Basics

Industrial Instant Messaging System

Every day millions of people use instant messaging systems (IMS) all around the planet.  The purpose of these systems is to communicate at least two persons from point to point, through a chat conversation.  Examples of IMS are Short Message Service (SMS), Whatsapp, Skype, and Telegram.  The typical characteristics of these systems are a transmitter and a receiver at both…

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How to get Wonderware Historian data into my mobile phone?

BackStaff is complementary for different types of plant software.  An instrumental one is the Historian application, and among these, Wonderware Historian is a trendy one.  BackStaff can integrate with Wonderware Historian to: Create indicators or events Show time trends Launch reports This information can be used to generate notifications, create scorecards, launch reports, and see historical trends from the BackStaff…

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How to get Ignition Tag Historian data into my mobile phone

BackStaff works as a complement for different types of plant software.  A handy one is the Historian application and among these Ignition Tag Historian is a prevalent one.  BackStaff can integrate with Ignition Tag Historian to Create indicators or event Show time trends BackStaff Configuration for communication with Ignition Historian The first step consists of creating a database connection, similar to…

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How to implement an Andon mobile Application?

An Andon application refers to a way of informing the plant personnel about problems occurring in the production process.  This allows the organization to respond faster, and therefore to improve the overall efficiency.  The implementation of these systems is typically made by the use of lights or large sign displays.  These tools alert the support teams of any problem related…

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How to Create a Scorecard with BackStaff

Scorecards are a management tool for measuring performance in organizations, and they are a table with the current value of the indicators that are considered critical for the results of the operations.  It is effortless to create your scorecard with BackStaff, and we will explain how to do it in this post. A scorecard in BackStaff looks like this and…

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How to do alarms notification for Ignition with BackStaff

BackStaff have different ways of sharing information.  In this post, we will show you how to send a dynamic message automatically to a group of users each time a new alarm changes state.  The name of this application is alarms notification. This example is going to be developed specifically for Inductive Automation’s Ignition software.  Nonetheless, it is adaptable to other…

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How to Access your PLCs Data from your Phone or Tablet

BackStaff allows to quickly extract information from PLCs on the production site to keep the management aware of critical variables.  This information shortens reaction time upon abnormalities and enables the management staff to improve its knowledge of the operation. Programmable Logic Controllers PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) is a specialized computer used to monitor and control hardware within the factories.  These devices…

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How to Access SCADA Data from your Phone or Tablet

SCADA applications are widespread for industries like Oil & Gas; Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution; as well as for Potable and Waste Water.  This type of software is used to monitor and control devices spread across a large geographical area.  Frequently those devices are located in remote and unattended facilities. The purpose of the SCADA is to allow operators from…

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Basics

An Easy Way of Implementing IIOT

We perceive the world through our senses.  We react to our environment accordingly to what we feel.  The idea of becoming deaf or blind is not attractive, but we would like to possibility of getting superpowers like x-ray vision or sharp hearing. The purpose of the Internet of Things (IOT) is to give us these superpowers, to allow us to…

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Basics

BackStaff: A tool to navigate through your daily activities

BackStaff is software for helping people to get closer to information.  Every day millions of persons in the world go to work with different responsibilities. Nonetheless, everyone’s work is measured somehow through different metrics.  These metrics or indicators helps to see how is the organization performance.  Examples of these metrics are sales growth, machine efficiency, total production, stock value, to…

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