1. Introduction SmartPlant Instrumentation (SPI), formerly known as Intergraph INtools, is a powerful, data-centric engineering software platform designed for the lifecycle management of instrumentation and control systems. Developed by Hexagon (formerly Intergraph), SPI is part of the SmartPlant Enterprise suite. It moves beyond traditional, drawing-centric design by employing a database-driven approach, ensuring data consistency, reducing redundancy, and automating tedious tasks. SPI is widely adopted in process industries such as oil & gas, petrochemicals, power generation, pharmaceuticals, and mining. 2. Core Philosophy: Data-Centric vs. Drawing-Centric Traditional instrumentation design relies on multiple standalone spreadsheets, documents, and CAD drawings. Changes in one document (e.g., a loop drawing) must be manually replicated in others (e.g., the instrument index, wiring schedule). This process is error-prone and time-consuming.
1. Introduction SmartPlant Instrumentation (SPI), formerly known as Intergraph INtools, is a powerful, data-centric engineering software platform designed for the lifecycle management of instrumentation and control systems. Developed by Hexagon (formerly Intergraph), SPI is part of the SmartPlant Enterprise suite. It moves beyond traditional, drawing-centric design by employing a database-driven approach, ensuring data consistency, reducing redundancy, and automating tedious tasks. SPI is widely adopted in process industries such as oil & gas, petrochemicals, power generation, pharmaceuticals, and mining. 2. Core Philosophy: Data-Centric vs. Drawing-Centric Traditional instrumentation design relies on multiple standalone spreadsheets, documents, and CAD drawings. Changes in one document (e.g., a loop drawing) must be manually replicated in others (e.g., the instrument index, wiring schedule). This process is error-prone and time-consuming.