Decision Support in Industrial Plants

A decision support method for an industrial plant, the decision support method comprising:

• obtaining a causal graph modeling causal assumptions relating to conditional dependence between variables in the industrial plant;
• receiving observational data relating to operation of the industrial plant;
• and
• performing causal inference using the causal graph and the observational data to estimate at least one causal effect relevant for making decisions when operating the industrial plant.

A modeling method for building a causal graph modeling causal assumptions relating to conditional dependence between variables in an industrial plant, the method comprising:

• receiving engineering data relating to the industrial plant;
• identifying a plurality of variables in the industrial plant using the engineering data;
• identifying connections between the variables using the engineering data;
• and
• building the causal graph comprising a set of nodes representing the identified variables and a set of directed edges interconnecting the nodes, the directed edges representing causal assumptions relating to conditional dependence between the variables on the basis of the identified connections.