Record into a rolling data series

Some plant data has a lifetime that belongs to the process, not the shift: lab results, in-process sampling and batch tracking keep accumulating. A data series captures exactly this: the next shift writes into the same series and sees the history — newest row on top, with its own sampling timestamp and the name of whoever recorded it. This article covers how you record into an existing series during a shift.

Before you start

• Record permission: series:record — without it you can only view the series.
• The paid add-in is enabled and at least one series exists on this site. If not, the screen says so — your admin sets a series up (see Set up a rolling data series).

Series tabs at the top, the newest sample on top. Out-of-limit values are highlighted; the download takes the whole series.

Where to find it

The data series is part of the Shift log, but lives on its own screen, separate from the diary:

• in the account menu (top right), under Modules → Shift log, indented: Data series, or
• in the Management left sidebar, under the Diary tools group: Data series.

The link is site-independent — it is always there when you have the permission and the add-in; the actual series, however, differ per site (you always see the series of the active site).

Steps

1. Open the Data series screen and — if there is more than one series — pick the tab at the top of the page (above five series it becomes a dropdown). Check top-left that you are on the right site.
2. Click “Record a row”. The entry form opens with the series’ columns.
3. Enter the sampling time (recorded_at) — the moment the sample was taken, not the moment you type it. This is what places the fresh row in the correct order, on top.
4. Fill the columns by their type (number, text, select, date…). For a measurement point that is not meaningful for this sample, leave it empty — the screen shows it as —, not as zero.
5. Save. The new row appears on top, with your name and the sampling time. If a value falls outside a configured limit, the cell is highlighted and marked.

A measured value must read as a number

If a column is numeric (integer or decimal), only a number is accepted: values like “n/a” or a figure typed with its unit are rejected, and the form tells you which field is wrong. The reason is that the measured value feeds the analytics — a non-numeric cell would silently drop out there. A decimal comma is accepted and converted to a point (96,5 → 96.5). If there was no measurement, leave the field empty: an empty cell is not a “zero measurement”.

The series spans shifts

A data series does not restart each shift: the next shift keeps writing into the same series and sees the full history. That is why the series is not part of the diary (which closes per shift) — it lives on its own screen, with its own download.

Correcting: the edit window

You can correct your own, just-recorded row in place for a while (15 minutes by default — your admin sets it per series). The window opens at the moment of recording, not of sampling.

Beyond the window the row is no longer overwritten: a correction creates a new version with a reason, and the old row stays in the audit trail. The series therefore stays fully traceable — a measurement is never lost, only superseded by a referenced, justified new value.

The download takes the whole series

The screen shows a window of the newest rows, but the Excel/CSV download takes ALL rows of the series (up to a cap), not just the ones on screen. Above the buttons the screen states how many rows the download will take.

Finding older data: date filter and pagination

The list shows the most recent entries by default. If you loaded history (or are simply after an older sample), set the From / To dates and use the pager below the table. The filter goes into the URL, so the view is shareable and bookmarkable. ⚠️ The download still takes the whole series — the sentence above the table always states the file’s scope.