Administration

Can I use it?

You need the platform Administrator role, and a few pages need SuperAdmin. Three pages under Configuration - Tag Management, Data Quality and Machines & Work Centres - are also open to an Instrument Admin, who sees those three and nothing else here.

Where to find it

Menu ▸ Administration

Users and Organisation

Approving a new person - the short version

1. New Registrations - see who signed up. If the Employee record column offers the person's employee record, check it is the right person and click Link.
2. User Admin - check and correct their details, especially the employee number (leading zeros matter) and their direct manager.
3. User Access - give them roles in the modules and companies they need.
4. Assign them to at least one site. Without one, the AI Assistant returns nothing for data questions and several reports stay empty.
5. Tell them to sign out and back in. Permissions are read at sign-in.

Job titles

Menu ▸ Administration ▸ Job Titles

A job title ties together four things:

Titles that arrive from an employee upload need a person to look at them. Switch on Needs confirming to list them, and click Confirm on each one.

• A job function marked Suggested was proposed by the system from the wording of the title. It is not used for anything until you open the title and save it.
• A title with no occupational level gives no AI access, and an employee upload will not move a user onto it. Set the level, save, then upload the spreadsheet again.
• Holders differ means the people with this title carry different company grades in the spreadsheet. Choose the grade of the position yourself.
• Suggest job function asks for a suggestion for the title you are editing. Only the wording of the title is sent to the AI provider. Nothing is saved until you press Save.

A grade suggests the occupational level

Where a title has a company grade and no occupational level, the list shows "Suggested: ..." under Not set, taken from the first letter(s) of the grade - the band. "D3" is band D.

• A suggestion does nothing until a person confirms it. Until then the title has no level and gives no AI access.
• Click Confirm on a row, or switch on Level suggested, read the list, and click Confirm all shown. Before anything is saved you are told how many titles go to each level and the AI access that level gives.
• A title that already has a level is never changed. If its grade points to a different level, a small information mark says so.
• A title marked holders differ has no grade of its own, so nothing is suggested. Choose its grade, or set the level by hand.

Which band suggests which level is a short table at the bottom of Administration ▸ Occupational Levels, under Grade bands. It starts with A unskilled, B semi-skilled, C skilled or junior management, D middle management, E senior management and F top management. Change a row, add a band of your own, and click Save grade bands. Changing the table changes nobody's access by itself - it only changes what is suggested.

Job functions and KPI categories

Menu ▸ Administration ▸ Job Functions

A job function decides which KPI categories a manager is offered for someone whose job title holds it. The KPI categories column lists the categories limited to each function; a category that is open to everyone is offered to every function.

Open a job function with Edit to tick or untick its categories. Two ticks are greyed out, because changing them would change who else sees the category:

• a category that is open to everyone - limiting it to one function would hide it from all the others;
• a category on which this is the only job function - removing it would open the category to everyone.

Do those on Performance Reference Data ▸ KPI Categories, where the whole list is in view. Ticking needs the Master Data Editor, HR Executive or HR Admin role in Performance Management; without it you see the column but cannot change it.

Upload or update employees

Menu ▸ Administration ▸ User Admin ▸ Upload / update employees

Use this to bring in the employee spreadsheet: one row per employee, with the column headings in the first row. It works in three steps and nothing is saved until you press Confirm. It is meant to be used again and again, with the same export from the HR system.

Columns are found by their heading, so their order does not matter. A column that is not in the file changes nothing: what is already stored for it is left as it is, and the review step lists the columns the file does not have. A column that is there with an empty cell does clear the value. The one exception is Payroll Company: once employees are stored with a payroll company, a file without that column is refused, because no row could find its own record.

1. Choose the spreadsheet. Upload the Excel workbook itself (.xlsx), not a CSV or text copy. Saving as text destroys identity numbers and the zeros in front of employee numbers.
2. Review. ThreadWare shows what it found and what it would do. Reading a large file takes a minute or two: a Working... notice with a moving bar is shown until it is done, and again while Confirm is saving.
3. Confirm. Only now is anything saved. The file itself is not kept.

On the review step:

• Show only rows that need a decision. At a regular upload most rows were settled last time. With this switched on - it is, whenever there are such rows - the two lists show only what a person has to look at. The rest are still saved.
• Matched to an existing user. Each row shows what it matched on and what will change. Already linked means the employee record is linked to that user - by an earlier upload or by hand - and needs no decision. A new match is made on, in this order, the identity number, the email address, the employee number, and last the name only. A match on the name only is highlighted so that it gets a second look. Untick any that is the wrong person: nothing then happens to that user. The same match is offered again at the next upload, so link the right user and it will not come up again.
• No matching user. For each row choose one of:
  • Keep as employee record (no login) - the usual choice. The person is stored and can be matched or given a login later.
  • Match to an existing user - search for the user and pick them.
  • Move the link to this row - offered when the user who fits the row is linked to another employee record of the same person - usually because the file lists an old engagement and a new one as two rows. It is already chosen when the two records have the same identity number, and not chosen when only the name, number or email agrees - check it is the same person first. The other record is kept, without a login.
  • Create a new user - the email address from the file is filled in; one is required. The account is created with no access and no password, and no email is sent. Grant access afterwards under User Access. When the person later registers with that same email address, they choose a password and take over this account - it is already linked to their employee record. They still have to click the link in the confirmation email before they can sign in.
  • Skip this row - nothing is stored for it.
• Needs attention. Rows that cannot be saved as they are, and identity numbers that cannot be stored. The reason is given for each.
• Payroll companies. Say once which ThreadWare company each payroll company is. The answer is remembered for the next upload.

What an upload changes on a matched user is small: the employee number, the clocking number, the job title, and the direct manager (below). It never changes a name, an email address, companies, sites or roles.

The direct manager in the upload

When the file has a Direct Manager Full Name column, ThreadWare looks for that manager's user: the employee of that name who is linked to a user, or else the one user with that name. Then, for each employee who has a user:

• When you tick a change, the person's unfinished performance reviews move to the new manager. The row says how many. Finalised and closed reviews are not touched.
• An empty manager cell never clears a manager.
• Cost Centre Manager and Organizational Structure Manager are stored as written; nothing is done with them yet.

Identity numbers in the upload

The identity number is what tells ThreadWare who a row is, and it is the first thing checked. It is stored encrypted and is never shown on the review step - a row only says whether the file held one. Where a row has no identity number, or none is stored for that person yet, the payroll company and employee number are used instead. A name is never used to find an employee record.

• The same person under a new employee number or payroll company - a corrected number, a transfer, somebody who left and came back - is recognised by it. Their one employee record is updated with the new number and company, and stays linked to the same user. The row is marked Recognised by identity number and says what the record was stored as until now.
• When the file lists the old engagement and the new one as two rows, they are kept as two records, and the link to the user can be moved to the current one (above).
• A different identity number on a known employee number is never replaced by the upload itself. The row is set to Skip and marked Identity number differs: either it is a correction, or the employee number now belongs to somebody else. Choose an action for the row only if you know which, and tick Replace the stored identity number only when it is a correction.

Linking a user to an employee record

Most people are uploaded as an employee record with no login. When one of them registers later, their new account and their employee record are two separate things until an administrator links them. Registering never links anybody by itself: anyone can fill in the registration form, so an employee number typed there is only a claim. ThreadWare suggests the record; you decide.

You can link in two places. Both need an administrator.

• New Registrations - the Employee record column shows the record that fits, and why: the same employee number, the same number apart from the zeros in front, or the same name. Click Link.
• User Admin - open the user with Edit. The Employee record block near the bottom shows the same suggestion. If nothing fits, search for the employee record by name or employee number under Or choose an employee record and click Link.

Things to know:

• A match on the name only deserves a second look. A warning is shown when the employee number the person typed fits no record, when two records have the same name, or when two users have the same name.
• More than one record offered means the number fits more than one employee - for example the same number in two payroll companies. Check the name and the payroll company, and link the right one.
• What linking changes on the user is the same as an upload: the employee number (spelled as payroll spells it), the clocking number, the job title, and - only when the user has no direct manager - the manager HR's file named. Name, email address, companies, sites and roles are not changed, and linking does not approve anybody - roles are still granted under User Access.
• The job title is only taken over when it has an occupational level. If it has none yet, the message says so. Confirm the title on the Job Titles page, then set it on the user.
• One user, one employee record. If either is already linked to something else you are told, and nothing is moved. Use Unlink first.
• Unlink removes the link only. The user keeps the employee number and job title they have.
• You can also link by uploading the spreadsheet again: the row then offers the new user under Matched to an existing user.
• A link is remembered. However it was made, at every later upload the row comes back Already linked and needs no decision.

Employee numbers and leading zeros

Excel drops the zeros in front of a number unless the column is formatted as text, so 0001234 arrives as 1234. ThreadWare puts the zeros back by finding the number on the payroll list - but only when exactly one payroll number fits.

• Zeros restored - one payroll number fitted, and that spelling is used.
• Fits more than one payroll number - two different people have numbers that differ only by the zeros in front. ThreadWare will not guess. The row is listed under Needs attention with both people's surnames; choose the right one. Your choice is remembered for the next upload.
• Not on the payroll list - the number is stored exactly as the spreadsheet has it.

An identity number that Excel has turned into something like 1.23457E+13 can still be read from a real Excel workbook. If the file was ever saved as text while showing that shorthand, the digits are gone: the employee is still loaded, but the identity number is left out and the row is listed so that it can be captured by hand.

Product licence

Menu ▸ Administration ▸ Product Licence

ThreadWare is licensed by a licence code that ThreadWare issues. The code says which modules and add-ons this install includes, how many companies and users it may have, and the date it runs to. The page shows all of that, and how much of it is in use. Only an administrator sees the page.

When the licence runs out

Nothing switches off on the expiry date. Administrators see a notice from 30 days before it. After the date everything keeps working for a further 60 days, with a notice that says when that ends. Only then do the paid modules switch off, and they come back the moment a new code is entered. ThreadWare and your administrators are e-mailed along the way.

Three things are never switched off: Administration (so that a code can always be entered), Log a Support Ticket, and everything the instruments and machines send - readings, alarms and output control carry on, so there is no gap in the data.

The company and user limits

Users. A user counts when they can sign in: approved, with a password. Nobody is ever locked out by the limit. Once the limit is reached, approving one more person is refused with a message that says so - remove or restrict somebody who has left, or ask ThreadWare to extend the licence.

Companies. At the limit, adding another company is refused. If the install already has more companies than the licence allows, the page names the ones that are over; their paid modules are off until the licence is extended.

Supporting programs

Three programs run beside ThreadWare and feed it: the OPC client and the Modbus reader bring readings in from machines and meters, and the Alarm worker sends the instrument alarms. The Supporting programs list shows, for each one, whether your licence includes it (a green tick) and when ThreadWare last heard from it. "Not heard from in the last 24 hours" simply means that program is not running on your system.

If one of them is running but is not in your licence, the page shows a warning that names it. Nothing is switched off - its readings and alarms are accepted exactly as before - and ThreadWare is told. Ask ThreadWare for a licence code that includes it; the warning goes when the new code is entered.

Emergency unlock

The Emergency unlock box is only for a code that ThreadWare support gives you when a licence problem has to be bypassed quickly. It opens every module for a short, fixed time, and ThreadWare is told when one is used. Leave the box alone otherwise.

Configuration

Data Quality

Menu ▸ Administration ▸ Configuration ▸ Data Quality

ThreadWare checks each instrument reading against its tag's believable range before saving it. A reading that is impossible - 5000 degrees, a negative pressure - is not saved. It goes on a separate list, the graph, the tiles and the bell say so, and the tag keeps showing its last believable value. This page is where that is set up and looked after. It has three tabs.

Getting started - the trial week

1. On the Limits tab click Suggest from history. ThreadWare proposes a range for every tag from that tag's own readings over the last 12 months, and says how many stored readings the range would have discarded.
2. Look at the proposals. A highlighted row would discard more than 0.5 % of the tag's history; that usually means the tag changes mode (a counter, for example) rather than misbehaves, so correct the figures by hand. Tick the ones you agree with and click Accept the ticked proposals.
3. On the Settings tab choose the company and set the mode to Watch only. For the next 7 days nothing is discarded, but every reading that would have been is listed as "Kept and listed".
4. During the week look at the Discarded readings tab. Where good readings are being listed, widen that tag's range.
5. When the list holds only readings you agree are impossible, set the mode to Discard. ThreadWare never does this by itself, not even when the 7 days are over.

Tab: Discarded readings

Every listed reading: the time, the tag, the value, why it was listed, the range it was compared with, and what happened to it. Filter by tag number, reason, what happened, decision and date.

When a broken sensor floods the system, the list keeps at most 60 rows per tag per hour. The count is always exact, whatever the list shows.

Tab: Limits

One row per tag, with its minimum, maximum, jump limit and mode, all editable in the grid. Save changes saves every row you touched. Only tags with no limits yet shows the tags that are not checked, with a count, so a new tag is not forgotten. A new tag has no history, so it gets no proposal; run Suggest from history again when it has a few weeks of data.

Tab: Settings

Who is told

The bell tells the Instrument Admins and the Electricians (a Risk role) of the tag's company, and the tag's owner and administrator. Each person gets one notice, even when they qualify twice.

• The first discarded reading of a tag is announced at once.
• After that, at most one summary an hour and six a day per tag, so a broken sensor is one event and not five hundred.
• Sensor fault suspected, and the notice that believable readings have resumed, always go out, and also by Telegram.
• Readings that were only kept and listed never ring the bell. They are on this page and on the graph.

If nobody holds either role in a company and the tag has no owner, there is nobody to tell; the API log says so. Grant the role under User Access.

Logs and diagnostics

AI administration

These sit under the AI Assistant menu rather than Administration:

Checking search quality

At the bottom of AI Embeddings, Search Quality lets you test the chatbot's search with questions of your own. For each question you list what it should find (a document by part of its file name, a risk or KPI by its number, a user guide page, a production record by a word in it) and anything that must never appear.

1. Type or paste the questions into the box (Insert an example shows the layout) and press Save questions. They are kept on the server for next time.
2. Choose Search only (costs next to nothing) or Search and judge (adds the AI relevance check - a few US cents for about 50 questions), then press Run. You can cancel part-way.
3. Open a question to see every result the search considered, how similar each was, whether it would have been shown, and a table of what each similarity setting from 0.30 to 0.55 would have kept.
4. Use Download results to keep a copy - results are not stored.

The run uses your access, the same as if you asked the chatbot yourself. It changes no setting and no data. Results are marked "not on the expected list" rather than "wrong": a result can be useful and simply not on your list.

Web search and pictures - a server setting, not an app one

The chatbot can also look things up on the public internet, including finding pictures of something a user describes, or finding things that look like a picture they supply. There is no switch for this in Administration: it needs keys that IT sets on the server, because each search is bought from an outside supplier.

If those keys are not set, the abilities are simply absent - and the chatbot says so in its answer while still telling the user everything else it can. So "it says picture search is not switched on" is the system being honest, not a fault. Signed in as an Admin, the message also names the exact setting IT needs to add.

Web searches send the question outside the company, so the user confirms the confidentiality declaration every time and each send is recorded in the AI audit log.

The five questions you will be asked most

Related guides

• Instrument Tag setup
• AI Assistant - the access rules you will be asked about.
• All guides