The cloud system includes the data layer that interacts between thin clients and the cloud DB for data acquisition. The cloud DB also interacts with and maintains the data in the barcode system and a user management DB. The data stored in the cloud DB are presented by the web front end to the end users through either desktops or mobile devices.
For example, Fig. 5 shows the spool information page in the web front end. Fig. 6 presents the schema of the cloud DB that depicts the relationship between tables and their attributes defined for this project. The main table in the DB is the Spool table, which stores various data on each spool to be produced and installed, including data for design (e.g. specification and drawing) and manufacturing (e.g. material and conditions). A number of spools are assigned to a job (project) whose start and end dates and related documentations are stored in the Jobs table.
The data of users, who are involved in a job, are stored in the Users table. Once a spool is tagged at the fabrication site for tracking, it is associated with an item in the Tagged_Spool table along with the welding information stored in the Weld table. When the spool is scanned by a scanner, it is updated in the Scanned_Spool table and the location of the spool can be tracked by the data of the RFID scanner that are stored in the RFID_Scanner table. Users can query the status of any spools stored in the cloud DB and track them through the web front end.