Insight®

Revision 3.13

www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies

User Guide
Insight Revision 3.13

User Guide

Building Technologies
 Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice
Notice
Document information is subject to change without notice by Siemens Industry, Inc.
Companies, names, and various data used in examples are fictitious unless otherwise
noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written
permission of Siemens Industry, Inc.
All software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement and
may be used or copied only in accordance with license terms.
For further information, contact your nearest Siemens Industry, Inc. representative.
Copyright 2013 by Siemens Industry, Inc.

To the Reader
Your feedback is important to us. If you have comments about this manual, please
submit them to: SBT_technical.editor.us.sbt@siemens.com

Credits
APOGEE, APOGEE GO, InfoCenter Administrator, InfoCenter Report Manager,
InfoCenter Server, InfoCenter Suite, and Insight are registered trademarks of Siemens
Industry, Inc.
Other product or company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their
respective owners.
Printed in USA

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 End User License Agreement

End User License Agreement

IMPORTANT—READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a
legal agreement between you and Siemens Industry, Inc. from which you obtained
limited nonexclusive rights to use the INSIGHT Operating Software Product. By
installing, receiving, implementing or otherwise using the Siemens Industry, Inc.
INSIGHT Operating Software Product, you agree to be bound by the terms of this
EULA. If you do not agree with the terms, Siemens Industry, Inc. is unwilling to license
the INSIGHT Operating Software Product to you. In such event, you should promptly
contact Siemens Industry, Inc. for instructions on return of the INSIGHT Operating
Software Product.
Siemens Industry, Inc. provides this INSIGHT Operating Software Product and
licenses its use by the terms herein. You assume responsibility for the selection of the
INSIGHT Operating Software Product to achieve your intended results.
GRANT OF LICENSE.
 If the INSIGHT Operating Software Product was obtained by you for use on a
single machine, then you may only install the INSIGHT Operating Software Product
on a single machine at any one time.
 If you obtained functionalities from Siemens Industry, Inc. that permit networked
use of the INSIGHT Operating Software Product, you may copy and distribute the
INSIGHT Operating Software Product over an internal network for use, at any one
time, by the number of active concurrent users for which you obtained an EULA.
 You may make a copy of the INSIGHT Operating Software Product in object form
for backup purposes in support of your use of the INSIGHT Operating Software
Product.
 You may not sublicense, assign or transfer the EULA or the INSIGHT Operating
Software Product. Any attempt to sublicense, assign or transfer any of the rights,
duties or obligations hereunder is void.
 YOU MAY NOT OTHERWISE COPY, DISTRIBUTE OR TRANSFER THE
INSIGHT OPERATING SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
 IF YOU TRANSFER POSSESSION OF ANY COMPLETE COPY OR PORTION
OF THE INSIGHT OPERATING SOFTWARE PRODUCT TO ANOTHER PARTY,
WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.,
YOUR LICENSE IS AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATED. YOU RECOGNIZE THAT
SUCH TERMINATION IS NOT A COMPLETE REMEDY AND SIEMENS
INDUSTRY, INC. IS ENTITLED TO SEEK FURTHER RELIEF SHOULD YOU
VIOLATE THIS EULA.
REVERSE ENGINEERING, DISASSEMBLY.
You are prohibited from reverse engineering, disassembling, decompiling, or decoding
the object code provided to you, or otherwise translating the object code for the
INSIGHT Operating Software Product, or permitting any third party to do the same.
You recognize that your rights to use the INSIGHT Operating Software are strictly
limited to use of the code in the object form as provided to you by Siemens Industry,
Inc. pursuant to this EULA.
TERM.
The EULA is effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by destroying
the INSIGHT Operating Software Product together with all copies in any form. It will
also terminate upon conditions set forth elsewhere in the EULA or if you fail to comply

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 End User License Agreement

with any term or condition of this EULA. You agree upon such termination to destroy
the INSIGHT Operating Software Product together with all copies.
LIMITED WARRANTY.
THE INSIGHT OPERATING SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED "AS IS"
WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE
RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE INSIGHT OPERATING
SOFTWARE PRODUCT IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE INSIGHT OPERATING
SOFTWARE PRODUCT PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST
OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
Siemens Industry, Inc. does not warrant the functions contained in the INSIGHT
Operating Software Product will meet your requirements or that the operation of the
INSIGHT Operating Software Product will be uninterrupted or error free. However,
Siemens Industry, Inc. warrants the media on which the INSIGHT Operating Software
Product is furnished to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under
normal use for a period of ninety days from the date of shipment.
LIMITATIONS ON REMEDIES.
Siemens Industry, Inc.'s entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be:
 the replacement of any media not meeting Siemens Industry, Inc. "Limited
Warranty" and which is returned to Siemens Industry, Inc. or an authorized
Siemens Industry, Inc. distributor, or
 if Siemens Industry, Inc. or an authorized Siemens Industry, Inc. distributor is
unable to deliver a replacement media which is free of defects in materials or
workmanship, you may terminate the EULA by returning the INSIGHT Operating
Software Product and your money will be refunded.
IN NO EVENT WILL SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY
DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE PRODUCT EVEN IF SIEMENS INDUSTRY,
INC. OR ANY AUTHORIZED SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. DISTRIBUTOR HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY
ANY OTHER PARTY.
TERMINATION.
Upon termination of this EULA, all rights granted to you will terminate and revert to
Licensor. Promptly upon termination of this EULA for any reason or upon
discontinuance or abandonment of your possession or use of the INSIGHT Operating
Software Product, you must return or destroy all copies of the INSIGHT Operating
Software Product in your possession, and all other materials pertaining to the INSIGHT
Operating Software Product (including all copies thereof). You agree to certify your
compliance with such restriction upon Licensor's request.
GENERAL.
This EULA will be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA. Because some
states/jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential
or incidental damages, and/or a limitation of implied warranty, such limitations may not
apply to you. In the event that any term of this EULA is or becomes or is declared to be
invalid or void by any court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, such term or terms
shall be null and void and shall be deemed severed from this EULA and all the
remaining terms of this EULA shall remain in full force and effect.

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 Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 7
What is Insight? ................................................................................................................... 7
Applications ....................................................................................................................... 8
Insight Main Menu ............................................................................................................... 8
Alarm Issue Management (AIM) ........................................................................................ 10
Alarm Issue Management Process Overview .................................................... 11
Alarm Issue Management (AIM) Editor ............................................................................. 13
Alarm Management ........................................................................................................... 13
About Point Alarms ............................................................................................. 13
Types of Point Alarm Management .................................................................... 14
About Alarm Notification ..................................................................................... 14
Alarm Status ...................................................................................................................... 14
Attribute Duplicator ............................................................................................................ 15
Commander ....................................................................................................................... 15
Communications Monitor ................................................................................................... 16
Communications Failure..................................................................................... 17
Communications Restored ................................................................................. 17
Compliance Support Option ............................................................................... 18
Database Transfer ............................................................................................................. 18
Uploading and Downloading .............................................................................. 18
Backing Up and Restoring.................................................................................. 19
Data Export Utility .............................................................................................................. 19
Dynamic Plotter ................................................................................................................. 19
Event Builder ..................................................................................................................... 20
Global Commander ............................................................................................................ 20
Graphics............................................................................................................................. 21
Object Selector .................................................................................................................. 23
Point Details ....................................................................................................................... 23
Point Editor ........................................................................................................................ 24
Point Group Editor ............................................................................................................. 24
Point Summary Report ...................................................................................................... 24
Program Editor ................................................................................................................... 25
Remote Notification ........................................................................................................... 26
How Remote Notification Works......................................................................... 27
Report Builder/Viewer ........................................................................................................ 27
Scheduler ........................................................................................................................... 28
System Activity Log ........................................................................................................... 29
System Profile .................................................................................................................... 29
When To Use System Profile ............................................................................. 30

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 BACnet Object Browser...................................................................................... 31
Time of Day........................................................................................................................ 31
Trend Definition Editor ....................................................................................................... 32
User Accounts .................................................................................................................... 32
Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 33
Glossary ............................................................................................................................ 35

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 Introduction
What is Insight?

Introduction
This User Guide contains an overview about the applications within the Insight
software. Detailed information about using all Insight applications is incorporated into
the online help system that is automatically installed with each Insight revision.
You can access online help in an application, as well as globally, by using one of the
following methods:
 To access help for a window, dialog box, or menu command, select the item and
press F1. Most dialog boxes also include a Help button that displays help for the
task you are performing.
 To obtain help for a specific application, open that application, and from the Help
menu, click Help Topics.

 To access all help, click on the Main Menu. This displays the Online
Documentation screen that allows you to access the Release Notes and
information about setting up and using the software and its options.
 A shortcut to the Online Documentation screen is within the Insight Version 3
program group and is accessible even if the Insight application is not running.

What is Insight?
Welcome to Insight, a graphical software package that allows you to manage and
control your building facilities from a personal computer running on Windows.
Insight ’s easy-to-use graphical interface is designed to support the complex and
demanding needs of building operators. You can quickly and easily navigate between
applications in the workstation. By using the concept of “drag and drop”, you can share
information between Insight applications. This allows the operator to use the
applications together instead of separately, and saves the operator time by not having
to switch to and from other applications or re-enter the same information.
The numerous information and reporting capabilities allow you to make better
management decisions for today and the future.

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 Applications
Insight Main Menu

Applications

Insight Main Menu

The Insight Main Menu is the central launching point for all Insight applications. To
launch an application from the Insight Main Menu, click the button that corresponds to
the application you want to open.
Your access level for each Insight application determines your access to applications
on the Main Menu. If your access level is No Access for an Insight application, the
button for that application will not display in the Insight Main Menu when you start the
Insight software.

NOTE: Depending on your access level, you can also create up to 10 custom buttons
that launch applications from the Insight Main Menu. For more information, see the
Insight Main Menu online help.

Following is a brief description of each button on the Insight Main Menu. If you are
running the Base Insight package, you will not see the applications that are marked
Optional.

 - Alarm Issue Management (Optional) - Alarm Issue Management displays

point alarm issues detected in your building system.

 - Alarm Issue Management Editor (AIM) (Optional) - Alarm Issue Management

Editor allows you to define contacts and equipment information that is used when
assigning a contact to an alarm issue.

 - Alarm Status - Alarm Status displays point alarms and Building Level
Network (BLN) or Automation Level Network (ALN) messages detected in your
building system.

 - Attribute Duplicator - Attribute Duplicator allows you to copy the properties

of a point to another point or a group of points. For example, a list of analog points
will have all their enhanced alarm definitions modified.

 - Commander - Commander lets you take manual control of a point and

override any pre-established automatic controls for the point.

 - Database Transfer - Database Transfer provides a way for you to manually

upload and download the Insight system databases between the workstation and
the field panels.

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 Applications
Insight Main Menu

 - Dynamic Plotter (Optional) - Dynamic Plotter is used to plot point values in a

continuous graph. Historical trend point values, dynamic point value changes, or a
combination of historical and dynamic values can be used to analyze and report on
point activity.

 - Event Builder - The Event Builder provides a mechanism to define Zones

and Events for your building system.

 - Global Commander - The Global Commander allows you to issue a single

command to be applied to a selected group of points in the building system.

 - Graphics - Graphics allows you to create and display color graphics of your
facility and equipment for point monitoring and commanding.

 - Online Documentation Screen - The Online Documentation screen allows

you navigation capabilities, global searches to the Insight Main Help files, Insight
manuals (PDF), Technical Editor e-mail address, and the Siemens Web site.

 - Panel Point Log Report - The Point Log Report allows you to quickly create a
Point Log Report without creating a report definition in Report Builder.

 - Point Detail - Point Details is used to view information about a logical point
defined in your building system.

 - Point Editor - The Point Editor is used to enter point information into the
Insight system so that the Insight software can monitor and control the equipment
connected to the point.

 - Point Group Editor - The Point Group Editor is used to organize the points in
your system. Grouping points allows you create relationships and hierarchies
among the points.

 - Point Summary Report - The Point Summary Report application allows you
to create three types of printed reports containing information about the points
within the field panels and devices of your Building Automation System.

 - Program Editor (Optional) - The Program Editor is used to create control

programs with the Powers Process Control Language (PPCL).

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