Historian: Time-Series Data

Purpose and Key Concepts

Below is a list of key concepts essential to understanding the Historian Module.

Archive Location

The Archive Location defines in which database variables will be archived or read to be used in charts and calculations. You can use any SQL Database. If you want to integrate third-party products designed to store long-term time-related values, known as time-series databases or Historian tools, you need to use the Tag Provider.

Historian Tables

Historian Tables group Tags for historical archiving. Using the Historian Table, you can define the Tags to archive to each Target Database. Moreover, you can configure additional standard settings to apply to all tags in one particular group, such as when to save new data or how long to keep the data on the database.

HistorianTag

A Historian Tag refers to any internal or external Tag whose values are archived into a Historian Table. In addition to Tags from the platform, you can include dynamic references to external data using the Tag Provider function.

Historian Functionality

The Historian Module provides an out-of-the-box solution for archiving historical data without programming requirements. Although it is possible to include custom data logging procedures in your solution using Scripts (.NET programming) and Datasets (SQL storage), the standard configuration tools of the Historian Module can fulfill most typical data logging needs. 

You can use the data archived through your application's Historian Module in Alarms and Displays.

Feature Highlights

• Embedded Canary Historian includes 500 free Canary Historian Tags with any license – Edge to Unlimited.

• The Historian Module works with the industry's major players (OSISoftPI, InfluxDB, and more).

• Store and Forward function ensures your data will not be lost if the database is unavailable. 

• Universal Time and Daylight Saving

Configuring the Historian Module

The basic process to configure the Historian Module follows the sequence below:

1. Define the default SQL Database when creating a new solution. The software uses Tag Historian, mapping tags to a SQLite database by default. The default database uses Tag Historian as its name and is located in the Tag Historian repository. Learn more at Archive Locations.

2. You can add other Archive Databases if you need to store data separately. 
3. Create and edit Historian Tables. You can use more than one Historian Table to better organize your Tags or if your process has too much information. Access the Historian Tables page to learn more about it.

4. Add Tags to the Historian Tables. Learn more at Historian Tags.

5. Use the Historian Monitor to supervise your data on Runtime. Check the Historian Monitor page for more information.

The above steps are a simplified explanation of the configuration process.  For additional information on how to configure the Historian module, access Configuring the Historian Module.

More on the Historian Module

To learn more about the Historian Module, you can use the additional documentation pages that are available.

• Learn how to display Trend Charts to analyze and compare historical and real-time data, making it easier to identify patterns and trends in system performance.

• Learn how to use the Historian module together with other modules accessing the Working with the Historian Module page.

The Advanced Historian Topics page presents complementary information about the following:

• Archiving processes

• Historian Runtime attributes

Use the Historian Best Practices and Common Issues pages to access best practices tips and troubleshooting guides.

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