Version 4.1 - Usability Enhancements

Making ever more complex functionality usable is a continued focus for Petro-SIM and version 4.1 includes many enhancements based on your feedback and review. You will also notice an updated look for Petro-SIM, as we take advantage of the more modern typography used by Microsoft Windows 7 and complete our support for non-Roman alphabets.

You will find full details in the Complete List with some highlights picked out on this page.

Preferences and Units of Measure

We have reorganized the Preferences view, collecting parameters into three tabs

Simulation tab contains parameters controlling how you build cases, the engineering unit sets available and the calculation methods used
Display tab contains parameters controlling what you see, including the units of measure. Nothing you change on the Display tab will affect case results, whereas changes on the Simulation tab may
Files tab contains parameters defining file locations, database settings, reporting settings and other import export options

As you will see in the Preferences changes, we have separated the units of measure used on the display from those used in Spreadsheet operations and similar locations for engineering calculations. Petro-SIM will now more rigorously check for conflicts on loading cases between Spreadsheet unit sets that have the same name as a set in your Preferences, giving you more control over what happens.

Calibration environment

Version 4 introduced a new calibration environment to Petro-SIM, accessed from the PFD. You will find this easier to use in 4.1, with changes that allow you to follow what is going on, simplifying understanding of the Streams page in particular.

Follow the highlighting to see the streams being synthesized at a glance
Select one of these streams to see what it is synthesized from in the PFD
Reorder these constituent streams to make it easier to follow the diagnostics
See the environment state at a glance:
- tells you feed streams and unit operations are using meter data
- tells you feed streams and unit operations are using their original predict data
See more clearly whether reconciled data is being used and what the overall raw and reconciled mass balance closure is

We have also enhanced the Publish and Subscribe mechanism for unit calibration data introduced in V4 service pack 1 with support for public and private revisions, allowing you to test your changes before you make them public to all subscribers.

User Interface changes

New options to allow you to add shortcuts to the case Navigator pane

Add to Favourites will add a shortcut to an object, allowing you to get fast access to key items in your case. Add to Favourites is available on right-click object inspect menu of an object's view.
Send to Favourites will add a variable to the pane, allowing you to track key values for your case at a glance

You can pin files on the most recently used file lists, allowing you to keep your favorite files in easy reach
Use new right-click options on the Solver buttons on the toolbar to make it easy to force a case to re-solve entirely
You can make more use of multiple monitors by dragging views outside the Petro-SIM frame onto a second monitor. Simply hold the Control key down while dragging the window with the mouse to your desired location
Get greater understanding of stream property calculation methods through enhanced tooltip information in stream views. You will see this for properties such as viscosities and densities

Team Working

Effective use of simulation amongst teams of engineers often means sharing information such as unit calibrations and crude assays. You have to have an organized approach to changing this shared information so that everyone gets consistent results. If you recalibrate your FCC because of a catalyst change, you will want people simulating that FCC to know the calibration has changed and to know that you have validated your changes. Petro-SIM makes this easy through its unique native database integration and the Publish and Subscribe features we have enhanced for 4.1.

The default mechanism works with the database to allow you to set up links between objects in different Petro-SIM cases. One case acts as the publisher of information, posting new revisions to the database. Other cases subscribe to this information, checking for new data when the case is loaded and optionally reading the new information automatically. If you work in a central team responsible for calibrating reactors then Publish and Subscribe allows you to ensure refinery engineers are always using up to date information.

Publish and Subscribe Workflows

Version 4.1 enhances this further, introducing the idea of Private Revisions that are hidden from other users until you choose to check them in. This gives you a way of testing your changes before other people see them. If you have one case you use for calibrating a reactor and others that employ that reactor, you might:

Pull in new data and calibrate the reactor, validating it with cross-predicts in the reactor workbook
Publish the new calibration as a private revision
Load a predict case subscribing to that reactor and update the data to your private revision
Verify the case solves correctly and close it without saving
Now make your new calibration public, allowing others to make use of it

Private Revisions can currently only be used with Petro-SIM databases on SQL Server, where you or your database administrator have activated the Change Management features using the Petro-SIM Database Explorer. These features allow you to enforce rules around who can change what in your database:

Each type of data in the database (full cases, calibration data sets, refinery assays and so on) has a set of roles that define read, write and administrator access
You can choose whether Change controls are applied for each type of data
You use roles to limit who can do what. You may for example limit the ability to write assays to the database to a handful of named individuals but permit any user to read assays from the database.