FactoryTalk Historian SE - event triggered data collection example

This application note describes how to configure point collection based on an event in a ControlLogix
PAC. A bit in the PAC goes high when a machine is running and goes low when the machine is idle.
Various process values change all the time but we only want to collect them while the machine is running.

Event trigger point configuration

The Event Trigger point is configured as polled (location 3 = 0) which means it’s collected constantly on a
scan rate, and is assigned to a digital set (I created a BOOL digital set with 2 states – running and idle).
The point was specified to a Boolean tag in the PAC (this is the machine running indicator). Archiving is
turned off because we don’t care about historical data for the trigger tag. Also note location 4 is the value
7 which is a 5 second scan class, so process data will be collected every 5 seconds while the machine is
running.
Process value point configuration

The process value point is configured as an event point (location 3 = 0) and collected on demand
(location 5 = 1).

Note the Exdesc point attribute specifies the trigger point name in nonzero mode. The trigger point name
does not have any embedded spaces, otherwise it would have to be enclosed in double quotes.
The Source tag attribute specifies this process value point name. Also note the Exception and
Compression deviation and Max time values are set to 0 allowing stale values to be archived.
I tested this application by putting the PAC in program mode and controlling the process and event values
from the Rockwell Software data client. I monitored the Historian point values in SMT > Data > Current
Values, and Recorded Values.

First you toggle the trigger tag off and change the process value (many times). Then verify that the value
updates in the data client but not in Historian. Then you toggle the trigger tag on and verify the trigger
value as well as the process value updated in the data client and in Historian. Historian should log the
process value once for every scan of the trigger point. Another test is to leave the process value the
same and toggle the trigger bit several times. The stale process value should be collected at the scan
rate while the trigger is on.