1. A method for generating a reduced rule set for identifying a root cause of an aberration in an industrial process for use in an industrial process field device, comprising: (a) obtaining a rule base comprising a plurality of rules for the industrial process, each rule comprising a condition of at least one process signal of the industrial process and a fault which corresponds to a condition of at least one process signal; (b) identifying which process signals of the industrial process are available to the field device; (c) selectively removing a rule from the plurality of rules of the rule base to produce the reduced rule set, wherein the step of selectively removing a rule is based upon the step of identifying which process signals of the industrial are available; and (d) storing the reduced rule set in a memory of the field device; (e) performing diagnostics in the field device based upon the reduced rule set and the identification process signals.