PI AF Builder

PI-AF Builder is a product of OSISoft and is a separate install file. When creating Sigmafine models, you may find it advantageous to configure similar elements in a bulk fashion before connecting them together. It is often easier to obtain a listing of tanks, meters, and process information and import them into a spreadsheet format instead of configuring them individually through dialog boxes. For example, if you have 1000 flow meters to create and they all have similar attributes, creating the elements all at once is a faster method. Similarly, updating Attributes for many similar objects at once is better in a bulk editing tool.

The AF Builder is an add-in to Excel created for this purpose. Use it to choose similar elements (based on the same Element Template and modify, create, or remove components. Connectivity can also be updated with this utility.

AF Builder also allows you to review and enter material transfers (known in some industries as transactions). This can be a transfer from a supplier to the facility, from the facility to a customer, or transfers within the facility. Transfers over financial or political boundaries (co-owned facilities) can also be identified and tracked. The key components of a Sigmafine transfer are material quantity, type of material, and beginning and end of the transfer period.

This menu-driven tool enables you to import elements from the database into Excel and make common edits to a series of similar elements (elements based on the same Element template). You can use it to create elements or to modify elements as the Model evolves.