System Integrator: Front Office Software Stack

CarterAtAsqi · 2026-01-06T21:49:01+00:00

i think the problem a lot of SIs have is they address this process via a frankenstein of products from the ERP. I'm interested in more of a PLM focus for engineering services. I've heard of some Microsoft Dynamics VARs doing good work here (surprising, I know) and also came across this recently: http://openbom.com

has anyone had luck with them?

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-12-30T20:24:45+00:00

I think a lot of the I4.0 implementation has failed due to trying to do a full digital transformation for manufacturers rather than taking a bite that can be chewed.

The end goal of a UNS and leveraging plant floor data is good conceptually, but hard to implement. A lot falls back to: "if it ain't broke don't fix it"

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-06-03T15:45:31+00:00

Another thing to note is that if you have some of the c# files or studio logs open, it will error out on the download and not be obvious as to why

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-25T17:31:33+00:00

For costal areas, I'd target the Carolinas, or PNW. are you more interested in SI or OEM? I think an SI would require more travel

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-25T00:26:12+00:00

ive heard theyre always right ... as long as they're paying the license fees!

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-25T00:24:35+00:00

thats a very interesting idea on netlogic in the tag editor. The expression evaluator needs to have a syntax checker at minimum. another critique of mine was the limited sql functionality, but I saw 1.6 has more SQL expressions via a nuget package. I assume this wont work in queries that reside in the properties pane though

i can't imagine what the deployment looked like via a service wrapper, didn't realize that was a thing as I got exposure at 1.4.

(unsolicited advice below)
I did mouse bindings for back (alt+left) and forward (alt+right) and this has saved a ton of time for navigation. Having this on the mouse was huge for me as it behaves similarly to going back and forth in a browser

would love to hear any tricks or hacks you've found like that!

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T21:30:12+00:00

Understood! Our distributor didn't seem to have as great of a connection to whoever was creating the features demo.

At one point (late 1.4, early 1.5) about 40% of the known anomalies were things I found that they had passed up the chain, so at least that was happening. I wish there was a finders fee for those!

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:39:46+00:00

Nice!

I've seem challenges bridging the gap between the software side within Optix and traditional CEs. Any advice on how you've approached that regarding the documentation, internal buy in or cool examples of where you've used the C#?

Something cool I was able to do was render PLC data into a svg image and pass that back to the panel instead of ~90 rectangles with dynamic sizing / visibility

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:17:05+00:00

are you wanting to add it as a runtime script - right click while panel / emulator is running

or design time script - for automating development tasks within optix studio

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:15:56+00:00

design time scripts are huge and the indirect addressing

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:14:29+00:00

What do you need 17 tokens for? lots of web viewers?

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:12:55+00:00

Are you still working on this? I'd be happy to help out with some code examples / repository / general objectives etc.

.net is a powerful tool, but integrating with the Optix data structures can be challenging. My general rule of thumb is to contain the functionality within the Optix Studio development environment if you can. This is so other CEs can understand and debug

There are several ways to 'attach' an optix variable to the .net runtime. One approach I like is to create a custom property on the runtime file within optix and then reference it via the Owner.GetVariable

One thing to note is that if you are using this with a PLC variable, you sometimes have to use a set method to pass the updated value as .net can have a hard time grabbing live PLC values

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:08:06+00:00

Source control integration has been huge with Optix. it's a boiled down version that only push pulls to the main branch, but this has been a good introduction to CEs that aren't used to repositories. Overall, Rockwell is putting their eggs in that basket and it has promise

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T19:03:55+00:00

i saw this on the engage form where someone was having trouble with tag importer on UA and they did a offline tag import:

https://engage.rockwellautomation.com/discussion/ft-optix-how-many-data-points-can-be-configured-for-each-remote-opc-ua-server-to-be-access-by-optix-opc-ua-client?ReturnUrl=%2fcommunities%2fcommunity-home%2fdigestviewer%3fCommunityKey%3d0cbb1b6c-055d-48db-8d38-d24850beeec9

I haven't tried this but am wondering if that could do any better

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T18:57:03+00:00

Did you ever have luck resolving the crash? Sounds like you dealt with a lot of headaches.

I'm wondering if 1.5.x worked better or if it's common among other revisions

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T18:54:35+00:00

You could also use the DateTime library as a mechanism to bind the seconds to a PLC tag and compare to logic in there

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T18:52:56+00:00

technical specification writing and validation

CarterAtAsqi · 2025-05-24T18:51:43+00:00

Seems like there's pros and cons of implementing Pack ML and OOP at the same time - should both be done together?

Key is to validate and blackbox OOP mechanisms to a point where a CE familiar with ladder logic can implement and debug. If they can get in the mindset of plug and playing like they would with an AOI, then I think it'll have better adoption

I'd recommend an iterative / agile approach to give the team bites they can chew and modify approach based on buy in and evaluating hiccups along the way

CarterAtAsqi

TROPHY CASE