Generally speaking, the amount of data to be stored in data bases or in data base oriented systems is permanently increasing. This goes particularly true for the field of managing technical facilities or buildings. Current key topics such as Digital Twins, BIM, sensors, smart devices and IoT are the reason for creating more and more data that needs to be stored during the planning and operational phase.
However, just storing data is by far not enough. Notwithstanding the fact that data needs to be stored respecting its proper connections and interdependencies, it is far more decisive to have the appropriate tools to evaluate this data easily and comprehensively. Only then a potential data cemetery will turn into a real added value. Hence, an ordinary search function is not sufficient either. Due to the multiplicity and similarity of data, customers will then need to follow several steps to reach the requested clear results. And even a casual user must be capable of setting up and carrying out such highly complex, even cascading search operations.
speedikon C precisely delivers this highly flexible search engine, that is very easy to handle at the same time. Such search engine is indispensable to retrieve data and establish respective interconnections. All data existing in the Data Base are evaluated via a very intuitive GUI. Users benefit from multiple search functions and search cascades, that can be adapted to the requests of the specific search types.
- The quick filter affects all previous entries in the list, irrespective in which column the search string exists. This is always a very beneficial approach in case you are uncertain on which basis you should filter your data record.
- The configurable search criteria are always a good choice, in case you want to search for defined data fields on one hand, and you do not want to think about where exactly the data field really exists on the other. Search fields in the search criteria can easily be combined. In this context, it is very interesting to mention that you can attach quite complex rules to these search criteria. Furthermore, the user can, by activating a single radio-button, search for open orders, or orders that are due in the subsequent month or belong to the type “maintenance”. In any case, this is the best option for casual users searching data only from time to time.
- The “extended” search criteria are complementary to the search criteria more appropriate to power users. At this point customers have the possibility to compose individual search criteria containing free “and” or “and/or” connections respecting each direct or connected attribute. In this context, you can also use the various operators such as „equal”, “contains”, “starts with”, “is larger” or “is smaller”. There is no limit to the user’s creativity and imagination.
- In speedikon C version 6.0, the column-filter has decisively been enhanced regarding performance. This tool is perfect to continue filtering the search results. Everyone who knows the column filter in Microsoft Excel will have no trouble in using our column filter and will easily select his data. At first glance, you will recognize where there are too many entries, and which entries have been currently selected.
In summary, we can state that for every user requirement and for each type of skill, there is the right solution in place to retrieve data. So, what is next? To get a clearer overview, it is very helpful to structure data according to groupings. In case you want to repetitively execute the established rule, the best option is to save the selection as a favorite, either for yourself as a personal user or for a larger group of users. Furthermore, you can then export the data, be it to Excel, as csv or pdf, -all depends on what you intend to do with this data.
Apart from the list form, customers must also be able to elaborate the data graphically. For this purpose, speedikon C provides excellent comprehensive tools such as Business Charts, Dashboards and Report generators. We will elaborate on this topic in one of the future blog posts.