Information on Inventory Management
Company Inventory
The company inventory is an overview of all assemblies, PC systems, operating systems, and network components that have been inventoried by the plants of this company in myExpert.
Filter and search functions are also available to restrict the listing. The inventory can be differentiated by source and type.
Updating the Inventory
The inventory can be created and updated using export files (from other sources).
Prerequisites
After you have uploaded your inventory to myExpert, various analyses and evaluations of the plant inventory are automatically carried out. From these analyses, myExpert then generates the lifecycle and security issues of the plant.
myPlant
Clarification possible
During the first analysis of your imports, the name of the engineering project (of the process control system) is checked. If the project name is unknown, myExpert will ask for clarification. This ensures that the inventory belongs to the correct project.
Further information can be found in the following documentation:
- For the inventory sources / export files:
Prerequisites - Basic information: "Installation Manual of SIMATIC PCS myExpert" (See: "myExpert" > "Help for myExpert" > "Manuals & Downloads")
Inventory Status
The analysis results displayed in myExpert and the resulting "issues" can be maintained and tracked by regularly retrieving the inventory status.
Keep Inventory Status Up-to-Date
The inventory forms the basis for all further added value in myExpert. It is recommended to update the inventory regularly to always have an up-to-date overview.
Delete or Reduce Inventory
myExpert offers you the possibility to delete the inventory of your plant completely or depending on the inventory source (such as SMMC/AC, Manual and SINEC NMS).
Reduction possible
If only the number of plant items in your inventory has been reduced, it does not need to be deleted and then recreated. If you upload a current import, myExpert recognizes all plant items no longer included and excludes them from the issue analysis.
Only those "issues" are always analyzed and mapped in myExpert that relate to your current inventory and the resulting analysis results.
Workflow
The creation and updating of the inventory usually follows the same pattern. This results in a workflow that should be considered:
Inventory Workflow
Upgrades
myExpert supports its users in planning and tracking updates within a major or minor release. Upgrades (and associated changes to major/minor releases) of your process control system are not yet part of myExpert's consideration.
If an upgrade has been performed for your plant, you should definitely reset your plant in myExpert by deleting the inventory and the associated "issues". Afterwards, you can proceed in the usual way after recreating the inventory (within your current major/minor version for maintenance and care). After deletion and renewed inventory setup, myExpert generates new "issues" according to your then underlying versions and compatibility.