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Platform Documentation

Systems

A System is a named, hierarchical group of devices. A System can represent a site, building, machine, robot, or fleet. It has its own image canvas for placing its members. Systems can nest. For example, a headquarters can contain floors, and a floor can contain rooms. Each level shows its direct device count.

A System tree and its images can form a digital twin of the physical equipment. The hierarchy records how equipment is arranged on site, and each System’s image shows where its devices are located. The same view combines that layout with live device data.

Flow diagram: individual devices are grouped into a System tree (Headquarters, then Floor 1 and Basement, then rooms such as the Server Room). Each System has its own image map where its direct devices and child Systems are placed as pins. A Multi Status Map dashboard widget can show a System's pins, and Related dashboards lists every dashboard that uses the System's devices.
Group devices into a System tree, place them on each System’s image map, and show them on dashboards.

What a System is

These four related features serve different purposes.

Concept What it answers
Application Who can see what. The top-level container for devices, dashboards, alerts and Systems. Systems live inside an application and never span two.
Tag What kind of thing is this. A flat key/value label on a device (for example type=temperature). Tags filter; they have no hierarchy and no image.
Map Where is this reading right now. The application-level floor-plan view: one picture per map, pinned with individual device attributes. The Map page is unchanged by Systems.
System What belongs together. A nested group of devices with its own image map for placing its members and its child Systems. A device can belong to several Systems at the same time.
A device can be in more than one System. A server-room temperature sensor can sit under Headquarters › Basement and also under a cross-cutting Critical Equipment group. Removing it from one System does not remove it from the other or delete the device.

Where Systems live

Systems are application-scoped. Open an application and pick Systems in the application sidebar, under Devices.

What you can do depends on your role’s Systems permissions:

Permission Lets you
Systems: read See the Systems page and each System’s detail page. Without it the page is hidden entirely.
Systems: create Create top-level Systems and child Systems.
Systems: update Rename, edit the description, move, change the image, add or remove devices, and save pin positions.
Systems: delete Delete a System (and, with it, its descendants).

Listing or changing which devices belong to a System also needs Devices: read, because the membership screens show device details. If you have Systems access but not device access, a System’s image map shows only its child-System pins. Related dashboards also requires Dashboards: read and Widgets: read.

The tree page

The Systems page displays a tree. Each row is a System. Expand a row to see its child Systems and the devices that belong directly to it.

The Systems tree page. Two top-level Systems, Critical Equipment and Headquarters, are listed with device counts. Headquarters is expanded to show Basement, which is expanded further to show its five member devices in a table, followed by its child Systems Mains Room and Server Room with their own device counts. A documentation icon sits next to the page title.
The tree shows top-level Systems, expanded children, device counts, and the direct devices of an open branch.
Column What’s there
System The name and description. Click the name to open the System’s detail page; click the chevron to expand or collapse the branch.
Devices How many devices belong directly to that System (child Systems count their own).
Dashboards Opens Related dashboards for that System (see below).
Actions The row menu: Add child System, Edit, Move and Delete.
The row action menu of the Basement System, opened from the three-dot button at the end of the row, listing Add child System, Edit, Move and Delete. The Dashboards button sits in the row next to the device count.
The row action menu.

Large branches load in pages. When a System has more children than fit in one request, a Load more row appears at the end of the branch. An expanded System shows its direct devices in a searchable table with the same columns as the device list.

The Systems page of an application with no Systems yet. The empty state reads No Systems yet, Create a System to group this application's devices, with a Create System button.
In the empty state, use Create System or the + next to the page title.

Create, edit, move, and delete

All four start on the tree page, from the + button beside the title or from a row’s action menu. Names, nesting depth, and image-map pins each have a rule worth knowing first.

Create a System

  • 1
    Click the + button next to the page title for a top-level System, or Add child System in a row’s action menu to nest one under it.
  • 2
    Enter a required name of up to 100 characters. Names must be unique among sibling Systems. Two children of the same parent cannot share a name, but Systems under different parents can. For example, two floors can each have a System named Server Room.
  • 3
    Add an optional description of up to 500 characters. It appears under the name in the tree and on the detail page.
The Create System dialog: Name this System and describe what it covers, with a required Name field, an optional Description field showing a 0 / 500 character counter, and Cancel and Create buttons.
The Create System dialog.

Edit

Edit changes the name and description. The same sibling-uniqueness rule applies to renames.

Move

Move changes the parent of a System and its entire subtree. Select a different parent or Top level in the dialog’s tree picker.

  • Nesting is capped at 10 levels. NEQTO.ai refuses a move if the moved subtree would end up deeper than that.
  • A System cannot be moved under itself or under one of its own descendants.
  • Moving a System removes its pin from the old parent’s image map. Place it on the new parent’s map if you want it to appear there.
The Move Server Room dialog: Pick the System this one should sit under, with a tree picker offering Top level, Critical Equipment and Headquarters, and the note that moving this System removes its pin from the current image map.
The Move dialog with the parent picker.

Delete

Delete removes the System and every System beneath it. Before anything is deleted, the confirmation shows how many descendant Systems and device memberships it will remove. Deleting a System never deletes its devices. They remain in the application and in any other Systems they belong to.

The Delete Basement confirmation: Review what this removes before confirming. This also deletes 2 System(s) below it and 7 device membership(s). The devices themselves are not deleted, and memberships outside this subtree are unaffected.
The delete confirmation shows the impact before you confirm.

Devices in a System

System membership is direct. A device belongs only to the Systems where you add it. Parent Systems can show their children’s devices in the tree and through Include child Systems, but that does not add the devices to the parent.

Add devices

  • 1
    Open the System’s detail page and click Add devices.
  • 2
    Search for and select devices from the application. You can add only devices in this application. You can add up to 100 devices at once. Repeat this step to add more.
The Add devices to Basement dialog: Pick devices from this application, a device can belong to several Systems. The Devices picker is open with a search for STM550 showing two matching devices.
The Add devices dialog picks from the application’s devices.

The devices table

By default, the table shows Device with its connection icon, Device Endpoints, Source, Tags, Dashboards and Marker color. Placement, External ID, Vendor and Model are off by default. Use Columns to show them. These columns have System-specific behavior:

Column What’s there
Placement Whether the device has a pin on this System’s image map. The column shows Not placed or the pin position as percentages of the image.
Marker color The pin color for this device in this System. The same device can have a different color in another System.
External ID, Vendor, Model The same device details as on the device list.
Actions The row menu holds Place on image map and Remove from this System. Removing a device leaves it in the application and in its other Systems.
The devices table of the Basement System with the Columns menu used to show Placement and hide the endpoint, source, tag and dashboard columns: each member device with its connection icon, its placement as a percentage position, its marker color swatch, and the row actions.
The System devices table with Placement and Marker color shown. Other columns are hidden with Columns.

You can also manage membership from a device. The Manage Systems action in the device list’s row menu shows every System the device belongs to and lets you add or remove memberships.

The Systems for TEMP-B1-SERVER dialog: A device can belong to several Systems. Two membership chips, Headquarters / Basement and Critical Equipment, sit above a tree picker for adding more.
One device, several Systems: the device’s Systems dialog.

The image map

Every System has an image canvas. Upload a floor plan, site photo, or machine drawing. You can place the System’s direct device members and direct child Systems on it as pins.

The image

  • Change image uploads or replaces the picture. Remove image clears it. Pin positions are stored as percentages of the image. The pins remain in place if you replace the picture with one that has the same layout.
  • A System with no image shows a neutral default image so you can still place and read pins.
The Basement System's image map: a floor plan with four blue device pins showing green status dots, one orange device pin with a grey dot for a disconnected device, and two round child-System pins for Server Room and Mains Room, with zoom and full-screen controls above the canvas.
Device pins have status dots. Child-System pins also appear on the Basement floor plan.

Placing pins

  • For a device, select Place on image map from its row menu in the devices table.
  • For a child System, select Auto-place from its row. Select Remove from map to remove its pin.
  • Drag a pin to move it. Click a pin to select it, then nudge it with the arrow keys. Each press moves it 1%, or 5% while you hold Shift. Press Delete or Backspace to remove the selected pin from the map.
  • Zoom from 20% to 200% in 20% steps, and use full screen for large plans.

Pin moves are staged. The platform does not store them until you click Save. The bar under the canvas counts the unsaved positions, and Cancel discards them. A single save can include up to 100 position changes. At that limit, the canvas stops accepting moves and asks you to save before continuing.

The image map after dragging a pin: a bar has appeared under the canvas reading 1 unsaved position(s), with Cancel and Save buttons.
The save bar appears as soon as a pin moves.

What a pin shows

A device pin carries the device’s marker color and a status dot for its connection state. Hover it for a popover with the connection status and up to five recent attribute values from the device’s latest message. A child-System pin is a round marker with the System icon. Click it to open that System’s detail page.

A device pin's popover on the image map for TEMP-B1-SERVER (08:12): connected, then a Recent attributes section listing its latest temperature_celsius reading in °C.
The pin popover: status plus recent attribute values.
Map limits. Each System’s map can hold up to 500 placed devices and 500 placed child Systems. Membership itself is not capped by the map. Unplaced members do not appear on the canvas.

The detail page

Click a System’s name to open its detail page. The image map is on the left, the System’s facts and actions are on the right, and the member devices table is below.

A breadcrumb above the facts shows the path from the top level to this System. Each ancestor is a link. The facts panel includes these fields:

Field Meaning
Parent The System directly above, or Top level.
Devices Placed out of total direct members, for example 5 of 5 placed.
Child Systems Placed out of total direct children.
Level Its depth out of the maximum of 10, such as 2 of 10 for a floor.
Updated When the System’s own record last changed.
The System detail page for Basement: the header shows the name, description and a documentation icon; the facts panel shows the breadcrumb Headquarters › Basement, Parent Headquarters, Devices 5 of 5 placed, Child Systems 2 of 2 placed, Level 2 of 10 and the last update, with buttons for Add devices, Add to dashboard, Dashboards, Change image, Remove image, Edit, Move and Delete.
The detail page: breadcrumb, parent, placed counts and level out of the maximum.

Systems on dashboards

A Multi Status › Map widget can take its pins from a System instead of an application map. You can create the widget from the System’s detail page.

  • 1
    On the System’s detail page click Add to dashboard. The widget editor opens with the System already picked and the title prefilled with its name.
  • 2
    Choose a Dashboard or create one. Adjust the title and click Save. The widget shows the System’s image, placed direct devices, and placed direct child Systems. These are the same pins shown on the System’s image map, with no additional pin configuration.
The Create Widget editor opened from the Basement System's Add to dashboard button: the dashboard Facilities Overview is selected, the title is prefilled with Basement, and the System panel reads Pick the System whose image map this widget shows, with the tree picker listing Critical Equipment and Headquarters and the note Showing Basement.
The widget editor’s System picker, opened from Add to dashboard.
  • When you edit an existing Map widget, its Map source can be switched between Application map and System; pick the System in the same tree picker.
  • System maps are only available on application dashboards.
  • If the System is later deleted, the widget stays on the dashboard and reads This System no longer exists. Edit or remove this widget.

Related dashboards lists the dashboards whose widgets use the selected devices. You can open the dialog from a device or a System.

Opened from What it lists
A device (row menu › Dashboards) Every dashboard with a widget that shows this device. The row reports Used in 2 widget(s). From the account-level device screen, the list spans your applications.
A System (row or detail page › Dashboards) Every dashboard that shows any of this System’s devices. Each row reports how many of the System’s devices appear in how many widgets, such as 5 of 7 devices – 3 widget(s). Turn on Include child Systems to count devices of descendant Systems too.
The Related dashboards dialog opened from the Basement System: Dashboards that show devices from Basement (7 devices), with Include child Systems checked. It lists Facilities Overview, 5 of 7 devices - 3 widget(s), and Server Room Health, 1 of 7 devices - 2 widget(s).
Related dashboards for a System, including child Systems.
The Related dashboards dialog opened from the device TEMP-B1-SERVER: Dashboards that show TEMP-B1-SERVER in at least one widget, listing Facilities Overview and Server Room Health, each Used in 2 widget(s).
Related dashboards for a single device.
  • Click a row to open the dashboard. When more than eight dashboards match, a Filter dashboards box appears above the list.
  • Only widgets that read device data count. Device List, Alert List and Data Push widgets do not make a dashboard “related”.
  • Related dashboards needs Widgets: read and Dashboards: read in addition to the Systems or Devices permission you used to get there.

Limits and error messages

This table explains the messages you may encounter.

Message Why, and what to do
A System with this name already exists under the same parent Sibling names must be unique. Rename, or nest the new System under a different parent.
Systems cannot be nested more than 10 levels deep Creating or moving would push a System deeper than level 10. Flatten the structure or move the subtree higher up.
A System cannot be moved under itself or one of its descendants A move would create a cycle. Pick a parent outside the moved subtree.
One or more devices are not available in this application Only devices assigned to the same application can join its Systems. Assign the device to the application first.
At most 100 devices can be added at once Add devices in batches of 100; membership itself is not capped.
The maximum number of positions is staged. Save them before moving more. 100 pin moves are waiting to be saved. Save (or cancel) them, then keep placing.
This image map already holds the maximum number of pins Each map caps placed pins at 500 devices and 500 child Systems. Remove pins you do not need on the canvas, or split the group into child Systems with their own maps.
System changes do not alter devices. Deleting a System never deletes its devices. Moving a System removes only its pin from the old parent’s map and does not change its own map. A device’s marker color is set per System, so the same sensor can be blue on one map and red on another.
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