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    Steps to Building a Solution
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        Steps to Building a Solution

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            How to build a solution

            The Rayven Platform has two key areas:

            1. Rayven Live, which displays user-accessible widgets;
            2. Rayven Workspace, the back-end.

            To view a live dashboard, you must first build a solution in the Rayven Workspace.


            To begin, access the Rayven Workspace at https://my.rayven.io and enter your email and password. If you do not have a login, reach out to your preferred Rayven contact or get in touch at info@rayven.io.

            1. Creating a New Solution


            1. From the Rayven Workspace, select ‘New Solution’ on the top left of the screen.
            2. A new solution will appear in the left hand panel and can be named. In the image below, ours is called ‘Sandbox’.
            3. The elements of this solution, such as workflows, device management, and dashboards, will appear in the dropdown list on the left.
            4. In the center of the screen, you will see the workspace, where you can build workflows.

            The top right of the screen contains the support button and the menu option.

            • Use the menu option to edit your Rayven Workspace users, view service usage statistics, customize settings such as logos and favicons, and log out of the Rayven Workspace.
            • If you need any help when using the Rayven Workspace Manager, use the support button to contact our team.


            2. Configuring Device Labels and Devices

            Device Management is a consolidated interface for adding devices, device labels, and label values. In Rayven, devices have attributes known as Device Labels. You can group devices with common label values.

            For example, for a solution for 50 energy meters, you might want to label the location of each device. To do this, you could create a Device Label ‘City’. You could then assign each device a label value based on its location: 20 might be ‘Sydney’, 20 ‘Tel Aviv’, and 10 ‘New York’. Having labels and label values allows you to group your devices by city and show rolled-up aggregate data for each location.

            Other examples of Device Labels are Country, State, Customer, or Device Model.

            Adding devices

            From Device Management:

            • Click 'Add a device' to add a single device; or,
            • Click 'Batch device upload' to upload several devices using a CSV file.

            When you create a device, you must:

            1. Assign it a Device Name, which will be visible when viewing the solution, and;
            2. Assign it a Device ID, which the workflow will use as the unique identifier for each device.

            Adding device labels

            To create a new Device Label, click 'Add new device label'. To view the full list of device labels in your solution, select the ‘Device Labels’ tab at the top left of the workspace.

            Assigning label values

            Once you have a Device Label, you can give devices label values. For example, if we have a device label ‘City’, we can then assign a device the label value ‘Sydney’. 

            To assign label values:

            1. Select a device,
            2. Click 'Edit device' on the right-hand side.

            Alternatively, you can use a CSV file to quickly upload the Device Name, Device ID, and label values for each device.


            3. Creating Device Filters

            To create a Device Filter:

            1. Select ‘Device Management’ from the left side of the screen.
            2. Select the ‘Device Filters’ tab.
            3. Click ‘Create a Device Filter’.

            The format for naming a Device Filter is LabelName:LabelValue. You can combine several Device Labels to create a Multi-Label using the format LabelName:LabelValue/LabelName:LabelValue.

            For example:

            Device Filter: City:Sydney - if this is assigned to a group of users, when viewing the Live Solution, they will only see devices with the label value ‘Sydney’ for City.

            Multi-Device Label: City:Sydney/Color:Blue - if this is assigned to a group of users, when viewing the Live Solution, they will only see devices with the label value ‘Sydney’ for City and the label value ‘Blue’ for Color.



            4. Building a Workflow

            The workflow is where you configure data ingestion. It is also where you can add your business logic, including data manipulation, visualizations, and notifications.

            Solutions require at least one workflow but can contain as many as necessary. You might want to split a solution into different workflows based on functionality.

            To create a workflow:

            1. Select ‘Workflows’ from the left of the screen.
            2. Click ‘Create a Workflow’.
            3. You will be redirected to the Flow Builder and prompted to enter a workflow name.


            Input Nodes

            Once you have created a Workflow, the next step is to connect a data source. The Rayven platform offers various ready-to-go input nodes, including API, HTTP, MQTT, SNMP, LoRa, Modbus, OPC-UA, FTP, AWS S3, and Raw UDP. Input nodes determine how the solution ingests data.

            To connect a data source:

            1. Select an input node from the Flow Builder.
            2. Drag and drop this node onto the canvas.
            3. Double click the node to open the configuration window.

            Refer to Input Nodes under Section Three: Workflows for more information.


            Visualization Nodes

            Each workflow requires visualization nodes. These will become the widgets that present data in the Live Solution. There are three main categories of visualizations: Alphanumeric (for example, tables), Charts (for example, bar, line, or pie charts), and Objects (for example, maps).

            Refer to Section Three: Workflows: Visualization Nodes for more information.


            Once you have built your workflow in the Rayven Flow Builder, you can return to the Workspace Manager by clicking the logo in the top left of the window. If you need to view the Flow Builder again, navigate to ‘Workflows’ from the Rayven Workspace home screen and click ‘Edit Workflow’ on the right hand side.

            Create additional Workflows by clicking 'Add a new workflow' in the top right. The central panel displays a list of your existing workflows.

            For detailed information on using the Flow Builder refer to Section Three: Workflows.


            5. Configuring Dashboards

            Before configuring your first dashboard, you need at least one visualization node configured in a workflow. A solution can include multiple dashboards, and each dashboard typically has multiple visualization widgets, such as maps, charts, and tables.

            To configure a dashboard:

            1. Select ‘Dashboards’ from the solution panel.
            2. Click ‘Create a dashboard’.
            3. Name your dashboard.
            4. Select a Dashboard Navigation Type:
              • Permanent is the default navigation type. These dashboards appear as permanent tabs at the top of the screen when viewing the solution in Rayven Live.
              • Drill down dashboards are accessed by clicking on a link, such as a map location pin, table or widget. The drill down dashboard will only be visible when these links are selected.
            5. Select a Dashboard Type. You won't be able to alter this later.
              • Real-Time & Insightsis the default dashboard type. These dashboards update with the latest data sent from your devices, as received by the Rayven platform. You can use any visualization widget with this dashboard type.
              • Historical & Reportingdashboards allow you to select a custom historical period from a dropdown menu (for example, the last seven days). This period will be applied to all the widgets in the dashboard, allowing you to view historical data. You can only use historical dashboards with chart and table widgets.

            6. Creating User Groups and Users

            To view a solution in Rayven Live, you first need to create at least one User Group (with at least one User) in the Rayven Workspace.

            Users are organized into User Groups and given different levels of visibility. Each user must be associated with a User Group. 

            For example, you could create a group called 'Admins' with a view of the entire solution. Meanwhile, a second group called 'Customers' would only get access to certain widgets.

            To add a User Group:

            1. Navigate to ‘User Management’,
            2. Click 'Create a group'.

            You will need to ensure that at least one user has the permission to arrange widgets for the Live Solution to be viewable.

            See Section Three: User Management for more information on permission levels.

            7. Selecting Dashboards and Device Filters

            For the Live Solution to be viewable, each User Group must be associated with the appropriate Dashboards and Device Filters.

            • Selecting dashboards will determine which widgets will be visible in the solution.
            • Selecting Device Filters will determine which devices populate the widgets with their data.

            To configure what a User Group sees:

            1. Select ‘User Management’ from the Rayven Workspace.
            2. Click ‘Edit Group’ on the right hand side.
            3. Select the dashboards you require by clicking the relevant radio buttons. You can select your desired Device Filter(s) from the dropdown menu.

            8. Viewing the Live Solution

            Now that you've built your workflow, configured your Dashboards and User Groups, and chosen your Dashboards and Device Filters, it's time to view the Live Solution.

            1. Navigate to Rayven Live (https://live.rayven.io) and log in using the User Account you created in step six. When logging in for the first time, ensure that the chosen account has permission to arrange widgets on the dashboard.
            2. Click and hold the top area of a widget to drag it into a new position.
            3. To adjust the size of a widget, click and drag from its bottom-right corner.
            4. You have now successfully built and viewed your first solution.

            What's Next