Who is this article for?

Administrators looking to add data to the platform.

No special access or permissions are required.

This article outlines the different methods you can use to efficiently deliver data to the Ideagen Envirosuite platform.

Data transmission methods

Ideagen Envirosuite supports two primary methods for transmitting data:

• API Method - This is the current recommended practice. Ideagen Envirosuite has a RESTful application programming interface (API) which allows technical teams to load and extract information. For the best integration experience with Ideagen Envirosuite, we recommend utilising JSON
• FTP Method - Data is provided by yourselves or via third party in the pre-specified format to a provided FTP server. This is done by providing a CSV file to a specified FTP server that gets ingested into the platform.

Sending data

API

To supply an API request to Ideagen Supply Chain:

1. Pass your Ideagen Envirosuite API key using one of the following methods:
   • HTTP Authorization Header (e.g. Authorization: Token 97DB1CBB-3F85-4A37-8236-1E86548C723B)
   • HTTP Query Parameter (e.g. ?apiKey=97DB1CBB-3F85-4A37-8236-1E86548C723B)
2. Pass in the version number using one of the following methods:
   • HTTP Query Parameter (e.g. ?version=1)
   • HTTP Accept Header (e.g. Accept: application/json; version=1)
3. To POST to the API, utilise the DATA INGESTION instructions found in our API documentation.

FTP/SFTP

One method of transferring data is to copy comma separated values (CSV) files to the SFTP or FTP server. To do this, a username and password is required, and the format of the files must be pre-approved and unchanging.

Account details

A standard FTP account has been created with read and write access:

• Address: ftp.envirosuite.com
• User Name: To be provided
• Password: To be provided
• SSL Enforced: NO

For SFTP:

• Address: sftp.envirosuite.com
• User Name: To be provided
• Password: To be provided
• SSL Enforced: YES

Formatting your CSV file

Ideagen Envirosuite supports CSV files that contain a header row followed by one time-step of data per row as per the example below:

• Date - 20/10/2015 06:10:00
• Wind Speed (m/s) - 2.8
• Wind Dir (deg) - 199
• Temperature (deg C) - 18.4
• Humidity (%) - 30.1

The column header text can be any meaningful description. It is good practice to include the units for clarity. Envirosuite depends on these headers to identify the data in the corresponding column. Therefore, it is important that once defined and approved, the header text does not change without first contacting Ideagen Envirosuite.

The last row of the example shows how to send missing data. It is preferable to leave the value blank than attempt to replace with zeroes or negative numbers as these will be imported and can lead to data quality confusions.

Note

If it is not possible to send data in this format, please contact Envirosuite to discuss alternatives.

Naming your file

Ideagen Envirosuite will support any standard Windows file name. We recommended naming each file uniquely to avoid access conflicts on the FTP server.

The easiest way to do this is to append the current date and time to the file name.

Example

A customer named their files:

• Monitor_name_date.csv
• Met_data_20151020065000.csv

Once set, the naming pattern for the file must not change.

Tip

Ideagen Envirosuite uses wildcard notation to recognise the files. For the above example, the following would be used:

• Met_data_*.csv

Determining data needs

Sending frequency

Data need to be sent as frequently as practical. Ideagen Envirosuite is a live reporting tool and any delays receiving data result in delayed modelling and presentation of the data in the system.

If a weather station or ambient monitor records data every 10 minutes, please send a file to the FTP server every 10 minutes also.

Data volume

When sending data, it is helpful to include not only the last measurement but also data from the previous several hours (up to 12 hours). Doing so helps reduce any data gaps that can be caused by connectivity issues.