Patent ID: 8768716

Claim:
A method for managing data relating to a provision of an automation-related service over a network to a customer having a facility comprising manufacturing equipment, the service being directed to the manufacturing equipment, the method comprising the steps of: creating and storing a data structure corresponding to the provision of the automation-related service over the network to the manufacturing equipment; storing in a first portion of the data structure data relating to an identity of the customer; storing in a second portion of the data structure data relating to an identity of the service; storing in a third portion of the data structure data relating to the measure of service; processing the identity of the customer; processing the identity of the automation-related service; evaluating, by a server of an entity other than the customer, manufacturing equipment performance or automation-related services based on the identity of the customer, identity of the automation-related service, and historical manufacturing equipment data for the identified customer and automation-related service stored in the data structure; providing a set of options for the automation-related service to the customer based on the evaluation; receiving a selection from the customer from the set of options; determining, by the server, that the selected option is an appropriate automation-related service for the customer, wherein if the automation-related service is not appropriate, then notifying the customer that the selected option is inappropriate; responsive to determining that the selected option is appropriate, retrieving by the server software content based on the selection; communicating the software content to the customer; and associating, by the server, the communication of software content to the customer with the data structure; responsive to communicating the software content to the customer, receiving, by the server, an indication that is manually triggered by the customer from the manufacturing equipment; responsive to receiving the manually triggered indication, determining, by the server, that the customer is aware of an imminent activity associated with the selected software content at the manufacturing equipment to ensure the customer's safety; responsive to determining the customer's awareness based on the manually triggered indication, receiving, real-time trace data from the manufacturing equipment; and storing, in a fourth portion of the data structure, the real-time trace data from the manufacturing equipment.