Digital Thread — What Grows When Connected
Digital Thread is an optional integration that only reads from the customer's ERP · MES · PLM · QM · SCM systems to tie work orders · materials · design changes · quality events · customer orders into one graph with equipment. Even without this connection, Copilot's asking · suggestions · automations all still help, unchanged.
The old edition's Digital Thread screen (/thread — work readiness · design change · delay propagation), the "Today's Work" card on the chat start screen, and the timeline on the equipment screen
are not in the new screen. The old address /thread does not carry over and shows "Screen not found." The same answer comes from asking in Ask — the tools and judgments are unchanged.
Installs without a connection show no blank fields or "will appear once connected" notices either. When connected, only the three below grow.
| What grows when connected | What | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Tools Ask uses | When building an answer, calls tools starting with thread_ to answer today's work · readiness · incident history · connections · delay and recovery options | "How to ask in Ask" below |
| Tools Automations chooses | When building an automation, a Digital Thread group appears in the tool list, and templates requiring this connection appear in the template gallery (otherwise they are not shown at all) | Automations |
| Evidence for Proposals | Order · material evidence is attached to proposal details, and items originating from the same order or same material PO are grouped into one line. Clicking the evidence line opens it in the right panel | Proposals |
Attaching connectors and turning tools on is the administrator's job → Digital Thread — Admin
How to ask in Ask
Ask (/chat) in your normal way of speaking. You don't need to know tool names — the AI picks the tool that fits the question.
| What you want to know | How to ask | Tool used | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today's processes and urgency order | "What's on today?" · "Show me today's urgent-delivery jobs first" | thread_today_work | On |
| What happened on that equipment | "What happened on the charger this morning?" · "Press #2's incidents from last week, in order" | thread_get_timeline | On |
| What's connected to what | "What's attached upstream/downstream of this equipment?" · "Which work order is this nonconformance tied to?" | thread_trace_links | On |
| How much a delivery slips if a part is late | "If this material PO is late, how many days does delivery slip? Can expediting recover it?" | thread_explain_recovery | On |
| Whether this process can start | "Is anything blocked among next shift's processes?" · "Can I start this work order?" | thread_work_readiness | On |
| Whether this part number/drawing is the latest revision | "Check whether this work drawing is the latest revision" | thread_part_revision_status | On |
| Tools · instruments | "Are there any measurements taken with an instrument past its calibration due date?" | thread_check_tooling | On |
- From 2026.10 re-release (2026-10-20), the digital thread tools are all on from the start. A tool an administrator turns off cannot be used by Ask or Automations — the place to turn them on and off is AI Admin Console › MCP Gateway › Tools → MCP Gateway. Since the today's work list carries readiness alongside each process, asking "today's work" still shows blocked processes even if you turn the readiness tool off.
- Expanding the tool line above the answer ("N tools used · Ns") shows which tools were called, and the evidence below the answer attaches cards for items read from the Digital Thread.
- Answers only cover your data scope → Permissions
- On installs without a connection, these tools don't exist at all. If you ask the questions above, the AI answers only as far as its other tools (equipment · alarms · documents) allow.
If a recovery option suggests a draft expedite request to a supplier, an "Available action" card is attached below the answer. Approving it creates exactly one draft in that system, and the person who asked cannot approve their own card → Permissions — Two-Person Approval
Answer evidence — the link graph and object history
Clicking a Digital Thread card in the evidence below an answer opens the link graph in the right panel. There are two views, Graph · List, and clicking a node opens the Selected object (that node's details) below the graph.
| Spot | What is shown |
|---|---|
| Header | The object's kind and key, Key · Source (the source system), the sync time («sync time unknown» if not known), the event count, N links |
| Current values in the source system | Key fields read from the source system at the moment you clicked — table below |
| Source system link | The button text and the host it goes to, like "Open in SAP · s4.example.com". Shown only when an administrator has put a link template on that system's connector |
| History of this object | The events that happened to that object, in time order — below |
| See incidents · Open drawing | Only on equipment nodes · drawing nodes |
A relation label says what the end is in «start → end». For example, the line from a PO line to a work order is pegged to, and the line from a work order to a material is consumes.
| Relation | Label |
|---|---|
PEGGED_TO | pegged to |
CONSUMES | consumes |
FULFILLS | fulfils |
SUPPLIES | supplies |
RUNS_ON | runs on |
Current values in the source system
Every time you click a node, the Digital Thread asks that kind's system of record (MES for work orders, ERP for PO lines · customer orders, PLM for part numbers …) for that one record. The values are not stored — the graph holds only number · status · time · source, while what it is (item · quantity · due date) lives in the source system.
| Kind | System asked | Fields shown |
|---|---|---|
| PO line | ERP | Material · Quantity · Due · Status · Supplier |
| Sales order line | ERP | Product · Quantity · Due · Status · Customer |
| Work order | MES | Product · Target qty · Good qty · Planned start · Planned end · Actual start · Actual end · Status · Equipment |
| Operation | MES | Work order · Equipment · Planned start · Planned end · Status |
| Part | PLM | Revision · Approval |
| Supplier | SCM | On-time rate (last 90 days) |
- Inspections · nonconformances · maintenance orders currently show "Unknown — this kind of record cannot be read one at a time from its source system". The quality · maintenance connector specs have no single-record read.
- No kind carries people's names · employee numbers · contact details. Platform equipment · tags · events and drawing nodes have no such field.
- The read time and system are shown together as "Read from … at …".
| If you see | It means |
|---|---|
| A field value of Unknown | The source has no such field |
| "Unknown — the source system (…) is not connected. Connecting systems is optional" | No system of that kind is connected. This is not a defect |
| "Unknown — this kind of record cannot be read one at a time from its source system" | That kind can only be read as a list over a period |
| "No response from the source system — …" + Try again | The source system did not answer or timed out |
| "The source system (…) has no such record" | It was deleted at the source or its number changed |
| Outside your scope | That field (equipment · work order · part · supplier · customer number) or that site is outside your data scope |
| "A site must be chosen — …" | The same number exists at several sites. Ask again with the site |
History of this object
Clicking History of this object opens one more panel showing events such as status changes · work · inspections · receipts in time order.
- At first it shows the last 30 days. If you need earlier, Show the 30 days before at the bottom steps back 30 days at a time — when it reaches the end of the retention period (180 days), the button is gone.
- If there are no events, "No events recorded for this object" is shown along with the object · period.
- The card of a timeline answer ("events on press No. 2 last week, in time order") opens exactly the period that question asked about.
A source system link appears only when an administrator has put an External links template on the connector. After you open the link, the source system judges your permissions again → Digital Thread — External links
How to read the answer — work readiness
For each process, whether it can start is judged by the Digital Thread; Ask merely carries over that value.
| Judgment | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No-Go | At least one item is blocked |
| At Risk | Expected to clear before start, but with little slack |
| Unknown | Could not be judged because the source is missing or unreadable |
| Go | All eight items passed |
| N/A | An item that doesn't apply to this process (e.g., no tool requirement) — excluded from the overall judgment |
A process's judgment follows its worst item. 🔴 Unknown is not Go. Many Unknowns mean the source (connector) needed to judge is missing.
| Item | To pass |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | The prior process is done, or will finish before the planned start |
| Material | The part number this process uses is in stock, or the pending order's (ERP purchase order · SCM) arrival ETA is before start |
| Tool | The required tool/instrument exists and its calibration is valid at start time |
| Personnel | A person with the required qualification is assigned, and the qualification is valid at start time |
| Permit | The required work permit · lockout is valid within the planned window |
| Quality | No unresolved nonconformance blocks this job/process |
| Equipment | No maintenance window or fault state overlaps the planned window |
| Drawing | Below |
Blocked reasons are the Digital Thread's reason codes translated into screen language — numbers, revisions, dates come straight from the source values.
Drawing item — is the shop-floor drawing the latest revision
Two things are checked.
- Whether a design change tied to the part number (and assemblies above it) used by this process blocks the job
- Whether the drawing revision posted on the shop floor is PLM's released revision
| Case | Drawing judgment |
|---|---|
| No pending design change, and the shop-floor drawing is the released revision | Go |
| The design change's inventory disposition is "use as is" | Go |
| The design change's disposition is "undetermined," a change under review, or a change whose effectivity cannot be released | At Risk |
| The time the new revision becomes usable is before process start | At Risk |
| The time the new revision becomes usable is after process start, or unknown | No-Go |
| None of the drawings posted for that part number on the shop floor is the released revision | No-Go — an old-revision drawing is on the shop floor |
| The part number this process uses is unknown | Unknown |
| This process doesn't use a tracked part number | N/A |
| No PLM connector | Unknown |
If the shop-floor drawing isn't yet in the Digital Thread (drawing collection isn't enabled, or that drawing wasn't uploaded), the revision check against the released drawing is skipped, and the judgment is made from the design change alone — a missing drawing is not called "wrong." Getting drawings into the Digital Thread is RAG's drawing collection → Asking with Drawings
The same judgment shows as a badge on the drawing card attached to an Ask answer — "Latest," "Old revision" (with what the latest is), "Change in progress," "Cannot verify revision." Clicking the card opens a preview in the right panel, and Open in viewer (new tab) compares the two revisions side by side or overlaid → Asking with Drawings
When no judgment is made
| Case | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No enabled MES connector | No judgment is made, because there's nowhere to read work orders, the base of judgment |
| Connector data is older than the freshness limit | Stops rather than issue "Go" from stale data |
| Digital Thread is not responding | This is an error, not an empty answer — it notifies the administrator |
| No open process is planned in that window | Judgment was attempted; there is no process. Widen the time range (up to 48 hours) |
Customer POs and today's work — what's urgent
The Digital Thread ties factory work all the way to customer orders. Material purchase order (material PO) → work order → milestone/project → customer order line (customer PO) → customer. This lets it calculate "if this job is late, which customer PO is at risk."
Asking "What's on today?" attaches a Today's Work table at the end of the answer; if recovery-option or readiness answers carry customer orders, an Affected Customer POs table is attached. These tables are not written by the AI — the server pastes them in from tool results.
Today's work list — which lines appear
For today (one day in the plant's time zone PP_TZ), two things are merged.
- Open processes whose MES plan falls within today — carries the same judgment as work readiness.
- Processes pointed to by orders currently running on the platform — if a process is running but not in the MES plan, or the MES says it's finished, it's flagged separately (meaning the plan and the field have diverged).
Order is customer PO with least slack days (most urgent) → blocked (No-Go) → old-revision drawing involved → planned start time. Lines with unknown slack go last.
Customer PO slack days and risk
Customer order lines come from ERP. They are linked if a work order directly fulfills that line, or if the work order's milestone is that line's delivery. Slack for lines linked only via a project doesn't count remaining project work after this work order, so it comes out more generous than actual (an upper bound).
Slack days = end of due date (00:00 the next day, plant time) − expected completion time of the work. One decimal place in days (0.1 day). The due date is the committed delivery date if one exists, otherwise the contract delivery date. Slack days in the Today's Work list are based on the MES planned finish — the portion that will be delayed further through delay propagation is not included here.
| Slack days | Risk | Display |
|---|---|---|
| Under 0 | late | Past Due |
| 0 to under 2 days | at_risk | At Risk |
| 2 days or more | on_track | Safe |
| Cannot calculate | unknown | Unknown |
Even the same "slack days" can vary greatly depending on what basis was used to calculate it, so the table always states the basis alongside.
| Location | Shown as | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Customer PO Plan Slack column of the Today's Work table | "Customer PO · N days · At Risk" (or "≤N days" if an upper bound) | Work order's planned finish — part delays not reflected. A basis line is attached below the table |
| Slack Days column of the Affected Customer POs table | "N (delay reflected)" · "N (plan-based)" · "≤N (plan-based)" | Values from the recovery calculation reflect part delays after propagation |
If the ERP connector doesn't provide customer orders (an ERP without a customer-order tool), the Customer PO column reads "Unknown — reason." 🔴 Unknown is not slack.
Material PO — the material being waited on
The material purchase order line tied to a work order merges the ERP purchase order (the PO's system of record) with the SCM supplier confirmation into one PO line.
- The arrival date is the supplier-confirmed date (
confirmed_date) in SCM if one exists, otherwise the ERP date. Status and open quantity are of record in ERP. - If the two sources' values differ, the answer notes it as a "mismatch" along with the value chosen — it never silently picks one.
- If the arrival date is later than process start, "N days late" is attached, and the same judgment flows into the Material item of work readiness.
- Even without an SCM connector, material judgment and delay calculation are helped by the ERP purchase order alone. In that case, any open PO line tied to a work order is treated as "material this job is waiting on" (since ERP doesn't know inventory).
Reading customer orders and purchase orders requires a versioned ERP connector spec (erp-mcp 0.3). Versioned connectors turn off again on re-check,
so the administrator must rerun conformance testing and turn it back on → Digital Thread — Admin
Delay and recovery options — premises behind the numbers
The answer to "If this part is late, how many days does delivery slip?" is how many days a design change · nonconformance · late part pushes the milestone, traced through the work.
- For each design change/nonconformance — affected part number → blocked jobs → milestone, and the delay that item added plus the total delay.
- For each late part — whether expediting recovers it, whether it can't be recovered even with expediting, or whether supplier capacity is unknown so only impact is stated.
- 🔴 Numbers are exactly as issued by the Digital Thread (in days, 0.1-day precision). The AI doesn't calculate, only carries the value over. With no hour unit, 8 hours comes out as 0.3 days.
- Sources that couldn't be used in the calculation, assumptions made, and factors not included are listed in the answer's "Not considered." If data was too stale to run the calculation at all, only the reason appears, with no number.
In Proposals · Automations
- Automations — Phrasing like "Tell me every morning which jobs have late material POs" builds an automation that uses Digital Thread tools to check at a set time and posts results as a proposal card or report.
- Digital Thread-only templates appear only when the tool is available. The three templates in the template gallery — Delivery-Risk POs · Quality Anomaly Tracking · Drawing Revision Alerts — appear in the gallery only when Digital Thread tools exist on this install and are usable by you. On installs without a connection, these three don't appear at all — if missing, ask an administrator whether the connectors and tools are turned on → Automations · Use Case — Automations
- Proposals — If a card suggests an MES maintenance request or SCM expedite request, the detail view shows "Draft created on approval." If there's no connector to issue that draft, it reads "No connected system — cannot create a draft" → Proposals
- Proposal evidence opens in a panel. Clicking an evidence line in proposal details (document source · drawing · video) does not leave for a new tab — it opens one layer above the detail view, in the right panel. Clicking Back at the top of the panel returns to the detail view you were viewing.
Related Documents
- Digital Thread — Admin — attaching connectors · graph mirroring · turning on tools · safeguards
- Copilot Screen Map — where the old address (
/thread) now goes - AI Chat — Ask's answers · evidence cards
- Asking with Drawings — drawing cards
- Quality · Design Use Cases — viewing design change impact