Data Acquisition (PDA)

Overview

Access: Any role with access to this machine. Roles and access.

Support live shop-floor execution and event recording for a single machine.

Users usually open it from the Machine Details page.

To switch machines, select the machine name in the top navigation bar. The dropdown groups the other machines you can access by hall and opens the selected machine's Data Acquisition screen directly.

Access

What You Can See

• Assignment lists and live order context in open-assignment or time-window views.
• Personalized assignment columns, ordering, and sorting.
• Start, preparation, and stop controls.
• Interval history, notes, tickets, and knowledge context.

What You Can Do

• Start or stop work.
• Record produced quantity, material scrap, and work scrap when stopping or continuing an interval.
• Create or use live orders.
• Search for unplanned operations and assign them directly to the machine.
• Configure the information and ordering shown on assignment cards.
• Apply timeline reasons and review related support content.

Settings Set by a Machine Template

An administrator can assign a BDE access template to this machine. It applies to everyone on Data Acquisition V3, including administrators.

In Card Display Settings, required fields and highlights stay ticked and locked with Set by the template. Required highlights apply only when a field is visible. You can still choose additional fields and highlights. Sorting is set by the template means you can review the sort order but cannot change or reset it here. A fixed automatic refresh interval is also locked.

Your own choices stay saved. They apply again when the template no longer fixes those settings, and on machines without a template. With no template, the page works as before. The sorting instructions below apply when the template leaves sorting open.

The template can block order creation, taking or returning pool work, reopening completed operations, interval corrections, and saving notes or details. Their buttons and edit icons stay visible and readable, but disabled. Hover over or tap one to read Locked for this machine (BDE template). Notes and details stay readable only; Save remains visible even when nothing has changed. A blocked status still looks normal, but tapping it opens no menu. If adding orders is off, search still filters this machine’s work but cannot find unplanned operations. Ask an administrator to review a blocked action.

Preparation, production start, stop, quantity booking, downtime reasons, PDA Assist, and warnings stay available as before. Even with status changes off, Planned quantity reached still lets you choose Complete or Keep on hold. Reopening completed work has its own Reopen completed operations switch. Other pages, such as the Planner, are unaffected.

Template changes appear at the next automatic refresh, every 5 minutes unless another interval is set. Use the page’s refresh button or reload the page to pick them up immediately. Other devices do not update instantly; a screen left open keeps the old choices until one of these happens.

Choosing and Understanding Work

Use open-assignment or time-window views to find the work for the current machine. If an operation has not been planned, you can search for it and assign it directly from this page. Operation sequence numbers on job chips help identify the order of work, and operation and assignment notes provide instructions and context.

In Data Acquisition V3, Sort by Queue Position displays the order set by dragging assignments. Turn it off to display work by rules such as priority or date. For these rules, choose ascending or descending order. The rules form a numbered list: rule 1 decides first, and later rules break ties. To change their precedence, change the selection in a line’s list, remove a rule with the red remove button, or add a line with Add sort rule. These general sorting choices are also available in the Assignment Planner.

Choose Where Running and On-Hold Orders Appear

Running and on-hold orders: Orders in progress or on hold. Example: an order that was started and is on hold for a tool change. This differs from ⚠️ Waiting on a previous operation, where an earlier step is unfinished.

Open Card Display Settings → Sort Order using the gear icon. Your sorting mode determines the choices:

• With Sort by Queue Position on, Running and on-hold orders appears above the waiting-order choice. Previously, these orders stayed on top automatically. They now keep their place in the queue by default with Keep in place. Choose Running and on-hold orders → At the top to bring them above other orders. In Assignment Planner, queue-position mode follows the dragged order, including running and on-hold work. The PDA page’s choices can still show these groups first.
• With Sort by Queue Position off, use Add sort rule and select Running and on-hold orders. Choose At the top or At the bottom. This rule stays first. The waiting-order rule comes next if you add it, followed by priority and date rules.

Select Save to apply the display choices to the machine's order list and Pool. These choices are separate from the company sorting default. Follow the display setup steps.

Put Waiting Orders After Work That Can Start

Orders marked ⚠️ Waiting on a previous operation have an earlier step in the same work order that is neither completed nor cancelled. Step numbers determine the sequence. An earlier step without an assignment also counts as unfinished. For example, step #70 waits until #60 is finished.

Use the gear icon in the top bar to open Card Display Settings → Sort Order. Choose the option for your sorting mode:

• With Sort by Queue Position off, click Add sort rule. A new numbered rule line appears. Select Waiting on a previous operation in that line’s list. Instead of the up/down arrow, this rule has a button that starts at At the bottom, placing waiting orders after other work. Click it to switch to At the top and review waiting orders first. This rule comes before priority and date, but after Running and on-hold orders when that rule is present. Your remaining rules sort work within each group.
• With Sort by Queue Position on, use Orders waiting on a previous operation. Keep in place keeps the usual queue display. At the bottom places waiting work after other orders. Use the separate Running and on-hold orders choice to bring active work to the top. The queue order set in Assignment Planner stays the same within each group.

Select Save to apply your choice. Neither option moves waiting work until you choose it. Your choice is saved for your account and applies to the machine's order list and the Pool tab. These waiting-order options are only available in Data Acquisition V3, not in Assignment Planner.

Once no earlier step remains unfinished, the next refresh places the order in the group that can start. Follow Configure the Data Acquisition V3 Display.

Use the Company Sorting Default

If you have no personal sorting saved for Data Acquisition V3, it starts with the company's sort mode and shared rules. Administrators set these in Assignment Planner. Saving unrelated display changes keeps you following that default.

When a company default exists, the reset control is labelled Reset to company sorting. Open Card Display Settings → Sort Order → Reset to company sorting to copy the current company choices. When your choices already match, the button shows a tick and is unavailable. Otherwise, it resets the choices in the open settings; select Save to apply them. With no company default, the icon labelled Reset to default (no company default set yet) restores the standard choices.

Resetting keeps the queue-mode choices for running and waiting orders. It replaces the sort rules, so add any running- or waiting-order rules you need again. These special rules are not part of the company default. Once you save your own sorting or a reset, later company changes do not replace it.

Send Work Back to the Hall Pool

In Data Acquisition V3, you can return unfinished work to its own hall pool if you have access to this machine and its template allows Send orders back to the pool. Select the step: Create changes to Back to pool. Tap the selected card again to clear the selection and restore Create.

For a running step, Back to pool opens the normal stop dialog first. Stop first – then back to pool appears at the bottom. Record quantities and stop the interval. If PDA Assist asks you to choose a time, finish or close that choice before the return dialog opens. Closing the stop dialog or booking without stopping cancels this sequence.

In Send back to the pool:

• If work has not started, the whole step moves to the pool.
• If work has started, recorded times and good parts stay on this machine. Planned, Done here, and Left summarize the quantities. Quantity left starts with planned quantity minus good parts, never below zero. Scrap does not reduce the remainder. Change it if parts need to be made again, or leave it empty if the quantity is unknown. It starts empty when the planned quantity is unknown.
• Reason (optional) passes a note of up to 500 characters to the next machine, such as “Spindle broken”.

Confirm with Back to pool. The work goes to the top of the hall pool, where another machine in the hall can claim it as usual. The list refreshes, the selection clears, and a confirmation appears at the bottom. After partial work, the original card shows Handed over instead of Completed. Choose the third view tab with the history icon, Time Window + All Statuses, to find the handed-over part. It shows all steps in the chosen date window, including completed and cancelled ones. All Open and Time Window + Open hide the handed-over part.

The pool card shows where the work came from and how many parts were already made, or who sent back an unstarted step and when. Hover over its grey badge for details and the reason. Step context and waiting-step details show Partly done: with quantities and the remaining destination. Handing work over does not finish the whole step or release later steps that are waiting for it.

Finished or cancelled steps cannot be sent back. Without a hall, the button is unavailable; ask your planner. If all planned parts are made, finish the step unless more are needed. There is no automatic undo for a handover. If This operation was changed in the meantime. The list has been refreshed. appears, review the refreshed list before trying again. Follow return work to the pool.

Interval Times and Timeline Display

If the machine’s template switches off Correct interval times and quantities, the interval list is readable only and the edit icons are disabled. Hover over or tap an icon to read Locked for this machine (BDE template). Start and end times stay plain text. The editing steps below apply when corrections are allowed.

An interval records a stretch of preparation or production. In Data Acquisition V3, open the order's interval list. Tap a start or end time once to open Edit interval on Start or End. The clock icon and Tap to change hint identify editable times. The pencil opens Quantities.

Times show hours and minutes. A time from another day also shows the date as day/month, for example 20/10 14:30. A running end reads Still running.

Review and Change an Interval

The summary above the controls shows the order, interval number, saved type, times, and quantities. Start sits on the left and End on the right. The other time stays visible; tap its card to switch to it. Your edits stay when you switch tabs. Dots mark unsaved changes. When both times exist, changing either time shows the new duration beside New length:.

• On a touch screen, turn the day, hour, and minute wheels.
• On a computer, use − and +, hold a button to repeat, or type hours and minutes. You can also use the mouse wheel. Minute and hour steps carry into the next hour or day.
• −5 min and +5 min move the selected time by five minutes. Repeated taps add up.
• Under Quantities, correct Good qty., Material Scrap, and Work Scrap. Type quantities with a keyboard on a computer or use the number pad on a touch screen. In cumulative mode, enter the full machine counter reading.
• Choose Production or Preparation to correct the interval type. The summary shows the proposed type beside the saved one.

On screens with little height, the summary at the top takes two lines and the number pad is smaller. On very short screens, such as 1024×600 screens, the wheels show fewer rows with −5 min and +5 min beside them, and the hint below the controls is hidden.

Select Save to apply your edits together. Interval saved. confirms success; the interval table and timeline update. Cancel discards edits before saving. If you already selected Save, cancelling does not undo a save that finishes afterwards; check the table.

Limits When Editing

You can move the date back as far as seven days before the saved time. You cannot choose a time later than now.

When you change a time, the end must be later than the start, and neither time may be in the future. Save stays unavailable if nothing changed, a time error remains, or saving is still in progress. If saving fails, the dialog stays open with a message so you can try again.

For a running interval, End explains: This interval is still running. Its end is set when it is stopped. Use the normal stop action to end it. You cannot clear a saved end. A running interval cannot change to a type that already has another running interval on the same order; the unavailable option has an explanation.

Tapping outside does not close the dialog while you have unsaved changes. Follow Correct an Interval.

Timeline Display

Data Acquisition V3 settings offer two separate choices:

• Timeline display → Show intervals in graph controls whether interval bars appear on the graph.
• Auto-refresh interval controls how often assignments and hall pools refresh automatically.

Timeline entries for idle and stopped periods update as you switch between running, paused, and stopped states. Review these entries and their reasons to keep a clear record of interruptions. See Run Data Acquisition for the correction and display procedures.

Production Quantities, Scrap, and Completion

When stopping or continuing an interval, enter good quantity, material scrap, and work scrap separately. Review the breakdown in Orders & Products or Order Analysis.

In the quantity dialog, tap the information icon in the corner to read what each button does:

After Stop, Planned quantity reached appears when good parts plus material scrap, work scrap, and any older scrap reach or exceed the planned quantity across all intervals. Scrap counts once. For example, 97 good parts plus 3 material scrap reaches a plan of 100; 96 plus 3 does not. The question shows the order, operation sequence and product, with the same quantity readout as its card.

• Complete is preselected. Choose it when all parts have been booked; the operation leaves the open list.
• Keep on hold leaves the operation open so you can book missing parts later. Closing the question without choosing also keeps it on hold.

Reaching the quantity does not complete the operation automatically. If the planned quantity is zero or empty, the question appears after every Stop. Both choices work even when the template blocks ordinary status changes. Below the planned quantity, this question is not offered: ask your planner to close the operation, or use the status menu if your template allows it. If material runs out and work must continue elsewhere, use Back to pool.

If PDA Assist offers a time choice after stopping, finish or close it first; the completion question follows. During Back to pool, the return dialog takes its place. Closing that return dialog after stopping leaves the operation on hold.

Notices identify the operation. After Continue, you see Interval ended – new interval started. After stopping without a follow-up question, you see Interval ended – on hold, or Interval ended if it is not on hold. After the completion choice, Operation completed or Operation on hold confirms the result. Follow Review Quantities and Completion.

PDA / BDE Buttons and Quantity Labels

PDA (Production Data Acquisition) and BDE (Betriebsdatenerfassung) are the same operator screen. Tabs include Assignments, Pool, Downtime reasons, Tickets, and Knowledge Base.

Prep starts preparation (German Vorber.), Start starts production, Stop ends an interval, and Continue books quantities, ends the running interval, and starts a new one immediately. Explicit actions include Start/End Preparation and Start/End Shift.

Good qty. / Gutmenge is good output. Mat. / MA is Material Scrap; Work / AA is Work Scrap. Total = Input + MA + AA. Rework Qty is the amount requiring rework. Cycle Count is sensor-detected; PDA Entry / BDE-Eintrag is operator-entered. Switching the progress source changes only the display.

Example: 95 entered good units, 3 material scrap, and 2 work scrap produce a total of 100. In Cumulative mode, enter the full machine counter, for example 1450, rather than this interval's increment.

Mid Booking, Hall Pools, and Dependencies

Mid Booking (Zwischenbuchung) saves quantities while the job continues by closing and restarting the interval. If restart fails, quantities stay saved; press Start to resume. Check the running state before booking again.

In the Pool tab, claim work from the machine's hall pool. If no assignment exists, search unplanned operations or use Find/Create Immediate Order. Job Context combines order, work-order, operation, and assignment notes.

Waiting on a previous operation / Blocked by means an earlier operation is unfinished. Start anyway remains available; review the dependency before proceeding. The concurrent-order prompt asks for confirmation if another assignment is running. When the planned quantity is reached after Stop, choose Complete or Keep on hold.

Unbound or unlabeled machine time belongs to no order. Deleting a recorded interval is irreversible.

Choose the Assignment View

Card Display Settings / Columns / Highlight are saved per user. A machine template adds its required fields and highlights and can fix sorting and automatic refresh. Sort by Queue Position follows the planned queue. Choose where running and waiting orders appear under Sort Order.

Review and Reopen Completed Work

On the PDA page, choose Recently completed, the fourth view mode. It shows only the last five completed operations of this machine, newest first. The time-window control is unavailable here. The view is remembered, and search filters these five cards. To review older work, use Time Window + All Statuses.

Cards follow your display settings and show booked quantities and Completed with the completion time; a missing time appears as “–”. The cards are read-only: you cannot select them, start or stop them, change their status from a menu, or edit their notes or intervals here. Switching to this view keeps any previously selected open operation selected; the page’s main controls still refer to that operation.

If the machine’s template allows Reopen completed operations, choose Set on hold on a card. In the confirmation, check the order, operation sequence and product. Under Put in queue, choose:

Your last successful choice is remembered. Otherwise, By company sorting is selected when company sorting exists, and At the top when it does not. Without saved company sorting, By company sorting is unavailable. If that sorting is removed while the confirmation is open, the choice falls back to At the top. Company rules update when the page refreshes and when you open the confirmation.

Confirm with Set on hold. To leave the operation completed, tap outside the confirmation. Reopening changes its queue placement without changing priorities, dates, or the saved company sorting. Your display sorting can affect where the card appears.

After reopening, the card leaves this view. Choose Show in the notice to switch to All Open and select it. You can then book more parts. Reopened with the time appears on PDA and Planner cards. Its explanation names the person, date, time, machine when available, and queue placement. The badge disappears when the operation is completed or cancelled again.

No completed operations yet means this machine has none to show. Refresh if the list cannot be loaded. If reopening fails, review the message before trying again. Set on hold stays visible but disabled when the template blocks reopening. Hover over or tap it to read Locked for this machine (BDE template). It is absent on Handed over parts. Ask your planner about reversing a handover. Follow Reopen a Completed Operation.

Check Assisted Interval Times

When an administrator enables PDA Assist, late starts and stops can move to times shown by the machine data. It applies to production and preparation on Data Acquisition V3. Manual time edits and mid-bookings do not receive these automatic adjustments.

The choice dialog compares Now with After and shows which order gains or loses time. Choose a main option or expand Other times for earlier choices, newest first. You can also tap a marker on the timeline. Keep the time you pressed if none fits. Closing the initial choice dialog keeps that time.

After an automatic adjustment, Undo restores the time you pressed. Change… opens the alternatives; Back to the time you pressed restores the original time there. One suitable time within the automatic limit can apply immediately. With several times, your machine's settings decide whether to ask or choose automatically. Times beyond the automatic limit always need your choice.

The interval list marks changes as Adjusted, Auto-ended, or Improved. Open the explanation to see the changed time and reason. Auto-ended means a forgotten production interval ended after the configured off or idle period. It works even when the PDA page is closed. Check quantities afterwards: automatic ending does not book them. Preparation never ends this way.

When automatic ending is enabled, Machine off, order still running can show the remaining minutes. Snoozing or muting this warning does not stop automatic ending. Ask an administrator to change it in Machine Configuration.

Interval changes appear immediately on the timeline. The update after a change keeps your selected shift if it still exists. Regular and manual refreshes return to the live shift. To review past days, use Improve intervals on Machine Details, following Review and Improve Intervals.

See What Assistance Is Active

Tap PDA Assist at the right edge of Data Acquisition V3. It appears when at least one interval-assistance option or warning is enabled. On a phone it sits beside the action bar, above any warning banner.

The dialog lists what assistance does on this machine. Right now shows current information, such as the remaining time before automatic ending or the last corrected start or end. The dot is amber only during the automatic-ending countdown; otherwise it is green. It briefly glows after assistance changes a time. The countdown says the order will end unless the machine restarts. To prevent automatic ending, ask an administrator to change the machine settings.

Understand the Offered Times

Only times shown by machine activity or the previous interval's end are offered. The main choices use the most recent activity. Earlier choices appear under Other times, newest first, with up to 20 offered times in total. Times before the previous order's end or beyond the machine's asking limit are left out, never moved to a limit.

Open the information icon beside the choice dialog's title for a short explanation. Missing data shorter than 10 minutes and idle, off, or preparation interruptions shorter than 2 minutes do not split an activity stretch. For example, a five-minute data gap during production does not turn the return of data into a new production start.

Choose a Downtime Reason

As a machine operator, you can choose a reason while the downtime is still running. Select a tile under Downtime reasons, or tap the latest timeline segment and choose a reason. The running downtime's tooltip shows your choice and keeps it after the page refreshes. This also works when the downtime began before the last 8 hours shown on the timeline.

When the machine starts again, your choice is saved onto that downtime. If the reason tiles are still offered shortly after the restart, a reason you choose there is saved onto the downtime that just ended.

A reason chosen by the machine operator or set by hand takes priority. When automatic break labels are enabled, an eligible break's reason comes next. Downtime reason rules apply to the remaining idle or off time; without a matching reason, the time stays unlabelled. Follow choose a downtime reason.

Automatic break labels appear only after downtime ends, not in the running downtime's tooltip. If the machine operator chooses a reason after the downtime ended, that reason replaces the break label for the whole downtime, also when the downtime had been split into parts around the break. Parts whose reason someone set or cleared by hand keep that choice. A reason you set or clear by hand is never replaced by automatic break labelling.

Downtime reasons offers only the reasons available on this machine. A tile can show a code in its corner. Use the category chips above the tiles to narrow the list; these appear only when reasons have categories.

Saved tile arrangements keep newly available reasons and drop deleted ones. Other timeline reason pickers show reasons alphabetically with the code before the name. Remove label clears the selected reason without deleting the downtime period.

If a reason is no longer allowed, the list updates. Choose an available reason or ask an administrator to check the machine's selection. A historical reason may still appear even when it is no longer selectable. See Downtime Reasons FAQs.

PDA Assist Warnings

PDA Assist shows warnings for this machine when an administrator enables them. Only administrators can change warning settings. It is separate from classic Alert Rules and Automator.

Info is a silent notice. Warning shows an orange banner and orange light around the whole page; Critical shows a red banner and flashing screen border. The warning appears after the delay selected by your administrator. A running-too-long warning uses its hour threshold instead of a separate delay.

Use the floating warning button at the bottom left: select View all warnings to open Active warnings. Read the affected order and duration, then use the available action: Select an order, End order, Set downtime reason, or Refresh now. Check the actual machine and order before acting. Follow Run Data Acquisition.

Snooze and Sound

You can snooze one warning or choose Snooze all. Snoozing hides the warning from the banner and silences it for the configured duration. It remains listed under Snoozed and returns if the problem persists. Resume now brings it back sooner.

If sound is allowed and enabled for that warning, Warning plays two beeps and Critical three alternating high and low beeps. The alarm repeats while the warning is active and not snoozed. Info is always silent. Select Enable sound to turn sound on or Mute to silence it on your device. The browser needs a tap on the page before sound can start.

Your administrator can limit sound to active shifts. This limits sound, not the warning display. See Machine Configuration for delays, severity, sound, and copying settings.

Main Entities

• Machine
• Assignment
• Interval
• Production Order
• Ticket

Outcomes and Limits

Common Outcomes

• The machine’s production story is captured in a detailed, shift-level form.
• Recorded totals include the submitted scrap quantities.

Limits and Empty States

• Users need the right live assignment or order context before the page is fully useful.
• The page warns users before production starts when another assignment is already running.

Related Pages

• Quality calculation and the 95% default
• Machine Details
• Machine History
• Machines
• Alert Rules

Related Workflows

• Run Data Acquisition (PDA)
• Monitor a Machine Live
• Review Machine History