stood on the alarm list at that minute, drafts each gap with cites and leaves the ruling to a manager.

What should a pipeline shift handover record show?

Inspectors have cited records that miss the time of the shift change or do not show each required topic. Here the agents read the note against the alarm history before it, and read the ticks on the signed form, so a quiet note over standing alarms, or an empty box, comes up as not in the note.

Does it score or rank our controllers?

No. Controllers appear by badge, and nothing ranks them. A finding says what is not in the note, because the record cannot show what was said at the desk. Each controller replies through the lead before a finding stands.

Does it connect to the control system?

No. The agents read exports: alarm history, setpoint changes, the shift log, signed forms, hours, training and change records. When an export has a hole, the handovers it covers stay not compared and the month cannot close. The agent does not guess what happened in the gap.

How does it handle controller fatigue management?

Hours are read against your fatigue plan. A long shift with no deviation on file stops the month close until the lead records it and the manager approves. The checker lists what the hours show and does not judge anyone’s fatigue.

How do we get ready for a control room management inspection?

The inspector book holds the evidence by rule section, each row phrased as the question an inspector asks and opening its records. Sections held or carried say why. Yearly checks run on clocks with the days left and an owner, so a late test shows before the visit.

Pipelines, Midstream & LNG

Bring one console’s day
and its signed handover forms.

We lay one of your consoles’ days on the tape from your own exports, and read each handover note against it with you.

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Control Room Management

A handover note can call the night quiet while alarms stand on the console

The Problem Today

The Solution

What You Get

The 05:58 handover on Console 3, read against its own night

The night on one strip: 251 alarms, 114 of them before the handover

Quiet night, says the note, with six alarms standing for 2 h 44 min

Both controllers signed a form with item 2 left unticked

The comparison runs as five timed steps, then hands over to a person

Each cited number opens its own line of the alarm export

A cited draft, a line of the analyst’s own, and the easy answers ruled out

Each badge answers in its own words before the finding goes on

Sign stays grey until the manager opens the minute and the form

At 03:14 all six alarms read 0 min, and the 18:00 note is in force

F-27-0131 signed with its reason and sent to the alarm engineer