Building Control Systems, Building Management Systems, Energy Management Systems, what do they all do?

Probably the same thing under a different heading, however all systems vary, and all systems are manufactured to achieve a similar goal, for instance they control a buildings HVAC plant, monitor critical and non critical plant and generate alarms, change loop setpoints, data logging of temperature and humidity values, alarm logging and schedule functionality, to name just a few of the items.

Embedded into these systems will be programs that automatically carry out the functions to ensure the smooth operation of controlled plant and make intelligent decisions to maintain control according to varying criteria.

Control systems will also vary in the architecture they operate under, most will have a proprietary protocol and work to dedicated procedures and in general only with their own product lines. 

As we move forward many control systems are incorporating open protocols and as such can be interfaced directly to similar protocols with other manufacturers equipment.

Understanding if a system can accommodate changes to interface with an open protocol usually requires some technical assistance and understanding. This is where N PLUS 1 operates. Assisting building owners and managers to interface to equipment not normally associated with their incumbent system.