The PI System is a cornerstone of industrial data collection and analysis, providing real-time insights and supporting key operations. As organizations continue to scale and evolve, ensuring that data quality and traceability are maintained across increasingly complex systems has never been more critical. One area that many users have highlighted as an opportunity for improvement is the ability to track data lineage, understanding where data comes from, how it flows, and where it’s used within the system.
This capability is crucial for industrial operations, especially when troubleshooting, auditing, and ensuring the accuracy of insights and decisions. While the PI System offers powerful tools, there are opportunities to complement and enhance those capabilities, which is where Tycho Data Osprey comes into play.
🔍 The Challenge: Tracking Data Lineage and Dependencies
One common challenge faced by PI System users is finding the relationship between PI Points and PI AF attributes. For many users, the process of tracing data back to its source and understanding how it flows through AF models and displays can be a complex, time-consuming task.
Here are just a few of the common user frustrations:
- Manual Workarounds: PowerShell scripts, PI Builder spreadsheets, and complex PI OLEDB queries are often used to manually search for PI Points and their dependencies.
- Hidden Dependencies: Understanding all the places a specific PI Point or attribute is used, from AF calculations to PI Vision displays, can be difficult without full visibility into the data flows.
- Operational Risk: Migrating or replacing tags without knowing all the dependent assets, attributes, and dashboards can result in data quality issues or system downtime.
These challenges highlight the need for a more streamlined, automated solution that enhances data traceability and transparency in the PI System.
🦅 Enter Osprey: Seamless Data Lineage and Observability
Tycho Data Osprey was designed with exactly these challenges in mind. It provides end-to-end data lineage for your PI System assets, PI AF attributes, and PI Vision displays.
Osprey brings automation, visibility, and trust to your PI System data:
- Search and Trace: Instantly search for PI Points and see all AF attributes, calculations, and displays that reference them.
- Comprehensive Lineage: Visualize the flow of data from PI Points to AF attributes, to calculations, and onto PI Vision displays.
- Data Quality Integration: Track data quality scores and historical issues directly tied to lineage, ensuring you can trust the data behind every insight and decision.
By automating this process, Osprey reduces manual efforts, eliminates guesswork, and enables teams to make informed decisions with full confidence in the data they’re working with.
📊 Real-World Benefits for Industrial Teams
For industrial teams working with large datasets and complex operations, the ability to understand data lineage can directly impact:
- Operational Efficiency: Quickly identify where data quality issues exist and resolve them faster, reducing downtime.
- Data Quality Assurance: Ensure that only trustworthy data is being used across all applications, from alarms and dashboards to asset management systems.
- Safer Migrations and Updates: Before replacing or retiring tags, understand exactly what dependencies exist, preventing unintended disruptions in operations.
- Auditability and Compliance: For industries with regulatory requirements, Osprey’s ability to map and document data lineage makes auditing and compliance reporting easier and more accurate.
🔗 A Complementary Tool for the PI System Ecosystem
The PI System has been a trusted platform for years, providing core capabilities in industrial data management. However, as data complexity increases, there’s a growing need for additional tools to provide deeper insight into the relationships and quality of that data. Tycho Data Osprey complements the PI System by delivering enhanced data lineage and observability without replacing existing tools.
Where PI System tools provide excellent data storage and real-time analysis, Osprey adds transparency and context, allowing industrial teams to:
- Monitor the health and quality of data across the entire PI System.
- Trace data dependencies to ensure the integrity and trustworthiness of insights.
- Act quickly when data issues arise, avoiding disruptions in critical operations.
🎯 The Path Forward: Unlocking Greater Data Confidence
By integrating Tycho Data Osprey with the PI System, organizations can unlock a new level of confidence in their industrial data. Whether you’re managing thousands of assets, running critical operations, or building data-driven insights, understanding your data’s journey from source to display is key to optimizing performance, minimizing risk, and ensuring accuracy.
Let’s explore how we can bring transparency and confidence to your industrial data operations.
Ready to See It in Action?
If your team depends on PI System data to keep your plant running safely and efficiently. Osprey is built for you.
Tycho Data 