A Match Made in Heaven: Cloud Connection Feature Removes Barriers to Seamless Data Access

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A Match Made in Heaven: Cloud Connection Feature Removes Barriers to Seamless Data Access

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A Match Made in Heaven: Cloud Connection Feature Removes Barriers to Seamless Data Access

VuSitu makes setting up instruments and taking live readings a breeze. HydroVu makes data analysis and storage as user-friendly as it should be. It only made sense to get the two to talk. With the launch of VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection, file uploads are automatic and the “water simplified” experience is even simpler. We sat down with Product Owner Tom Koniuta to discuss Cloud Connection and how it will transform our customers’ work.

In-Situ : What will VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection do for customers?

Tom Koniuta : This feature allows customers using VuSitu to have their data files from the field automatically pushed up to their HydroVu account. So, as soon as they’ve completed whatever they’re doing–whether it's recording data, downloading a log, or running a calibration–those files will automatically appear in their HydroVu account when they're logged in.

In-Situ : How will VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection change the typical data collection experience?

Tom Koniuta : Whether the user is a one-man operation or a large team collecting multiple data points for a big project, we set out to make the data instantly accessible when it’s needed.  

For example, you could be working on a big project with a team collecting data from multiple locations. It’s a weeks-long event. Over the course of the project team members will need to email you data files. You'd have to download them, then search through and organize the files, so that you could later run your analysis. Depending on how many instruments you had out in the field, that could take a long time. It’s often an inefficient process.

And when you’re relying on this data to be manually sent, there’s always the chance that an email is deleted or someone forgets to send a file. Maybe their phone died or their data was on a different device that is no longer accessible.

VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection removes these final steps. As soon as the file has been created and saved, VuSitu will automatically push it to the HydroVu account, so whoever needs to work on it doesn’t have to track people down to make sure all the data has been emailed to them or hunt down those couple missing files. All they need to do is log into HydroVu and they will see all the field files there. It makes accessing and sharing all the critical data that much easier.

In-Situ : What about for remote sites?

Tom Koniuta : If they have a remote location that doesn't have Internet access, as long as they save the file to their device, VuSitu will remember and have that file queued up to upload as soon as they get Internet.

In-Situ : What is most exciting about this update?

Tom Koniuta : So many things. The most exciting is just how seamless I expect it to be for customers. We know the most important part of our customers’ work is the data they get from our instruments. So, the main function of this update is to make that easier. VuSitu hasn’t changed, we’ve just added the security of files being automatically backed up in HydroVu. Customers no longer need to worry about being able to get the data off of the device once they have it. It will already be in the cloud for them.

The other big bonus of this is that all their data can live in one place. Before VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection, you couldn't easily look at your telemetry data side by side with your field data. So, in addition to giving customers the assurance that their data is getting backed up in HydroVu, they can graph and analyze all of their telemetry data alongside data from their offline instruments. Everything is in one place.

That includes calibration reports. It used to be that as soon as you generated a calibration report, you could only save it by sending it somewhere. Now, that calibration report will be accessible in VuSitu and simultaneously get pushed up to HydroVu along with all the other files. So, customers can type in a serial number and see all of the records of when that sensor was calibrated and use that information to make informed decisions on when to schedule maintenance.

There are robust filters and sort features within HydroVu, so having all their data in one place makes it really easy for customers to find what they need. They can search by keyword, by instrument type, by serial number, by date range and more to easily find what they’re looking for.

We fully understand that HydroVu probably isn't the last stop for our customers’ data. They might need to send it other places or create reports from it. But we wanted to give them one place for all of their data to be accessible from as a simple starting place to begin analysis. This makes it easier to achieve their end goal.

In-Situ : And this is a free feature, correct?

Tom Koniuta : Yes, this is a free feature of HydroVu. Customers need to create a HydroVu account if they don't already have one, but they don’t need to purchase a subscription or pay any fees to have this security. Everyone using VuSitu can easily take advantage of this feature.

In-Situ : What motivated you to design this new feature?

Tom Koniuta : We wanted to mimic the experience of automatic data backups and instant access to critical files that we all use and rely on in our everyday lives. Whether it's SharePoint, iCloud, DropBox, etc.–we saw no reason why we couldn’t give that same experience to our customers. VuSitu is designed and developed in house. HydroVu is designed and developed in house. Transitioning the two to talk to each other was the natural next step.

In-Situ : What were the design priorities guiding the process?

Tom Koniuta : We understand that the customers are after the data from their instruments. They want that data to be safe, secure, intact and where they need it, when they need it. So, that's always the number one goal I'm driving into the team: How can we make it as easy as possible to get the data?

And we’ve received a lot of positive feedback on VuSitu over the years. People like it. So, we didn't want to disrupt that simple and intuitive experience. All that was needed was to give customers trust and confidence that their data is safe and secure in their HydroVu account. And to have it be seamless so they don’t have to think about it.

We’re excited to bring that streamlined experience to our customers. This is only the first release of VuSitu HydroVu Cloud Connection, and we're really looking forward to seeing where this technology can take us.

To learn more about VuSitu go to in-situ.com/vusitu-app. To set up your free HydroVu account go to in-situ.com/hydrovu-data-services.

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