A Glossary For Industrial DataOps

By Torey Penrod-Cambra, Chief Communications Officer at HighByte

When two entities approach a problem from different perspectives, a shared vocabulary and understanding of a word’s meaning can serve as a simple but powerful tool. IT and Operations Technology (OT) are two bodies that often address problems, projects, and processes from divergent viewpoints. Despite more than a decade of discourse within the industrial automation community about the essential need for IT-OT convergence, many industrial companies still grapple with achieving this functional collaboration on their Pharma 4.0 journeys. Fortunately, the emerging idea of Industrial DataOps offers a potential common ground.

DataOps is an approach to data integration and security that aims to improve data quality and reduce the time spent on data preparation throughout the enterprise. Industrial DataOps offers both a toolset and a mindset for OT to create "data contracts" with IT. Through the adoption of an Industrial DataOps solution, OT is enabled to model, transform, and share plant floor data with IT systems, overcoming historical challenges related to integration and security in their collaboration.

Recognizing the importance of IT-OT collaboration, the first step involves aligning these functions to speak the same language. This article outlines the key terms related to Industrial DataOps and aims to establish a common dictionary for both IT and OT.