Creation and display of indices within a process plant

A method of monitoring an entity within a process plant, wherein the entity includes a plurality of lower level entities each having an associated lower level use index, the method comprising:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of the entity while the entity is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a use index from the collected data, wherein the use index represents status information regarding the entity, and wherein creating a use index comprises:
• assigning a weighting value to each of the lower level entities;
• combining the lower level use indices and weighting values assigned to each of the lower level entities;
• and
• producing at least one of a weighted average and a weighted combination of the lower level entities from the step of combining, and storing the use index in a database.

A method of monitoring a plurality of entities within a process plant, comprising the steps of:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of each of the plurality of entities while each entity is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a use index for each of the plurality of entities based upon the collected data wherein the use index represents status information regarding at least one of an entity utilization or an entity variability;
• and
• storing the use indices for each of the plurality of entities in one or more databases.

A method of monitoring a plurality of entities together comprising a higher level entity within a process plant, the method comprising the steps of:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of each of the plurality of entities while each entity is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a use index for each of the plurality of entities based upon the collected data wherein the use index represents status information regarding the entity;
• utilizing a weighted sum of the use indices of the plurality of entities to provide a higher level use index for the higher level entity;
• and
• storing the use indices for each of the plurality of entities in one or more databases.

A method of monitoring a plurality of entities within a process plant, wherein at least one of the plurality of entities includes a plurality of lower level entities, the method comprising the steps of:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of each of the plurality of lower level entities while each of the lower level entities is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a lower level use index for each of the plurality of lower level entities based upon the collected data wherein the lower level use index represents status information regarding the lower level entity;
• utilizing a weighted average of the lower level use indices to provide a use index for the at least one of the plurality of entities wherein the use index represents status information regarding the entity;
• and
• storing the use indices for each of the plurality of entities in one or more databases.

A system for displaying use indices for a process plant having a plurality of entities, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• a display;
• a database adapted to store use indices for each of the plurality of entities, each use index created from data pertaining to the operation of the entity and representing status information regarding at least one of an entity utilization or an entity variability;
• a first routine adapted to be executed by the processor which stores a representation of each of the plurality of entities in the database;
• and
• a second routine adapted to be executed by the processor which displays a set of the representations and which displays the use indices proximately to each corresponding representation in the set.

A method of monitoring the health of an entity within a process plant comprising:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of the entity while the entity is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a health index from the collected data, wherein the health index indicates the current state of health of the entity as related to a health index scale comprising a plurality of potential health indices for the entity;
• and
• storing the health index in a database.

A method of monitoring a plurality of entities within a process plant, comprising:

• collecting data pertaining to the operation of each of a plurality of lower level entities while each entity is in operation;
• transmitting the collected data to an index computation device;
• creating a use index for each of the plurality of lower level entities based, upon the collected data wherein each use index represents status information regarding the lower level entity;
• combining the use indices of the plurality of lower level entities to provide a use index for a higher level entity, wherein the plurality of entities together comprise the higher level entity;
• and
• storing the use indices for each of the plurality of lower level entities and the use index for the higher level entity in one or more databases.