In this article you will be introduced to the creation of new elements (Master Data) in Netilion through the Netilion API, for a further reuse in Netilion Services or in VDI2770-format.
These elements include but are not limited to:
- Manufacturers
- Products
- Product-specific documents (e.g. User Manual and Operating Instructions)
- Asset-specific documents (e.g. CAD-Files, Material Certificates)
Example of automatically assigned product file in Netilion Library (operating instructions)
Your Benefits:
Netilion users will benefit from non-Endress+Hauser manufacturer information on their fingertips. Every digital twin created in Netilion will be able to get enriched with product and asset information to make maintenance processes more efficient. In addition, this will increase the manufacturer's master data availability for all Netilion users.
Documentation available in VDI2770-compliant format gets a recurrent requirement from companies towards their suppliers. The Netilion platform helps to issue manufacturer and plant documentation in the expected format.
Preconditions:
- (Free) Netilion User account, can be issued here (Productive) or here (Staging environment).
- (Free) API Key (described in the video)
Please note:
The step-by-step video below was made within the Netilion Staging (Q) environment.
We strongly recommend to run such an integration within the Staging (Q) environment prior switching to the Productive (P) environment, referring to good developer's practices and to help maintain a high data quality.
The environments do use identical endpoints and elements, and only differ by the prefix in the URL.
Staging (Q): *.staging-env.netilion.endress.com*
Productive (P): *.netilion.endress.com*
Please note the possibly reduced availability of the Netilion Staging (Q) environment due to regular deployments of our code.
Check the availability status of Netilion productive systems here.
References and Links:
Developer Portal (Resources, Getting started, Versioning and other API-related topics)
Netilion Services (Production): https://netilion.endress.com/app/library
Netilion API Documentation (Production): https://api.netilion.endress.com/doc/v1/
Q-Netilion Services (Staging): https://staging-env.netilion.endress.com/app/library
Q-Netilion API Documentation (Staging): https://api.staging-env.netilion.endress.com/doc/v1/
Step-by-step Video:
Steps
- Log in and issue an API key
- Run a sequence of requests in the Swagger API Documentation to create a new Tenant, Manufacturer (Company) and Product
- Run a sequence of requests in the Swagger API Documentation to create Product relevant documents
- Run a sequence of requests in the Swagger API Documentation to create Product relevant documents
-
- Creating a new document to be added to a product.
- Linking the created document with a VDI-compliant category
- Link the document to a product
- Upload the attachment (File)
- Check assignment in the Netilion Library Webapp
5. Run a sequence of requests in the Swagger API Documentation to create Asset relevant documents:
-
-
- Creating a new document to be added to an asset.
- Linking the created document with a VDI-compliant category
- Find out the asset ID to which the document can be linked
- Link the document to an asset
- Upload the attachment (File)
- Check assignment in the Netilion Library webapp
-
6. Run a sequence of requests in the Swagger API Documentation to generate the export in VDI format
-
- Select asset for which to set export
- Generate the export in the background
- Download export
Please note: If you wish to repeat these steps, please delete the previously generated export first prior to generate a new export.
Simplified data model of product and asset elements in the example
All these steps are available as a Postman Collection and attached to this article.
Final Step: Send email to service.pcps@endress.com in order to make your tenant publicly available, including the following information:
- Tenant name and ID
- Manufacturer name and ID
Availability can be set only for the complete tenant, not per product.
Please be aware that the maintenance of master data within Netilion is within the responsibility of the manufacturer.
- Set your credentials (Collection), API-Key (Header/per request), and Content (Manufacturer, product name etc) first.
- Create environment in Postman to store environment variables
Category IDs
| Category | ID in Staging Environment (Q) |
ID in Productive Environment (P) |
| Identification | 481 | 179 |
| Technical characteristics | 482 | 180 |
| Activity-specific documents | 483 | 181 |
| Contract documents | 484 | 182 |
| General safety | 485 | 183 |
| Assembly, disassembly | 486 | 184 |
| Operation | 487 | 185 |
| Inspection, maintenance | 488 | 186 |
| Repairs | 489 | 187 |
| Spare parts | 490 | 188 |
| Technical specification | 491 | 189 |
| Drawings, plans | 492 | 190 |
| Components | 493 | 191 |
| Certificates | 494 | 192 |