01 Introduction
Introduction to Grafana and the ENLYZE data sources.
Grafana is an open-source platform for visualizing and analyzing data. With ENLYZE and Grafana, you create custom dashboards that display your production data in real time:
What you will learn
What Grafana is and why it is useful for manufacturing
The difference between the two available data sources
How to navigate the Grafana interface
Prerequisites
Access to your ENLYZE Grafana instance
A web browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge recommended)
Why Grafana in manufacturing?
Real-time monitoring
See what is happening on your production lines right now
Custom dashboards
Build exactly the views you need
Historical analysis
Look back at past data to identify trends
Alerting
Get notified when something needs attention
Typical use cases: shopfloor displays, shift handover dashboards, management KPI reports, maintenance monitoring, and quality control.
ENLYZE and Grafana
ENLYZE provides a hosted Grafana instance that is already connected to your production data. The data flow: ENLYZE Edge Devices collect machine data, the ENLYZE platform stores and processes it, and Grafana visualizes it in dashboards.
Two ways to access your data
The ENLYZE data source (simple)
Point-and-click interface: select site, machine, and variables. Ideal for getting started and simple time series visualizations.
Limitations: No alerting, limited data transformations, no dashboard variables.
The ENLYZE API data source (advanced)
Connects directly to the ENLYZE API (Infinity Plugin). Enables OEE dashboards, dropdown filters, alerting, and complex transformations. Requires an understanding of API concepts and JSONPath.
Which data source to use?
Quickly create a simple dashboard
ENLYZE
Build OEE/productivity dashboards
ENLYZE API
Add dropdown filters for machine selection
ENLYZE API
Set up alerting
ENLYZE API
Recommendation: start with the ENLYZE data source. Switch to the ENLYZE API when you need the advanced features.
Navigating Grafana
The home screen
Search bar - Find dashboards by name
Starred dashboards - Quick access to your favorites
Recent dashboards - Dashboards you viewed recently
Navigation menu - Access all Grafana features (left sidebar)
The side menu provides quick access to dashboards, Explore, Alerting, and settings.
Inside a dashboard
Time range selector - Choose the time period to display (e.g. Last 1 hour, Last 24 hours)
Refresh button - Update data manually or set auto-refresh
Dashboard settings (gear icon) - Configure options
Panels - Individual visualizations (charts, tables, gauges)
For live monitoring, use a short time range like "Last 1 hour" with auto-refresh enabled.
Key terms
Dashboard
A collection of panels that display related information
Panel
A single visualization (chart, table, stat)
Query
The instruction that tells Grafana what data to fetch
Data source
The connection to where your data is stored (ENLYZE or ENLYZE API)
Time range
The period of time shown in your visualizations
In addition to the ENLYZE data sources, you can also connect other data sources in Grafana, for example CSV files via the Infinity Plugin. A full list of supported data sources is available in the Grafana documentation.
Next steps
Your first dashboard - Create a dashboard, add panels, and save it
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