Generic Architecture for Control Desks

GeneAL is the abbreviation for "Generic Architecture for Control Centres". In control rooms, operators use software systems to monitor and control industrial plants and their processes. 

Two major challenges arise for the software systems used there. On the one hand, information from the most diverse sources must be brought together. On the other hand, operators need to understand this information quickly and easily, especially in critical situations, in order to derive recommendations for action.

Funded by the Investitions- und Förderbank Hamburg (IFB), WPS worked on improving control centre software from 2009 to 2015. In the GeneAL project, recurring problems in control centres (such as alarm handling and integration of a large amount of information sources) were conceptually and prototypically investigated and solved. The main result is a minimally invasive approach that gradually integrates innovations into existing software landscapes. 

In the process, essential parts of existing control centres and information systems remain intact. This also applies to proven work processes, which are expanded at the appropriate points and supplemented with new IT-supported possibilities.