The monitoring data from the sites is collected via microagents – the small automation controllers with any internet connectivity. No polling from the central server is needed – the microagents decide, when there is need to report a new state or value of to the server. This will save more than 90% of the site traffic due to no repetitive data transmission for the unchanged values. There is also no need for a static IP-address for the microagent, because the server has no need to connect to the microagents (these connect to the server instead).

Any background image can be equipped with dynamic values, text, diagrams o or gadgets (see some examples). Graphs can be picked into a basket for visual analysis in a common,  selectable time interval. Graph selections can be saved as PDF for documenting.

The data is stored in RRD-format with 10 years of span. The older than 10 years data gets overwritten, so the size of data files do not grow in time. The data from RRD files can be exported as XML containing averaged hourly values, for customized reporting or longer storage.

In addition to the monitoring capabilities, the automated control functions, designed according to the customer needs, are available too. Temperature, humidity, CO2 level, but also water level are most common values to keep inside a range or to keep following the setpoint. The control logic can be added to the local microagents, so the control operation is not affected by the possible breaks in the cloud connectivity.

The setpoints for the local control (desired temperature, moisture, water level and so on) can be time-controlled via Google Calendar, weather forecast or by some other external data. You can also use Google calendar to select the group of contacts to be notified (7).

Sometimes the systems to be controlled are very slow. One example is radiant floor heating systems in the buildings. It is possible to achieve energy savings and greater comfort, if the expected outdoor temperatures in the future  are considered in the heating control system.

Day-ahead electricity prices from Nordpoolspot can be used for energy savings, allowing some electricity consuming devices to work during hours of lowest energy prices only, or to be switched for the hours where  the price is above some limit.

The notifications are an important property of any monitoring system, allowing to warn or alarm the selected users about the predefined state or value changes. If needed, time schedules can be used to control the list of recipients for the notifications. Tunable flapping control reduces the risk of getting flooded with repetitive notifications generated by some unstable monitored item.
All nofications are stored to the database, that can be filtered and queried.

UniSCADA is built using open source components like Nagios, Nagvis and PHP4Nagios. The data from the sites is translated into Nagios Passive Mode Check messages and fed into Nagios and RRD databases. Nagvis is the browser-based visualization tool and PNP4Nagios is a graphing tool using RRD database content.