Connect DeltaV Continuous Historian to Excel
DeltaV Continuous Historian does have an Excel add-in. It works — as long as the machine running Excel is connected to the DeltaV OT network. That single requirement puts it out of reach for most of the people who actually need to work with plant data in Excel.
If you've already tried something and hit a wall, the list below is probably why. The barriers aren't obvious from the outside, but they stack up quickly once you're inside the problem.
Why it's hard
Seven reasons the DeltaV Historian → Excel path is harder than it looks.
The DeltaV Excel add-in requires a direct connection to the OT network
The add-in communicates with the DeltaV historian server over the OT network. If the machine running Excel isn't on that network — or connected to it by VPN — the add-in has nothing to connect to. For most engineers and analysts working from IT-side machines or laptops, that's a hard stop before the first tag is pulled.
It's a desktop COM add-in — it won't work in Excel for the Web
The DeltaV Excel integration is a classic desktop COM add-in, not a Microsoft 365 web add-in. It runs only in Excel Desktop on Windows. Workbooks that use it can't be opened as live, refreshable files in a browser, in SharePoint Online, or in Teams. Any sharing or collaboration workflow that goes through Microsoft 365 loses the live data connection.
Deployment requires IT and DCS team involvement — it's not self-serve
Installing the add-in requires DeltaV client software to be installed on the analyst's machine, which in turn requires administrator access and, typically, approval from both the IT and DCS teams. On many sites this is treated as a DCS workstation software deployment — not something an analyst can do independently.
Every analyst machine needs OT network connectivity
Because the add-in connects at runtime to the DeltaV historian, every machine that needs to refresh the workbook must have a live path to the OT network. Managing that access for a team of analysts — each with their own laptop, their own VPN client configuration, and their own firewall exceptions — creates ongoing IT overhead and inconsistent results across machines.
The add-in is DeltaV-only — it can't combine data from other sources
The DeltaV Excel add-in pulls from DeltaV Continuous Historian and nothing else. Any workbook that needs to cross-reference DeltaV data with data from another historian, a SQL database, or a production system requires a separate connection and manual combination in Excel — there's no unified tag namespace across OT systems.
Data retrieval is interactive — workbooks don't refresh on a schedule
The add-in pulls data when a user opens the workbook and triggers a refresh. There's no mechanism for scheduled, unattended refresh — a workbook sitting in a shared folder won't update itself overnight. Any "live" dashboard built on the DeltaV add-in requires someone to manually open it and refresh it.
OT network changes silently break workbook connections
Firewall rule changes, historian server renames or IP changes, DeltaV software updates, and network reconfigurations can all break the add-in's connection — silently. Analysts open a workbook, trigger a refresh, get an error or stale data, and have to escalate to the DCS team to diagnose which layer changed.
The approaches teams usually try
Three common paths — and why each one runs into the same underlying constraint.
DeltaV Excel add-in with OT network access
Install the DeltaV Excel add-in on analyst machines, establish VPN or direct OT network access for each user, and build workbooks around the add-in's data pull functions. This is the path Emerson supports natively.
The catch: Every analyst needs OT network access, the add-in requires admin-level software installation, and workbooks only refresh on machines where everything is configured correctly. It doesn't work in Excel for the Web at all, and OT network changes break it without warning.
OPC DA/HDA to Excel via OPC client software
Use third-party OPC client software to poll the DeltaV historian via OPC and write data to Excel or a shared database. Some teams use products like Matrikon or Kepware to bridge OPC to Excel-compatible formats.
The catch: OPC client software adds licensing cost and a new component to maintain. You still need network access to the DeltaV OPC server from wherever the OPC client runs. And the output is typically a raw tag dump — not structured for analysis without additional transformation.
Manual exports from DeltaV Operate or DeltaV Batch
Use DeltaV's built-in trend display or batch reporting tools to export CSV or Excel snapshots on demand, then import them into the analyst's workbook manually — or via a shared network folder.
The catch: This is a manual handoff every time data is needed — either by an analyst with OT access or by an OT operator doing the export on request. There's no scheduled refresh, no live connection, and every export is a point-in-time snapshot that's immediately out of date.
How TrendOps solves it
TrendOps Edge connects to DeltaV Continuous Historian on the OT network and forwards data to the cloud over outbound MQTT. TrendOps Link — a Microsoft 365 Excel add-in — then surfaces that data in any Excel workbook, desktop or web, without any OT network connection from the analyst's machine.
TrendOps Edge handles the OT-side connection on the plant network. Analysts use TrendOps Link — a standard Excel add-in — to pull data from the cloud. No VPN, no firewall exception, no DeltaV workstation access required.
TrendOps Link is a Microsoft 365 web add-in. It runs in Excel Desktop and in Excel for the Web — SharePoint Online, Teams tabs, browser. Workbooks are shareable and refreshable wherever Excel runs.
TrendOps Link installs from the Microsoft AppSource like any other Office add-in. No DeltaV client software, no admin escalation, no DCS team ticket required. Any analyst with a Microsoft 365 account can install it.
Edge pushes data to the cloud over a single outbound MQTT connection. The DeltaV network stays closed — no inbound ports, no firewall rules pointing at OT systems, no exposure of historian servers to IT traffic.
TrendOps resolves DeltaV's module/parameter tag paths into descriptive names before data reaches Excel. Analysts work with meaningful tag names — not DCS addressing strings that require DCS expertise to interpret.
Because data is in the cloud, workbooks can be set to refresh automatically on a schedule — without a user needing to open the file and trigger the pull. Shared reports stay current without anyone manually running an update.
DeltaV data sits in TrendOps Platform alongside AVEVA PI, FactoryTalk, Wonderware, and any other connected source. One TrendOps Link connection surfaces all of them — no separate add-ins or queries per system.
Because the analyst's workbook connects to the cloud — not the OT network — DeltaV server changes, firewall updates, and historian reconfigurations don't affect Excel. Only TrendOps Edge needs to be updated when the OT environment changes, and that's managed centrally.
What you end up with
DeltaV Continuous Historian data in any Excel workbook — desktop or web — with no OT network connection and no add-in installation required from the analyst.
Desktop, browser, SharePoint, Teams — TrendOps Link works wherever Excel does.
Analysts never need VPN or OT network connectivity — the data is already in the cloud.
TrendOps Link installs from AppSource — no DeltaV client software, no DCS team ticket.
DeltaV alongside every other OT historian in one workbook — no separate connection per system.
Your team shouldn't need to be on the OT network to work with DeltaV historian data in Excel
TrendOps moves DeltaV Continuous Historian data to the cloud, so any analyst can access it in any Excel workbook — no DCS add-in, no OT access required.
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