Capitalizing on COP member experts in process control, distributed control systems, and human factors, this internal project produced the Data to Information (DTI) Handbook, an invaluable tool for designing graphics to provide operators the right information, in the right format, at the right time.
An internally conducted project that used the same core team as the Overview Display Project. Templates for all major refining equipment and processes were created for Level 1, 2, and 3 displays. The result was a 200-page document that can be utilized for ideas on display design and/or to create a display system from scratch. Creation of a similar handbook for other processes industries is an obvious follow-on.
The distinction between good displays and bad are the degree to which the data results in actionable information that supports the task needs of operators, improving their performance. As such, this project should really be called the ‘data-to-information-to-action’ project. This project will review and document existing display elements looking for good and bad design patterns, and for that matter, good display elements. From these investigations good examples will be documented and included in the display handbook. A process and method will also be defined for designing effective display elements.
What are the principles for creating effective displays?
How do we leverage these principles to design effective display elements?
What are good examples of effective display elements? and of ineffective ones?
What data merits depiction and why?
How can display elements be arranged to convey information?
What overarching process and specific methodology can be followed to develop effective display elements?
Process plant display designers are faced with the task of presenting thousands of data points to process operators through a series of displays. The data are typically (1) 4-20 ma signals that have been converted into an analog process value (temperature, pressure, flow, level) or (2) binary signals indicating the state of a variable. These data are used in the course of making hundreds of decisions daily. As display design is often not the designer’s primary or full time task, guidance is needed to assist them in how the data can be best presented to support different decisions. For example, when should an image of a reactor with all bed temperatures, quench valve with weighted average bed temps (WABT) and valve outputs be used versus a trend of the highest bed temperature for each bed along with quench valve output?
• A set of display elements that are added to the Display Design Handbook
• A design process for display elements
• A method for approaching data-to-information mapping