Meeting in the Middle

When speaking with plant operations personnel, I frequently hear a request for the process control and asset optimization systems to help operators and maintenance technicians "meet in the middle". The need behind this phrase is to give operators enough status and diagnostic information about the assets (e.g. instruments, valves, rotating equipment) associated with the control strategy to enable them to perform first-line troubleshooting and prevent process upsets/downtime. Likewise, the asset management system should provide the maintenance technicians with control strategy information (e.g. loop health/alarms, instrument signal references in the control strategy) related to the instuments and machinery so they can better understand the impact of the asset on the plant's production.

How does your plant's control and asset management system help operators and maintenance technicians "meet in the middle" to improve the overall operation of the plant? Is there a need now to blur the traditional boundary lines between the information provided in the process control system versus the information provided in the asset management system (i.e. is a data "mashup" needed)? I'd love to hear about techniques you've employed at your plant.