Work Process — Who Does What When
This document outlines how to operate a gateway in the field. It covers roles and sequence, not screen navigation.
The tutorial is "connect one PLC for the first time." This document is "run multiple gateways continuously."
Roles — One account only
Edge has admin one account. It does not split accounts per person.
⇒ Anyone who knows the password can touch the gateway. Role separation must be enforced through operational policy and network access control, not the product.
| Role in practice | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Installer | Place the gateway, establish connections, and create tags |
| Field operator | Confirm data is flowing; alert if connection drops |
| System administrator | Manage upgrades, backups, and passwords |
With one account, sharing is easy. But the moment you do, no one knows who changed what. Only people who need to make configuration changes should have it.
Full workflow
Where arrows cross lanes are handoff points.
1. Commissioning — Bringing one gateway online
| Step | Task | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decide deployment location and network topology | Network Configuration |
| 2 | Finalize EDGE_ID naming convention | One-Line Installation |
| 3 | Install | Installation — From Selection to Validation |
| 4 | Change password and API key | Change Initial Password |
| 5 | Register connection + Test connection | Add New PLC Connection |
| 6 | Register tags | Register Tags |
| 7 | Verify data flow | View Real-Time Values |
| 8 | Acceptance inspection | Production Readiness Criteria |
EDGE_ID is hard to change laterIt will conflict with upstream platform records. Finalize your naming convention before deploying multiple units — it should match how the field refers to each piece of equipment.
2. Steady operation — Recurring tasks
| Interval | Task | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Verify data is flowing; check for dropped connections | Field |
| Weekly | Check available disk space | System administrator |
| Monthly | Back up configuration → Backup / Restore | System administrator |
| Per release | Review upgrade → Upgrade | System administrator |
Field walkthroughs can be done from a mobile device → Mobile Field Inspection.
Capacity is determined by tag count × collection interval × retention days. If you add tags, check disk trends again at that moment → Database Model.
3. Changes — When equipment is added or modified
| Task | Sequence |
|---|---|
| Add PLC | Connection → Test connection → Tags → Verify data flow |
| Add many tags | Use CSV Bulk Upload |
| Change collection interval | Calculate disk impact first |
| Replace gateway | Get configuration backup first — restore brings connections and tags back |
Time series can be re-collected, but connection and tag definitions are human-made. Back up configuration before touching equipment.
Common misalignments
| Symptom | Typical cause |
|---|---|
| "Data missing since some date" | No daily inspection. Drops start silently |
| "Disk is full" | Tags were added but retention days were left alone |
| "Who changed the configuration?" | One account shared among many — limit access itself |
| "Won't start after upgrade" | Upgraded without backup. Backup before upgrade is policy |
| "Took over the equipment; don't know the EDGE_ID scheme" | No naming convention document |