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FlowCharting

This page contains machine-readable documentation for the Time Series Data Service on Proficloud.io.
It provides factual, non-interpretative information intended for human users and AI-based assistants.
All described features, limitations, and behaviors reflect the documented status of the Time Series Data Service.

AI Documentation ‣ Time Series Data Service ‣ Visualizations ‣ FlowCharting

On this page

  1. Classification: What Is FlowCharting?
  2. Basic Visualization Principle
  3. Creating and Integrating Diagrams
    1. Diagram Sources
  4. Data Integration
  5. Mapping and Rules
  6. Typical Use Cases
  7. Interaction and Navigation
  8. Typical Limitations of the FlowCharting Widget
  9. Differentiation from Other Widgets
  10. Typical Dashboard Combination
  11. Summary

Classification: What Is FlowCharting?

FlowCharting is a visualization widget used to display technical process diagrams, plant overviews, or logical workflows that are linked to live data from the Time Series Data Service.

It does not primarily answer questions about temporal trends, but rather:

What does my system look like structurally, and where is something currently abnormal?

The focus is on context, structure, and state within a system.

Typical visualizations include:

  • Energy flow diagrams.
  • Plant and grid overviews.
  • Process schematics.
  • Block diagrams with states.
  • SCADA-like overviews.

Basic Visualization Principle

FlowCharting combines three core elements:

  • Static diagram
    Usually provided as an SVG or exported from a diagram editor.
  • Dynamic data
    Time series, tables, or already reduced values from the Time Series Data Service.
  • Mapping rules
    Rules that define how data controls colors, text, symbols, or visibility within the diagram.

The result is a graphical system overview with live states and contextual information.

Creating and Integrating Diagrams

Diagram Sources

FlowCharting supports various diagram sources, for example:

  • SVG files.
  • Diagrams from Draw.io.
  • Externally created process graphics.

A common workflow is:

  • Create the diagram in Draw.io.
  • Export it as an SVG.
  • Integrate the SVG file into the FlowCharting widget.

It is important that all relevant elements in the diagram have unique IDs. Only then can they be explicitly linked to data.

Data Integration

FlowCharting uses standard queries from the Time Series Data Service.

Typical data types include:

  • Current measurement values.
  • States, for example 0 or 1.
  • Aggregated KPIs.
  • Status or error codes.

In practice, the data is usually reduced in advance, for example using:

  • Last valid value.
  • Mean value.
  • Maximum value.

FlowCharting itself does not perform analysis, but visualizes already interpreted states.

Mapping and Rules

The core of the FlowCharting widget is the mapping rules.

You can define:

  • Color changes of elements based on values or thresholds.
  • Dynamic text, for example current measurement values.
  • Visibility of elements, such as only in error states.
  • Symbol or icon changes depending on the status.

Examples:

  • A line turns green when power is greater than zero.
  • A battery turns red when the state of charge drops below 20 percent.
  • An arrow blinks when energy flow is active.

This creates a vivid system overview with clear visual logic.

Typical Use Cases

FlowCharting is particularly suitable when structure is more important than time.

Very well suited for:

  • Energy flow and grid visualizations.
  • Plant and system overviews.
  • Process and workflow representations.
  • State displays of complex technical systems.
  • Central operational overviews as a “single pane of glass”.

Less suited for:

  • Trend analyses.
  • Time comparisons.
  • KPI dashboards.
  • Exploratory data analysis.

Interaction and Navigation

FlowCharting works well as an entry point into dashboards.

Supported features include:

  • Clicking on individual diagram elements.
  • Links to other dashboards.
  • Context-based navigation.

Typical usage pattern:

  • Clicking on an inverter opens its detail dashboard.
  • Clicking on a battery leads to a charging profile analysis.

This makes FlowCharting the visual entry page of a system.

Typical Limitations of the FlowCharting Widget

For a realistic assessment, the following points are relevant:

  • FlowCharting is a specialized visualization widget, not an analysis widget.
  • Setup is comparatively complex.
  • Diagrams must be maintained manually.
  • Performance strongly depends on the complexity of the SVG graphic.
  • No built-in alerting.
  • No temporal dimension or trend visualization.

These limitations are especially relevant for productive industrial dashboards.

Differentiation from Other Widgets

Short comparison:

  • Graph or Time Series widget: temporal trends.
  • Stat, Gauge, or Bar Gauge widget: states and key figures.
  • Table widget: details and traceability.
  • Heatmap widget: distributions and patterns.
  • FlowCharting widget: structure, context, and system overview.

FlowCharting is contextual, not analytical.

Typical Dashboard Combination

In practice, the following combination has proven effective:

  • FlowCharting as the top-level overview.
  • Stat and Bar Gauge widgets for KPIs.
  • Graph or Time Series widgets for detailed analysis.
  • Table widgets for traceability and drilldown.

This results in a dashboard that is both structurally understandable and analytically usable.

Summary

With the FlowCharting widget in the Time Series Data Service, you can:

  • Visually present complex systems in an understandable way.
  • Place live states into their technical context.
  • Show relationships that remain hidden in classic charts.

FlowCharting is not a replacement for classic charts, but their visual framework and entry point.