Graphical process variable trend monitoring in a process control system using a navigation pane

A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, executable by a processor, for providing, via a computing device having a user interface, an navigation pane for navigating within a graphical depiction of a process control plant, the instructions comprising:

• instructions for displaying, within a fixed and bounded area, the navigation pane that includes a unit selection area and an equipment selection area, wherein (i) the unit selection area includes one or more unit selector icons that correspond to one or more units in the graphical depiction of the process control plant and correspond to one or more units in the process control plant, (ii) the equipment selection area includes one or more equipment selector icons that correspond to one or more equipment in the graphical depiction of the process control plant and correspond to one or more equipment items in the process control plant, (iii) each unit in the process control plant includes one or more equipment in the process control plant, and (iv) each unit selector icon is associated with one or more equipment items selector icons based on the included one or more equipment in the process control plant associated with the unit that corresponds to the unit selector icon;
• instructions for displaying the one or more unit selector icons in the unit selection area based on the corresponding one or more units in the process control plant;
• and
• instructions for displaying, in response to receiving a selection of a first unit selector icon:
• one or more equipment selector icons in the equipment area associated with a first unit in the process control plant that corresponds to the selected first unit selector icon, wherein (i) the one or more equipment selector icons associated with the selected first unit selector icon are displayed in the equipment selection area and (ii) the one or more non-selected unit selector icons remain displayed in the unit selection area, and
• one or more equipment in the graphical depiction of the process control corresponding to the first unit selector icon.