Static, Live Or Dynamic – Which Report Is Best?

In the digital age there are so many options for how to best share information. Whether it is flashing across your screen, or filling your inbox, reports of all kinds are normal in the workplace. Whether with pictures, video or even streaming, how you share can determine the type of influence the information may have.

How data is reported also determines the influence or relationship others have with that data. Reports can be categorized into different types: live and static, as well as a lesser known type; dynamic. Static and live reports each have their own inherent advantages and disadvantages. Knowing when to use each type of report is key to presenting the relevant information and improving performance and ease of use.

What Are Live Reports?

Simply defined, live reports update data continuously like streaming video. When an event streams it is live and the audience shares in the experience and can assist in determining the outcome. The audience is essentially looking at an event in real time, happening right before their eyes. Live reports, similar to streaming, allow for the current input to influence the report. The streaming version of reporting, live reports, are very powerful in allowing immediate feedback and providing meaningful information to influence process outcomes. These reports can be viewed simultaneously throughout a facility, yet requires immediate and continuous access to the data. For this reason, it is less common to see live reports outside of the internal network of a facility. However, with the growing power of private connections, web services and cloud based data storage, remote access to these types of reports is growing.

What About Static Reports?

Static reports look at data that is relevant to a specific point in time. Often found in emails or print, static reports are shared easily and provide consistent information for a defined period creating a unified perspective. Static data shares a moment in the past. For this reason, time-based reports such as daily reports are usually static. A daily report might examine the statistics for a production day or other period in order to gain an understanding of what has occurred. Static reports examine data in the past. The outcomes of the reported data can give insight on how the process has improved and where next to focus efforts for improvement. Automatically emailing a daily report to the team will deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. This will provide a single version of the truth, lead to collaborated conclusions, and assist in the future decision making process. Static reports are easy to use as tools for reviewing behaviors, patterns and outcomes.

How Do I Know Which Is The Best To Use?

Live reports display data that is constantly updating and changing. These reports are excellent for capturing in-the-moment changes, trends or behaviors. They improve the ability to react to the moment and can help predict outcomes in the near future. Live reports are more difficult to share because a “printed” or rendered version of the report is immediately out of date. For this reason, live reports can be displayed in locations where the audience can gather together or accessed from individual workstations to give a real-time view of the process. Live reports can exist in many forms: a trend where patterns are tracked and changes made based on existing or predicted behavior, a centerline or operational envelope display that compares the current data to previous production periods of the same products or a graphic representing the current state of the process. Live reports are an essential tool in creating better products and monitoring current processes. Whether viewed from the “shop floor” or from manager’s office these reports influence the final product though monitoring of current conditions. Static reports are best used to capture events in the past so they are perfect for a shift report, monthly reports, auto generated and emailed trends, auto generated and emailed graphics, or other reports where the outcome has already happened and no real- time influence over data in the report is needed.

Dynamic Reports -Possibly The Best Of Both Static And Live Reports

As data has become more available and accessible, a new type of report is beginning to emerge. Combining the ability to share the static report, and the accuracy of the live report, dynamic reports are growing in popularity. Most often, dynamic reports are a graphic display that combines the two elements, live and static, through links to the types of data needed on demand.

For example, graphic reports delivered by dataPARC’s PARCview can be shared similar to traditional standard reports. However, the interactive nature of these reports also allows for links and data to be transmitted once the report arrives and updates in real time when connectivity allows. Additionally, links to several live reports used on the floor can be embedded into the dynamic report, providing real time connectivity.

Need help determining which reports to use? Contact us (link to website) at dataPARC solutions for a complimentary demonstration of live, static and dynamic reporting features.

dataPARC empowers users with its intuitive, user-friendly, feature-rich analytical and troubleshooting modules that deliver on the promise of plant-wide data integration and utilization. Contact us to learn more.