Mobile plant management in the process industry
The new Comos Mobile Solutions Version 2.0 comes with a number of improvements for mobile information management in globally distributed plant engineering projects, and also facilitates cooperation between different departments and specialist disciplines. With its web-based Comos Mobile Solutions product family, Siemens is supporting globally networked collaboration in the process industry along the entire value chain. Users are able to access and edit up-to-date plant data, information and documentation at any time on the go, no matter what their current location – for example during a meeting, on business trips or while inspecting a facility (Fig.). This reduces the work load for project management and so drives down costs.
Version 2.0 is the latest release of Comos Mobile Solutions, and offers a new graphical user interface for touch-capable terminals. This simplifies operation for the user by providing context-sensitive support functions. All project stakeholders can now navigate to relevant plant information with the aid of quicklinks, view documents and submit project-related inquiries faster than ever – also using a tablet. The ability to upload external redlining PDFs to a tablet simplifies the process of document revision and enables clearly traceable change management at any time. Used in conjunction with the document check-out and check-in functionality, this all provides the assurance of a secure, consistent review and approval process.
The new GUI provides users with fast, simple access to individual projects, but also has the capability to enable cross-project working at any time if required. For instance, important information can be displayed at a glance, using personalized dashboards. This allows the project manager to keep a continuous watch over the current engineering status or track the degree of target attainment. Suitable warnings are issued in the event of deviations from target, and an integrated task management system provides support to project stakeholders in completing their next work steps.
The need for manual data entries is reduced by the availability of editable web attributes, as suppliers make available the information directly in the Comos interface. This minimizes potential sources of error and also loss of data, and enhances the efficiency of the engineering project, particularly where a large number of suppliers are involved. Comos Mobile Solutions 2.0 supports Android, Apple iOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Comos does not need to be locally installed. Users without direct Comos access, such as managers working on the road, controllers or external suppliers, can gain fast, secure access to documents and be integrated into Comos projects.
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