Focusing on the digital value chain for building management systems

Evon is now part of the EPLAN Partner Network

Greater efficiency along the entire value chain for building management systems – from the specifications to servicing and maintenance: this is the shared objective for EPLAN and Evon. Eplan offers the right platform for planning building automation systems with sensors and actuators, including the associated data points and address keys. With XAMControl, Evon ensures the system’s operation and analysis in the context of a higher-level, completely integrated building management system. The integration of the EPLAN and Evon systems is now being advanced in the EPLAN Partner Network. The corresponding technology partnership was officially sealed at the SPS trade fair in Nuremburg, Germany.

Monheim, Germany, 13 December 2023 – The requirements for building technology and the pressure on building planners and operators are constantly increasing. The measurement and control planning for building management systems is one thing – smooth operations are another. It is good when the systems work together in an integrated manner – and this is exactly what has now been agreed to as part of the EPLAN Partner Network. EPLAN CEO Sebastian Seitz and Evon CEO Andreas Leitner signed the corresponding technology partnership at the SPS trade fair.


Technology partnership for greater customer benefits 

The technological foundation is an interface between the EPLAN software and the XAMControl process control system by Evon. All the functions and the associated data points and address keys for building automation management are taken into account in this integrated process. EPLAN ertical Market Manager Building Automation Rolf Schulte explains: “The planned interface between the EPLAN software and XAMControl makes it easier for users of both to program the building automation systems. The result is shorter planning times and thus lowered costs while simultaneously increasing quality.”


Consistency from planning to operations

Yet what will this process look like in the future? EPLAN Preplanning is used at the start of the process to create measurement and control schematics that contain different sensors and actuators. For faster planning and design, EPLAN provides what are known as industry templates for building automation with relevant contents. Standards such as AMEV or BACnet are taken into account in renderings and evaluations. Data points and their descriptions can first be transferred from EPLAN to the control system and then to XAMControl. This step facilitates programming and visualizations in the process control system.

What is known as the automation focus – i.e., the control cabinet including the control systems – is also planned and designed using EPLAN software. The 3D software EPLAN Pro Panel is used here, which in turn transfers the data from engineering to the control cabinet production via a link to the RiPanel Processing Center/Rittal.

Viewer access for operations and maintenance

For complete consistency and integration, all the information collected along the value chain can be made digitally available for operations, maintenance and servicing. To achieve this, the project is saved in the EPLAN Cloud and made available to stakeholders in the process by way of access management. If maintenance is required, any necessary adjustments or edits to the documentation can be described via redlining and greenlining using EPLAN eVIEW – and naturally also be imported back into the project.