How Plant Advisor works.
Everyone at the plant shares one assistant. What each person can do is set by their role, so operators get a simple, safe view while managers and admins have more configuration ability.
Ask your plant
Plant Advisor connects to the SCADA database you already run and lets your team ask questions and get specific, data-driven answers in seconds, instead of writing SQL or digging through historian screens.
- Answers questions about live plant data: temperatures, levels, flow rates, alarms, equipment status.
- Runs live, read-only queries against your database for you. Nobody needs to write SQL.
- Saves the reports you repeat as Topics, re-run with one click.
- Remembers site-specific facts and reference documents for future conversations.
- Tracks maintenance intervals and warns when equipment is overdue for service.
- Watches for alarm conditions and can run a report automatically when they occur.
Role-Based System
Access is enforced by role. Basic features being available for standard operators while administrative and configuration capabilities require higher roles.
The chat interface. Ask questions, read answers, and get shift-handover summaries.
- Ask any question in natural language
- Read answers drawn from live data
- Save personal knowledge facts
Everything an operator can do, plus the tools that shape what the whole site sees.
- Build, edit and delete Topics
- Attach and save reference documents
- Save site-wide knowledge facts
- Set up Golden Batch, triggers and maintenance
- Star and delete conversations
Everything a manager can do, plus setup and control of the whole system.
- Settings: database, AI key, licence
- Add users and assign their roles
- Switch the active plant
- View the audit log
Permissions by Role
| Capability | Operator | Manager | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat: ask questions | |||
| Attach documents to chat | |||
| Star or delete conversations | |||
| View the Topics page | |||
| Build, edit or delete Topics | |||
| Save a personal knowledge fact | |||
| Save a site-wide knowledge fact | |||
| Set up Golden Batch, triggers, maintenance | |||
| Settings: database, AI, licence, users | |||
| Switch the active plant |
Roles are assigned by an admin when your account is created.
Core Features
A closer look at what Plant Advisor does. The chip on each feature shows the role it belongs to.
Asking questions
OperatorType a question in the box and press Enter. Plant Advisor turns it into read-only queries, runs them against your live database, and answers in plain terms. It does not answer from memory, so every figure comes from the data as it stands right now. Open the query details under any answer to see exactly what it pulled.
- Every answer lists the queries it used, so any figure traces back to source.
- Older periods are found and read from the archive automatically.
- Ask for a single value, a trend, a shift summary, or what needs attention right now.
Topics
ManagerWhen you ask the same thing every shift, save it once as a Topic and run it with one click. Either ask in chat and let Plant Advisor create the Topic for you from your devices and tags, or manually build it yourself on the Topics page. When running Topics the data used is always the most up to date and the format of the result produced is always consistent, so you can set one run beside another with confidence.
- Public Topics are shared with the site; private ones stay with you.
- Run a saved Topic over a one-off time window without changing the saved version.
Reference documents
ManagerAttach a P&ID, wiring diagram or equipment manual in chat and save it to a permanent, per-site library. Plant Advisor consults it in later conversations, not only the turn you attached it.
Knowledge facts
ManagerTell Plant Advisor something the database does not hold and it remembers. Every fact records who saved it and when, and is cited when used, so anything it relies on traces back to a person and a date.
Preventative maintenance
ManagerTrack running hours or start counts against a service interval and get told when a machine is due. Mark it serviced and the count resets. On Accord sites counters are picked up automatically.
Event triggers
Manager Accord sitesWatch for an alarm or a Golden Batch breach and run an action automatically: run the engine, run a Topic, or take a query snapshot. Off until an admin enables them.
Risks Now
ManagerOne prioritised list pulling together engine recommendations, sensor excursions, and Golden Batch deviations, ranked Critical, Warning or Information. Ask “what needs attention?” at any time.
Server engine
AdminRun the background engine on a schedule so recommendations, forecasts and summaries are ready before anyone asks. Its output surfaces in the chat assistant and feeds the Risks Now list.
Golden Batch
Define what a good run looks like, learned from your own history, and grade every later run against the same standard automatically.
Learn a profile
Ask Plant Advisor to learn a Golden Batch for a program. It reviews recent successful runs and proposes an expected duration range and the highest step reached. Review the numbers, adjust anything you want, and save it as the standard.
- Once saved, every finished run is graded against it automatically.
- Deviations appear in the Risks Now feed, ranked by importance.
- A trigger can act on a breach automatically.
Built around a fixed benchmark
The profile and the grading are fixed, so every run is judged against the same standard. You get a repeatable, objective read on how a process actually performed.
Works across SCADA platforms.
Plant Advisor runs on several platform types. Most features work everywhere; a few depend on what your platform records. Your admin can confirm which type your site uses.
| Feature | Accord | MWCS | Generic / tag-based |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat and live queries | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reference documents | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledge facts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Topics: view and run saved | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Topics: full builder | Yes | Limited | Trend / Report |
| Golden Batch | Yes | No | No |
| Event triggers | Yes | No | No |
| Preventative maintenance | Automatic | Tag confirmed | Tag confirmed |
| Risks Now feed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Security Features
Plant Advisor sits on the plant network and is careful with your data and your control system.
Read-only
It only ever reads from your database. It never inserts, updates, or deletes production data.
Your data stays local
Only your question and the plant context needed to answer it are sent to the AI. Raw SCADA records stay on your network.
Role-based access
Every capability is gated by role, so operators cannot change configuration, users, or saved reports.
Forced password change
The default admin password must be changed on first login before the rest of the application can be used.
Sessions expire
A session times out after 8 hours of inactivity and returns you to the sign-in page.
Audit trail
Recent queries are logged with who, when and what, and can be exported for compliance review.