Introduction
In process manufacturing, fast and intuitive access to plant data is essential for informed decision-making. As Calgary OSIsoft PI Experts, we understand the value of streamlined data analysis and real-time visibility. dataPARC is a modern operations intelligence platform that integrates a high-speed time-series historian with advanced visualization tools, empowering everyone from operators to corporate engineers with deep insights into production performance. Built to unify data from both IT and OT systems, dataPARC allows teams to analyze real-time and historical data, troubleshoot issues, and enhance process efficiency—without duplicating data or losing critical detail.
Unified Data Collection & Integration
One of dataPARC’s core strengths lies in its ability to integrate and contextualize data from across the plant without duplicating storage. It connects to automation and sensor data via standard protocols, integrates with MES, ERP, LIMS, and other systems, and enables seamless access to raw and structured data. By leveraging vendor APIs, SDKs, and open protocols like OPC DA/HDA and SQL, dataPARC allows users to combine multiple sources—real-time and historical—into a single, federated view. This flexibility makes it easy to incorporate new data sources over time and ensures that operations teams can work with all available data, regardless of origin.
Fast, Scalable Historian
At the heart of dataPARC is a high-performance historian designed for speed, scalability, and reliability. Its architecture supports both high-resolution real-time data and long-term archived values through a dual-archive system: the Aggregate Archive and the Rollup Archive. This allows users to retrieve large timeframes of data in seconds, instead of hours, and run statistical reports across production runs, shifts, and custom time windows. The system supports store-and-forward buffering to prevent data loss during network interruptions, and its flexible architecture scales from 100 to over 1,000,000 tags—making it suitable for both single plants and multi-locations operations.
Advanced Visualization with PARCview
PARCview is dataPARC’s feature-rich visualization engine, designed to help engineers and operators explore and interpret process data with speed and clarity. Recognized for its advanced trending capabilities, PARCview supports drag-and-drop charting, multi-trend templates, and interactive tools like time-syncing and zoomable axes. Users can view standard trends, batch and grade runs, alarm trends, and more. The platform also supports rich visual elements like process graphics, statistical charts, and playback of historical data. With the addition of PARCgraphics, teams can design dynamic dashboards using a Microsoft® WPF-based graphics library, enabling real-time monitoring of plant processes. For those working in spreadsheets, the PARCxla Excel add-in extends these capabilities, making data access, reporting, and analysis fast and repeatable.
Operational Management Made Simple
Beyond data collection and visualization, dataPARC equips operations teams with the tools needed to monitor performance, track deviations, and drive informed action in real time. Through configurable dashboards and KPI displays, users gain at-a-glance visibility into plant operations. The system supports web-based access to live data via a modern HTML5 application, enabling remote troubleshooting from any device.
PARCview also enables users to build Centerline reports—tabular summaries of key variables by shift, grade, or product—automatically highlighting violations of control limits. Reporting is streamlined through scheduled workflows or triggered by process events, and can include dynamic elements like screenshots and alarm summaries. For event response, dataPARC offers rule-based alarm detection, incident tracking, and real-time notifications via SMS or email. Operators can annotate events, assign root causes, and analyze trends using Pareto charts, all from within the platform.
Flexible Reporting & Integration
dataPARC supports a variety of integration and reporting methods to fit into diverse industrial environments. Reports can be generated on a schedule or triggered by specific process events, and can include embedded visual elements such as trend screenshots or alarm annotations. The platform also includes an Excel add-in (PARCxla), which gives users direct access to raw and contextualized data for advanced spreadsheet-based analysis, including XY plots, histograms, and shift-based summaries.
For system integration, dataPARC offers several pathways, including an open-source Python API, SQL Server linked server access via CLR assemblies, and support for OPC UA and OPC HDA protocols. Though it lacks native ODBC access and cloud integration accelerators, these workarounds allow third-party tools and enterprise systems to retrieve historian data for further analysis and reporting.
Industry Adoption
dataPARC is trusted by leading organizations across a wide range of process industries. Its flexible architecture, robust visualization, and historian performance have attracted users in chemicals, oil and gas, pulp and paper, food and beverage, mining, and power generation. Companies such as W.R. Grace, Dow, Dupont, Cenovus, Marathon Oil, Georgia-Pacific, Rio Tinto, and Boralex use dataPARC to manage their real-time operational data and drive process improvements. Its ability to connect with third-party historians like AVEVA PI and Honeywell PHD makes it a viable option for sites that need to unify heterogeneous data sources into a single analysis environment.
We Know dataPARC
MetaFactor has deep expertise in operational data systems, including dataPARC. Our team is experienced in architecting, implementing, and supporting dataPARC-based solutions—from historian deployment and data integration to visualization and performance monitoring. If you’re looking to modernize your plant information system or improve operational intelligence, we’re here to help. Get in touch to learn more.