Asset State Monitoring can help you to measure the cost of servicing remote assets. The data generated by the Axeda® Gateway and Axeda® Connector Agents can be useful in calculations as well as in reporting transitions between asset states. By capturing this data over time and combining it with other data (for example, in formulas), you can view the derived values in reports and graphs to understand how assets are performing and measure the effectiveness of your service programs.
Assets move in and out of many operating states. Asset State Monitoring allows you to capture the transitions between states, when they occurred and, with the help of additional data collected, why they occurred. You can also use the data for calculating uptime and availability of assets in the field.
Note: Only the Axeda Connector and Axeda Gateway Agents support Asset State Monitoring in this release. For a description of the Axeda® IDM Agent features supported in this release of the Axeda® Connected Product Management Applications refer to Axeda IDM Agents.
An Asset State Object (ASO) is a self-contained, reusable information object (RIO) that has properties that describe the object. The ASOs are used to communicate information to other applications, including Axeda® Service, Axeda® Configuration, Axeda® Usage, and Axeda® Maintenance, and to generate reports (if you purchased all the appropriate licenses).
On the Axeda® Enterprise Server side, three levels of ASOs can exist: monitors, asset states, and asset state groups. On the Agent and Builder side, two levels exist, monitors and asset states. Asset states are the individual states that represent a status of the asset. For example, a printer might have an asset state called Low Toner. A monitor consists of two or more asset state values plus the Unknown state. These state values can be converted into virtual (calculated) states using asset state groups. An asset state group is a set of two or more asset states that are members of the same monitor.
Monitors and asset states are configured in projects using Axeda® Builder. Asset state groups are created using the Axeda® Configuration application so that the information can be used by other applications. For example, the information can be used to calculate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Asset State Monitoring starts with the configuration of the project that an Axeda Gateway or Axeda Connector Agent runs on the asset. Project developers define Monitors and, for each Monitor, a set of asset states; they also set up where the asset state information will be processed - the Axeda® Enterprise Server (daily output in an eMessage) or the Axeda Agent (output to a data item that the project is configured to process). Upon registration with the Platform, the agents send the Monitor and asset state definitions. During run time, the agents continuously capture asset state information and output the information as configured.
When a Monitor is configured to send output to the Platform in the agent project, the agents send an aggregate report of asset state activity to the Platform once every 24 hours. Before sending the report, the agent checks the information to ensure that the sum of hours in all the states for each monitor is 24 or that the percentages of time in all the states add up to 100 percent.
The Platform receives asset state information on a daily basis. Based on project configuration, the Agent groups mutually exclusive asset states for the different components of an asset. The components (and even the overall asset itself) can be specified as monitors of asset states in the agent project. For example, a printer has a toner component and several states that would fall into a monitor called Operation. The agent running at the printer might capture a list of states, including Out of Toner and New Cartridge Installed for the Toner monitor, and the states Idle, Standby, or Down for Maintenance for the Operation monitor. Keep in mind that the asset itself must be able to provide the asset states to the agent.
On the Platform side, the following conditions apply to asset state usage:
o The agent project defines the monitors and asset states. You cannot change or delete them from the agent projects using the applications. You must use the Axeda® Builder application to define monitors and asset states.
o To view and manage asset states and asset state groups from the Axeda Configuration application, you must have the correct user group privileges as well as permissions to the associated asset. Contact your Platform administrator if you have questions regarding your privileges.
o You can create multiple groups of asset states within a monitor. However, the asset states in a group must all belong to the same monitor. Using the printer example, you cannot create an asset state group that contains both the Out of Toner and Idle states for a printer because they belong to different monitors (Toner and Operation).
o Within a monitor, you can select two or more asset states and assign them to an asset state group. The purpose of creating asset state groups is for use in building Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can calculate metrics on either asset states or asset state groups. Asset state monitors exist primarily for filtering purposes on the agent side.
o You can enable, disable, or delete asset states and asset state groups using the Axeda Configuration application. When enabled, asset states and asset state groups can be used in dashboards and can be used in calculating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). When you disable an asset state or asset state group, the state or group is not visible in any related dashboards nor is it available for use in calculating KPIs. If you delete an asset state or asset state group, the state or group is not visible in any defined dashboards; however, the system can use old values for KPI calculations that are still configured to use the states.
o Deleting asset states on the Platform side does not permanently delete them from the Platform. After you delete asset states, the agent can still upload them the next time it registers with the Platform because they are created in the agent project. To delete asset states permanently, you must change the agent project, using Axeda Builder. Note that once the Agent starts sending asset states that were deleted in the Axeda Configuration application, the old data is orphaned.