Assets

The Asset node is a core building block in any asset hierarchy. Assets are used to represent the actual equipment, machines, or logical entities that are part of your operations. Assets are the heart of your digital twin, capturing real-world devices and connecting them to your data infrastructure. Structuring your hierarchy with Asset nodes lets you precisely model, monitor, and interact with the physical and logical components that drive your business.

What is an Asset?

An Asset is a node type in your asset hierarchy used to model individual machines, devices, or logical units - such as pumps, sensors, controllers, or even software services. Assets are typically located under an Area, and each asset node contains the information, configuration, and data points (Tags) necessary for integration and operation.

By modeling assets within the hierarchy, you create a one-to-one relationship between your real-world equipment and its digital representation, enabling precise tracking, control, and analytics.

Key Features of Assets

  • Tag Configuration Assets are where you define and manage tags - measurement points or control signals representing sensor values, setpoints, statuses, or commands. Tags can be analog (numeric), digital (boolean), or string (text or JSON). You can further organize tag settings in sections for collection, processing, and storage.

  • Custom Models Asset nodes support the deployment of custom models or containers (such as analytics or machine learning modules) at the edge. You can configure input and output tags to connect your models to live operational data, enabling advanced processing and automation at the asset level.

  • Metadata and Description Add detailed descriptions and custom metadata to each asset, making contextual information available in the time series database for improved traceability, analysis, and reporting.

  • Flexible Placement Assets can be added as child nodes under any Area, giving you the flexibility to represent simple or complex environments - whether a single device or an entire fleet of machines. Assets can also be nested under other assets, allowing you to model complex equipment structures with sub-assets when needed.

Example

A typical hierarchy with Assets might look like this:

- Copenhagen Plant (Area)
  - Packaging Line 1 (Area)
    - Labeler (Asset)
    - Conveyor (Asset)
      - Vibration Sensor (Asset)
  - Quality Lab (Area)
    - Test Bench 1 (Asset)

Creating an Asset Node

To add an Asset to your asset hierarchy:

  1. Right click on a Node or left click the actions menu of a node to bring up a context menu with node actions

The Node actions menu

  1. In the context menu, you can select Add Asset to add a child node of type Asset to the currently selected node. Additionally you can use the menu, to rename the selected node, select an icon to represent the node or delete the selected node

  2. Adding or Renaming a node puts the node into edit mode, and lets you specify a name for the Node

You can continue to add child Assets or even sub-assets within an Asset node, allowing you to build detailed digital representations of your physical equipment.

Set Asset Information

In the Asset Info tab, you can provide key details that define and identify your Asset:

  • Asset Name The display name for the Asset as it will appear throughout the hierarchy.

  • ISA-95 Alias An optional alias used to influence how Tags for this Asset or child assets are named, in alignment with the ISA-95 standard. For example, setting the alias to A1 will result in any child Tags being named as AE.S1.A1.Tag1. Refer to the ISA-95 documentation for further details.

  • Icon Choose a custom icon to visually represent the Asset node, making the hierarchy easier to navigate and interpret.

  • Description Optionally add a description for the Asset. This description provides additional context and is stored in the time series database, enhancing the traceability and documentation of your digital environment.

The Area info Tab lets you specify Alias for ISA 95 structure as well as a description for the Area

Set Meta data for Asset

You can add additional contextual information to the Asset using Meta data which can be added as key/value parameters.

  1. Select the Asset node in asset hierarchy

  2. Make sure you select the Asset info tab of the Area

  3. The Meta data dialog will appear on the right side of the page

  4. Click Add property and specify a Property name and Value then click the Save icon

Meta data is added to an Asset, in this example an EquipmentId and LastinspectionDate

Metadata for all nodes and tags is automatically made available in the time series database after the hierarchy is deployed. For guidance on accessing and querying this metadata, please refer to the Intermediate Queries section.

Best Practices

  • Use clear, descriptive names for each asset to ensure the hierarchy is easy to navigate.

  • Add meaningful descriptions and metadata to Assets to enhance traceability and future analysis.

  • Configure tags to match your operational needs, ensuring data is accurate and actionable.

  • Deploy custom models on assets that require advanced local analytics or automation.

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