Glossary Updates12 new terms added to the glossaries · October 2, 2026, 22:44 CEST
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Glossary · IIoT, data and AI

Analytics (industrial)

Also known as: Industrial analytics, Operational analytics

German: Analytik

In industrial automation, analytics is the systematic use of machine, process and business data to describe what happened, diagnose why, predict what is likely to happen and recommend actions. It spans simple KPI dashboards as well as statistical and machine learning models.

  • IIoT

In one sentence

Industrial analytics turns machine, process and business data into descriptions, diagnoses, predictions and recommended actions.

Example

A packaging line's analytics dashboard combines PLC counters and downtime reasons to show that most stops occur at the labeler during format changes.

How it applies

  • Engineering: Analytics needs data that is time-stamped, contextualized and of known quality. Plan Data pipelines, tag naming and Metadata early, not after the plant is running.
  • Operation: Descriptive and diagnostic analytics support shift reports and root-cause analysis; predictive and prescriptive analytics support maintenance and scheduling decisions.
  • Documentation: Document each KPI and model: data sources, calculation rules, units, update rate and known limitations. Operators need to know what a value means and when not to trust it.

Analytics vs. data analytics

Analytics is used here as the umbrella for the capability in a plant or organization, including the tools, roles and decisions it feeds. Data analytics is the concrete process of cleaning, transforming and analyzing data sets. In everyday use the two terms are often interchangeable.

Analytics results inform decisions; they do not replace the verification of safety functions or the approval of process changes through Change control.

By knowledge.aitechdoc.world · Published September 26, 2026 · Last reviewed

Source: AI TechDoc Knowledge editorial definition, based on common industrial data and analytics practice

Definitions follow the cited standards and specifications. Where a source is a copyrighted publication, such as an ISO, IEC or EN standard, the definition is a close paraphrase, not a verbatim quotation, so as not to infringe copyright. We recommend reading the original publication. The sections “How it applies” are editorial commentary by AI TechDoc Knowledge and are not part of any standard.

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