Forced Software

Wherever industrial control systems are used there is often a need to Force or Override software on the plant, for example because of a faulty transmitter or for maintenance purposes.

These will normally be put in place for only a short time. However, it is essential that there is a suitable procedure in place to track these forces to ensure the integrity and safety of your system. This is particularly true for a large enterprise with multiple systems and multiple engineers.

Asset Guardian® allows authorised users to easily enter and track Forced software, and allows all engineers the visibility of what forces are currently in place. Asset Guardian® assigns a unique number to each force and stores a number of details such as a Reason, the Controller, its Location, the Variable Name that has been forced and its Forced Value.

Once the force has been removed, the user can simply update the status to reflect this. Should the same force be required again in the future then an authorised user can simply re-activate an existing force. This is particularly useful for when a repeated force is required for maintenance purposes.

All the forces are logged against Assets and can be reviewed periodically to track problem areas, identify software modifications that should be implemented, and assist with preventative planned maintenance.