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Define responsibility zones

Responsibility zones divide the signals of a project into areas that profiles may view or control, optionally with one operator controlling an area at a time. For how they work, see Responsibility zones.

Before you begin​

  • The project is open in the configuration editor as root. Changing zones and profiles belongs to root; see Root, the system administrator.
  • The signals exist.

Steps​

1. Define the zones​

In the activity bar, click Areas and zones and then Zone definitions. Add a row for each zone with New row: a Name of letters, digits and _ (up to 64 characters), for example Substation_A, and a Description. Apply the changes.

Areas and zones with Areas, Zone definitions, Zone assignment and Zone settings; the Zone definitions grid with Substation_A and Pumping_Station.

Areas in the same activity are the alarm areas, a different, hierarchical grouping for the alarm lists.

2. Assign the signals​

Zone assignment lists every signal with its Zone. Click the Zone cell of a signal, press F2, type the name of the zone and press Enter. Here FeederA_Current and FeederB_Current go to Substation_A and Pump1_Flow to Pumping_Station. To change several rows at once, filter the list first. Then apply the changes.

Zone assignment grid: FeederA_Current and FeederB_Current in Substation_A, Pump1_Flow in Pumping_Station, marked modified, with Apply (3).

A single signal can also be assigned on the General tab of its signal window, field zone. A signal without a zone stays free.

3. Choose exclusive control​

Zone settings has one row for the project:

Zone settings with Exclusive control, Release after (s) 60 and Request timeout (s) 30.
SettingDefaultRangeMeaning
Exclusive controloff—Only the owner of a zone may control it
Release after (s)605–3600A zone is released this long after its owner's session ends
Request timeout (s)305–600An unanswered control request drops after this time

Without exclusive control, zones only limit who may control which signals.

4. Give the profiles their zone rights​

In the Users activity, open a profile. Under Responsibility zones, choose for View and for Control either All or the zones the profile may see and control.

Profile form of pOperator with Responsibility zones: View All and Control All.

To let shift supervisors take a zone from another operator, give their profile the permission Take over control.

Result​

From the next command on, the server refuses commands to zoned signals from users without control rights, and, with exclusive control on, from users who do not own the zone. The run screen shows the Responsibility zones button.