## 2 Materials and Methods
### Digitization and Manufacturing Process Representation
Thus, they will be used to represent the production process, delivering the right information to the right people at the right time. The most effective way to achieve the goal of data distribution is by implementing an observer/observable pattern [32], which is based on the subscriber/publisher paradigm [33]. During the past decade, communication schemes have been redesigned and reimplemented with the aim of integrating data from several heterogeneous data sources. Moreover, the introduction of certain standards (for instance, the IEC 61850 standard for substation automation [34]), which defines a data model oriented toward objects and functions, allows for modeling all the devices of a system by categorizing them according to their functionalities. This technology also enables their integration into a high-speed peer-to-peer communication network through standardization. However, further improvements were needed to establish an open and standardized working environment. The solution was the creation of a real-time publisher/subscriber communication model, as demonstrated in [35]. In fact, this type of communication is widely used and well documented in books and research papers such as the following: [33; 36; 37; 38]. In a effort to combine this communication and data distribution technologies, Azterlan developed Sentinel (for more information about Sentinel, please visit [[https://www.azterlan.es/en/kh/sentinel-predictive-control](https://www.azterlan.es/en/kh/sentinel-predictive-control)]([https://www.azterlan.es/en/kh/sentinel-predictive-control](https://www.azterlan.es/en/kh/sentinel-predictive-control)), accessed on 20 January 2025). It is an integral system for data distribution and process monitoring, as well as anomaly detection, digital representations of the process, alert communication, and a tool for incorporating and utilizing different Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. Despite all the features available in the Sentinel system (illustrated in Figure 3), at this stage of development, Sentinel is focused solely on distributing, displaying, and presenting the gathered information. Hence, for now, we define Sentinel as a software system for automated and real-time data distribution. Sentinel displays key information and alerts to the people and locations where they are most useful. It allows for the deployment of dashboards or control panels designed according to user needs. These control panels can be implemented as static displays (on-site) or with navigation capabilities across different levels of information depth (e.g., process managers, laboratory, quality department, maintenance, and management, among others). In order to define and design the data distribution, as well as the visualization methods in Sentinel, the following aspects have been analyzed:  
1. KPI identification: Firstly, the work team determines the key process indicators that are valuable for the day-to-day work and the management of the process. In this way, the different areas that can be included and the different data that can be employed are studied here. 2. KPI analysis: Once the interests and possibilities were listed, we developed an analysis addressing all key stages of the process. To achieve this, six different variables were compared using the Likert scale [39] and combined in a Star Plot. The variables used are: (i) frequency, (ii) accuracy of the available information, (iii) visualization or its necessity, (iv) capture and storage media, (v) possibility of data access, and (vi) traceability. 3. KPI Priority. After the previously conducted study, a filtering process is developed based on the priority of working on these indicators. This analysis is performed using a scatterplot. 4. Data distribution location. As the final task, the appropriate location for each visualization is determined. In the end, the management of all input sources was performed, as shown in Figure 4. Four different PDManager capture agents were developed to integrate these data sources.