Method and apparatus for performing a function in a process plant using monitoring data with criticality evaluation data

A process control system within a process plant comprising:

• equipment monitoring devices that collect equipment data pertaining to the status of equipment within the process plant;
• a database adapted to store criticality data pertaining to the importance of the entity within the process plant;
• and
• a computer system operatively coupled to the database that implements a software routine that receives the criticality data and the equipment data and that uses equipment data and the criticality data to perform a function within the process plant.

A method of monitoring an entity having a plurality of lower level entities within a process plant, the method comprising:

• receiving status data pertaining to the status of each of the lower level entities;
• receiving criticality data pertaining to the importance of each lower level entity among the plurality of lower level entities to the entity;
• and
• using the status data and the criticality data to perform a function within the process plant.

A system for displaying the status of an entity within a process plant having a plurality of entities, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a display;
• a database adapted to store status data for each of the plurality of entities and to store criticality data pertaining to the importance of each of the entities among the plurality of entities;
• a routine adapted to be executed by the processor which stores a representation of each of the plurality of entities;
• and
• a routine adapted to be executed by the processor which displays a set of the representations, which displays the status data proximately to each corresponding representation in the set and which displays the criticality data of each entity proximately to each corresponding representation in the set.