SAP Plant Connectivity

Product Information

Product

SAP Plant Connectivity

Release

15.5 (SP03)

Based On

.Net-Framework as of version 4.8

Documentation Published

May 2022
Overview of SAP Plant Connectivity

With SAP Plant Connectivity (PCo), SAP provides a software component that enables the exchange of data between an SAP system and the industry-specific standard data sources of different manufacturers, for example, process control systems, plant Historian systems, and SPC systems.

With PCo, you can receive tags and events from the connected source systems in production either automatically or upon request and forward them to the connected SAP systems. Furthermore, using PCo, you can execute, receive, and process OPC UA method calls and thereby also map complex coordination tasks in the programmable logic controllers (PLC) environment. The PCo Web server extends these options and allows for self-defined methods that can be called as Web service operations.

The SAP Plant Connectivity component has the following advantages:

  • PCo can be configured quickly. No additional developments of your own are necessary in order to connect source systems in production.

  • PCo can communicate with different software systems on the shop floor.

  • A PCo system can be configured for one or multiple locations.

  • The flexible, method-based connection of servers and clients in production is possible using the OPC UA standard or Web service standards.

The SAP Plant Connectivity component supports various processes: For more information, see Processes and Integration Scenarios with SAP PCo.

Implementation Considerations

  • PCo is a Windows-based application that builds on the .NET-Framework. PCo supports various Web service standards.

    To be able to implement PCo, you must first have installed .NET Framework 4.8 or a higher release.

  • PCo requires Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2019 as a Microsoft runtime library. This is installed when PCo is installed.

  • If PCo is used in the notification process, you can manage queues for the messages using Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ). You can install the Windows component automatically when installing PCo. (See also: Storage Method.)

  • If the source system works with OPC DA interfaces, you need to download and install the corresponding OPC software from the manufacturer or from the OPC Foundation. The libraries for connecting OPC UA servers and clients are already integrated in PCo.

Integration

Source Systems

Using agents, PCo supports all current software interfaces to be able to receive data from the source systems. An agent is a .NET DLL assembly component that can establish the connection between the data source and PCo.

PCo agents support the following standardized software interfaces:

  • OPC Data Access

  • OPC Historical Data Access

  • OPC Alarms & Events

  • OPC Unified Architecture

  • OLE DB

  • Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

  • Modbus

  • MQTT

  • GE Fanuc Proficy Historian

  • OSIsoft PI

  • Asset Framework

  • Socket

  • IP21

  • Citect

  • File Monitor Agent

  • File System Agent

Destination Systems

PCo can send the data received to the following systems:

  • SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence (SAP MII)

  • SAP Manufacturing Execution (SAP ME)

  • Business Suite system, for example, SAP ERP or SAP EWM

  • SAP HANA database

  • MS SQL Server

  • MQTT

  • OPC UA client (method-based)

    You can also run PCo as the server (see: PCo as OPC UA Server and as Web Server). It then supports the following protocols:

    • WebSocket server

    • OPC UA server (method-based)

    • Web server

The following graphic provides an overview of the integration of the Plant Connectivity system in the system landscape.

Features

Plant Connectivity Management Console

The Plant Connectivity Management Console is the central administrative tool for setting up and monitoring Plant Connectivity.

You can create and configure the following elements in the PCo Management Console:

Monitoring

  • Monitoring and administration

    The Remote Client is available for monitoring and administration of your PCo systems in production. The Remote Client is a snap-in of the Microsoft Management Console (MMC 3.0), which is provided by SAP together with the SAP Plant Connectivity component. With the Remote Client, you can monitor all PCo systems - also on remote computers - with their individual agent instances at a glance as well as start and stop the agent instances. See also: Remote Client

  • Active monitoring

    In addition to monitoring with the Remote Client, PCo offers active monitoring. During productive operation, all agent instances can be monitored automatically so that outages in the communication connection can be reported immediately.