• Overview

    The Value of the PI System

    Historical predictive insights in real-time

    To stay competitive, companies must continually innovate, improve and streamline their operations. But accurately identifying how and where to improve operations can be extraordinarily challenging if the data that holds the answers is scattered among different incompatible systems, formats and processes.

    Enter the PI System and its ability to collect, analyze, visualize and share large amounts of high-fidelity, time-series data from multiple sources to people and systems across all operations. By accessing key data and insights, the PI System has helped leading companies deliver greater operational improvements and breakthroughs that lead ultimately to comprehensive business transformation.

    That's the essence - and the power - of PI System operational intelligence.

    demand gen tile overview

    See Our Proven Digital Transformations

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    Benefits from the PI System

    With the PI System, OSIsoft customers have reduced costs, opened new revenue streams, extended equipment life, increased production capacity, and more. These customers prove that getting the right data at the right time to the right person unleashes tremendous innovation and value. Visit our collection of customer stories to learn how leaders across oil & gas, power, mining, manufacturing, and other industries are using the PI System to transform their world.

    See The Impact Of The PI System

    See the Impact of the PI System

    Read Customer Stories

    Proven over 40 years at more than 19,000 sites

    The PI System delivers the premier infrastructure for operations

    • Connect to more than 225 interfaces and collect high-frequency data from multiple formats, standards or conventions – both time-series and event-based – from multiple systems or sources
    • Translate data into a uniform structure for combining, comparing, contextualizing and leveraging information
    • Capture high-quality, high-fidelity data that is accurate and complete; no data is lost by data averaging or interval sampling
    • Move from reactive to proactive decision making with real-time access and visualization of data
    • Deploy a scalable open infrastructure that supports an initial small-asset deployment and easily expands for future enterprise deployments
    • Accelerate business transformation with the Enterprise Agreement Program 
    PI System Diagram
    How It Works
    How it Works

    How It Works

    Business transformation starts here

    How do you access and learn from critical data that resides in multiple incompatible systems across the enterprise? It's a complex problem with a surprisingly simple solution - the PI System™. Quick and easy to install, collect data from and build upon, the PI System quickly reveals new ways to streamline processes and drive continuous improvements..

    How It Works

    Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies for Integrating OT & IT with the Modern PI System

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    HIW - Gain Operational Intelligence

    Capture

    Collect, connect and centralize

    An open, scalable architecture and more than 225 off-the-shelf proprietary interfaces give the PI System its unique ability to collect high-fidelity time-series data from a diversity of sources - agnostic to system, standard, language, frequency, delivery speed, format or device.

    Designed to store millions of data points, the PI System centralizes both time-series and event-based data in real time. Information silos merge, system incompatibilities are eliminated, and all data sources become unified. What remains is a responsive, fully integrated information infrastructure that presents one version of the truth to all users and provides incisive, decision-ready knowledge on the spot.

    Search & Analyze

    Instantly compare historical and real-time information

    Optimized for fast and efficient data delivery, the PI System accesses decades' worth of important historical data and consolidates it with current real-time data. In an instant, you're able to uncover information that was tedious or impossible to access before. And you're empowered to investigate intermittent issues, troubleshoot equipment failures, compare current vs. past production performance and measure new-plant startups against existing facilities.

    In addition, sophisticated, intuitive calculation tools enable:

    • views of real-time process data within the context of batch processes or key events
    • delivery to third-party systems that support analysis, including ERP system data
    • ad hoc analysis on the go from tablets, phones or laptops

    Visualize

    Bring information to life – on any device

    Prioritize information. Create context. Highlight salient points. Customize content to different audiences. Take viewers on a remote plant tour. Communicate even the most complex data simply and effectively. With the PI System advanced visualization capabilities, it's easy to do all this and more:

    • Consolidate and visualize operational and business data
    • Export data to Microsoft® Excel® to uncover the true cost and value of operation decisions, and develop custom reports for regulatory authorities
    • Translate to virtually any device - tablet, phone, laptop
    • View manually loaded data alongside automated operations data
    • Visualize everything from detailed process diagrams and self-configuring displays to batch/even analysis and KPI/dashboards

    Share

    Foster collaboration within and across operations boundaries

    Empower people - and build a more creative and innovative organization - through the strategic and targeted exchange of information. The PI System makes it easier than ever to share and collaborate across the enterprise, as well as with partners, vendors and customers - anytime, anywhere, on any device. The PI System ensures data security for the right people by enabling fine control of which data is exchanged and who sends and receives it. 

    Gain Operational Intelligence

    Improve operations to stay ahead

    Capture. Search. Analyze. Visualize. Share. Each step leads to a deeper understanding of what's been done and what's currently happening - enabling organizations to transform from reactive to proactive decision making. It's a process that never stops, that constantly uncovers opportunities to find new value by:

    • optimizing processes
    • elevating quality
    • increasing asset health and uptime
    • improving energy efficiency
    • managing risk and regulatory compliance
    • advancing safety performance

    With these and other key business solutions in place, companies are prepared to achieve continuous operational excellence and ongoing sustainability in virtually any competitive environment.

    Technical View

    The PI System Architecture is easily scalable, so it can grow as your business grows. Here are two examples of PI System roll-out scenarios. One illustrates implementation across various locations. The other represents enterprise-wide deployment.

    PI System Capabilities

    PI System Capabilities

    Historical, real-time and predictive insights

    To meet today's formidable production challenges, organizations need to empower people with self-service access to operational intelligence. The PI System™ delivers a single, enterprise-wide data infrastructure that integrates, contextualizes and visualizes complex information in real time.

     

    PI System Connections

    Connection capabilities are an essential element of the PI System, allowing the collection of time-based data from a diversity of systems – at an unprecedented level of connectivity.

    The PI System's wide variety of connection capabilities include over 225 different interfaces enabling the PI System to access a huge diversity of operational and business data sources including SCADA, DCS, equipment, databases, text files and HTML pages.

    There are four different types of connections for the PI System:

    • Connect to the PI System and automatically be assigned auto-discover tags and assets based on data sources ( PI Connectors )
    • Use one or several of our 225+ interfaces to instantly connect to data sources ( PI Interfaces )
    • Deliver PI System data to custom applications ( PI Developer Technologies )
    • Share select PI System data outside of corporate boundaries ( PI Cloud Connect )
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    PI Server™

    The foundation of the PI System is the PI Server, which is surrounded by technologies that work together to optimize data storage, transformation and delivery throughout your enterprise.

    The PI Server includes sophisticated (but easy to use) calculation tools that transform raw data, combine data values from multiple systems into robust analyses, automate calculation of vital day-to-day metrics, and deliver new insights.

    The PI Server includes the following capabilities:

    • Stores Time-Series Data ( Data Archive )
    • Organizes Data, Making it Easy to Share, Search and Find ( Asset Framework )
    • Provides Advanced Calculations ( Advanced Computing Engine )
    • Defines Process Events to Deepen Insights ( Event Frames )
    • Compares Batches ( Batch )
    • Automatic Notifications ( Notification )
    • Continuous System Availability ( High Availability )
    • System Monitoring ( PI Interfaces for System Monitoring )
    • System Management ( PI System Management Tools or PI SMT, and PI System Directory )
    • Data Security
    • Perform real-time calculations ( Asset Based Analytics )
    Learn More

    PI System Tools

    The challenge is to get the right data to the right tool, in the right context to empower experts to make timely and impactful decisions.

    The PI System provides a suite of tools that take the complexity out of data access, visualization and analysis. With a full suite of configurable, off the shelf products, the PI System tools provide self-service access to the data where they need it and when they need it: tablet, phone or laptop.

    Our tools allow:

    • Access Data From Any Location - Tablet, Phone, Web ( PI Vision™ )
    • View Processes ( PI ProcessBook™ )
    • Export to Excel ( PI DataLink™ )
    • Create Dashboards with SharePoint ( PI WebParts™ )
    • Manually Log Data on the Go ( PI Manual Logger™ )
    • Frame Batch Information ( PI BatchView™ )
    Learn More
    Case Studies & Testimonials

    Case Studies

    FEATURED CUSTOMER STORY

    Download Customer Story

    Australian Gas Light (AGL)

    Power

    The Value of Data Across the Enterprise

    Australia’s oldest and largest power producer, AGL grew from 300 MW in 2005 to 10,000MW in 2017 and incorporated a greater percentage of wind and solar into its portfolio.

    Challenge

    In 2012, when AGL was at 5,500MW of expansion, they were “data blind” says David Bartolo, Head of Asset Performance. When an issue occurred, they had to rely on print-outs and prepared reports rather than real-time data. They needed a way to collect data from across their assets so any employee could access and act on the information.

    Solution

    AGL signed an Enterprise Agreement with OSIsoft in 2012, and by 2015, had launched an Operational Diagnostics Center for centralized analysis based on the PI System™ with advanced analytics and pattern recognition from ECG’s Predict-It. They also empowered people across their organization with PI Vision™ as a dashboarding tool to quickly visualize data. One engineer created solar power monitoring system to gauge and compare the output from different solar assets. Another user built screens to monitor generator temperatures. A non-technical employee created a condition-based monitoring system for hydro dams 700 kilometers away.

    Customer Results

    From 2015-2017, AGL saved $18.7 million AUD and detected an anomaly in a hydrogen station days away from a catastrophic fire that would have caused a 12-14 week shutdown and cost over $50 million AUD to repair. Today, their transformation continues as they are piloting a wind yield optimization system and thermal performance optimization system.

    Visit our collection of customer stories to read more stories like this one and learn how leaders across oil & gas, power, mining, manufacturing, and other industries are using the PI System to transform their world.

    View All Customer Stories

    PI System Testimonials

    “OSIsoft is considered core to running our refinery…The PI System is the go-to place if you want information about how the plant is operating.”

    S. E. , Director of Systems Engineering, P.E. , Ergon Refining, Inc.

    “IT Monitor saved us $30,000 in the first month by accurately pinpointing a network bottleneck”

    D.R. , Westar Energy, Inc.

    “We use the PI System as our central repository for all of our process data, all of our alarms, and all of our batch data, and this provides a common presentation layer for MES to hit.”

    B.H. , Automation Engineer/MKES Engineer , Janssen Biologics

    “The PI System helps us stay alive in a competitive marketplace by allowing us to uncover latent potential within the enterprise. ”

    G.T. , Control Systems Team Leader , Aughinish Alumina

    “The PI System has become such an important part of our business, I can't imagine operating our manufacturing facility without it. ”

    J.C. , Vice President , Appleton Coated, LLC

    Support Resources

    Support Resources

    Why 95% of our original customers are still with us

    At OSIsoft, our PI System™ is only half the story behind our industry leadership and reputation. The other half is the extraordinary depth and range of our customer support - all delivered by our team of experienced and committed engineers..

    As a new customer, you can accelerate the return on your investment by taking advantage of our top-class installation, coaching and in-person training options. As an ongoing customer, you'll have access to immediate and comprehensive technical support, compelling user and developer events and a rich array of online resources. And as you move into our enterprise-wide deployment (Enterprise Agreement Program), you'll have total strategic support - your own assigned Enterprise Program Manager, access to our Center of Excellence advisory services and remote monitoring of your PI System (Managed PI).

    Support Resources

    Protect your investment - OSIsoft Software Reliance Program

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    Learn about OSIsoft Support

    Why OSIsoft

     

    Why OSIsoft

    Proven leader in operational intelligence

    Circle Background
    • 40+ years as a leader
    • 140+ countries 
      installed in
    • 20,800+ sites deployed
    • 2B+ licensed sensor-based
      data streams
    • 65% of the Industrial
      Fortune 500 use us
    View OSIsoft Facts

    Global Leadership

    Worldwide leading industrial companies choose OSIsoft

    As much as they differ by industry, operations, systems, regulatory demands and business goals, two-thirds of the world's leading companies have one thing in common. They all trust and leverage OSIsoft to enable operational intelligence and business transformation.

    They choose OSIsoft because of proven customer success, commitment and support delivered through the open architecture and cost-effective scalability of our product - the PI System™. Commitment and focus to enterprise-wide interoperability across multiple systems-past, present, and future, and our unreserved hands-on service and support from engineers empowers organizations with an infrastructure for rapid success with a low risk of failure. 

    Ready to transform your business? Find out what the PI System can do. 

    See why turning data into information with the PI System is critical for OSIsoft customers

    PI System

    The global standard in real-time data technology

    OSIsoft believes people with data will transform their world. The PI System data infrastructure sets free the data that's locked in systems. Turning data to information, the PI System connects people to information across the value chain to deliver operational intelligence that leads to actionable and transformative decisions. What makes the PI System unique is its ability to collect enormous amounts of high-fidelity, time-series data from any source - consistently, reliably and accurately. Then share that data in intuitive ways with people and tools that can make a difference.

    For all its power and comprehensiveness, the PI System is fast and easy to deploy and use. From engineers to executives, all users in an organization can be empowered with self-service access to timely data to deliver immediate and continuous process improvements and business efficiencies - value now and value over time.

    Critical Systems Require 1st Class Support

    Providing a roadmap to operational transformation

    There are many reasons why 95 of our first 100 customers are still using the PI System - product satisfaction, a continuous migration path and 1st in class support ensure continuous value and low risk deployments. Our 94% customer satisfaction comes from over 40 years of listening and responding to customer changes and needs. 

    OSIsoft:

    • develops software by engineers for engineers
    • innovates to meet our customers' changing needs and goals
    • works with customers side by side to realize the full potential of their PI System
    • supports customers in every possible way - strategic planning, implementation, upgrades, advanced analytics, architecture, on-site and online training, developer and partner engagement, 24/7/365 tech support
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    Why OSIsoft?

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