An engineer might know that when a motor reaches 200 degrees, it will begin to fail. Historical data might also tell him that the same motor operating continuously will overheat about every three months. Rather than implementing a strategy to replace the motor every three months, as suggested by the historical data, he can create a policy to take action when threshold temperature conditions are actually met. If the policy retrieves a reading from a process historian indicating that the motor has reached 200 degrees, policy logic can create a recommendation automatically for a technician to replace the equipment and send an email message to notify the engineer. In this way, the company can save money by avoiding unnecessary replacements and still prevent failures that will occur if the equipment is replaced too late. Further, employees who do not have the expertise to analyze real-time data can implement strategies based upon emerging trends immediately.
Policies can be configured to monitor current conditions continuously and perform a variety of actions automatically based on criteria that have been defined by the policy owner. In addition to creating recommendations and sending email messages, a policy can create Event records to track the occurrence of certain conditions. You can also use Policy Designer to create and update composite health indicators that indicate the overall health of a piece of equipment.