At-a-Glance:

  • Once a Connector has been configured, it becomes a Connection.
  • Multiple Connections can be created from a single Connector.

Connectors and Connections: What’s the Difference?

The difference between a Connector and a Connection is subtle but critical to the understanding of how DLX implements a Pharma 4.0 environment based on digital transformation. The simplest definition is that the Connector is a digital tool for connecting an application, service, or instrument to the DLX platform, and to the rest of the laboratory. The Connection is a configured instance of a Connector, and one Connector can be configured into multiple Connections.

Who Builds the Connectors and the Connections?

Connectors for instruments, commercial applications and services are created by Scitara and available in the Connector Library, accessible through the Scitara DLX Connections view. Customers may then configure those Connectors to create Connections as needed.

How a Connector Becomes a Connection

When you open the Scitara DLX Web Console and select “Connections” from the left-hand side of the menu, you will see the configured Connections on top and the Connector Library on the bottom. How a Connector becomes a Connection begins with configuration. Once a Connector has been configured, it becomes a Connection and is then visible on the top of the menu.  Stepping through the configuration process available in each Connector will generate a Connection. Note that in the case of a Device Connector, a provisioning step may be required.

One-to-Many Relationship

In configuring Connectors to create one or more Connections, it is possible for a single Connector to be used multiple times. As such, there may exist a one-to-many relationship between Connectors and Connections. For example: If there are 20 balances in the laboratory, all the same model, only one Connector is needed, which can simply be configured 20 times to create 20 different unique Connections (one for each device). Whether there are multiple Connections tied to a single Connector will depend on the dynamics of the instrument or software application. In another case where only a one-to-one relationship exists, a Connector may be tied to a piece of software that has access to all the instrument data, so only a single instance of a Connection is needed in that case.

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