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Integration workflows

Better integration. Less work.

How Nimrod cuts repeated configuration work and leaves time for the fun stuff.

Nimrod4 min readFacility operations / Field notes

The biggest barrier to better integrations is labor. The amount of time it takes to get the basics covered often eats up all of the budget. We want to deliver intuitive, powerful tools for our users, but the time it takes to go that deep often leaves it out of the budget.

Nimrod is designed with a few tricks, some old and some new, to make the core tasks faster and enable all kinds of automation. Now there will still be time left to perfect those diagram layouts, make some custom graphics, and break those power reports out by panel.

  • Create and bind equipment with templates. Apply a template to one unit or create equipment in bulk from Excel.
  • Bind once and reuse throughout the app. Connect each unit’s readings once, then use them across equipment pages, diagrams, dashboards, charts, and reports.
  • Import and export with an agent. Use prompt examples and JSON to turn equipment documentation into reusable equipment templates.

Import the configuration. Bind one unit or create in bulk.

Bind Equipment and Bulk Create Equipment let you import a complete equipment template: the readings operators see, the components inside a unit, its alarm settings, and the live values shown on its diagrams. Bind an equipment, then apply it as a template to the next.

With Bind Equipment, choose the unit and its controller, then apply the template. Everything gets captured here. Every live point binding on the page is populated. Point units, alarms, and diagram animations are configured. Additional options let you use the same tool to apply other changes in bulk. One prepared template can carry all of that work into the next unit.

Bulk Create Equipment repeats the process for an entire equipment schedule. An Excel file lists each unit’s name, equipment type, location, and template. Nimrod creates the equipment pages and applies the same template to each unit, using names or search patterns to find its controller. A reviewed template can be reused across a floor or building.

These templates use JSON, so an LLM can help compose them using our prompt examples. More on that later.

Binding template tour · Sample data

Home / North Campus / Administration / Level 1 / AHU-1
ControlOA Flow Sensor2,420 CFMOA Damper64%Outside AirFilterNormalMAT68.4 °FCHWNormalChilled Water Valve42%Chilled Water ReturnChilled Water SupplyCHWR Temp54.8 °FCHWS Temp44.2 °FDAT55.3 °FUV LightOnSF-AOn · 64%SF-BOn · 64%SF-COn · 64%SF-DOn · 64%SA Smoke Damper64%SAT55.1 °FSA SmokeDetectorNormalSA StaticPressure1.42 inWCSupply AirRA Smoke Damper64%RAT73.2 °FRAH44%Return Air

System Enable/Disable

Enable CommandOn
Enable StatusOn

Outside Air Flow

Flow2,420CFM
Flow STPT2,400CFM

Mixed Air

Temperature68.4°F
Probe 168.3°F
Probe 268.5°F

Cooling Coil

Valve Control42%
CHWS Temp44.2°F
CHWR Temp54.8°F

Supply Air

Temperature55.1°F
Temperature STPT55.0°F
Static Pressure1.42inWC

Safety Faults

Unit Safety ShutdownNormal
High Static PressureNormal
Low Static PressureNormal

Supply Fans

CommandStatusFaultSignal
SF-AOnOnNormal64%
SF-BOnOnNormal64%
SF-COnOnNormal64%
SF-DOnOnNormal64%
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Start with a configured unit.

Use its source connections and display settings as the starting point for the next unit.

Bind once. Reuse throughout the app.

Showing the same temperature on a dashboard, in a report, and on a diagram should not mean connecting it three times. In Nimrod, you connect a controller point to the equipment and establish what the measurement means. The rest of the app can then use that connection.

Reports and charts can request a measurement for an equipment type—for example, leaving chilled-water temperature for every chiller in a building. Nimrod finds the matching units and their readings. The same data also feeds equipment pages, diagrams, and other views.

If a controller changes, update the connection on the equipment. Reports, charts, and diagrams keep using the same equipment types and measurement names. You can spend time on what the next view should show, with the data already connected.

  • Less duplicated work. Bind each point once for use across the app.
  • Quicker changes. Update connections on the equipment instead of editing every view.
  • Faster application configuration. Build reports, charts, and diagrams with data already connected.

[ 02 / BIND ONCE ]

Bind once. Reuse throughout the app.

Connect each unit to its controller, then build reports and charts around equipment types and measurements.

Bind once diagram · Sample data

The same controller connections,
maintained separately in each application.

Before: reports, charts, and dashboards each bind to all three source devicesBefore, each view maintains separate connections to all three controllers. Afterward, solid blue lines show each unit connected to its own controller. Dashed green lines identify all three units as air handling units. The equipment type describes the available measurements and units; each individual unit supplies its readings. Dashed purple arrows show applications querying equipment information by type, measurement, and location. Examples include West Building supply air temperatures, North Building AHU fan speeds, and a North Campus AHU summary table. Nimrod finds the matching units and their readings. Addresses and readings are illustrative.SOURCE DEVICESAPPLICATIONSDDC-01BACnet/IPAI:3 / BI:1DDC-02BACnet/IPAI:7 / BI:2DDC-03Modbus TCP40001 / 00001ReportsOwn controller connectionsWest Building Supply Air TemperaturesChartsOwn controller connectionsNorth Building AHU Fan SpeedsDashboardsOwn controller connectionsNorth Campus AHU Summary TableBefore: reports, charts, and dashboards each bind to all three source devicesBefore, each view maintains separate connections to all three controllers. Afterward, solid blue lines show each unit connected to its own controller. Dashed green lines identify all three units as air handling units. The equipment type describes the available measurements and units; each individual unit supplies its readings. Dashed purple arrows show applications querying equipment information by type, measurement, and location. Examples include West Building supply air temperatures, North Building AHU fan speeds, and a North Campus AHU summary table. Nimrod finds the matching units and their readings. Addresses and readings are illustrative.SOURCE DEVICESAPPLICATIONSDDC-01BACnet/IPAI:3 / BI:1DDC-02BACnet/IPAI:7 / BI:2DDC-03Modbus TCP40001 / 00001ReportsOwn controller connectionsWest Building Supply Air TemperaturesChartsOwn controller connectionsNorth Building AHU Fan SpeedsDashboardsOwn controller connectionsNorth Campus AHU Summary TableBefore: reports, charts, and dashboards each bind to all three source devicesBefore, each view maintains separate connections to all three controllers. Afterward, solid blue lines show each unit connected to its own controller. Dashed green lines identify all three units as air handling units. The equipment type describes the available measurements and units; each individual unit supplies its readings. Dashed purple arrows show applications querying equipment information by type, measurement, and location. Examples include West Building supply air temperatures, North Building AHU fan speeds, and a North Campus AHU summary table. Nimrod finds the matching units and their readings. Addresses and readings are illustrative.SOURCE DEVICESAPPLICATIONSDDC-01BACnet/IPAI:3 / BI:1DDC-02BACnet/IPAI:7 / BI:2DDC-03Modbus TCP40001 / 00001ReportsOwn connectionsWest Building Supply Air TemperaturesChartsOwn connectionsNorth Building AHU Fan SpeedsDashboardsOwn connectionsNorth Campus AHU Summary Table
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Each view repeats the controller connections.

Select a stage to see how one set of controller connections supplies reports, charts, and dashboards through equipment types.

Import and export. Bring your favorite agent.

LLMs can take on much of the most time-consuming integration work, starting with construction documents. Give your agent a PDF containing the equipment schedules and ask it to translate them into Nimrod’s Excel schedule for Bulk Create Equipment. Review the spreadsheet, then import it to create the equipment in bulk. Every major category of configuration also has a standardized JSON format for moving data in and out.

Our prompt examples explain the JSON structure and how its parts fit together. Give your agent a prompt example, a PDF, spreadsheet, or equipment schedule, and the connection details for the installation. The workflow is designed for one round trip: your agent composes a complete equipment template for you to review, import into Nimrod, and verify against live values. You can also export an existing template to adapt or reuse it, and the same formats work with scripts, your existing engineering tools, and other Nimrod installations.

That leaves time for the fun stuff: a clearer diagram, a better summary, a more useful report, or the extra detail an operator will appreciate. A richer integration becomes easier to deliver within the time the project actually allows.

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