Software Toolbox Technical Blog

In case you aren't familiar with the Dream Report reporting solution from Ocean Data Systems, Dream Report is a real-time report generator that is quickly and easily configurable via a very easy-to-use interface with a ton of flexibility relating to not only collection and archiving of data and alarms but also for analysis and options for report generation.

In this post, I'm going to go through five of the key features released in 2018 for Dream Report and how they benefit you, either as an existing Dream Report user or as a process industry professional looking at reporting solutions.

While OmniServer's core connectivity and data parsing abilities are its primary function, they are only the first step to integrating non-standard devices with Wonderware.  How does that device data then make it up into Wonderware?

In this video blog, part of a series on connecting Wonderware to OmniServer, I'll show you how to make a basic SuiteLink connection from Wonderware System Platform to OmniServer for integrating process data from all of your "other" devices that don't have a standard, off-the-shelf driver - all without the expense and headaches of having to write custom code.

OmniServer's core connectivity and data parsing abilities are only part of the equation when integrating non-standard devices with Wonderware.  How does that device data then make it up into Wonderware?

In this video blog, part of a series on connecting Wonderware to OmniServer, I'll show you how to make a basic OPC DA connection from Wonderware System Platform to OmniServer for integrating process data from all of your "other" devices that don't have a standard, off-the-shelf driver - all without having to write custom code.

In the oil and gas industry, flow computers and devices from different vendors store historical EFM (Electronic Flow Measurement) data that is used for analysis, custody transfer and production optimization.  ABB Totalflow flow computers are frequently used EFM devices for both gas and liquid EFM applications.

In this video blog, I'll show you how to get started using our ABB Totalflow driver to connect and gather real-time and EFM data from Totalflow meters for Wonderware applications.

Today’s automation professional is tasked not only with continuous improvement of the automated processes he or she is responsible for, but also doing it with less resources and a lower budget. Labor is expensive and over-tasked.

With all of the core business tasks an engineer faces today, they simply may not have the time to sift through the all of the options available in the marketplace for gathering “business intelligence”.

A key buzz term used in the front office of many companies, business intelligence needs on the automation side of an enterprise are centered around Industrial applications. While business intelligence tools are great at dealing with counts and currencies, automation processes need that and more.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the three main reasons to have a business intelligence solution and, also, the three key ways that Dream Report delivers nicely on the greater needs of hybrid industrial/business data analytics requirements to provide business intelligence for making key decisions regarding a process to save time, money and expenses.

If you haven't received one of my emails or heard from a colleague about our latest TOP Server release, you may not have heard about the key new features in the TOP Server V6.5 release.

In this post, I'm going to go through the top 5 key features released in V6.5 in more detail and how they benefit you as a TOP Server user.

For the past few releases, OmniServer has had a powerful usability enhancement that you may not be aware of - a Topic Wizard – which was designed to increase your efficiency and the ease of getting started when you're working with OmniServer to integrate your non-standard process devices.

For new users, the new Topic Wizard in OmniServer Version 3 and above should feel very intuitive and lessen the learning curve if you've never touched an OmniServer before. Even for existing users, the wizard is very user-friendly and users will likely appreciate the time-savings made possible by being able to step through a wizard to configure your communications.

In this video, I step you through the very easy process to configure your OmniServer to communicate with your non-standard devices using the Topic Wizard.

It is well known and accepted that, to manage a process, we need to measure the results of that process.  If we start measuring the production output of a machine, the people responsible for running and maintaining that machine are more likely to pay attention and take the necessary decisions to improve its performance.

Every business with any focus on continuous improvement has some system that works for them and has evolved as they have traveled their journey. Some use paper, some use paper and spreadsheets, others use custom solutions, and others use some form of off-the-shelf software.

For over 20 years we’ve helped users get the digital data they have into these various systems, but in the process of doing that, we’ve heard some things from them and seen some patterns we will share in this blog post.