Creating Reason Trees

Overview

  1. Define list of available Reasons

  2. Define list of Categories

  3. Create Reason Tree

  4. Create Reason Tree Headers

  5. Arrange available Reasons in a tree

Step 1: Define list of available Reasons

When you consider what reasons to add, you should think in terms of "cause" reasons and "action" reasons. Cause reasons would be those things that caused the Downtime or Waste event to occur. Action reasons would be the actions taken in response to the event. If you choose to, you can create a Reason Tree for Causes and then a Reason Tree for Actions, which can be used when configuring Alarm Templates and Production Events, such as Downtime, Waste, or User-defined events.

You can also add new reasons when you create your Reason Trees in Step 5.

  1. Expand Global Configuration and the Reason Trees folder.

  2. To create a new Reason, right-click on the Reasons folder and click Add New Reason. The New Reason dialog box appears.

  3. Do the following:

  4. In the Description box, type the name of the new Reason. Reason names must be unique on a given server.

  5. In the Code box, type the code for this Reason. This field is not required by Plant Applications, but it may be used for grouping Reasons on custom reports and used by the SDK.

  6. Select Not Required [Comment] if no comment is required when the user selects this Reason from within a Display.

  7. Select Required [Comment] to force the user to enter a comment whenever this Reason is selected from within a Downtime Display.

Comments can be required only from within a Downtime Display. You can still add comments from other Displays, such as Alarm Displays, but they can not be made to be required.

  • Select Suggested [Comment] to give the user the option of entering a comment when this Reason is selected from within a Display.

  1. Click the Apply button to add the new Reason and to continue adding additional Reasons.

  2. After adding all your Reasons, click OK.

Step 2: Define your Reason Categories

Reason Categories allow you to group Reasons together for reporting purposes. This will help you track Downtime across production lines, for example. You can create a Reason Category and attach the Reason Category to different Reasons in your Reason Tree. Then, any Downtime associated with one of the Reasons that are attached to a particular Reason Category gets totaled under that Reason Category.

When you attach a Reason Category to a Reason Level 1, all Reasons underneath the Reason Level 1 are also attached to the Reason Category. Reasons can also have more than one Reason Category attached to them.

Default Reason Categories are identified by a blue Reason Category icon and can not be renamed or edited. User-defined Reason Categories are identified by a red Reason Category icon . The following default Reason Categories are provided:

  • Breaks

  • Outside Area

  • Planned Downtime

  • Unavailable Time

  • Unplanned Downtime

To create a new Reason Category

  1. Open Global Configuration.

  2. Open the Reason Trees folder.

  3. Right-click on the Categories folder and select Add New Reason Category from the pop-up menu.

  4. Type the name of the new Reason Category and press Enter.

To attach a Reason Category to a Reason

  1. Open the Trees folder.

  2. Open the desired Reason Tree.

  3. Open the Reason Tree folder.

  4. Right-click on the desired Reason and select Attach Categories from the pop-up menu.

  5. In the Add Category to tree dialog box, under Non-members, select one or more Reason Categories to attach to the Reason and click the Add Selected button.

  6. Click the Close button to close the Add Category to tree dialog box.

Step 3: Create your Reason Tree

  1. To create a new Reason Tree, right-click on the Trees folder and select Add New Reason Tree from the pop-up menu.

  2. Type the name of the new Reason Tree and press Enter.

Reason tree names must be unique on a given server.

Step 4: Create Reason Levels

Reason levels help you further refine your reasons. When you create your Reason Levels, start with the broadest level first. The second Reason Level that you add becomes a sub-reason under the first level. If you add a third reason level, that becomes a sub-reason under the second Reason Level. You can add up to four Reason Levels.

Reason Levels are also used as column headings in the various Displays, such as the Downtime Display or the Waste Display.

  1. Open the newly created Reason Tree. Right-click on Reason Level Titles and select Add New Reason Level Title.

  2. Type in the name of the Reason Level Title for Level 1 of the new Reason Tree and press Enter.

  3. Repeat steps 1 - 2 to add additional Reason Levels.

You can add up to four Reason Levels.

Step 5: Structure your Trees

  1. To add a Level 1 Reason, open the desired Reason Tree.

  2. Right-click on the Reason Tree folder and select Edit Reason Tree Membership from the pop-up menu.

You can add new reasons by selecting Add New Reason from the pop-up menu. For more information about using the New Reason dialog box, click here.

  1. In the Add Reasons to tree dialog box, select one or more Reasons from the Non-Members list and click the Move Selected button

  2. Click the Close button.

  3. To add a Level 2 Reason, right-click a Level 1 Reason and select Edit Next Level Reason Membership from the pop-up menu.

  4. In the Add Reasons to tree dialog box, select one or more Reasons from the Non-Members list and click the Move Selected button.

  5. Click the Close button.

  6. Repeat these steps for each Reason in Level 1 and for each subsequent Reason until the Reason Tree is complete.

See Also