At DSI, our commitment to Digital Transformation through our eForms Lightning System allows companies to record digital information about assets, processes, work instructions, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The system uses a traditional relational database to keep a ‘rolling’ operations ledger against these assets.
What we mean by ‘rolling’ is that we only write to this database table and never edit data once it is in the data table; immutable if you will. We allow our system to append information to the digital assets and then like an accountant’s financial transaction ledger, and the system can replay every item ever written against the asset. A fully transparent database table of everything I need to know about the assets, procedures, or SOPs. Nice!
If a company needs to record batch record information for manufacturing production lots with forms or logbook entries, these digital transformation systems are what is required to capture that data. In manufacturing, we have heard terms like Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS).
A challenge for IT personnel supporting manufacturing is the assembly of this data into one congruent format so that it is available for review and can stand as a permanent record of the production or manufacturing lot. Data Integrity is the term being used quite often these days. Making this data available to the business, customers, and to regulatory agencies is an ongoing challenge. Protecting the data so that it is always available is a complementary challenge that accompanies the congruency.
IT professionals have many tools available to help with backup procedures. In modern relational database systems, SQL Clusters and replication can help keep your data in a position where the system never goes down. These systems can be highly available and expensive since the IT staffs take it upon themselves to maintain these systems. Infrastructure, licensing, and IT personnel costs all add to the complexity of managing and keeping the data safe. Ouch!
There is an entire industry of IT services that will give your company assurances that you can both store your data and keep it safe. Companies will pay up for these services to guarantee business continuity.
As an industry, can we look forward to a world that reduces both the collection of data and the safety of data to a part of the infrastructure that is at worst available and best guaranteed?
As the eForms Lightning System introduces its Blockchain Wallet software in 2018, we will be posting more information on the uses and benefits of the Blockchain. Our eForms application is a web-based electronic process logbook, forms, and work instructions system is a paperless solution for both manufacturing and offices alike. It is what we call Paper on Glass.