Intelligent monitoring of material flows

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the intelligent monitoring of chemical products. Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, systems for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of a distributed chemical production environment to enhance handling of materials across supply chain operations.

Description

[0001] INTELLIGENT MONITORING OF MATERIAL FLOWS

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the intelligent monitoring of chemical products. Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, systems for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of a distributed chemical production environment to enhance handling of materials across supply chain operations.

[0004] TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

[0005] Distributed chemical production environments are large scale networks producing multiple thousands of chemical products. Managing material or product flows from supply of input material for production of output material to providing of produced output material for further downstream production is challenging. Particularly the chemical environment has high safety standards and modern technologies allow for enhancing reliable and safe operation. However, utilizing modern technologies like natural language processing or large language models in such a safety critical environment requires technical implementations that comply with established high standards.

[0006] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] In one aspect disclosed is a method for monitoring a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment, the method comprising the steps: providing pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data, wherein the pre-defined monitoring template includes at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data; optionally retrieving based on request to generate dashboard at least one visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request generating a monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization(s) of the state of the chemical production environment according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s) corresponding to the one or more visualization (s) or per visualization; providing a monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment.

[0008] In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for monitoring a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment, the apparatus comprising: a low code repository configured to provide pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data, wherein the pre-defined monitoring template includes at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data; optionally a retrieval interface configured to retrieve, based on a request to generate dashboard, at least one visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request a generation engine configured to generate a monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization(s) of the state of the chemical production environment according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s) corresponding to the one or more visualization(s) or per visualization; an output engine configured to provide the monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment.

[0009] In another aspect disclosed is the use or corresponding methods of use of the one or more monitoring dashboards generated according to the methods or by the apparatuses disclosed herein for displaying monitoring and / or controlling instructions to an operator of the chemical production environment and / or at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment and / or for monitoring and / or controlling at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0010] In another aspect disclosed is computer element with instructions, which when executed by a computing apparatus perform the steps according to the methods or as provided by the apparatuses disclosed herein.

[0011] EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to the methods, the apparatuses, the systems, the uses, the formulations, and the computer elements lined out above and below and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples.

[0013] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of embodiments and / or example. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and / or examples. All terms and definitions used herein are understood broadly and have their general meaning.

[0014] The methods, the apparatuses, the systems, the uses, and the computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient, safe and reliable way for handling of materials across supply chain operations of a distributed chemical production environment. The use of pre-defined monitoring templates includes at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data allows for dynamic and easily customizable generation of monitoring dashboards. The operators of the chemical production environment or any systems thereof may hence be provided with tailored dashboards that allow for more reliable and efficient monitoring of the chemical production environment by the operators.

[0015] In one embodiment the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes at least one pre-defined visualization configuration for visualizing the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data. In another embodiment the pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data includes at least one pre-defined operations tracking data type to be retrieved as defined by the visualization and data framework.

[0016] In another embodiment the visualization and data framework includes at least one visualization type related to graphical element(s) and at least one query logic related to at least one operations tracking data type to be retrieved and / or processed.

[0017] In another embodiment the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes at least one query logic related to one or more aggregate indicator(s) and / or aggregation rules for determining the respective aggregate indicator(s) based on operations tracking data.

[0018] In another embodiment the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes one or more pre-defined aggregation filters depending on aggregate indicator of the operations tracking data.

[0019] In another embodiment the pre-defined monitoring template relates to at least to an identifier of the visualization, a type of aggregated operations tracking data to be visualized, a type of aggregated operations tracking data to be retrieved, meta data associated with the visualization to be generated, a type of operation tracking data to be visualized, and / or types of interactive elements to be visualized. The pre-defined monitoring template may include at least one locator related to the at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and the at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data, wherein the locator is a dynamic locator configured to locate the at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and the at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data.

[0020] In another embodiment generating the visualization of the monitoring dashboard includes retrieving at least one visualization and data framework and at least one request to retrieve the operations tracking data according to the corresponding, pre-defined monitoring template.

[0021] In another embodiment generating the monitoring dashboard includes generating a parent identifier associated with the dashboard and one or more child identifiers per visualization of the dashboard, wherein the one or more child identifiers are hierarchically linked to the parent identifier.

[0022] In another embodiment the operations tracking data is associated with the entry of input material to the chemical production environment, the material production of the chemical production environment, the material flows inside the chemical production environment and / or the exit of output material from chemical production environment.

[0023] In another embodiment the monitoring dashboard is provided to an operator of the chemical environment for monitoring the chemical production environment, wherein the monitoring dashboard is updated upon user interaction and / or at a set frequency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0024] In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures:

[0025] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of an intelligent platform for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of a distributed chemical environment.

[0026] Fig. 2 illustrates an example method for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0027] Fig. 3 illustrates an example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0028] Fig. 4 illustrates another example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0029] Fig. 5 illustrates an example user interface with dashboard and an example of a corresponding monitoring template.

[0030] DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0031] Fig. 1 illustrates an example of an intelligent platform for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of a distributed chemical environment.

[0032] The monitoring and / or controlling platform may encompass multiple computational layers including systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows of the distributed chemical production environment, operations tracking data pipelines from different systems monitoring material flow of the distributed chemical production environment, storages for operations tracking data, data processing layers configured to provide and / or perform services for data processing and equipment monitoring layers configured to provide and / or perform services for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of the distributed chemical production environment The monitoring and / or controlling platform may be implemented on a cloud infrastructure configured for distributed computing or cloud computing. "Cloud computing” may refer a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). When distributed, cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and / or across multiple organizations. In this example, the distributed cloud computing environment may contain the following computing resources: mobile device(s), operation equipment, applications, databases, data storages and server(s). The cloud computing environment may be deployed as public cloud, private cloud or hybrid cloud. A private cloud may be owned by an organization and only the members of the organization with proper access can use the private cloud, rendering the data in the private cloud at least confidential. In contrast, data stored in a public cloud may be open to anyone over the internet. The hybrid cloud may be a combination of both private and public clouds and may allow to keep some of the data confidential while other data may be publicly available.

[0033] The systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows of the distributed chemical production environment may be configured to monitor and / or track input material flows to the distributed chemical production environment, material production of the distributed chemical production environment, material flows, such as material transportation and / or storage, inside the distributed chemical production environment and / or output material flows exiting the distributed chemical production environment. Systems for input material tracking may be configured to monitor and / or track input material flows to the distributed chemical production environment. Production systems may be configured to monitor and / or track produced intermediate materials and / or output materials. Warehouse systems may be configured to monitor and / or track stored input, intermediate and / or output materials. Transport systems may be configured to monitor and / or track input, intermediate and / or output material flows inside the distributed chemical production environment. Transport systems may be configured to track output material flows exiting the distributed chemical production environment.

[0034] The systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows may be configured to provide operations tracking data associated with the operations performed in relation to the distributed chemical production environment. Operations tracking data may relate to manufacturing, storing and / or transporting of materials. Operations tracking data may relate to one or more data points provided by one or more sensor(s), actor(s) and / or application (s) of one or more systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operations tracking data may include unstructured data such as text that may be provided by the user monitoring the operations through the end user device or the application running in relation to the system configured to monitor and / or track. The operations tracking data may include semi structured data such as machine-readable text data that may be provided by the application running in relation to the system configured to monitor and / or track. The operations tracking data may include structured data such as measurement data from sensors or actors monitoring and / or controlling the operations like manufacturing.

[0035] The operations tracking data may be provided to different type(s) of storages such as the local disk of the end user devices, data bases, data lakes, data warehouses or the like. The source storage may include any type of storage suitable for persistently or non-persistently storing data. Operations tracking data may be provided in structured format particularly relating to data acquired and provided by the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows through applications, sensors and / or actors. Operations tracking data may be provided in structured format with defined data structure such as tables that may be stored, retrieved and / or manipulated using one or more standardized data base languages like SQL or SQL as a Service. Operations tracking data may be provided in unstructured or semi-structured format without or with semi defined data structure. Unstructured or semi-structured data may be transformed to structured data using data transformation techniques such as Natural Language Processing like embedding models configured to transform language or string data to numeric data and using pattern detection or clustering techniques such as K-nearest neighbor on the numeric data.

[0036] The operations tracking data may be provided to different type(s) of storages for different types of systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operations tracking data may be stored in a distributed manner across different storages for different systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The operations tracking data may be distributed across different storages. For large infrastructures, such as manufacturing sites or warehouses, with distributed operation equipment, such as end user devices for operators, different manufacturing equipment, different robots and so, spread across the operation infrastructure analyzing operations tracking data of the distributed operation equipment is challenging. Moreover, maintenance or trouble shooting in case of operation equipment errors is cumbersome.

[0037] To enable an interactive monitoring and / or controlling system as disclosed herein, the operations tracking data may be provided from distributed source storages to intermediate storage(s). The intermediate storage(s) may include object, block and / or file storage. Since object storage allows for dynamic metadata handling associated with each data object, the intermediate storage may be configured as object storage storing operations tracking data in data objects including the data itself, index, and / or data catalogue or metadata.

[0038] The operations tracking data may be associated with the entry of input material to the chemical production environment, the material production of the chemical production environment, the material flows inside the chemical production environment and / or the exit of output material from chemical production environment. The operations tracking data may be processed e.g. manipulated and / or transformed according to one or more data templates. The data templates may include pre-defined data structures and / or rules to process e.g. manipulate and / or transform raw operations tracking data as provided by the distributed systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The data template may depend on the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows, the operations tracking data types and / or the type of operations process tracked by the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. Operations processes may include supply chain management processes such as procure / purchase-to-pay for providing input materials, order-to-cash for providing output material, planning and inventory for production and storage of materials, site logistics and transport management (TM) moving materials inside the distributed chemical production environment. The data template may be selected based on the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows, the operations tracking data types and / or the type of operations process tracked by the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The data template may be retrieved from a template store. The data template may be used to process e.g. manipulate and / or transform the raw operations tracking data as provided by the systems configured to monitor and / or track material flows. The raw or processed operations tracking data may further be processed e.g. transformed to a compressed and / or encoded data storage format such as Apache Parquet to enhance performance in handling complex data in bulks. The processed operations tracking data may be provided to sink storage(s) such as databases using different storage architectures configured for data marts, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), predictive analytics or the like. The selection of storage architecture such as block, object and / or file storage may depend on the latency and performance required for monitoring and / or controlling the distributed chemical production environment. For example, the storage architecture may be selected based on data size and / or data transactions per second. The operations tracking data stored in data sinks may be used for monitoring and / or controlling material flows of the distributed chemical production environment.

[0039] To enable monitoring and / or controlling material flows of the distributed chemical production environment in a simple, reliable and robust manner, the methods, apparatuses, systems and uses disclosed herein are based on triggering the providing of material based on monitoring and / or controlling with human interaction. Overall operators of the distributed chemical production environment can hence interact with the operations in an easy and fast manner. This allows operators to swiftly access the status of the operations and if deemed needed trigger action execution. This way the monitoring and / or controlling of distributed chemical production environment can be enhanced over state-of- the-art monitoring and / or controlling systems that analyze and display data with limited interaction possibilities for operators.

[0040] Fig. 2 illustrates an example method for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0041] Multiple pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data may be provided. The operations tracking data may be associated with the entry of input material to the chemical production environment, the material production of the chemical production environment, the material flows inside the chemical production environment and / or the exit of output material from chemical production environment. The pre-defined monitoring templates may be associated with manufacturing, storing and / or transporting of materials. The pre-defined monitoring template may be associated with material flows inside the chemical production network. The pre-defined monitoring templates may relate to different monitoring and / or aggregated indicators of the chemical production environment. The monitoring and / or aggregated indicators may relate to aggregated operations tracking data.

[0042] The pre-defined monitoring template may include a pre-defined visualization configuration for visualizing the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data. The pre-defined monitoring template may include at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework. The pre-defined visualization and data framework may include at least one pre-defined visualization configuration for visualizing the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data. The pre-defined visualization and data framework may include at least one visualization type related to graphical element(s) and at least one query logic related to at least one data type to be retrieved and / or processed. The pre-defined visualization and data framework may include at least one visualization locator to the pre-defined visualization configuration. The visualization and data framework may include at least one query logic related to one or more aggregate indicator(s) and / or aggregation rules for determining the respective aggregate indicator(s) based on operations tracking data. The visualization and data framework may include one or more pre-defined aggregation filters depending on aggregate indicator of the operations tracking data.

[0043] The pre-defined monitoring template may include at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data. The pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data may include operation tracking data type to be retrieved. The pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data may include at least one pre-defined data type to be retrieved as defined by the visualization and data framework. The pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data may include at least one pre-defined data type to be retrieved according to the query logic of the data and visualization framework. The pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data may include at least one data locator to the operations tracking data that may be defined by the pre-defined visualization and data framework. The locator to the operations tracking data may relate to the sink storage(s) the operations tracking data may be stored in e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 1 .

[0044] The pre-defined monitoring template may relate to at least to an identifier of the visualization, a type of aggregated operations tracking data to be visualized, a locator related to the pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data, a type of monitoring or aggregate indicator to be visualized, a type of aggregated operations tracking data to be retrieved, meta data associated with the visualization to be generated, a type of operation tracking data to be visualized, and / or a type of interactive element to be visualized. The pre-defined monitoring template may include an identifier related to the one or more visualizations. The pre-defined monitoring template may include a locator related to the pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data. The locator may include or be a dynamic locator such as an Application Programming Interface based on Unified Resource Locator (api url). The dynamic locator may be configured to locate the pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data.

[0045] A request to generate a monitoring dashboard may be retrieved. Based on such request at least one visualization and data framework and at least one request to retrieve data may be retrieved based on or from the pre-defined monitoring templates. Based on the pre-defined monitoring template at least one monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization(s) of the state of the chemical production environment may be generated. Generating the monitoring dashboard may include locating one or more pre-defined monitoring templates(s) corresponding to or per visualization of the monitoring dashboard. Generating the monitoring dashboard may include generating a parent identifier associated with the dashboard and one or more child identifiers per monitoring template. The one or more child identifiers may be linked to the parent identifier. Generating the monitoring dashboard may include generating a parent identifier associated with the dashboard and one or more child identifiers per visualization of the dashboard, wherein the one or more child identifiers are hierarchically linked to the parent identifier. The monitoring template may include an embedded sub-template per visualization. Multiple embedded sub-templates per visualization may be hierarchically ordered as child of the dashboard parent. Generating the visualization of the monitoring dashboard may include retrieving at least one visualization and data framework and at least one request to retrieve the operations tracking data according to the corresponding, pre-defined monitoring template.

[0046] For the one or more visualizations of the monitoring dashboard the operations tracking data per visualization may be processed based on the pre-defined visualization and data framework and the pre-defined request to retrieve operations tracking data. Generating the monitoring dashboard may include retrieving and processing operations tracking data per visualization. The operations tracking data may be retrieved from sink storage(s), where the operations tracking data may be stored e.g. as described in the context of Fig. 1.

[0047] In particular, the request to generate the monitoring dashboard may include at least one locator related to at least one monitoring template. Based on the visualization locator, the request to generate the monitoring dashboard may be routed to the corresponding visualization and data framework. The visualization and data framework may include at least the visualization type related to graphical elements of the visualization and the query logic related to retrieving and processing operations tracking data. The query logic may include the data locator. Based on the data locator, request to retrieve the operations tracking data according to the query logic may be routed to the corresponding data base storing the operations tracking data.

[0048] Upon retrieval, the operations tracking data may be processed according to the query logic. The query logic may include one or more monitoring or aggregate indicator(s) and aggregation rules for determining the respective monitoring or aggregate indicator(s). To generate the monitoring or aggregate indicator(s), one or more monitoring or aggregate indicator(s) and aggregation rules for determining the respective monitoring or aggregate indicator(s) may be provided by the query logic. At least a subset of operations tracking data as defined by the selected aggregation rule may be provided and the monitoring or aggregate indicator as defined by the selected aggregation rule may be determined. The determined monitoring or aggregate indicator(s) may be provided for visualization. The operations tracking data may be aggregated to one or more aggregation types relating to material flows or types and / or to one or more stages of one or more operations process(es). The operations tracking data may be aggregated over time, the distributed systems for monitoring and / or the tracked material flows. The pre-defined monitoring template, in particular the visualization and data framework may, depending on the aggregation type of the operations tracking data, include one or more aggregation filters.

[0049] A response to the request to generate the monitoring dashboard, may be generated according to the visualization and data framework, particular according to the visualization type and the query logic of the visualization and data framework. The response to the request may include the representation of the monitoring dashboard, e.g. as JSON or XML file, for display.

[0050] The monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment may be provided. The monitoring dashboard may be provided to an operator of the chemical environment for monitoring the chemical production environment. The monitoring dashboard may be updated on user interaction and / or in a pre-defined frequency. The monitoring dashboard may include at least one interactive element for generating one or more operation instruc- tion(s). The one or more operation instruction(s) may relate at least to moving input material to enter the chemical production environment, moving material inside the chemical production environment, moving output material to exit the chemical production environment, production of material inside the chemical production environment, and / or recording of material status inside the chemical production environment.

[0051] Fig. 3 illustrates an example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0052] The computing apparatus may include a processing apparatus for generating the representation of the monitoring dashboard. The computing apparatus may include data bases storing operations tracking data and monitoring templates, such as API configurations or definitions. The processing apparatus may be configured to perform the steps as described in Fig. 2. The processing apparatus may include a low code repository configured to provide pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data. The processing apparatus may include a retrieval interface configured to retrieve the request to generate dashboard. The processing apparatus may include a generation engine configured to generate a monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization(s) of the state of the chemical production environment according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s) corresponding to the one or more visualization(s) or per visualization. The generation engine may include a visualization generation engine and a data retrieval engine. The visualization generation engine may be configured to retrieve, based on a request to generate dashboard, at least one visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request. The visualization generation engine may be communicatively coupled to the template storage. The data engine may be communicatively coupled to the operations data storage. The data engine may be configured to retrieve operations tracking data. The processing apparatus may include an output engine configured to provide the monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment or a corresponding representation. The monitoring dashboard or a corresponding representation may be provided to a client user interface for display.

[0053] Fig. 4 illustrates another example apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling the chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

[0054] The architecture illustrated in Fig. 4 includes a client-side user interface and a server-side computing apparatus including data and visualization retriever and data bases. For monitoring and / or controlling the chemical production environment, the client-side may display the monitoring dashboard including one or more cards visualizing operations tracking data as will be described for example in more detail in the context of Fig. 5.

[0055] For display, the client may send at least one http-request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data to the server. The request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data may include one or more dynamic Application Programming Interfaces (API) based on Unified Resource Locator(s) (url). The request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data may relate to the one or more visualization(s) of the dashboard. The request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data may for example relate to visualization type(s) and / or data type(s) the visualization according to the pre-defined monitoring template.

[0056] The request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data may be provided to a visualization and data retriever configured to provide the requested visualization(s) in connection with the specified operations tracking data. The request to retrieve the visualization including the operations tracking data may relate to one or more monitoring template(s), in particular to the pre-defined request as provided by the one or more monitoring template(s). For example, the dynamic api url may be pre-defined by the monitoring template(s) and may relate to a visualization api url routing to the visualization and data framework and / or a data api url routing to the operations tracking data. The visualization and data framework may include at least one pre-defined visualization type and at least one query logic configured to retrieve and process the operations tracking data according to the visualization type. The data retrieval request may include at least one pre-defined data type defined by the query logic. The routing of the request may be dynamic in the sense that the template for the visualization and data framework and the template for the data base request to retrieve the operations tracking data may be specified by way of the http request received from the client. In other words, the http request from the client may be configured to retrieve both element: 1) the visualization and data framework and 2) the operations tracking data for visualization.

[0057] Through the dynamic api url(s) and routing, the visualization and data framework as well as the access to the operations tracking data may be easily managed according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s). This, simplifies customization of the monitoring dashboard for different users or user groups, since new dashboards may be build based on predefined components providing predefined visualizations of the operation tracking data.

[0058] Upon retrieval of the operations tracking data according to the query logic specified by the visualization and data framework, the http response such as a JSON or XML file including the visualization specification and the processed operations tracking data according to the visualization and data framework may be generated. The generated http response may be provided to the client and displayed as specified by the monitoring template. The combination of preparing and storing operations tracking data by way of a data pipeline as for example described in Fig. 1 and the data retrieval based on the monitoring template allows for robust and reliable monitoring of the chemical production environment by the operator of such environment.

[0059] Fig. 5 illustrates an example user interface with dashboard and an example of a corresponding monitoring template.

[0060] The top of the Fig. 5 illustrates schematically a monitoring template based on which the monitoring dashboard schematically illustrated in the bottom figure may be generated. The monitoring template may include on the highest level the dashboard definition including the parent identifier and the dashboard name. For the dashboard the visualizations or cards are defined on the next level corresponding to the child identifiers per visualization or card. In the example four visualization or cards are provided by the dashboard. Per visualization the locator apiurl, the meta data for the visualization, interactive graphic elements or card and visualization properties may be defined. In this example, the monitoring template includes multiple embedded sub-templates - one per visualization or card - to generate the dashboard as illustrated. In other examples, the monitoring template may relate to each visualization or card without hierarchical order. In yet other examples, the monitoring template may include a list of sub-templates - one per visualization or card - without hierarchical order.

[0061] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims.

[0062] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0063] As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", "generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and "providing” also includes "initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. "Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0064] In the claims as well as in the description the word "comprising” or "including” or similar wording does not exclude other elements or steps and shall not be construed limiting to the elements or steps lined out. The indefinite article "a” or "an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation or further elements may be included.

[0065] Providing in the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface such as a display and / or a software module interface. Providing may include communication of data or submission of data to the interface, in particular display to a user or use of the data by the receiving entity.

[0066] Any disclosure and embodiments described herein relate to methods, systems, apparatuses, devices, chemicals, materials, services, uses, computer program elements lined out above and vice versa. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples and vice versa.

[0067] All terms and definitions used herein are understood broadly and have their general meaning.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . A method for monitoring a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment, the method comprising the steps: providing pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data, wherein the pre-defined monitoring template includes at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data; generating a monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization(s) of the state of the chemical production environment according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s) corresponding to the one or more visualization(s); providing a monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes at least one predefined visualization configuration for visualizing the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data.

3. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data includes at least one pre-defined operations tracking data type to be retrieved as defined by the pre-defined visualization and data framework.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes at least one visualization type related to graphical element(s) and at least one query logic related to at least one operations tracking data type to be retrieved and / or processed.

5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-defined visualization and data framework includes at least one query logic related to one or more aggregate indicator(s) and / or aggregation rules for determining the respective aggregate indicator(s) based on operations tracking data.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the visualization and data framework includes one or more pre-defined aggregation filters depending on aggregate indicator of the operations tracking data.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the pre-defined monitoring template includes at least one locator related to the at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and the at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data, wherein the locator is a dynamic locator configured to locate the at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and the at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data.

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating the visualization of the monitoring dashboard includes retrieving at least one visualization and data framework and at least one request to retrieve the operations tracking data according to the corresponding, pre-defined monitoring template.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating the monitoring dashboard includes generating a parent identifier associated with the dashboard and one or more child identifiers per visualization of the dashboard, wherein the one or more child identifiers are hierarchically linked to the parent identifier.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the operations tracking data is associated with the entry of input material to the chemical production environment, the material production of the chemical production environment, the material flows inside the chemical production environment and / or the exit of output material from chemical production environment.11 . The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the monitoring dashboard is provided to an operator of the chemical environment for monitoring the chemical production environment, wherein the monitoring dashboard is updated upon user interaction and / or at a set frequency.

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the monitoring dashboard includes at least one interactive element for generating one or more operation instruction(s).

13. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more operation instruction(s) relate at least to moving input material to enter the chemical production environment, moving material inside the chemical production environment, moving output material to exit the chemical production environment, production of material inside the chemical production environment, and / or recording of material status inside chemical production environment.

14. An apparatus for monitoring a chemical production environment including distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment, the apparatus comprising: a low code repository configured to provide pre-defined monitoring templates configured to visualize the status of the chemical production environment based on operations tracking data, wherein the predefined monitoring template includes at least one pre-defined visualization and data framework and at least one pre-defined request to retrieve the operations tracking data; a generation engine configured to generate a monitoring dashboard including one or more visualization (s) of the state of the chemical production environment according to the pre-defined monitoring template(s) corresponding to the one or more visualization(s); an output engine configured to provide the monitoring dashboard for monitoring the chemical production environment.1515. Use of the monitoring dashboard generated according to the methods of any of claims 1 to 13 or by the apparatus of claim 14 for displaying monitoring and / or controlling instructions to an operator of the chemical production environment and / or at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment and / or for monitoring and / or controlling at least one of the distributed systems for tracking material flows of the chemical production environment.

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