As an alternative to the OpenPCS 7 system interface, the PCS 7 OCS open data interface can also be used for data communication between external systems on the MES and ERP levels and the SIMATIC PCS 7 process control system.

In contrast to the Open PCS 7 interface based on OPC specifications, the PCS 7 OCS interface uses a platform-independent communication standard (ACPLT/KS), which enables stable, firewall-compatible TCP/IP communication over configurable, fixed network ports.

The server interface PCS 7 OCS offers functions for reading and writing process tags as well as for reading out message archives and the process value archive of the process control system SIMATIC PCS 7. This allows e.g. job, production, or inventory information to be exchanged, visualized, and edited between an ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SIMATIC PCS 7.

In addition to the process and archive data, structure and type information of the process control system configuration can be read out via the PCS 7 OCS server interface. External applications can therefore be used to systematically search through the process control system SIMATIC PCS 7 according to various criteria (e.g. search all function blocks of type "CTRL_PID" and read the actual value of the manual/automatic parameter "AUT_ON_OP").

Note:

PCS 7 OCS can be used together with SIMATIC PCS 7 V7.1, V8.0, V8.1 and V8.2.