Boards on Fire integration with Cognite

The integration between Boards on Fire and Cognite connects real-time production data with your daily improvement work. By visualizing events and sensor data directly in Boards on Fire, teams can make data-driven decisions, follow up on deviations, and drive continuous improvements – all within one unified platform.

What is Cognite?

Cognite is an industrial DataOps platform that enables companies to collect, contextualize, and operationalize data from a wide range of sources, such as sensors, machines, and enterprise systems. The core of Cognite's platform is Cognite Data Fusion (CDF), which transforms raw industrial data into structured and accessible information.

Key data types in Cognite include:

• Time Series – continuously collected data points (e.g., temperatures, speeds, or values from sensors)
• Events – occurrences such as machine stops, alarms, or maintenance actions
• Assets – a hierarchical structure representing physical equipment and systems
• Data contextualization – linking different data sources to create insights

Cognite is widely used in manufacturing, energy, and industrial operations to enable data-driven decision-making and operational excellence.

Why integrate Cognite with Boards on Fire?

Boards on Fire is a visual collaboration platform used to support daily operations, production control, and continuous improvement work on the shop floor and in the office. Integrating Cognite with Boards on Fire allows you to bring live operational data into your daily workflows. 

Unlike passive dashboards that only visualize data, Boards on Fire enables teams to take the next step – for example log deviations, start improvement actions and follow up directly in the same interface where the data is presented.

Benefits of integration:

• Real-time insights
  Display live sensor data or events directly in daily pulse meetings for fact-based discussions.
• Take immediate action
  Create deviations, tasks, and improvement suggestions based on Cognite data - without leaving Boards on Fire.
• Empower teams
  Make complex data understandable and actionable for operators and managers alike.
• Close the improvement loop
  From observation to action, all within one system.

What data can be displayed in Boards on Fire?

Boards on Fire provides flexible components to visualize Cognite data, such as:

Events (e.g., Stop Reasons)

• Table View
  Display a list of events, like equipment stops, with relevant details (start time, duration, reason code, etc.). Perfect for review and follow-up.
• Graph View
  Visualize the frequency, duration, or categories of events over time to identify trends and root causes.

Time Series (e.g., Sensor Data)

• Graph View
  Show sensor or machine data in real-time or over selected periods. Ideal for tracking parameters like temperature, pressure, speed, or energy usage.

Typical Use Cases

Authentication and Access

To enable integration, Boards on Fire uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials to securely access data from Cognite.

Setup Steps:

1. Create a client in Cognite
   In Cognite Data Fusion, create an application client and grant it read-only permissions to the required data sets (Time Series, Events and Assets).
2. Provide credentials to Boards on Fire
   In Boards on Fire add:
   
   • Client ID
   • Client Secret
   • Cognite Project Name
   • Cognite Base URL (if custom)

Secure communication
Boards on Fire will authenticate using the provided credentials and request access tokens from Cognite to read data securely.

Read-only by design
Boards on Fire does not write or modify any data in Cognite - only read operations are performed, and only for the components configured by you.