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Version: 2.6.5

Orchestrate - Pipeline Automation & Workflows

Orchestrate is where data comes to life. Build visual, no-code pipelines that automate data collection, transformation, analysis, and action, all without writing a single line of code.

Why Orchestrate?​

Manufacturing generates mountains of data, but turning that data into action requires complex logic: filtering, transforming, aggregating, routing, and triggering alerts. Traditional approaches require custom coding and IT resources. Orchestrate changes this by:

  • Empowering domain experts: Build pipelines without coding skills using drag-and-drop design
  • Accelerating development: What took weeks now takes hours with visual workflows
  • Ensuring reliability: Built-in retry logic, error handling, and execution monitoring
  • Enabling collaboration: Visual pipelines are self-documenting and easy to understand
  • Scaling: parallel execution and concurrency control

Core Concepts​

Pipelines​

Pipelines are visual workflows that connect data sources, transformations, and actions into automated processes:

  • Visual designer: Drag-and-drop canvas for building workflows
  • Execution strategies: Level-based parallelization or sequential-branch control
  • Overlap modes: Queue, restart, or skip for intelligent concurrency management
  • Real-time monitoring: Live execution tracking with performance metrics
  • Version control: Automatic change tracking with full rollback capability
  • Error handling: Retry policies, fallbacks, and continue-on-error logic

Common pipeline patterns:

  • Collect sensor data → Filter outliers → Aggregate by shift → Write to database
  • Query ERP system → Transform to standard format → Publish to UNS → Send alerts
  • Monitor machine status → Detect anomalies → Trigger maintenance workflow → Log events

Nodes​

Nodes are the building blocks of pipelines. Each node performs a specific action and connects to other nodes to create workflows:

Triggers​

Define when pipelines execute:

  • Manual: On-demand execution for testing and ad-hoc analysis
  • Scheduler: Cron-based triggers for periodic reports and batch jobs

Connectors​

Read and write data from any source:

  • OPC UA, Modbus, Siemens S7: Industrial protocol nodes
  • MQTT, REST, SQL: Enterprise and IoT integration nodes
  • UNS Publish/Subscribe: Unified Namespace data exchange

Transforms​

Shape and modify your data:

  • Buffer: Handle backpressure and smooth data spikes
  • Set: Update fields, add metadata, enrich data
  • Map & Filter: Select, rename, transform data structures
  • Aggregate: Roll up data across time windows or groups

Logic​

Add intelligence to your workflows:

  • Conditions: Branch pipelines based on business rules
  • JavaScript: Write custom logic for complex transformations
  • Merge: Combine data from multiple sources
  • Switch: Route data based on dynamic conditions

Actions​

Execute business processes:

  • Function Instances: Run reusable business logic from Compose
  • Database Write: Insert or update records in SQL databases
  • API Calls: Trigger external systems and webhooks
  • Alerts: Send notifications when thresholds are breached

Common Use Cases​

Real-Time OEE Calculation​

Trigger on PLC data → Calculate availability, performance, quality → Aggregate by shift → Publish to dashboard → Alert on low OEE

Predictive Maintenance​

Scheduled trigger → Query sensor history → Run anomaly detection logic → Compare to baseline → Send alert to maintenance team → Log to database

Quality Traceability​

Scheduled pipeline aligned with vision inspection cycles → Extract defect data → Link to batch instance → Store in quality database → Notify quality manager if threshold exceeded

Energy Monitoring​

Cron trigger every 15 minutes → Read meter values → Calculate energy per unit → Compare to targets → Publish to UNS → Flag inefficiencies

ERP Synchronization​

Scheduled batch job → Query production counts → Transform to ERP format → Call REST API → Handle failures with retry → Log completion status

Dependency Graph​

The Dependency Graph gives you a live, interactive map of every entity in your workspace and the relationships between them:

  • Full visibility: See all pipelines, connections, functions, topics, and dashboards in one view
  • Impact analysis: Hover over any entity to instantly highlight its dependency chain
  • Search and filter: Find any entity by name, type, or ID; filter by entity type; show or hide orphaned entities
  • Focus Mode: Isolate a single entity and its direct neighbors to reduce visual noise in large workspaces
  • Live sync: The graph updates automatically as entities are created, modified, or deleted
  • Two layout modes: Hierarchical (top-to-bottom dependency chains) or Network (force-directed type clusters)

Getting Started​

Ready to automate your data workflows?

  1. Review Pipeline basics: Understand execution strategies and configuration
  2. Explore Node categories: Discover available building blocks
  3. Build your first workflow: Start with a simple pipeline and expand from there
  4. Explore the Dependency Graph: Understand how your pipelines, connections, and topics relate to each other

Each section provides detailed configuration references, expression syntax guides, and real-world examples to help you build pipelines you can run in production.

Pro Tip

Start with manual triggers while building and testing your pipeline. Switch to scheduled or event-driven triggers once you've validated the workflow.