Creating device types

A device type might represent the physical type of device or represent the type of asset or entity that the device is used for. For example, a Boiler device type might group all devices that are used for boilers. Devices are always grouped by their type, and device types must exist before you add devices.

About this task

At the device-type level, you define the common characteristics for devices of that type. These characteristics are called dimensions. Adding dimensions enables data to be sorted and visualized in a similar way for the same types of devices. You can aggregate your data on a time grain and also by some dimension, such as serial number, location, or manufacturer. For example, all boilers have a serial number. You might add serial number as a dimension for the Boiler device type. When serial number data is available for devices of that type, the data is formatted and used in the same way. Dimensions can be overridden for individual devices.

You also define metrics at the device-type level. Metrics are data that you want to measure and monitor. An event is a recurring payload of data from devices that contains data for the metric. You can connect a metric directly to an event, which results in a raw metric, or run a function on the data and generate a more complex value or trigger an alert. These more complex metrics are known as a batch or streaming data metric. For more information, see Creating a raw metric or Creating a batch or streaming data metric.

When you create a device type in Maximo® Monitor, the device type is automatically created in the IoT tool. For device types that are created in Maximo Monitor 8.8 or later and that use the empty or basic template, you do not need to configure logical or physical interfaces. Logical or physical interfaces were used in earlier versions of Maximo Monitor.

Alternatively, you can create a sample device type to explore dashboards and other Maximo Monitor features. Sample device types include default devices, data, and dashboards. For more information seeCreating sample device types.

Procedure

  1. On the Setup page, on the Device types tab, click Add device type. In Maximo Monitor 8.11 or earlier, on the Device tab, click the plus (+) icon.
  2. Select the basic template and then click Next. This template is also known as the empty template.
  3. Specify a name and description for the device type.
  4. Click Create.
  5. Add a dimension.
    1. On the Overview tab, click Add dimension. In Maximo Monitor 8.11 or earlier, you add dimensions from the Identity tab.
    2. Specify a name for the dimension, for example, Serial number.
    3. Select a type.
    4. Optional: Specify a default value. If the value for the dimension is or must be the same for all devices of this type, specify that shared value. If the value for the dimension is not the same for all devices of this type, such as for unique device serial numbers, do not specify a value.
    5. Click Save.

What to do next

To add more dimensions, you can repeat these steps or use one of the following methods:
  • You can use the dimensions REST API endpoint to add dimensions directly to devices from the Manage core services API. For more information about accessing the REST API, see APIs.
  • If you are familiar with Python, you can add dimensions through code. For more information, see Adding dimensional data through code.