Program flow control monitoring routines, related methods and systems

A method of detecting errors in a module associated with process plant monitoring and/or control, comprising:

• providing a controller configured to receive at least one input and to generate at least one output;
• providing a computer readable medium;
• storing at least one module, a module registration routine, and at least one program flow control monitoring routine on said computer readable medium;
• executing said module registration routine to dynamically register at least one module for monitoring in accordance with a user input, wherein the user input is indicative of a user desire to monitor program flow control for said at least one module;
• executing said module to effectuate monitoring and/or control functionality within a process;
• executing said program flow control monitoring routine to detect any error related to execution of said at least one registered module;
• providing a time-stamp indication of when any module error is detected;
• and
• executing an interface routine when any module error is detected to initiate a plant specific alert and/or action.

A non-transitory computer readable medium for use in process plant monitoring and/or control, comprising:

• plurality of modules associated with monitoring and/or control of a process stored on said computer readable medium;
• a module registration routine stored on said computer readable medium that, when executed, unregisters at least one module from being monitored in accordance with a user input;
• at least one program flow control monitoring routine stored on said computer readable medium that, when executed, detects any error related to at least one module that is registered to be monitored and provides a time-stamp indication of when said error was detected;
• and
• at least one interface routine that is executed when any module error is detected to initiate a plant specific alert and/or action.