1. A method for contextual operation of a mobile device in a process control environment, the method including: acquiring at the mobile device information to identify a process entity in the process control environment; determining a proximity of the mobile device to the process entity based, at least in part, on the acquired information; receiving at the mobile device from a supervisor engine work item data specifying the process entity and a target function associated with the process entity; and automatically triggering an event at the mobile device to facilitate implementing the target function associated with the process entity in response to determining the proximity and identifying the work item data.