System and method for configuring separated monitor and effect blocks of a process control system

A system for managing safety logic within a process control system for a process plant, comprising:

• a memory configured to store (i) an initial cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of causes and a set of effects, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of one or more corresponding causes, and (ii) a set of rules;
• and
• an analysis module executed by a processor and configured to:
• access the initial CEM from the memory, and
• define a set of related groups within the initial CEM including, for each related group of the set of related groups:
• access, from the memory, the set of rules,
• identify a portion of the set of causes that are related to a portion of the set of effects according to the set of rules and based on at least a portion of the corresponding cause-effect pairs, and
• rearrange, based on the set of related groups, the portion of the set of causes and the portion of the set of effects such that the portion of the corresponding cause-effect pairs are rearranged, and
• determine one of the set of related groups as a subset of the set of causes and a subset of the set of effects, wherein the subset of the set of causes or the subset of the set of effects of the one of the related groups is less than all of the set of causes or all of the set of effects;
• and
• create one or more logic blocks to implement each of the determined defined sets of related groups.

A computer-implemented method of managing safety logic within a process control system for a process plant, the method comprising:

• accessing an initial cause and effect matrix (CEM) having a set of causes arranged in a first dimension of the CEM and a set of effects arranged in a second dimension of the CEM, wherein each of the set of causes represents a condition within the process plant and each of the set of effects represents an effect to be performed within the process plant, and wherein at least some of the set of causes and the set of effects are related as cause-effect pairs whereby the corresponding effect activates in response to an occurrence of one or more corresponding causes;
• accessing one or more rules from a set of rules;
• and
• reorganizing the CEM, wherein reorganizing the CEM includes rearranging, according to the one or more rules or at least one user input, at least one row of the set of rows of the CEM and at least one column of the set of columns of the CEM;
• identifying one or more related groups as a subset of the set of causes and a subset of the set of effects of the CEM, wherein at least one related group includes less than all of the set of causes or less than all of the set of effects;
• creating one or more logic blocks to implement each of the one or more related groups.

A system for managing safety logic within a process control system for a process plant, comprising:

• a workstation communicatively coupled to one or more field devices of the process plant, the workstation including:
• a memory configured to store safety logic corresponding to the one or more field devices, wherein the safety logic is stored in a two-dimensional matrix and
• an analysis module configured to:
• access the matrix from the memory, and
• rearrange one or more columns of the matrix or one or more rows of the matrix based on one or more rules of a set of rules or at least one user input.