Use Contextual Data Connections

Contextual data connections, also known as external data connections, let you access asset-related data from database tables. You can use a Database Classic Cloud Service instance to store your data. You can also use an Autonomous Transaction Processing database table.

Contextual data can be used in custom KPI computations. For example, if you have a common asset type for forklifts, but different forklifts have different fuel capacities based on their model numbers, then you can store the fuel capacity data for your assets in a Database Classic Cloud Service table. If you now need to compute a KPI such as the average percentage fuel level for your forklifts, you can use a formula such as the following:

Average(FuelLevel*100/FuelCapacity)

Here, FuelLevel is a sensor value, and the FuelCapacity for the asset is retrieved from the contextual data table.

Contextual data can also be used for predictive analytics. For example, you can configure anAutonomous Transaction Processing table to store historical sensor data for training the prediction model.

Create an External Data Connection to a Database Classic Cloud Service Instance

Create a contextual data connection to link to a Database Classic Cloud Service table. You can use the data in the table for KPI computations and predictive analytics.

1. Click Menu (), and then click Design Center.
2. Select Organization from the Design Center sub-menu.
3. Click External Data Sources .
4. Click the Create New () icon.
5. Enter a Name and an optional Description for the external data connection.
6. Select DBaaS in the Type list.
7. Enter the name of a table in the Table Name field.
   1. Select Table already exists if the table is already present in the DBaaS database.
8. Enter the URL for the Database Classic Cloud Service instance in the Connection String field.
9. Enter the user name for the Database Classic Cloud Service instance in the User Name field.
10. Enter the password for the Database Classic Cloud Service instance in the Password field.
11. If you are creating a new table, then under the Fields section, click Create New () to add a table column.
    Specify a Name and Type (data type) for each table column that you add. Select Primary Key when adding the primary key column.
12. Under Associations, you can associate the DBaaS table fields with their corresponding sensor attributes.
    1. Click Add and select a Name for the association.
    2. Under From, select an asset type.
    3. Select a sensor attribute from the list of sensor attributes available for the asset type.
    4. Under To, select the corresponding DBaaS table column.
    5. Add additional sensor attributes to column associations, as required.
13. Click Save to create the external data connection.

Create an External Data Connection to an Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing Instance

Create an external data connection to link to an Autonomous Transaction Processing database table. You can use the data in the table for KPI computations and predictive analytics.

1. Click Menu (), and then click Design Center.
2. Select Organization from the Design Center sub-menu.
3. Click External Data Sources .
4. Click the Create New () icon.
5. Enter a Name and an optional Description for the external data connection.
6. Under Data Format, select ATP as the database Type.
7. Enter the name of your ATP database table in the Table Name field.
8. Click Choose File to select the wallet file required to connect to your ATP instance.
   Oracle client credentials (wallet files) are downloaded from ATP by a service administrator. If you are not an ATP administrator, your administrator should provide you with the client credentials.
   The wallet file for the ATP database can be downloaded from the ATP service console.
9. Enter the Connection String to use for the Autonomous Transaction Processing instance.
   For example, a simple connection string would look like the following:

   database_host[:port][/[service_name]

10. Enter the user name for connecting to the Autonomous Transaction Processing database in the User Name field.
11. Enter the password for the user in the Password field.
12. If you are creating a new table, then under the Fields section, click Create New () to add a table column.
    Specify a Name and Type (data type) for each table column that you add. Select Primary Key when adding the primary key column.
13. Under Associations, you can associate the ATP table fields with their corresponding sensor attributes.
    1. Click Add and select a Name for the association.
    2. Under From, select an asset type.
    3. Select a sensor attribute from the list of sensor attributes available for the asset type.
    4. Under To, select the corresponding ATP table column.
    5. Add additional sensor attributes to column associations, as required.
14. Click Save to create the external data connection.

Edit a Contextual Data Connection

Edit a contextual data connection to change the data connection settings.

1. Click Menu (), and then click Design Center.
2. Select Organization from the Design Center sub-menu.
3. Click External Data Sources .
4. Select an external data connection in the External Data list.
5. Click the Edit () icon.
6. Edit the external data connection settings.
7. Click Save.

Duplicate a Contextual Data Connection

Duplicate a contextual data connection to quickly copy the settings of an existing contextual data connection to a new contextual data connection.

1. Click Menu (), and then click Design Center.
2. Select Organization from the Design Center sub-menu.
3. Click External Data Sources .
4. Select an external data connection in the External Data list.
5. Click the Duplicate () icon.
   A duplicate external data connection opens up for editing.
6. Enter a name for the external data connection in the Name field and then add an optional description.
7. (Optional) Edit the remaining external data connection settings.
8. Click Save.

Delete a Contextual Data Connection

Delete a contextual data connection when it is no longer required.

1. Click Menu (), and then click Design Center.
2. Select Organization from the Design Center sub-menu.
3. Click External Data Sources .
4. Select an external data connection in the External Data list.
5. Click the Delete () icon.
6. Click Yes to confirm.