It's time to take lessons from the public internet and apply them inside business. Keeping data general enables a new class of reporting systems. And such systems allow working practises that give new and effective ways of running a business.

Without a doubt business IT is a modern success story. Almost all organisations have IT systems and many, perhaps most of their employees spend the majority of time at work interacting with those systems. Whether logging a customer call against a product return or scanning a barcode to track a logistics movement, these interactions create a steady flow of data that mirrors the activity of the business.

In a perfect world all data would be part of a single system or all distinct systems would pool their data. If a company has in-house IT development then achieving data integration is often a goal. But with best-of-breed systems purchased from distinct suppliers this can often be impractical with available resources.

Several systems may each know something interesting about the same business objects, but without pooled data those links are not obvious. And where knowledge ends is where opportunity is hiding to make business work better.

What is needed is a data pooling system and format that everyone can agree upon. And the public internet provides two strong candidates - information delivered by email and categorized by hash-tag #

Each supplier still runs their own system as before but also sends interesting data in the form of plain text emails off to a central pool to reflect the business flow. A new standard is emerging based on hash-tags and emails and an implementation of it called Flow Book.

Flow Book can be added incrementally to any organisation and usually offers immediate payback. I recommend you take a look at Flow Book and see what data integration can do for your business.

Stay in touch while you're mobile

Connected on your company wifi, scan barcodes for instant information, get alerts on products, processes and people you are following, and share and forward notable messages with your colleagues. You can also take photos of snags and track product movements throughout the factory.

At the centre of your world

If you’re looking for information on anything in the Flow Book world, just start typing into the search box like you do with a web-browser. All matching data is instantly displayed, and you can click through quickly to the detail.

If your company has an intranet holding more information, then Flow Book messages can include links onto the intranet and Flow Book Desktop will seamlessly link through.

Automatic, easy, revealing

It's hard enough to find what you want when you know what you are looking for, but what if you don't even know what's important? That's why Flow Book automatically generates reports and business graphics and lets you browse quickly until you recognise what you want. Here we can see that the Rope 2 Stuck fault might be rare, but when it happens it lasts on average longer than any other fault. All reports were made automatically.

Finding connections in your data

These work batches were all tagged with a batch number and also with tracking positions as they moved through the factory. Flow Book has automatically found the patterns with which they move between the tracking positions, and has created this handy progress graphic.

Those tracking positions might well have come from many different tracking systems, but because they all tagged a batch FlowBook has found the pattern.

Copy in your business email

Computer systems will send most of the messages to a Flow Book system, but people can send them as well. Here we see that Jim has got a pdf with a dye-stuff analysis that he is passing on to Trish using normal company email.

But because he is also copying the email to friends@flowbook.com, the pdf attachment will also be filed in the Flow Book world under both those tags: #TruChem (for the supplier) and #C775584 (for the dye).

Export and work smart

The magic that can get all of the job done in businesses just like yours is an Excel spreadsheet. Picking up the left-over data entry, filing and analysis chores that have not yet made it into the company systems.

Flow Book is going to do a lot of this stuff for you, but for what’s still left over, be assured that Flow Book reports and data can all be exported to a spreadsheet. And that data will be better integrated and connected from multiple systems just because it’s come from Flow Book.

Radio tag your equipment

Flow Book Touch mobile devices that are equipped with Bluetooth 4.0 can be triggered just by being close to one of these blue-tooth radio emitting Flow Book Pulse units.

The Pulse will identify the machine or equipment it is attached to, and so the Flow Book Touch software can immediately switch to displaying all about that machine or equipment, perhaps showing some recent snag that requires attention.

The operator can then quickly make a note on the mobile device to explain the snag, or maybe take a photo.

For equipment with old-style or no- controls this gives an easy way of adding operator data-logging and interaction with no need to install fixed screens at each machine position.

Click and collect your data

For quick and inexpensive collection of data use a Flow Book Collect unit.

The Flow Book Collect has a number of simple digital and analog inputs. At install time simply attach your PC and start a web-browser to set-up industry standard ladder-logic setting conditions for which Flow Book messages will be sent.

After setup is complete, disconnect the PC, install the Flow Book Collect unit, and the link to Flow Book will be up and running.