Seamless maintenance — Integration of FDI Device Management & CMMS

Field devices belong to the primary assets of an industrial plant. From the perspective of plant asset management, Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and Device Management Systems (DMS) share some responsibility for the well-being of these devices. CMMS and DMS reside on the opposite ends of the automation pyramid, have very different scopes, and there are multiple CMMS vendors that a DCS vendor might decide to support. Also, for each customer plant, the device/asset bases for both systems must be connected. The main goal is to avoid media breaks and offer a seamless workflow for the DCS users. In this article, we show how Field Device Integration (FDI) technology can serve to achieve and extend the deep, seamless integration of current solutions [2] through loose, light-weight coupling of DCS and CMMS.