Determining associations and alignments of process elements and measurements in a process

An apparatus for automatically determining a process element alignment map of a plurality of process elements used to control at least a portion of a process in a process plant, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
• obtain a set of data from a plurality of data sources storing data descriptive of the plurality of the process elements,
• the obtained set of data including, for each of the plurality of process elements, a respective identification of the each process element and an indication of a respective physical location of the each process element in the process plant, and
• the plurality of process elements including a plurality of devices, a plurality of process variables, and a plurality of measurements used to control the process;
• and
• determine, based on the obtained set of data, the process element alignment map, the process element alignment map indicating, for each process element included in the plurality of process elements, the respective identification of the each process element and an indication of a respective order of an occurrence of a respective event at the each process element to control the process relative to an occurrence of a respective event at at least one other process element to control the process, wherein:
• a first data source of the plurality of data sources stores first data descriptive of a specific process element of the plurality of process elements and excludes second data descriptive of the specific process element,
• a second data source of the plurality of data sources stores the second data descriptive of the specific process element and excludes the first data descriptive of the specific process element, and
• the computer-executable instructions are executable to cause the apparatus to determine the respective order corresponding to the specific process element in the process element alignment map based on the first data and the second data.

An apparatus for automatically determining sources of a variation of a behavior of a target process element used in a process plant to control a process, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
• receive an indication of the target process element, the target process element included in a plurality of process elements used in the process plant to control the process, and the plurality of process elements including a plurality of devices, a plurality of process variables, and a plurality of measurements;
• determine, using at least a portion of a process element alignment map, a subset of the plurality of process elements that are upstream of the target process element,
• the process alignment map indicating, for each process element included in the plurality of process elements, a respective identifier of the each process element and an indication of a respective order of an occurrence of a respective event at the each process element to control the process relative to an occurrence of a respective event at at least one other process element to control the process,
• the subset of the plurality of process elements that are upstream of the target process element being a set of upstream process elements, and
• each upstream process element having a respective order in the process element alignment map that is ahead of or adjacent to the respective order of the target process element in the process element alignment map;
• cause the set of upstream process elements to be used in a data analysis to determine, for each upstream process element, a respective impact delay, the respective impact delay corresponding to a time offset from a time at which a particular event occurs at the each upstream process element to a time at which a change in the behavior of the target process element resulting from the occurrence of the particular event at the each upstream process element occurs;
• and
• cause at least a portion of the set of upstream process elements to be indicated, to a recipient application, as one or more sources of the variation of the behavior of the target process element, the at least a portion of the set of upstream process elements determined based on the respective impact delays of the upstream process elements.

An apparatus for automatically determining a process element alignment map of a plurality of process elements used to control at least a portion of a process in a process plant, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
• obtain a set of data from a plurality of data sources storing data descriptive of the plurality of the process elements,
• the obtained set of data including, for each of the plurality of process elements, a respective identification of the each process element and an indication of a respective physical location of the each process element in the process plant, and
• the plurality of process elements including a plurality of devices, a plurality of process variables, and a plurality of measurements used to control the process;
• and
• determine, based on the obtained set of data, the process element alignment map, the process element alignment map indicating, for each process element included in the plurality of process elements, the respective identification of the each process element and an indication of a respective order of an occurrence of a respective event at the each process element to control the process relative to an occurrence of a respective event at at least one other process element to control the process, wherein:
• a first data source of the plurality of data sources stores data descriptive of a first process element of the plurality of process elements and excludes any data descriptive of a second process element of the plurality of process elements;
• a second data source of the plurality of data sources stores data descriptive of the second process element and excludes any data descriptive of the first process element;
• and
• the computer-executable instructions are executable to cause the apparatus to determine the respective order corresponding to the first process element in the process element alignment map with respect to the respective order corresponding to the second process element in the process element alignment map.