1. Introduction and pre-requirements
ALERT 4.0 natively has a module allowing to interface with Siemens WinCC systems. However, it is necessary to use the ALERT 4.0 32 bits version with the WinCC mediator installed.
2. Adding WinCC system in ALERT 4.0:
To add the WinCC data server in ALERT 4.0, you can consult the article Adding a data server.
Then click on the "'Source" button:
Configure the properties of the data server:
- "Data source" box:
The option "Using the OPC server of WinCC for variable links" is used to query the tags (or points) of the WinCC system via the OPC protocol.
- "WinCC Configuration" box:
The "Standalone configuration (or single-server client)" option is used when ALERT 4.0 is deployed on the same server as the WinCC system.
The "Multi-server configuration (distributed system)" option is used when ALERT 4.0 is deployed on a WinCC client computer. In this case, the WinCC project name of the server must be entered in the "Server name" field.
Click on the "OK" button to validate the parameters:
Click on the "OK" button to validate the addition of the data server:
If the connection is operational the "Acquisition" light should be green.
3. WinCC tags import in ALERT 4.0:
3.1. WinCC 6.0 or previous version Importation:
Right-click on the "WinCC" data server in the ALERT 4.0 tree and select "Properties...":
In the "Data Server" window, click on the "Importation" button:
The "WinCC Mediator: File selection for importation" window appears:
The export file for the "Text Library exported file name" parameter can be obtained from the "Text Library" module of WinCC by an export.
The same applies to the "Alarm logging exported file name" parameter, which is obtained from the "Alarm Logging" module of WinCC.
When the 2 files parameters are configured, validate by clicking on the "OK" button to display the "import variables from WinCC into ALERT" window:
Use the ">", "<", ">>" and "<<" buttons to add or remove the alarms you want to monitor.
Then select the on-call group you wish to call for these alarms and press on the "import" button.
You can then repeat the same manipulation for another on-call group.
3.2. WinCC 7.0 or later version Importation:
The format of the WinCC export files has changed with version 7.0. Due to these changes the standard import of the mediator no longer works.
Now to import alarms from WinCC the best solution is to use the ALERT 4.0 text import module.
To do this, you must first export the Tags from the "Alarm logging" module in WinCC:
Note:
It may be necessary to edit the file that has been exported by WinCC in order to use it correctly in the ALERT 4.0 text import.
Example of a file created by the WinCC export:
Select all headers not required for import into ALERT 4.0:
Delete it and save the file in order to obtain a file type that can be used directly from ALERT 4.0:
In Alert 4.0, click on File Then Import:
The "importation of a text file" window appears.
First, select the exported and modified file of the "Alarm Logging" module with the "..." button of "File to Import" parameter:
Then create the mapping for WinCC 7.0 as follows:
- Data Server = “WinCC”
- Identifier = “WCC” + C1
- Link Type = “2 (Other)“
- Type = “2 (Alarm) “
- Long Message = C15
- Condition = “0 Invalid”
- Condition Value = “”
For more information on the text import module, read the document Text importation : Tags importation in Alert (version 3.6) from the FAQ.