MESA International offers KPI markup language

MESA International, the not-for-profit that educates the world about the role and value of information technologies in manufacturing enterprises, has released a new XML markup language called KPI-ML.

KPI-ML is based upon the ISO 22400 standard: Automation systems integration - Key performance indicators (KPIs) for manufacturing operations management. KPI-ML will help manufacturing companies implement the ISO 22400 standard and increase the flow of key performance indicators within a business. This will enable manufacturing companies worldwide to reduce the cost of developing software for exchanging KPI data between systems, plants and business units.

KPI-ML consists of XML schemas allowing for a standard representation of generic KPI definitions, specific instances of use of KPIs (such as related to specific equipment), and KPI values for specific KPI instances. The information in KPI-ML is based on the data models and attributes defined in the ISO 22400 standards and complies with the ANSI/ISA 95 and IEC/ISO 62264 Enterprise-Control system integration standards.

KPI-ML continues MESA’s work of developing markup languages to help manufacturing companies implement international standards by providing a common XML vocabulary based upon standards. Other MESA markup languages are B2MML (Business to Manufacturing Markup Language) based upon ANSI/ISA 95 and IEC/ISO 62264 and BatchML (Batch Markup Language) based upon ANSI/ISA 88 and IEC 61512. Both B2MML and BatchML are widely used in the manufacturing industry by operating companies, automation suppliers and IT companies providing a common actionable data framework to implement the standards.

KPI-ML is available courtesy of MESA International as a free download at www.mesa.org/en/KPIML.asp.

The ISO 22400 standards are available from the International Standardization Organization (ISO) at www.iso.org.

The ISA-95 standard is available from The International Society of Automation (ISA) at www.isa.org.