Wonderware Online June 2016 Update

While some folks are starting to take vacation days to enjoy the summer months, the Wonderware Online team has taken advantage of the quieter office environment to crack out some awesome new updates.

What's new in the June 2016 update:

• The long awaited "Remove Data Source" option
• Slick new Chart Gallery and Data Series panels
• Boost to the All-Numeric data group option
• Major improvements to better support tablet layout 
• New pattern detection algorithm for Newsfeed

For additional details on how each feature works, please visit our online help located at:

https://online.wonderware.com/help. 

Read on for the highlights.

The long awaited "Remove Data Source" option

Have you ever published some test data to your Wonderware Online account and then later wished you could do some spring cleaning and remove them to start over nice and fresh? Now you can!

No mater the reason, it is now possible to remove a data source.

Here are the steps to get access to this feature:

1. Log into your Wonderware Online account
• Note: You must log in with an administrator user role
2. Click the Apps icon located in the top right corner of your browser session [Figure 1]
3. Click the Administration option
4. Click the Navigation Drawer icon located in the top left corner of your browser session [Figure 2]
5. Click Data Sources
6. Click and Select one or more data sources by clicking on the checkbox next to each data source that you would like to select.[Figure 3]
7. Click the Remove icon located in the top right corner of the list box
8. Click the Remove button a second time to confirm that you wish to remove the selected data source(s). [Figure 4]

Notice that the data source list box itself is brand new. You can optionally sort the list of published applications or data sources either by name or by the time stamp of the last published date (including "never published" if the data source was created but never received any data). 

Top tip: The ability to quickly scan the last publish data is also very useful for troubleshooting data sources. Assuming that a number of data sources are publishing data at regular intervals to your account with Wonderware Online, it would be very easy to see by the last update time stamp if any one of your data sources was not active or if the last update date and time stamp shows an unexpected delay.

[Figure 1] Click the App icon, then select Administration.

[Figure 2] Click the Navigation drawer, then select Data Sources.

[Figure 3] Select one or more data source(s), then click Remove.

[Figure 4] Confirm your selection and decision by clicking Remove once more.

Slick new Chart Gallery and Data Series panels

Some of the feedback that we have received from our users indicated that while the gallery and data series panels were looking awesome and made picking chart types and adding or removing tags was easy, their persistent border on the right hand side of the screen took away some valuable screen real-estate from the main trend chart. Another critique of the data series panel was that tag names that had very long names would appear cut-off. 

To tackle this feedback head-on, we've made the charts and data series panels expandable and collapsible at will. This means you can expand the chart and data series panel easily to browse chart types and add or remove tags as before, but then collapse this area to maximize focus and real-estate on the main chart visualization at the same time. When expanded, the data series panel is also now much wider and is able to better accommodate longer tag names. Finally, just to give it that new car smell, we've also spruced up the look and feel for extra credit. 

Let us know what you think.

New discreet expandable and collapsible gallery and data panel. 

New Gallery panel expanded showing a sample of
possible visualizations with that new car smell.

This screenshot is highlighting the detailed tag info expansion and the new
expandable << feature to allow for better readability of longer tag names.

Boost to the All-Numeric data group option

In our first iteration of this feature, we limited the number of tags with mixed engineering units to only 4 tags. We also limited the available chart types. Well, no more!

Now you can select up to 20 tags with varied units of measure or engineering units. We've also expanded the available chart types as well to now include Column Chart, Detail Grid and XY Plot.

The all new All Numeric option with new chart types and up to 20 tags.

Major improvements to better support tablet layout

We've made some significant improvements to optimize the layout for tablet devices. Most notably the Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface PRO tablets*.

* A resolution of 2048x1536 px or higher is required. This means iPad 3 and above.

Wonderware Online makes relevant information
easily accessible and consumable across devices and contexts.

New pattern detection algorithm for Newsfeed

The Newsfeed feature has been busy learning and profiling data points that are published to Wonderware Online. It can already highlight data outliers based on data patterns such as flat-lined data and statistically abnormal peaks and valleys. With today's release, Newsfeed is now able to highlight anomalous Cycle times.

A good example of this kind of anomalous data pattern is when it is used to profile hydraulic pumps. A pump that is in good condition and free of material wear and tear will predictably cycle through its operations with consistency. Over time, depending on the maintenance upkeep and wear and tear or other contributing factors that can cause friction, cycle times will start to vary or take longer. Newsfeed will now automatically, without any kind setup or preexisting configuration detect this change in data pattern and highlight that automatically for review.

The Wonderware Online Newsfeed appears front and center on the landing page.

That's it for this update, please do let us know your feedback on what feature has impacted you the most or anything else that you would like to share.

Until the next update,
Saadi