SAVAGE, Minn. — To reduce the once time-consuming process of dashboard creation down to a simple mouse click, Beckhoff has introduced the new TwinCAT Analytics One-Click Dashboard. When tailoring new data-driven services to individual customer requirements, machine builders and system integrators need solutions that are as cost-effective as possible. Here, keeping the engineering as simple as possible is a key factor. TwinCAT Analytics supports this kind of Engineering 4.0 approach with the time-saving One-Click Dashboard.

The automated functionality in TwinCAT Analytics to convert analysis configurations into executable PLC code now also includes dashboard generation. With One-Click Dashboard, all it takes for users is a simple mouse click to generate an entire HTML5-enabled analytics dashboard based on the PLC code that is then loaded into a selected Analytics Runtime container. When the process completes, users receive a network address they can use to access the dashboard in a web browser. This ability to generate dashboards without the need to design graphics or write a single line of code is a huge time-saver in engineering processes.

Based on TwinCAT 3 HMI, the new functionality provides at least one HMI Control for every TwinCAT Analytics algorithm, each with an up-to-date tile design that follows the latest web development standards. The controls contained in a dashboard can be selected individually in an algorithm’s properties with the aid of a control preview. Users can also combine multiple algorithms within an individual HMI Control.

Generated automatically, tailored individually

Automatically generated dashboards can be customized by configuring individual user settings. For instance, users are able to pick their own header colors and logos and can even choose to show geographically distributed machine locations on a world map. In addition, the controls are available in a choice of layouts and themes as well as multiple languages. It is also possible to switch between light and dark themes and to automatically set links to methods that reset the algorithms.

Despite this high level of flexibility, dashboards that are created automatically may not always meet every user’s needs, so when TwinCAT 3 HMI projects are generated, they are integrated into Visual Studio® as well. This enables users to adapt their dashboards exactly to their requirements in the graphical editor. Even with dashboards that need extensive customization, the engineering process still involves far fewer clicks than the conventional approach, saving significant time and expense for users. For more information, visit www.beckhoff.com.