Line items and parameters

How one enquiry becomes instruments, and how each value is marked stated, inferred, assumed or missing.

Splits one enquiry into line items — one per distinct instrument specification, with tag numbers and quantity — then records every process parameter relevant to that category.

Grouping

Several tags sharing one specification become one line carrying all of them, because that is how the quotation is written (R20). Six LT-101…106 on the same range and fluid are one line with quantity six, not six quotations.

A tag names one instrument (R95). When the same tag, or the same set of tags, is listed in two documents of an enquiry, such as an item list and a datasheet, the two become one line: what both say is kept once and what they say differently, a fluid included, is listed under the line for a person to check; quantities are never added. A merged line is saved for review, and one whose documents differed does not confirm itself. Lines that name two different families for one tag, such as a vortex and an electromagnetic datasheet, are alternatives and stay separate lines. Two rows of one document with the same tag, lines whose tags overlap without being equal, and tags written in shorthand such as “LT-101/102/103”, where another line shares a tag, stay as separate lines, each marked “Duplicate tag”. A mandatory spares row carrying the tag adds to that instrument’s spares, with a note naming the row, unless the instrument states spares itself, when both are marked.

Each line then carries its own fluid, so instruments on different fluids never share one lookup.

Each line gets one of the item group master’s categories — flow meters, rotameters, level indicators, level switches, level transmitters, pressure transmitters, sight glasses or accessories — or is marked as something Flowtech does not make. The categories named for the enquiry are checked first. Something Flowtech does not make has no product, so its quotation line carries a no-product reason until it is skipped on the quotation.

A line whose item or type cell starts with a product on Flowtech’s outside-range list, such as a glass pot assembly, is outside range (R92). It arrives excluded, marked “Excluded automatically” with the reason, and no product is suggested for it. Opening the line and confirming it reopens it: the mark is cleared and a product is suggested as for any other line.

A line whose remarks or status column says only that the client deleted it, put it on hold or has it supplied by others, such as “Deleted”, “Confirmation pending from client hence it is on hold” or “Vendors scope”, arrives excluded the same way, its reason the client’s words: “Excluded automatically. Client: Deleted” (R112). A remark that says anything more, such as “Changed type to vortex, by client”, leaves the line in review. Confirming reopens it.

The product family on each line

Each line also records the product family its enquiry names. An item code or a model number names its family, whichever cell of the row holds it. So does the family’s full name, or a name covering several families such as an ultrasonic flowmeter, a bypass rotameter, or an inline or online rotameter (the glass tube, metal tube, acrylic and tiny glass tube rotameters), which narrows the choice to those families. “Inline type”, “online type” and “ONLINETYPE” do the same in a rotameter line; “inline” alone, as in “inline size”, names nothing. A short type word the catalogue knows, such as “bypass” or “acrylic” in a rotameter line or “reflex” in a level gauge line, counts only in the line’s own description or in a cell whose heading names the item or its type, such as type, model, item description, equipment, meter type or switching principle. A level switch line is named by its sensing and mounting words: “float type” or “float operated” narrows the choice to the side mounted, top mounted and cable float switches, “float / magnetic” to the side and top mounted ones, and “side mounted”, “side entry”, “horizontal mounting” or “pivoted” names the side mounted switch. A heading that names an attribute, such as fluid, application, dial, connection or material, is not a type cell, except an item description or model heading, which stays a type cell when its only attribute word is material, make, manufacturer or customer, and a cell’s heading is never read. In any other cell a code or name of another category’s family is ignored, so an accessory named there does not become the line’s family, while a name of a family of the line’s own category there can still narrow the choice. Different names in different places on one line are kept as a conflict.

A line that names no family first takes what its own document says of it outside its row: the document’s file name, and what that document states once for the line, such as the Type row of a specification sheet. These are read as the line’s own cells are, a short type word only in the file name or under a heading that names the item or its type, and only for a family in the line’s own category: a flow meter line from “Flow Indicating Transmitter Magnetic.xlsx” is named an electromagnetic flowmeter. Where the document names several families, the line’s choice is narrowed to those and none is picked. What another document of the same enquiry states is not read, even when the reading files it with this document, so an enquiry that sends a vortex sheet and a magnetic sheet gives each line its own sheet’s family. Failing that, the line takes the one its enquiry’s subject and body name, and only a family in the line’s own category. The enquiry names it only when every item code, full family name and short type word in the subject and body agrees on that one family. When the enquiry names two families, as “vortex flowmeter and magnetic flowmeter” does, or only a name covering several, or a type word that points to a different family, nothing is recorded for the line. A family taken from the line’s document or from the subject and body is recorded as named in the enquiry. The ranking treats it as named: it is the pick when it fits, and a deviation when it is ruled out; the product strip shows the outcome. When none of these names a family, a level indicator line whose item is only a “level gauge” is narrowed to the reflex and transparent level gauges; the line’s other words, its document and its enquiry are read first, so “Level gauge” with a Type of “Magnetic type” stays a magnetic level indicator. A named family is checked against the line, never trusted.

A line whose named family is ruled out is a deviation, and it is read with what the customer asked for, the family offered instead, and each reason the request is ruled out, worded from the limit the line breaks and the line’s own figure: “By-pass glass tube rotameter and By-pass metal tube rotameter need line sizes 50 to 1000 NB; this line has 25 NB.” A request covering several families, such as a bypass rotameter, is asked for in the customer’s own words, and a reason those families share is given once. Each reason says where its figure came from: stated by the customer, saved by a reviewer, the fluid library, or assumed. The line’s size and flow range are read beside it, as asked and as offered; the flow range reads in the line’s own flow unit (m³/h for a liquid, Nm³/h for a gas, kg/h for steam) and on the line’s own fluid, so the range offered is what the size reads for that fluid, not for water or air.

A family can also be ruled out because the line asks for a readout it does not have: “has no analogue readout” for a digital meter on a line that asks for an analog type, or “has no digital readout” for the reverse (R124).

A reviewer can pick a different family for a line, with Use this instead on one of the other options under Why this product, or by keeping the family when a change would move the line off it (see Changing a value). The pick is kept beside what the customer asked for, with who made it and when, and the family the enquiry named stays as stated. The picked family leads the list, is checked and sized like any other, and a limit it breaks, or a type it is not, is kept as a caution on it. The product strip says the family was chosen in line review. A pick outside the families asked for is a deviation whose reason reads “Chosen in line review”, and the line asks only for the inputs the picked family needs. On such a line the family the customer asked for is listed under Customer asked, not as ruled out, with Use this instead, which picks it as the reviewer’s own choice: the line still reads “Chosen in line review” and does not confirm itself. A pick is saved with Save changes, before the line’s values, and saving it returns a confirmed line to review (R96); a line with a pick does not confirm itself (R71). On a line with a saved pick, the product strip offers Use the suggestion, which clears the pick: the strip shows what the line suggests with no pick, the note under it reads Product pick cleared, and Save changes clears the pick before saving the line’s values, as it saves a pick. The item code still follows the line’s size; it cannot be chosen.

On the real-mail test set, about 71% of the lines with a family were recorded with exactly that family. A family named only in the running text of an attached document, outside its file name and what it states once for its lines, is not read, and such a line is left unnamed.

The fluid on each line

The fluid is the substance the instrument handles, in the customer’s own wording. A tank, a pump or a line the instrument sits on says where it is installed, and is kept beside the fluid, never shown as it. The fluid is read from the first of five places that gives one:

1. The line’s own fluid cell. The cell under a fluid, media, medium or liquid heading. Whatever that cell says is the line’s fluid, whether or not the library holds it, with four exceptions: a line code, described below; a cell that says where the line starts from, such as “At filter feed line”, which is kept as where the instrument is installed; a cell that says only a phase, such as Liquid, Gas or Fluid, which names no fluid, so the fluid is read from the places below and the cell is kept as the fluid only when none of them gives one; and a cell that names only a class of fluid, such as “Chemical” or “Acid”, which gives way to the line’s service or installation location when that names a library fluid with certainty and repeats any class word the cell gives: “Acid” with the service “Nitric acid 70%” is nitric acid, a guess when a location names it (5). With neither, the cell stays the fluid. A heading that names something else beside the fluid, such as “Fluid state” or a section heading joined to its column’s, is not a fluid heading. A fluid heading misspelt by two swapped letters, as “Meida” is, is read as a fluid heading.
2. The service. A cell under a Service or Application heading that names no plant is what the line handles, and is its fluid whether or not the library holds it: “Coagulant aid” and “LP steam” are fluids. This is read only when no fluid is stated once for the document.
3. A dosing or storage name. What such a name holds is the fluid: “NAOH dosing tank” gives NAOH, and “Brine & Glycol storage tank” gives Brine & Glycol, in whichever cell of the row the name is written, a drawing title included. A fluid read this way is always for a person to confirm: a guess when the library holds it, shown as written when it does not. Where the fluid stated once for the document names the same library fluid, that statement stands as it is.
4. Stated once for the document. A fluid written once above a table or on a datasheet that covers several tags, such as “Fluid: Water”, is the fluid of every line it applies to that has no wording of its own.
5. A place that names a library fluid. A service or application cell that names plant, and a cell under an Installation Location, Location or Position heading, say where the line is installed. One is read as the fluid only when its wording names a library fluid, as “caustic transfer pump” does. A fluid named by an installation location or position is always a guess for a person to confirm, however exactly it is named. A fluid stated once for the document that the library does not hold gives way to such a cell; the line’s fluid is then a guess for a person to confirm, and the document’s wording stays among what the enquiry states once.

Plant is a vessel, a machine, a line, an inlet or an outlet, a dosing or a storage, read from a fixed list of such words. A fluid is read out of a name only for dosing and storage: “fuel oil drum” names where the instrument sits and gives the line no fluid by its wording alone.

Some schedules write the pipe’s line class in the fluid column, such as “PR” or “SW”. A fluid cell is read as a line code when it is one unspaced token the library does not hold that a line number or tag of the same document repeats, as “PR” is in “50-PR-1001”. A line code gives way to a service cell or to what a dosing or storage name holds. Where the row names no substance, the code is the line’s fluid as written, shown as not in the library, and the fluid is asked for. “N2” in “25-N2-2001” is a library fluid and is read as nitrogen.

The Service row of the line’s datasheet holds the same substance, as written: the fluid cell, else the service cell that names no plant, else what a dosing or storage name holds, else the line code. A service the reading wrote that only repeats where the row says the line is installed is removed from that row. Where the line’s own row states no substance, the Service row stays as the reading wrote it.

A service or application that names plant and no library fluid, such as “sludge holding tank”, is kept as where the line is installed and is not shown as its fluid. One that says steam, gas or vapour is still read as the fluid wording, since the phase is read from the wording. An installation location or position is not: “steam turbine hall” says where the instrument sits, and gives the line no fluid and no phase.

Some forms print an upper and a lower fluid for a level instrument. Where the upper one is a gas (air, nitrogen, steam, vapour), the line’s fluid is the lower one. Where the upper one is not a gas the two are an interface: both are kept on the line as written, neither is matched, and a person chooses, whatever the line’s service names. An upper fluid stated alone that is a gas gives the line no fluid.

The wording is matched to the fluid library by name, by a trade name, abbreviation or process-stream term, or by formula, at the strength the customer stated, whatever the word order or spacing. A stated strength within 15 points of a library entry takes that entry — 33% hydrochloric acid reads from the 30% one. Wording that gives the fluid, a semicolon and then plant, such as “HCl 33%; Dosing pump”, is matched on the fluid before the semicolon. A zero written after a letter of a formula is read as the letter O, so “CL02” is ClO₂. A fluid written with water, such as “CL02 & Water” or “Water + CLO2”, is the library’s solution of it, here Chlorine Dioxide Solution, where the library holds one. A substance that is a gas at normal conditions, named on a line that does not say gas or vapour, is read as its solution where the library holds one, as a guess for a person to confirm: “CLO2” on a reactor outlet line is Chlorine Dioxide Solution, while “CLO2 gas” stays the gas.

Wording the library does not hold under any of those is matched more loosely, and only ever as a guess: by the words it shares with a library name, by one misspelt word, or, where even that finds nothing, by asking the reading model to choose among a few similar library fluids or none of them. A name that differs by a chemical ending is another substance, not a misspelling — sodium chlorite is never read as sodium chloride. Steam is never read as water.

Wording that holds a chemical formula the library cannot match, such as “NaClO2” or “HCl + NaClO2”, is first named by the reading model: it is sent only the formulas and the joins between them, never the rest of the wording or its strength. A single compound the library holds becomes a guess, at the strength the customer stated, and the fluid card says the formula it was named from. A mixture, a reaction, or a compound the library does not hold lists the chemicals it names under the fluid card: for a reaction its reactants and the product it makes, marked product. The reviewer picks the one the line meters. A library chemical sets the line’s fluid; one the library lacks records it by name, as Not in the library does; and a person who may add substances can add it to the library with its name and formula filled in, without a mixture’s or reaction’s wording as its alias, so that wording keeps offering every chemical. Nothing is chosen for the reviewer, the customer’s wording stays on the line, and the model gives names only, never a property. Each wording is named once and remembered for later enquiries. Instrument, rating, material and stream codes such as SS316, PN16, PT-101 or SS4, and wording written all in lower case, are not read as formulas.

The reviewer takes a guess with Use and the guessed fluid’s name, changes the fluid from a search of the library, or records that no library fluid applies. The search finds a fluid by part of its name or formula, or by one of its aliases written in full, in any case and whatever spaces surround it. A fluid a person chose is review work: gathering the enquiry again will not discard it without being told to.

Once a reviewer sets a line’s fluid, by any of those or by recording it by name, the fluid card offers the same fluid to the enquiry’s other lines it fits, with Apply to N other lines. A line fits when it is still to review, sits under the same project, and words its fluid the same way once case, spacing and punctuation are set aside: “Cooling-Water” fits “cooling water”, while “NaOH 1.0%” does not fit “NaOH 10%”. A line whose fluid a person already chose, or that already reads the chosen fluid, is not offered, and neither is a line that reads as a liquid when the answered line reads as a gas, or the other way round. Each line’s own fluid-state cell, such as “Fluid State: G”, decides how it reads; without one, its fluid does. A line a person set to not in the library without giving a name reads like one the library did not match, so it can still be offered; untick it to keep it. The offer lists each line by its number and description, all ticked; unticking one leaves it as it is. Each ticked line is changed as if its fluid were set on that line by hand, so a line that changed since it was loaded, or that the reviewer may not edit, is reported and left, and the rest still take the fluid. Nothing is offered when no other line fits.

A fluid the library does not hold, such as a blend the customer names, is recorded on the line by name (R67). The datasheet then asks for what the library would have filled: the fluid’s density or specific gravity, and its viscosity. Each is marked needed once, and only where the enquiry gives none. A category lists one quantity under a different name for each of its families, so a density the customer stated under any of those names is not asked for again. Pressure, temperature and flow are never asked for on this account, since no library fills them. What the reviewer enters is saved as edited in review.

A person who may add substances, which is the Substance Master’s own permission, adds a guessed fluid, wording the library does not hold, or a fluid recorded by name to the library from the fluid card with Add to fluid library. The short form asks only for what the line needs:

• the fluid’s name, the name recorded on the line or else the customer’s wording;
• its phase, liquid, gas or solid, taken from the line’s own fluid-state cell or its wording where either gives one, with steam taken as a gas;
• the customer’s wording, kept as an alias of the fluid;
• the properties the line’s suggested product checks the fluid on: its density (in kg/m³ or as a specific gravity) and viscosity where the product’s limits read them, as a vortex or turbine flowmeter’s do; whether it conducts at 5 µS/cm or more, for a product that needs a conductive fluid, such as the electromagnetic flowmeter; and its dielectric constant, for a radar level transmitter. With no product suggested, it asks for density and viscosity.

Each property opens with what the enquiry states on the line in the library’s units, and a stated conductivity sets whether the fluid conducts; no datasheet field holds a dielectric constant, so it opens blank. A property left blank is saved as not known. A liquid given both a density and a specific gravity is not saved while the two differ by more than 1%, taking water at 998 kg/m³; a gas’s specific gravity is to air and is not compared. Saving adds the fluid and sets the line to it, as if chosen in review, and the card then offers it to the enquiry’s other lines it fits. Where the fluid is added but the line cannot be set to it, such as a line that changed since it was opened, the form says so and Try again sets only the line, after Reload where the line changed; the fluid is never added twice, and opening the form again offers the same retry. A fluid added this way has no corrosion grades, so its wetted materials and lining read as can’t be checked, and it gives no corrosion warning, until its grades are entered on the Substance Master.

A figure the customer stated without the catalogue’s unit, such as a specific gravity of 1.2 in a field held in kg/m³, is kept and shown as their wording.

Where the units service can convert a stated numeric value, the datasheet shows the converted figure in the catalogue’s unit, or, on a field held in m³/h, a gas flow in Nm³/h and a steam flow in kg/h. Its label marks the conversion; the formula and the figures as stated are available beside it. The field’s information mark lists what the conversion was made with: the density the enquiry states, a density worked out from the stated specific gravity with the water it was read against, or the fluid library’s density or normal density, naming the fluid; for a flow a person saves in review, a gas’s density at the line’s pressure and temperature, or steam’s from the steam tables, with those conditions; an assumed atmosphere where an absolute pressure was read as gauge; a note where a pressure written with both an absolute and a gauge unit was read in the gauge unit; a note where a flow written in kg/cm² was read as kg/h; and the reference conditions or unit reading it took, marked where assumed. A size written as an outside diameter, such as 114.3 OD, shows its nominal bore, 100 NB, and its formula names the pipe or tube series it was read from (R106). the reference conditions or unit reading it took, marked where assumed. A flow unit a person saves in review counts as stated. Figures a person saves without a unit stay “unit not stated”; the unit greyed in the editor is a placeholder, not a value. A unit FlowOS borrowed from another line stays an assumption, also when the value is converted again, until a person saves a unit of their own. A gas flow saved in m³/h on a line whose gas the library does not hold is still saved in Nm³/h, from the line’s operating pressure and temperature alone, as an ideal gas; its information mark names the pressure, temperature and atmosphere it was taken at. A mass flow of such a gas stays as written, since it needs the gas’s density. A flow is taken between actual and normal volume only on a line whose fluid is a gas, as stated or as the library holds it: on a line whose fluid’s phase is not known, a flow saved in Nm³/h stays as written, naming the phase as what it lacks. Pressures are kept as gauge: an absolute pressure saved in review is stored as gauge on the assumed 1.01325 bar atmosphere. Saving the line’s operating pressure or temperature converts its gas and steam flows again from the figures and unit they were stated in, with the new conditions, so a flow saved before its pressure, in the same Save changes or earlier, follows it; a flow that cannot be converted again then keeps only its figures as stated, never one worked out at the old conditions. Changing a line’s fluid returns a value converted with the previous fluid’s library density, or taken to Nm³/h at a gas’s operating point, to the figures as stated, so it is never shown converted for another fluid. An unsupported or incompatible unit remains in the customer’s stated unit and is flagged for review. Different spellings that the units service resolves as the same unit are treated as already standard; an unrecognized unit is not called physically incompatible. Editing a converted value saves the figure in the catalogue’s unit, so the saved value no longer carries the original conversion metadata. Values that could not be converted are not automatically confirmed; a reviewer decides whether they belong on the line.

Where the customer asked for a material on a part the fluid touches, and the published chart grades that material C or D for the line’s fluid, the line says so. A band D on a fluid that is mild overall is not flagged (R30). This is a warning, never an exclusion — nothing is ruled out at this stage. Where the line’s fluid is only a guess, the warning is worded on that condition: “If the fluid is Caustic Soda (50%), SS 316L ASTM A479 - Rod on electrode material has limited resistance to it (band C).”

Origin of every value

A range or number a person saves in a unit other than the catalogue’s is converted into the catalogue’s unit when saved: 1,700 LPH on a flow kept in m³/h is saved as written, with 1.7 m³/h beside it. On a flow kept in m³/h, a gas flow is converted to Nm³/h and a steam flow to kg/h, on the line’s fluid, pressure and temperature as the product suggestion reads them, whether stated, saved or assumed:

• a gas flow in m³/h is taken at the line’s operating pressure and temperature as an ideal gas, read against an assumed atmosphere of 1.01325 bar: through the library’s normal density for a gas the line matched with certainty, and from the pressure and temperature alone for a gas the library does not hold; a mass flow of a gas converts only with a matched gas’s normal density;
• a mass flow of a liquid converts with the density the line states, or the one its stated specific gravity gives (R109), else the library’s density for a liquid it matched with certainty;
• a steam flow in m³/h converts with steam’s density from the steam tables at the line’s pressure and temperature, or the density the line states.

An absolute pressure is read as gauge against the same assumed atmosphere. The product suggestion reads the converted figures, and while the line is edited the suggestion converts with the pressure and temperature being changed beside the flow. A figure converted on an assumed pressure, temperature or density, such as a gas flow taken at the 20 °C assumed for a line that states no temperature, reads as assumed: where it alone would rule a product out, the product is only cautioned. A value that cannot be converted, such as a gas flow in m³/h on a line with no operating pressure, a gas’s mass flow with no gas matched in the library, a flow in Nm³/h on a line whose fluid’s phase is not known, or a unit that is not recognised, is saved as written with the input it lacks named, and is read only as written. Saving the line’s operating pressure or temperature converts a saved gas or steam flow again from the figure as stated; saving the flow again does the same. A range or number with a catalogue unit is saved only as figures with a unit: its customer wording shows read-only, and saving wording on it is refused, so it is turned into figures with Convert, or cleared with the cross beside it to enter figures by hand.

A range or number with a catalogue unit that the enquiry gave in words, such as “approx 1700 LPH” or “as per process”, is listed under Check these values with Convert; where the field is also asked of the customer, the question stands in its place. Convert opens a small form on that item: the words with their figures and unit marked, boxes for the minimum, normal and maximum (a number has one value box) and the unit, filled in from the words where they hold figures and blank where they hold none, and the figures in the catalogue’s unit for the line, as they will be saved: worked out with the line’s fluid and conditions, with what they rest on beneath, or the inputs the line lacks. Its Unit box takes a unit picked from its menu as well as one typed. A single figure is read as the normal value. What follows @ or “at” is the condition the value was measured at, not a figure of it: “0.014 @ 3.5 Kg/cm2g” on a viscosity is a normal of 0.014, and Measured at 3.5 kg/cm²(g) shows under the boxes. Words that name no unit take the field’s, so that viscosity reads in cP. A temperature’s “Amb” is placed as 40 °C, the ambient the line otherwise assumes, and where a range has more than one figure the result names each: “Becomes min 40 °C (assumed, ambient), normal 140 °C, max 160 °C.” Use these figures sets them as an unsaved change, saved with Save changes; it stays off until the unit is one the field’s quantity accepts. On a flow, a blank minimum or maximum is worked out from the normal flow, and the quote says so; on any other field it stays blank. A field the catalogue gives no unit and one with an unsaved change are not offered Convert; a single-value field whose words hold more than one figure opens with the first.

An operating pressure, temperature or flow the customer wrote as plain figures is saved as numbers, and is still stated. One figure is the operating value and two are the minimum and maximum. Three are read only under a column headed minimum, normal, maximum, or with order words written beside them, as in “4/35/50 Min/Nor/Max Flow”; Min/Normal/Max, Min/Nom/Max, Min/Op/Max and Min-Nor-Max read the same. Min/Max orders two, so “4/50 Min/Max” reads too. The figures must rise in that order. The unit is the one written with the figures, else the one in the column’s heading. A pressure or temperature with no unit, wording with a qualifier such as “max”, and wording with no figure at all are kept as the customer wrote them. A flow with no unit is kept as figures: it takes the unit the enquiry’s other flow lines state, which the quotation prints as Assumed with a note saying so, or, where they state none, stays without a unit and the quotation prints “(unit not stated)” beside the figures (R107). A rotameter’s scale is the meter the customer chose, not the line’s flow; it is never read without a unit and lends none. A figure that sits under a column for a design, test or limit value is also kept as written, since it is not the operating value. Where the reading saved only some of the figures its quoted words state, such as the minimum and normal flow of “10/700/900 Min/Nor/Max”, the field takes every figure from those words, as long as they agree with the ones saved and give the same unit, so a stated maximum is kept and not worked out from the normal flow. A label naming the quantity before the figures, as in “Flow Rate- 1/580/725 Min/Nor/Max”, is read past.

Where the line’s own row gives a quantity in separate columns, such as “Pressure (kg/cm2 g)” under Min., Nor. and Max., the field takes those cells as they stand: each column’s figure as the minimum, the operating value or the maximum, with the unit of the cell or of the column’s heading. This holds for pressure, temperature and flow: the cells fill the minimum, operating and maximum rows and replace what the reading wrote there, so a maximum the reading left out is restored and a figure written under the wrong limit is put right. A flow range the customer asks of the meter, in a column of its own such as “Flow range (m3/hr)”, is the line’s Flowtech flow range and is not read this way. A cell stating nothing is skipped. The row is left alone, and the field stays as read, when a cell holds anything but one figure (“Amb”, “ATM”, a figure in another quantity’s unit), when the unit is missing or differs between the cells, when the figures do not rise, and when two groups of such columns state the quantity, such as an inlet and an outlet pressure. A design, test or rated column is never read this way.

The same holds where one column gives the figures together under a heading that orders them, such as “Temp (Min / Nor / Max / Design) °C” over “40 / 60 / 80 / 100”: the figures are read in the heading’s order, with the unit of the cell or the heading, and replace what the reading wrote. A design figure the column gives fills the line’s design temperature or design pressure as stated, unless the line already holds one. The column is left alone when its cell holds a figure more or less than the heading names, when the figures do not rise, when its heading names another figure as well, such as a design temperature column or a meter’s flow range, when two such columns state the quantity, and when the row also gives the quantity a separate minimum or maximum column.

A value the enquiry states once for several lines in its own words, such as a cable entry or a wire length given above a schedule, is written into each line it applies to as the lines are gathered, under the field whose label is the customer’s, case, punctuation and spacing aside, where the line states nothing of its own. It is saved as stated, quoting the passage it was read from, and is converted, checked and matched to an option like the line’s own values. A label that is no field’s, or that two fields of the category carry, is left beneath the lines (R70).

Inferred and assumed values, and what the enquiry states once for several lines, are filled in on the datasheet when the line is opened, and are not saved (R66). Each is marked with its origin and says beneath what it rests on. Left alone, it follows the line’s fluid and the fluid library, and its field still counts as missing where it is required, ambient temperature and pressure on a liquid aside (R16). Changed, it is saved as a value edited in review. Seven kinds are filled:

• What the enquiry states once for several lines, stated — a shared requirement that names a catalogue field, such as an output signal or an inspection asked of every instrument, filled into each line it applies to where the line states nothing of its own (R70). It counts as stated, so it does satisfy a required parameter.
• From the fluid library, inferred — density, specific gravity and viscosity for a matched or confirmed fluid, where the line states none.
• Ambient conditions, assumed — atmospheric pressure, as 1 bar g over 1–3 bar g, and 40 °C over 28–52 °C, with their design values where the datasheet has a design field, when the enquiry states no figure for that quantity (wording such as “As per process” is kept beside the assumed figure) or writes the operating value only as “ATM” or “ambient”, and never for steam or a gas (R17). On a liquid they count as known when a product is chosen (R16). A gas line is asked both; a steam line is given the pressure or temperature it leaves blank from the steam table, shown as Calculated, or Assumed past the sizing table’s columns, and not asked (R84), and is asked to confirm a stated temperature more than 5 °C below saturation (R125).
• A range around an operating value, assumed — 30% either side of a lone operating pressure or temperature, with no minimum width, or the mean of a stated minimum and maximum (R65).
• The same range under its other name, inferred — where a category has both an operating field and a range field for pressure or temperature, a minimum and maximum stated in one is copied to the other. An assumed range is filled into both (R65).
• A design value, assumed — 1.3 times the maximum pressure or temperature, where the design field is blank, and none for a temperature at or below 0 °C. With only an operating value stated, the maximum is the one R65 assumes. A stated minimum below atmospheric marks a design pressure full vacuum (R68).
• Flow on a flow meter or rotameter, by the flow rule a quotation prints (R87). A lone flow figure is the normal flow, and a stated minimum and maximum with no normal flow give it as their mean, inferred. A minimum the enquiry does not state is 0.7 times the normal flow, inferred where a maximum is stated; with no maximum either, both are assumed, the maximum at 1.3 times normal. Each goes into its own blank Minimum, Operating or Maximum Flow row. A blank design flow is 1.3 times the maximum, inferred from a stated maximum and assumed from an assumed one. None of these chooses a size (R29), and for steam or a gas only the inferred ones are filled. A rotameter’s scale is never read as the flow.

The range and the design value come only from figures the enquiry states. An assumed ambient value gets neither on the line; the quotation prints both, marked assumed (R87).

What the enquiry states always stands (R69). A density or specific gravity the customer gave, under any of the names a category has for it, means the library’s is not filled into another field beside it. A stated range is never replaced by an assumed one, and a stated design value is left alone.

Nothing is filled into a field a person has saved in review. The saved value stands, so clearing a filled range and saving is how a reviewer declines it.

On the line review a stated value carries a quiet green mark. An inferred value is marked and tinted blue-grey, and an assumed one amber; in a range, only the boxes that were filled are tinted. A value the check did not find in the enquiry is red with a warning beneath, one it is unsure of or supports weakly is amber, and one that cannot be saved is red, unless the passage it was read from reads the same as the value (R82). Each heading counts its fields by origin and the values it flags.

The check re-reads the enquiry after its lines are gathered, each line’s own part of it, and gives each value a support percentage: how sure it is the value was read correctly. A value it did not find for this line, with half or more of its vote, is marked Not found in the enquiry; one it leaned against with less than half is Unsure; one it found with 80% support or less is Check this value. The check keeps no reason, and its percentage is not shown: beneath each mark the datasheet quotes the passage the value was read from and names which of the value’s figures, unit and wording that passage holds and which it lacks, such as “10 and 15 are in the passage; m3/hr is not”. Where only the unit is missing, it points to the column heading for a table row and to the enquiry otherwise. A value matched to a catalogue option, or to yes or no, is compared by the wording the customer wrote, not by the option’s label. Where the passage holds the whole value, the mark is not shown: the passage sits quietly beneath the value as where it was read from (R82). A mark never stops a line being saved or confirmed by a person.

For an enquiry or attachment read as text, such as a spreadsheet, when several lines are columns of one table row, such as the feed water and steam columns of one specification table, the check reads the rows below that row for each of them and is told which column the line is. A figure written only in another line’s column is marked Not found in the enquiry. If the columns cannot be told apart, for example lines split from one counted row, the check gets no column and reads the row as it does for any other line. A PDF or image the model reads from the file is checked against what was read from it, as before.

Nothing is offered for a field a person has saved in review. The saved value stands, so clearing an offered range and saving is how a reviewer declines it.

A length is never kept as a pressure or temperature (R18). A size written in the source that no line captured is flagged in the customer’s own notation (R19).

A failed reading is marked as such, not presented as an enquiry that stated nothing (R21).

A client’s change on a line

When a client’s email asks for a change to one line of an enquiry whose lines are not yet quoted, and FlowOS can tell which line it means, the change waits under From the client on that line. A change that matches no line, or several, is not shown there; it stays in What changed on the enquiry. Nothing is written to the line until a person decides:

• Accept applies the client’s value as your own edit, so the line is judged again as any edit to it is. A detail is saved into the line’s field for that aspect (for example the size, material or fluid) when the client’s words read as a value that field takes, and a quantity becomes the line’s quantity when the client gave one plain figure. A removal excludes the line, which needs inbox approval, and a line the client asked to add is only marked accepted, since it is already there. A change FlowOS cannot write into a field, such as one for a menu, one that adds to what the line holds, or a quantity given as “one more”, is refused with the reason and stays waiting; enter the value yourself and decline it.
• Decline leaves the line as it is.

A line with a change waiting is never confirmed automatically, and the card sits in To review even when every line is confirmed, until no change on any line is left waiting (see Inbox). Accepting an answer to a question FlowOS asked the client marks that question answered.

The pipe the instrument fits

The material of the pipe the instrument is fitted to is read from the cell under a heading such as Line MOC, Pipe MOC, Piping material or Existing pipe MOC, from the line’s own row first and then from what is stated once for the schedule. A combined heading such as “Line Size / MOC” gives the part that sits under MOC. The instrument’s own materials, such as a float pipe MOC or a bare MOC heading, are not the line’s. It shows beside the fluid as Line and the wording, and a plastic line steers the end connection (R93).

What the line’s product fills

Menus, yes/no fields and accessories the enquiry leaves blank are filled for the product the line’s suggestion picks, and only when it is of the line’s category (R77; see Product suggestion). A text, number or range row the enquiry leaves blank shows the product’s default, marked Default, and a default that only says the value comes later shows as the datasheet’s note under the row (R90). The alternatives fill nothing. While the product loads these fields say Loading product; if it cannot be loaded they say Product not loaded, and what the enquiry states still stands. On a line whose pick fills nothing, a blank menu is listed as chosen with the product.

A value the product fills reads Condition, Default or Unresolved, as above. A blank menu the product leaves open, or offers options for without choosing one, is listed under Choose; one it offers a single option for takes it (R83). A blank menu the picked product has no row for, such as one of another product in the category, and a header the product switches off, with the reason, such as “Not used with” the choice that switches it off, sit behind the link to the category’s other fields at the end of the datasheet, and are not counted. A stated value the product does not offer is marked Not offered by the product, and the line’s product lists it among that product’s cautions. A value the product’s header does not list at all, on a header with Custom, is offered as that Custom option: it shows as stated, with Quoted as Custom (CU): Flange-End beneath it in that Custom option’s code, and is neither marked not offered nor listed as a caution or under Check these values. The quotation takes the Custom option for it, worded as the value, priced by the rate typed on its option row, until the product lists the value (R78). A size the product does not list is never quoted as Custom. A menu lists Custom with the product’s options even when the product has no Custom row, so Custom is never shown as not offered.

A material the product suggests for a part the fluid touches, where the fluid attacks it and nothing on the line is lining it, is listed under Check these values, with the grade the fluid library gives that material.

What the customer wrote stays beneath a menu or yes/no field after a person picks an option for it, shown once beside a Custom value, and a standard the customer named beside a value is shown beneath it as a note and kept through a pick.

Accessories

Accessories are a list: each item with its quantity and where it came from. Where the enquiry states a list, its items are shown, then the product’s default components the list does not name, marked Default. The defaults stay on the list, and are saved with it, unless a person removes them. Where the enquiry names none, the product’s default components are listed. A list a person saved is used exactly as saved, with nothing added.

A person adds items from the menu, removes them and sets quantities. An item the reading could not match to an option is marked Unresolved, with up to three options to pick; the list cannot be saved until each such item has an option or is removed. An item the line’s product does not offer is marked Not offered by the product. An item whose option has since been renamed shows, and is saved under, its new name; one whose option is no longer on the menu is marked and must be removed before the list is saved. An item’s quantity box shows the product’s quantity for it, when the product lists one.

What needs you

The line review’s header names the line and what it carries. Its first row is the line’s number, its title and its tag, with the review state, a badge filled in its colour (amber Needs review, green Confirmed, grey Excluded), and Source; the title and tag wrap to a second line before they are cut short. The title is the line’s service or location as the customer wrote it, such as “Stripper Column (10C-01) Bottom Level Transmitter”, put in sentence case only where it is written all in capitals with no digits (“HYPO DOSING TANK” reads “Hypo dosing tank”); where the line gives none, the title is its category. It never names a product family, since a family the enquiry names can be ruled out on the line. The tag is the line’s first tag, or its tag number field where it has none, or else the customer’s own item or material code from its row, such as BO-61-0028; a line with none of them shows the customer’s serial number as their datasheet heads it, such as “S.No. 3”. Beneath is one row of facts: the category, left out where it is the title, the quantity, and the project where the enquiry names more than one.

Under the title a band reads the line’s process at a glance, in the datasheet’s own figures: Fluid, Flow, Line size, Pressure and Temperature. On a sheet narrower than 42rem, such as a phone’s, the band scrolls with the review’s body rather than staying under the title. Every figure the review shows, in the band, the datasheet, the change note and Convert, has at most four significant figures, so a pressure converted to 1.96133 bar reads 1.961 bar, and a range whose figures are all equal reads as one figure. While a family question is open (see Changing a value), the band reads the saved line. Each value is a tile tinted by where it came from, in the colours the datasheet marks the same origins with: green where the enquiry states it, a stated figure with an assumed range and wording kept as words included; blue-grey where it was worked out from the fluid, the line’s other values or a condition; amber where it was assumed; violet while the customer is still to be asked for it; and grey for a default, your own edit and Not stated. The fluid’s tile is green for a fluid the enquiry names, amber for the library’s guess, grey where no fluid is named, and violet while it is to be asked. A value also carries one quiet word for where it came from (assumed, from fluid, your edit), and none where the enquiry stated it. Beneath it is its range, as words where it was kept as the customer’s words, or the wording an assumed value stands in for, such as stated “Amb”; a range whose ends repeat the value, such as a stated maximum equal to the operating pressure, is not shown. A value that is also an open item carries that group’s dot after its label, and one the latest edit moved is outlined. A field the line holds but leaves empty reads Not stated, and so does a line size holding no figure, such as a remark read into it; a value the line has no field for is left out. The fluid is the library fluid, a guess marked as one, then the wording it was read from, the state the enquiry’s cells give it (Liquid, Gas or Steam) and the nature they state, such as corrosive. A stated gas or vapour of a fluid worded as steam, such as LPST, or of a water reads Steam. Beneath the band are the fluid’s density, viscosity and, where the line has the field, conductivity, each from the line’s field, else from the library fluid, a property whose ends are equal reading as one figure. Where the line’s state cell states a liquid and the library fluid is a gas, or the other way round, a caution says so, such as “Stated as a liquid; Ammonia is a gas in the library. Confirm the fluid before quoting.”; a steam line is not cautioned. Otherwise, where a stated density or viscosity is more than 15% from the library’s figure for a liquid, a guessed one included, a caution says so and asks for the fluid to be confirmed before quoting; a gas is not compared, since the library holds its density at standard conditions. Choosing the fluid or the caution opens the fluid; choosing a value opens its row in the datasheet. On a narrower screen the fluid takes a row of its own, then the values two by two.

Source opens the comparison view with this line alone, against only the documents its values were read from; choosing a value there closes it and opens that field in the line’s datasheet. Where a document’s file cannot be loaded, or the line cites none, the document’s side shows the customer’s row as they wrote it instead, a table of their headings and values when it is a table row, under a line saying why. Each value’s passage is under its datasheet row. How many values each origin holds is counted on the datasheet’s fold, not in the header.

The review opens on what needs a person, and nothing else is open. From the top:

1. The product strip, white, without the open items’ tint or shadow. The suggestion’s Item Master name, its item code in a chip, and one line saying why the selection reads as it does: where a general name on the line fits several families, it says so, such as ““Bypass rotameter” fits 2 families; the first is shown.” Why this product opens the model number and the reasons (Product suggestion).
2. On a confirmed line, who confirmed it and when: headed Confirmed by the person, or Confirmed automatically, then the values changed, kept as stated and assumed that it was confirmed with.
3. The open items, in five groups, each with its count, in this order, and each card tinted in the group’s colour: slate for From the client, then red, amber, blue and violet, the colours of the datasheet’s dots. Its heading and count take the same colour, and its items sit on a white panel within it. A group with nothing in it is not shown. With nothing open, the review says Nothing needs you on this line.

Below the open items, in one list of folded rows, each its name, a one-line summary and a chevron at its end; opened, each holds its content with no title of its own:

4. The datasheet, folded.
5. The fluid, folded.
6. Also stated for this line, its count in an amber badge, folded: what the enquiry states for the line that no catalogue field holds and that no open item lists, each under the customer’s own label and why it is unresolved (R72): one that does not hold the line, and one Check these values leaves out as said elsewhere. Not shown where there is none.
7. Other passages, its count in a grey badge, folded: the enquiry’s passages that are not catalogue fields, closed until chosen. Those sharing words with the line come first, the rest behind N more passages.

The five groups hold:

A field has one item. Where it would sit in two groups, it stays in the first of Differs from the enquiry, Ask the customer, Choose and Check these values, and reads the other’s sentence after its own, less a value it names already: a value quoted as Custom reads once, “Asked for “Hastelloy C”. Not an option on this product; the quote carries it as written, as Custom (CU).” A question for the customer whose field holds no figure, such as a remark read into a line size, opens with the field empty, and reads no check of the value it does not show. An item’s control shows no origin marks, a long option is cut short at its menu’s width rather than squeezing the sentence beside it, and a Custom value shows the customer’s wording as the menu’s value. A value whose passage holds its figures but not its unit is not flagged where the line’s own row heads that column with the unit, such as CONDUCTIVITY (µS/cm), or states it in a cell of its own headed Unit, Engg. Unit or UOM, units compared as they are written for display, so m3/hr and m³/h agree (R82).

Each item says what is wrong in the enquiry’s terms and carries what settles it: the field’s own control, a button that offers a value, Show in datasheet to open the datasheet at that row, Keep to leave the value as it is, Why this product, Open fluid, Use or Change… for a guessed fluid, or the menu of families to pick the product from. Show in datasheet is offered only where the datasheet draws a row for the field; a caution on the product has Why this product instead, and a stated value with nowhere to go has only Keep. An item that was kept goes from the list until the review is opened again; Keep is never saved, so a reopened line lists it again. A value FlowOS assumed is not asked where the assumption counts for the product, such as ambient conditions on a liquid line (R16, R17): it shows in the datasheet and prints on the quotation as assumed. A required value FlowOS could not assume is asked. A value the enquiry left blank, such as ******, states nothing: it is one line under the groups, Left blank in the enquiry, and is not counted (R81).

Ask the customer is the list Raise query sends. The footer’s Raise query (n) opens that dialog with the questions, to a person who may send mail, and closes the review. The footer’s status on the left reads N open, with N unsaved after it where a value or a family pick has been changed and not saved, Updating suggestions… while a change is read again, Answer the product question first while a change waits for an answer about the product family, or Loading the product… while the line’s product loads, the open items and the datasheet shown as placeholders meanwhile; saving and confirming wait for each. Where the product could not be loaded the status says so, saving and confirming stay held, and the product strip offers Retry. Close closes the review, and reads Discard changes where changes are unsaved. Exclude asks for the reason first; Keep line, or Escape in the reason, takes it back. On a narrow screen the status takes a line of its own, the buttons wrap, Exclude is an icon, and the panel’s own close stands in for Close.

When the customer answers one of those questions in a reply to the query, before any quotation is issued, the answer fills the field if it is still empty: the value is stated by the customer, with the reply’s sentence as its source, and a line FlowOS had confirmed comes back to review. An answer that would replace a value the team set, or one the customer stated differently before, waits for a person instead (R117).

The datasheet is folded into one row, Datasheet, with its fields by origin as a bar and a count per origin, whose parts add up to the fields it lists, such as 6 stated, 10 by condition, 14 default, 1 inferred, 1 assumed and 8 not stated, each in the colour the datasheet marks that origin with: green stated, blue-grey by condition or inferred, grey default, amber assumed, and blank for not stated. A screen reader reads it as one sentence, “40 fields: 6 stated (2 with an assumed range), 10 by condition, …”. Then how many values print on the quote as assumed, whole or at the ends of a stated figure, counted as a confirmed line’s card lists them: “5 values print on the quote as assumed.” Opened, it names the groups its dots stand for (Differs, Check, Choose, Ask) beside the drop for a part that touches the fluid, then lists the line’s product’s own datasheet under its headings: the heading holding the most process values first, then the rest in the product’s order, with documents and calculation headings last. A calculation heading none of whose rows holds a value reads as one line, Worked out when the order is engineered. Each field is one read row: a dot where it is also an open item of the line, a drop where the part touches the fluid, the label, the value as the control reads it, and one word for where the value came from: Stated, Converted, Assumed, From fluid, Calculated, By condition, Default, Your edit, Kept as words, Flowtech, After order or Missing. A Flowtech or After order row does not open (R122). A yes/no row reads Required or Not required, and one nothing fills reads Not required, Not asked. A stated process value with its ends assumed reads Stated, range assumed, and one the product quotes as Custom reads Stated, as Custom (CU). Choosing a row opens its control, named by the row’s label and with no origin marks or tint of its own, a range’s boxes labelled Min, Normal, Max and Unit; why it holds its value; and what the enquiry says where it was read from, such as “The enquiry says “50 NB” (attachment).”; Done closes it. A Unit box, on a range or a number, takes a unit typed or picked from the menu at its edge, which lists the field’s own unit first, then the units last picked and the other units of its quantity. A change shows in the datasheet and changes the open items with it.

The fluid is folded the same way, as Fluid with one line naming it: the library fluid, the wording it was matched from and its phase, specific gravity and corrosion, such as “Alum Solution (10%), matched from “Alum Solution”. Liquid, SG 1.07, corrosion medium”; a guess marked as one; the application the enquiry gives in its place, where it is not a pipe line number such as 428-PRW-02164-SS4-40; or Not stated. Opened, it holds the fluid’s match, properties and the choice of another fluid; a guess is taken there with Use and its name, or changed with Change…, as under Choose.

A value the enquiry states that the product’s datasheet has no row for is not dropped, and it is not drawn either. It stays on the line, and shows on its row if the product changes to one whose datasheet has that row, such as an electrode material read for a line whose product is a vortex flowmeter. A value stated under another product’s name for the same row is shown on the product’s row (R91). A datasheet laid out as a product’s own has no link to the category’s other fields or to the rows the product switches off.

A line no product fits, which names a product of its category that has a datasheet, shows that product’s datasheet, under a notice saying so; values it has no row for are kept, not shown.

A line whose product has no datasheet of the line’s category shows the rows every datasheet of its category carries, in the first such datasheet’s order, under a notice saying why: the product has no datasheet yet, its datasheet has no published version, it is of another category, or no product fits. A product with no datasheet offers Add datasheet, which opens a new decodification master for its item group, to people who may create one; one whose datasheet is unpublished offers Open datasheet. A value the line holds beyond those rows is kept, not shown. For a rotameter that means 9 rows, with no orifice or by-pass rows from the products that have them. Where the category’s datasheets share no row, or the product is still loading, the line keeps the category’s headings: each opens to the values the line holds, and every blank field is behind Show all. The product is suggested again whenever the line is read, so a change that suggests a different product changes the datasheet with it.

In the list of lines, each line shows the product suggested for it, by its item code’s name and code as the Item Master lists them, or its family and why it has no code, then its tag, or the customer’s serial number where it has none, as a badge, its category, its quantity and its fluid, then N open, the line’s open items while it awaits review. On a laptop the category shows only on an excluded line, since the product names it on the others, a line keeps to two rows, with the fluid and material trimmed where a row runs short and whole on hover, and a line confirmed automatically reads Confirmed, also whole on hover. The fluid is green where the library match is certain, amber where it is a guess, and red where the library does not hold it. Lines are listed within their project in the order the customer’s documents list them, whatever the instrument (R74); a line with something open stays in its place, and a project’s heading counts the open items of its lines. The bar above the list leads with the lines confirmed out of those to settle, and how many of them were confirmed automatically, then N open across M lines.

Pick by item code

In line review, beside the family pick, a line can be pinned to an exact item code. The line takes that code’s item group and size, and the rows the code fixes are set from it, marked From item code and read-only. Picking another family drops the pin.

The size row takes the code’s size even when the customer stated another size. When the code is smaller than the stated line size, the line shows the caution “ meter in a line: reducers”. The search lists only the active codes of the line’s category; a retired code, or a code in another category, is refused.