Advanced Device Setup Guidance
A quite common question from plant personnel is how they can figure out all the settings in complex devices. Pressure and temperature transmitters are easy, but radar level transmitters for instance are more complex. How do you know you made all the essential settings? Do you need to spend time pondering all the parameters? What is relevant to the application?
EDDL wizards (aka methods) for setup guides the technician through the process step by step such that all esential settings are done. The wizard is created by the device manufacturer's experts according to the unique requirements of the device. The wizards work on laptops in the workshop as well as for handheld communicators in the field. See an example in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luFBxjnX974
What are your thoughts? Are manufacturers successful in making setup of increasingly sophisticated devices increasingly simple and intuitive? Is complexity successfully hidden giving the notion of simplicity?
Hiding complexity may be a bad idea
I've been on every side of this street that there is. I've been on radar level product design teams, as well as other complex devices like gamma nuclear gauges and online analysis devices. The idea that you can make setup simple is seductive, and I've finally decided that it is not a good one. Operators and maintenance technicians simply must be trained well enough that they understand the process and the functionality of the device. Otherwise, the least little hiccup will cause device failure, and the operators will be less trusting of the device than if it were set up properly by trained people in the first place.
Sorry, but EDDL is only a tool, not a cure.
Walt Boyes
Editor in Chief, Control and ControlGlobal.com