In the world of Industry 4.0, sharing operational data with external partners (service providers, analysts, or business collaborators) is often synonymous with technical headaches and security risks. CONNECT Communities revolutionizes this approach by offering a secure and simplified data ecosystem.

The Concept: Access Rather Than Copy

Traditionally, data sharing involved manual exports (CSV files), FTP servers, or complex and risky VPN tunnels. CONNECT changes the game with a “System of Systems” architecture.

The major innovation lies in in-place access—sharing provides access to data streams across tenants without ever physically copying the data. The data owner retains full governance, and data never leaves its original region unless explicitly authorized.

Establishing Trust: The “3-Way Handshake”

Community security relies on a strict three-step protocol to establish a connection between two companies:

  1. Invitation: An administrator from the initiating tenant sends an email invitation to a partner.
  2. Acceptance: The partner must explicitly accept the invitation through their own CONNECT portal (the invitation expires after 14 days).
  3. Confirmation: The tenant administrator validates the acceptance to finalize the connection. No data flows before this final confirmation.

Granular Role Management

Sharing is never global—it occurs stream by stream. To manage this, CONNECT uses specific roles:

  • Community Admin: Manages invitations and member participation within their own tenant.
  • Tenant Data Steward: Has specific permissions to “Share” or withdraw data streams from the community.
  • Community Member: A read-only user who can view data shared by other partners.

A critical feature called ‘Pause Sharing’ allows an administrator to instantly suspend all data sharing to the community in case of an emergency or maintenance.

Data Consumption and Analysis

Once shared, community data can be used as if it were local, through several tools:

  • Native Tools (Trend): Members can overlay shared streams with their own local data for immediate collaborative troubleshooting.
  • Data Views: Allows structuring and normalizing shared data for export to third-party tools.
  • Power BI Connector: Integrates community streams directly into dashboards for reporting or predictive maintenance.

Why Adopt CONNECT Communities?

The benefits are twofold: security and operational efficiency. No external user connects directly to your tenant—each partner manages their own identities and security. This reduces IT overhead by eliminating the need to manage complex external access, while enabling real-time collaboration to reduce waste and predict failures.