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Practice Test Prompts

These are examples of prompts like those you will find on the project development test. You will have to satisfy all the requirements set out in the text of the prompt for it to be considered correct. You can utilize Ignition documentation and resources such as the Ignition User Manual and Inductive University while working on this test.

For this practice test, in addition to loading an Ignition Programmable Device Simulator Program File (.csv), you will need to connect to and work with a common database like MSSQL. There are guides in the Ignition User Manual that cover how to install and connect to free versions of databases including MSSQL. Many of the prompts on the test will involve working with database data that you will create during the test

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For this practice test, only a device CSV file is provided, and you will be prompted to create example database data manually. For the actual project development test, a Gateway Backup and MSSQL Database Backup will be provided as well as any other files necessary for the test prompts.

For the duration of the test, you are working on a project for ACME Dairy Production Company (ACME). Your fictional employer produces dairy related products. ACME has a dairy plant, which is their production site, where they have divided their industrial devices into two major areas: packaging and refrigeration. The organization wants you to build SCADA and HMI solutions using Ignition for this dairy plant. As the Ignition expert, you are responsible for creating and testing the written requirements of the test.

Please Note

This is a self-test, you should review your own work against the written prompts to determine if you have satisfied them.

Development Practice Test​

Gateway Setup​

ACME Dairy Production wants you to set up a new Ignition system.

  • Install and work on the most recent stable version of Ignition, and use the Standard Edition.
  • Connect a database, like MSSQL, to the Gateway.
  • Create a Database User Source that uses your database connection, and then add the following roles:
    • Operator, Administrator, Farmhand
  • Add example users to your Database User Source so that it contains at least one user that has:
    • Every role assigned to them
    • Only the Administrator role assigned to them
    • Only the Farmhand role assigned to them
    • Only the Operator role assigned to them
  • Add example emails to the contact information for your users. Note: You will not need to send actual emails for the test.
  • Create an Identity Provider for the new User Source.
  • Next, in your connected database, create two tables for downtime event data and order data that mimic the following structure:
    • downtime_events
      • id (INT, Primary Key, Auto Increment)
      • line (INT)
      • area (VARCHAR)
      • cause (TEXT)
      • start (DATETIME)
      • end (DATETIME, can be NULL)
    • orders
      • id (INT, Primary Key, Auto Increment)
      • staff_id (INT, Foreign Key, represents the id column from Ignition’s Database User Source users table)
      • customer (VARCHAR)
      • product_name (VARCHAR)
      • quantity (FLOAT)
      • units (VARCHAR)
      • shipped_date (DATETIME, can be NULL)
  • ACME wants their various Ignition resources spread across a few projects. First create an Inheritable Project to store shared resources like security settings and scripts that all of the other projects will inherit from. The Inheritable project should use the Database, User Source and Identity Provider you created earlier.
  • Then, create 3 child projects that inherit from the parent project that separate ACME’s Ignition system between: Vision resources, Perspective resources, and Backend resources.
    • For the Vision project, use the “Vision Tab Nav” project template. This will auto-create a window for navigation.
    • For the Perspective project, use the “Perspective Menu Nav 8.1” project template. This will auto-create views for navigation.

Security​

ACME needs security to be configured across their system.

  • Create Security Levels for each of the possible Levels in the Identity Provider you created earlier.
  • Add a new Security Zone that is only active for the “localhost” IP Address.
  • Update the permissions to access the Gateway Webpage Status Page, to include Operators (users with the Operator security level).

Tags​

ACME needs you to configure UDTs to represent their various packaging and refrigeration OPC-UA enabled devices. All tags and UDT definitions will be added to the “default” Tag Provider in ACME’s Ignition Gateway.

  • Download the Programmable Device Simulator Program: instructions_practice_dairy.csv
  • Create a new Programmable Device Simulator called “Dairy Plant”, and load the simulator program from the CSV file.
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Once loaded you can review the tags in the OPC Quick Client or OPC Browser.

  • ACME wants default historical storage for all of their UDT tags. As you create the required UDTs in this prompt, enable On Change Tag History for all member tags within UDT definitions.
  • Create a dynamic UDT definition to represent the Tower 1-2 device OPC tags from the refrigeration area of the plant. Add setpoint (double datatype, default value 100) memory tags to the Tower definition for the:
    • bromineSP
    • chemSP
    • circSP
  • Create a new tag folder for "Refrigeration" and add the 2 instances of the tower UDT.
  • Next, create dynamic UDT definitions to represent devices from the packaging area of the plant for:
    • AU 1-3
    • Sensor 1-3
    • Palletizer 1-3
  • Then, create a single dynamic UDT definition with nesting that represents a production line from the packaging area and contains a dynamic instance of each of the device UDTs you created.
  • Create a new tag folder for “Packaging” and add 3 instances of your packaging production lines that represent lines 1-3.
  • Finally, create a new dynamic UDT definition that represents the first 4 motors in the packaging area. Then, create an inherited UDT definition that inherits the motor definition you just created, and further adds the additional dynamic tags needed to represent the last 4 motors in the packaging area (Motors 5-8).
  • Add all 8 of the motors to the “Packaging” folder, and maintain the naming structure of: “Motor #” (the second half of the motors should have the additional tags you can see in the OPC Browser).

Alarming​

ACME wants alarms and notifications set up for certain tags.

  • All queries used should be Named Queries.
  • Create alarms on the Tower UDT Definition for each of the pump tags. The alarms should be active if: the corresponding pump tag value, is greater than (>), the associated setpoint memory tag value.
  • ACME also needs to know what temperature the Tower is currently at whenever any alarm occurs. Add custom data to your alarms that allows users to access the “temp” tag value from the alarm event.
  • Management wants to access these alarms for the foreseeable future, and have requested you enable what they are calling: “history for the alarms”.
  • The organization also needs notifications for these alarms. When the alarms become active they should notify users depending on certain criteria:
    • All Alarm Pipelines should be stored in the “Backend” project.
    • If a Pump alarm triggers, and the value of the Temp tag at the time is less than 100, all users who are assigned the Operator Role should be notified. The pipeline should continue to notify the Operators about this alarm until it is cleared or acknowledged, every 5 minutes.
    • If instead the value of the Temp tag at the time is >=100, all users who are assigned the Operator Role should be notified, and then after 5 minutes if the alarm is still active and unacknowledged, all users who are assigned the Administrator Role should be notified.
  • ACME wants the status and history of the Tower alarms to be available to users on their mobile devices as well. Add a new Page and View to the Perspective Project that allows a user to toggle between the live status and database history of only the Tower alarms. This Page should be accessible in the navigation of your Session.

Vision​

For the Vision Project ACME primarily needs HMI resources for their packaging devices and workstations. ACME will also need to give operators access to the database through these Windows.

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All resources in both the Vision and Perspective HMI systems need to reflect real-time data, this means information should automatically update, in a reasonable amount of time, as tag and database values change.

  • All queries used should be Named Queries.
  • Create a dynamic Vision Template, using a single parameter, that represents an instance of the Packaging Production Line.
    • Users should be able to read and write to the tags on the AU and Palletizer devices, but only read the values from the Sensor device.
    • All tags and their values should be clearly labeled, and the different devices within the production line should be clearly identifiable.
    • The production line number should be present at the top of the Template like a header.
  • Add a Main Window, that can be navigated to in the project, that allows users to view the Packaging Production Lines.
    • Only one line should be shown at a time, taking up the majority of the screen.
    • Users should be able to change the line number to see any of the packaging lines.
    • This window should also include a method for the users to open a popup to report downtime events (as explained in the next bullet).
  • Add a Popup Window, that will be opened from the prior window, that will include all of the components necessary to see and report downtime events for the line.
    • The window should primarily show a table that displays all of the downtime_events from the database.
    • In the table, if a downtime_event row has a NULL value in the “end” column and started over an hour ago, then the row should be highlighted red.
    • Next, add clearly labeled components that allow the user to fill out the: “line”, “area”, “cause” and “start” columns to prepare for inserting a new row.
    • Add a component that allows the user to submit the new data into the database, and refreshes the input components. Clearing them out to be used again.
    • Finally, include a method for the users to mark a downtime_event from the table as resolved, by updating the “end” column with the current time. When making this update users should be prompted with a confirmation box style warning to ensure the event is resolved at this time.
  • As a security precaution, prevent access to the downtime popup for users with no Roles and for users with only the Farmhand Role.
  • Unexpectedly, a consultant from Lumon Automation Industries Consulting has required an addition to the Vision Project. To boost the happiness and productivity of our workers. Add a Client tag that allows users to record a positive affirmation about their job. This affirmation should be visible on a user's Vision Client at all times, and you should allow the users to update their affirmation message at any time. The default message should be “ACME Loves You!”.

Perspective​

For the Perspective Project ACME needs HMI resources for some of the refrigeration and packaging devices, and wants further integration with their ordering database system.

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All resources in Perspective should resize appropriately through changing screen sizes. This means you should not be using Coordinate Containers for the vast majority of work.

  • All queries used should be Named Queries.
  • Add 3 Style classes to the inheritable project for:
    • A Body style, that uses a standard font of your choosing for the project
    • A Header style, that uses your standard font, and is larger and bold
    • A Button style, that uses your standard font, and has an Element State configuration change that alters the background color property to a color of your choosing
  • Back in the Perspective Project, create the Views necessary for users to manage the Motor devices:
    • Users must be able to interact with all of the motors from a single embedding component that contains embedded Views representing the device.
    • The embedded motor View should dynamically reflect the correct motor and all of the associated tags. For motors 5-8 the additional tags should be present.
    • Users should be able to read all tag values, and write to the HOA tag and faultStatus tag if they are present.
    • Apply your Style Classes where appropriate.
    • The primary View that includes all of the motor instances should be added as a Page, and added to the navigation system for the Session.
  • Next, create the Views necessary for users to view an instance of the Tower device tags and edit the Tower setpoints.
    • The components of the Tower View should completely change based on the size of the screen. Use a Breakpoint container.
    • When the screen is large, all of the tags should have bigger components, labels, and include an image. On the large screen:
      • Users should be able to write to the setpoint tags and read all tags.
      • Include a chart that shows the history of the currently selected Tower tags.
    • When the screen is small, only the tag values and smaller components should be displayed to save space. On the small screen:
      • Users should only be able to read all the tags.
    • Apply your Style Classes where appropriate.
    • Add a primary View that it can be navigated to, and that allows the users to toggle between viewing Tower 1 and 2 on any screen size.
  • Create the Views necessary for the users to display all of the orders from the database and to add new orders.
    • The main focus of the screen should be a table that displays all of the unshipped orders by default. There should be a toggle that allows the users to see shipped orders in the table as well. A shipped order is one that has a real date in the “shipped_date” column instead of NULL.
    • Only Administrators should be allowed to add new orders.
    • When adding new orders, new components that were not initially visible, should appear to the user. The new components should allow the users to input order data for a new row, excluding the auto-incrementing index column and the “shipped_date” column (which should default to NULL).
    • Users do not know each other's ids from the database, so ACME wants the usernames of staff to be presented during the input screen rather than id numbers. Therefore, when filling out the information for the order, the “staff_id” column value will be provided by users selecting the username of a staff member in a dropdown.
    • Apply your Style Classes where appropriate.
    • Allow the main orders View to be navigated to as a Page in the Session.
  • Add resources to Perspective so that:
    • Each Perspective Session tracks how many unshipped orders are assigned to the staff member who is logged into the Session. For example, if a staff member is assigned to 3 orders that have NULL “shipped_date” column values then they have 3 unshipped orders.
    • In any user's Session if this number is ever greater than 5 unshipped orders: Display a popup warning about this fact. This popup should continue to open once every 10 minutes if the condition is true.
  • Finally, require authentication for the Perspective project so that users either: have to login as an Administrator or Operator, or access the session on the localhost security zone, in order to access the project. In other words, guest users and farmhands should not be able to access Perspective unless they are on the local server zone.

Reporting​

ACME wants reports created in Ignition to produce snapshots of their dairy data. Add these reports to the “Backend” project.

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Complete this prompt last. To functionally test your reports you will need to add data with the resources created earlier in the project.

  • Create a report for analyzing the currently running motor “amps” historical tag data.
    • The end date of the report’s time range should always be the current time, and the users should be able to select a start time for the range.
    • The report should display a dynamic number of time series plots for the amps data based on the current HOA value of the motor device. Only motor devices with an HOA value of 1 at the time of the report execution should be included.
  • Create a report that displays a table of incomplete order data over any time range.
    • The report should show all orders that have not been shipped and include the: product name, quantity, and units for each order.
    • Group the displayed orders by product name. (Ex: All products named “Cheese” should appear in the table before the products named “Milk”)
    • The report should include the total for each product name group, and that total should be highlighted red if it is greater than 100.
    • Schedule the report to execute every day at 8 AM, and to use the last 7 days of data. When the report executes it should be emailed to only the Administrators.
  • Add a View in the Perspective project and a Window in the Vision project that allow users to choose either report, and adjust the appropriate date value(s) for the displayed report data. Ensure users can navigate to the report screens.