User Interface Design in Managing an Alarm System

Information visualization is defined as follow (UIUC DCI, 1998): a method of presenting
data or information in non-traditional and interactive graphical forms. These
visualizations can show the structure of information by using 2-D or 3-D color graphics
and animations. It also allows one to navigate through it, and modify it with graphical
interactions. [1] The end-users will communicate with the data in a more visualized
manner and when data representation is understandable by end-users, it would lead to a
better decision making. By applying visual representation in managing alarm system in
the oil refmery, it would assist the high-level users in the management site to better
visualized the alarms events and thus make better decision when it comes to the
occurrence of abnormal situations. As the occurrence of abnormal situations would lead
to triggering the alarms, this indicates that there must be action taken to resolve the issue.
If no appropriate action being taken, it would cost money and endanger life. To be even
worse, it might cause the plant to be shut down. Thus, the use of visual representation and
data simulation would be one of the ways to resolve the problems. The objective of the
project is to visualize the data in making it more understandable in the view of the endusers
that dealing with the alarm system. To carry out this project, a visit to Petronas
Penapisan Melaka Sdn Berhad (PPMSB) was done to understand the overview of how
alarm management system works. Then a set of sample data was generated. The set of
data would then be verified by the experts. This set of data would be simulated using a
tool namely Context Free Art. The project would be focusing on only one unit, called the
Crude Distillation Unit (CDU). Basically, the project mainly involving the collection of
data, analyzing them and then visualizing them in a way that makes it easy for the endusers
to refer to them.