Why It Matters

• Operators need to process many data points in a short amount of time.
• Without clear grouping or classification, working memory gets overwhelmed.
• Chunking improves cognitive efficiency by visually organizing data into meaningful units.

Operational Impact Examples

• Reliability meeting dashboards:
  Grouping out-of-compliance assets helps teams focus discussion and plan actions quickly.

• Pump monitoring during shift change:
  Instead of reviewing each pump individually, operators can scan categories like “Running Too Long” or “All Stopped” to grasp the situation instantly.

• Alarm review displays:
  Grouping alarms by source system (e.g., instrumentation, electrical) or likely root cause (e.g., flow blockage, power loss) makes it faster to analyze what's happening and respond appropriately.

Chunking bridges perception and action — enabling users to see what matters without assembling the puzzle mentally.

Real-World Analogy

Air Traffic Control Grouping:
Experienced air traffic controllers don’t track 30 individual planes — they organize them into meaningful chunks like “arrivals,” “departures,” or “holding pattern.” This makes complexity manageable and improves control decisions.

Typical Design Techniques

• Section headings and labels: Visually separate related items using titles, lines, or padding.
• Color-coded groupings: Use consistent colors to bind items conceptually.
• Whitespace and alignment: Leverage layout to form natural group boundaries.
• Spatial repositioning: Animate movement of items between groups only when it aids user comprehension.

The platform testing section below shows examples of some of these techniques in practice.

Use Case for Platform Testing

Consider a compliance tracking dashboard for pump groups:

• Visually organize pump groups into three distinct categories: In Compliance, Out of Compliance, and Excluded or Fully Stopped

• Use spatial repositioning (e.g. column layout) to create clear visual "chunks" of pump groups based on their compliance status

• Apply consistent spacing and alignment within each group to reinforce classification

• Evaluate how easily users can track the pump groups that need attention, rather than mentally scanning all pumps at once — especially during early morning reliability meetings when cognitive load is high

Tested Platforms

✅ AVEVA PI Vision — Supports Chunking

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Visual grouping handled via analytics-driven tag logic and grouped containers.
Display Build	• Utilized Collections to categorize pump groups based on compliance status • Timers, timestamps and time accumulations built to enhance comprehension of compliance situation
Version Tested	PI Vision 2024. PI Server 2018 SP3

✅ Ignition Perspective — Supports Chunking

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Pump groups are modeled using UDTs and organized dynamically by compliance status. Grouping logic is handled via tag-driven classification and scripting within Flex Repeaters.
Display Build	• Three visually separated columns show compliant, out-of-compliance, and stopped pump groups • Each group contains dynamic runtime counters, timestamps, and compliance indicators • Layout supports at-a-glance comparison and comprehension
Version Tested	Ignition 8.1.x (Perspective)

Upcoming Vendor Testing

• Tatsoft FrameworX

See which platforms have been tested for each SA concept in the SA Vendor Listing.