Glossary · HMI, SCADA and operations
Message management
Also known as: Report management, Message system, Alarm logging
German: Meldemanagement
In HMI and SCADA systems, message management is the function that generates, displays, acknowledges, logs and archives messages from the process and the system, including alarms, warnings, events and operator actions.
- HMI and SCADA
In one sentence
Message management generates, displays, acknowledges, logs and archives HMI messages such as alarms, warnings and events.
Example
The message management of the line HMI records every fault with time stamp and acknowledgment, and the maintenance team exports the log weekly to find recurring faults.
How it applies
- Engineering: Messages can be triggered by bits, analog limits or system events. Configure texts, classes, priorities, acknowledgment rules and archiving in one place. Message numbers and texts should come from a managed list, not ad hoc per screen.
- Operation: Message logs support troubleshooting and analysis of stoppages. Accurate time stamps, ideally set at the source, are essential for the sequence of events.
- Documentation: Message texts are a documentation deliverable: write them with cause and remedy, manage them in a terminology-controlled list and translate them together with the manual. A message list with explanations belongs in the operating or maintenance manual. The list term "report management" is a mistranslation of the German "Meldemanagement".
Message management vs. alarm management
Message management is the technical function in the HMI. Alarm management is the lifecycle discipline that decides which conditions become alarms and how they are designed.