MAD Portal - Manage & Monitor

In the simplest form, using monitors strictly as count trackers, the MAD Portal does not need much configuration. Once you have changed the default administrator password and edited the "Asset Types", "Location Types" ,and "Locations" lists, you can start using the system. For anything more advanced, planning for the MAD Portal is synonymous with planning how the MAD system fits into your organization as a whole. Will you be tracking one monitor in a single facility you own, or thousands of monitors, in hundreds of facilities throughout the world? Will you be tracking location? Geographically, internal facility, automatically? Reporting hourly or daily? Sending cycle times? Using Cellular or 900MHz radios? These questions, and many more, can be found by reading the MAD Portal help section. Of course, you can always feel free to contact us for a consultation.

The MAD Portal is where you manage your hardware configurations and notifications so you can stop problems before they stop you.

The MAD Portal allows you the register and manage assets in addition to managing your MAD hardware. The primary asset type seen in the MAD monitoring system is a plastic injection mold or a stamping die but an asset could also be any other item that has a MAD monitor or QR Coded tag installed including molding machines, pallet boxes, end of arm tooling, checking fixtures, transport equipment and vehicles, etc. When including these other asset types in your MAD Portal you can link assets together into families and easily locate and lookup key information about any family member when scanning or searching for any other family member.

Asset management is at the heart of the MAD system. Regardless of the asset being a mold, die, or anything else, the MAD monitor must be linked to an asset in the portal before it can report its performance and location data.

The MAD Portal allows for the registration and management of MAD devices. While it is recommended that the registration of new devices is done using the MAD Monitor Mobile App, the Portal is recommended, and in some cases only place, for managing MAD Device settings. The configuration of a monitor is actually manged in the screen to which the monitor is currently linked. With that in mind,in the Portal, in the assets section, search for the desired asset, view and / or edit the asset's monitor reporting and threshold settings as required, and save the settings there.

The configuration of gateways is managed under the devices menu option of the MAD Portal. Additionally, all hardware registration and monitor to asset linking and unlinking are also managed under the devices menu option of the MAD Portal.

It is recommended to register new devices using the Mobile App and often the gateway and monitor linkages are only configured once. With this in mind, most of the functions in the devices section of the portal are not often used.

Notifications allow key personnel to receive an email, text message or both regarding key events in regard to an asset or assets. A notification defines the event(s) that will generate an email or text message (i.e. every 60 minutes, every x cycles, cycle time higher than x seconds, etc.). Notification subscribers must be added for the notification in order for the generated email or text message to be delivered to the interested parties. Multiple events can be configured for one notification and multiple subscribers can be assigned to a notification as well.

If vibrations start getting out of line, temperatures raise, or production slows or stops, you might want to know. Then again, you might want Keith or Maryann to know ao the problem can be handled while you sleep... It's good to be the admin.

As noted in the planning section, administration may be nearly non-existent. In the cases where more than the most basic installation is planned though, the administrative options will be of critical importance. Outside of the general list management options; Location management provides vital information in production reporting and location auditing. User management enhances accountability and Custom fields ensure you are able to collect all of the data you need.

Custom field functionality is very powerful and allows, textbox, drop down list or checkbox fields to be added to your asset management forms dependent on the asset type being managed.

The Mold and Die Monitor system provides two methods of integrating your count and location data into your internal mold and die management software. One option is the Web Service which allows your software to pull data from the MAD Servers. The other option is Forwarding, which triggers the MAD servers to push a copy of every monitor transmission to your software as it is received. Each of these servvices have pros and cons which can be found below.

Web Service (Pull)
The web service allows you to configure your software to connect to the MAD servers, several times per day, to download a list of assets that have had any values changed since your last successful download. Downloads are available in csv, xml and json.
Pros: Download at your schedule. Process data during down times. Lower bandwidth / data usage / cost.
Cons: Mold and Location data is often delayed by several hours. This delay can be critical if your internal system is providing notification services.

Web Service (Pull)
The forwarding service will send a copy of every incoming monitor transmission to a specified web address. Your internal software can be programmed to receive and process these transmissions. Transmissions are made via POST or GET and can be encrypted.
Pros: Data is available in your software at virtually the same time it is available in the MAD software.
Cons: Higher bandwidth and data usage than the web service option, but still very low bandwidth compared to many software packages.

The software integration services allow you to control your data. Once it is in "your hands", you can use it as you choose. If you need assistance with specific aspects of the software integration services, please review the software integration services section of the MAD Portal help file or;