This subsystem is referred to as History Buffering by the SLC Control System. To the outside world, it is referred to as Data Archiving. History Buffering retrieves and stores data from the SLC database and the EPICs IOC databases at a constant rate specified by users. This facility is used to look at the history of device settings or beam parameters in order to troubleshoot problems or monitor the machine. As part of the History Buffering facility, data can be retrieved and viewed.
Retrieved data can be any single device parameter specified by a starting and ending timestamp.
Viewing is performed through the SLC Control System. The retrieved data can also be correlated, fit, averaged, etc. Most people associated with the Control System will have a need to look at history data at some point. Operators in the control room and machine physicists probably have the most frequent need to look at buffered data. They need to have access to the history of each device and the state of the machine constantly.