Help with new ni.com application

[NI_WebGuy]

I am hoping that you can spare a few minutes to help NI by giving us some feedback on a new web application that is currently in beta on ni.com. This experience is intended to help users who are new to NI get some product recommendations based on a Q&A about their application needs.

If you have a few minutes over the next several days, it would be great if you could do the following:

1) Go to http://ohm.ni.com/solution-designer/ and walk through the steps, either from your own experiences or simply using a likely scenario.

2) Completing the following survey:  http://research.ni.com/run/2013ecommerce

3) Write comments or ask questions here in the forum by replying to this message. How well did it work for you? What problems did you see? Are the recommendations what they should be? First impressions? Remember the intended audience here is new customers.

This should only take a few minutes and will be a huge help to the web team. Thanks for your help.
 -- Mike

[johnsold]

Mike,

I am adding a commment here because the survey does not ask all the right questions and the Feedback link on the web page is also rather limited.

1. It hung up on me part way through step 2 (Signals). Some links just did not work, others changed the cursor to a circle/slash icon, and some apparently accepted clicks but took a minute or so to respond.

2. At step 2 the array of icons for various signal types is nice, but very non-intutive. I have multiple signal types and was baffled about how to enter them. I managed to click at least two of the icons before the page changed to the new questions. Then it was not so clear as to whether I was doing one or all of the signals.  At that point a subtle link allowing the addition of a signal appears.

## Make it apparent on the first signal page how multiple signal selections will work.

## Be more consistent in identifying links - icons or undelined text or colored text - but don't mix too many.

3. It does not ask any questions about form factor, communications protocol, or OS. These are often significant constraints and a system which ignores them will be of limited use. However, if the system can make recommendations that are outside the constraints, that may be useful, but should be presented as an option which can be selected by the user.

4. It did finally go the recommendations page where it said I needed to talk to an expert. People who choose to use the web often do so because they are only exploring or for various reasons may not want to "talk to an expert." It would be nice if the system gave some explanation as to why it could not make a recommendation. For example a recommendation that would work for 8 channels but not 16 might be useful. If a device had a maximum sampling rate of 90% of the specification, indicating this as "almost good enough" could trigger thinking about the rigidity of the specs.

5. The current web site is not very good at this, so if you can improve it, that will be a good thing.

The project I used as an example was one which has been working in various forms since LV 1.2 (although the first version did not use any NI hardware). Devices which have been used include Lab-NB board, MIO-16 devices, PCI-6221, and USB-6343. Yet the new system could not come up with a recommendation.

It needs some work before being released into the wild.

Lynn

[Anna_M]

Thanks for the feedback johnsold - very specific and actionable!  What browser are you using?  I'd like to try to reproduce the hang-ups you described in your first note.  Regarding communications protocol questions in your 3rd note, were you thinking GPIB and Serial needs should be offered along with signals and sensors, or other communications protocols should be called out under the digital I/O section, or something else?  Thanks again!

[johnsold]

Anna M.,

I am using Safari 6.0.5 on Mac OS X 10.8.4.

Certainly GPIB and RS-232. Also Ethernet/WiFi = TCP/IP and USB (not virtual COM port emulation). Essentially I was asking about how the DAQ device communicates with the computer. So PCI and PCIe probably count as communications protocols as well.  I was not so concerned about things like SPI, although you probably have customers who would like that.

Lynn

[SnowMule]

Interesting!

One thing I kinda saw being left out is connectivity options.  BNC, screw terminals, or a connector. 

Might also be nice to filter by standard or board-only (OEM) flavors. 

I was a little surprised to see $1300+ for a 6008 spec... then I noticed it included software though I didn't put in anything about having (or not having) software.  Maybe that's something else to add, something that'd either check on its own or a list of boxes to tick with software you have.

While I see it's guiding new buyers, it also appears to leave out any signal-conditioning options.

[Anna_M]

Thanks for the feedback SnowMule!  That all makes sense 😃  Concerning the signal-conditioning options, I was wondering what type of options did you expect to see and where?  Thanks again!

[SnowMule]

I was thinking something like relay control, turning an LED on and off, etc.

To drive a 60mA relay coil off the DAQ would require something with some significant current sourcing capability... where adding a ULN2003 IC you can accomplish the same thing with a $99 USB-6501.  Same goes for an analog output (or input, when it comes to high-Z) through an op-amp.

Adding a <$1 IC can mean the difference between a $200 answer and a $5k answer.

Maybe a "Common Solutions" library....

I want to: [Control Relays], [Measure Temperature], [Control LEDs]

I need: [[#] relay outputs], [[#] temperature inputs], [[#] LED's]

<12 low-voltage signal relays?  Buy a 6501 and a ULN2003, hook it up like [insert example schematic]. 

A couple of signal relays, a solid-state relay, and a thermistor?  6008, relays through a ULN2003 to the digital output, solid-state relay through an analog output (provides more current), and the thermistor through a resistor and op-amp to an analog input.  Basic 1000-level amateur electronics kind of stuff. 

[johnsold]

I like SnowMule's idea.

Obviously you cannot create a complete solution to every system a customer would like to put together, but it is obvious from the posts on the Forums that many people with very limited experience at setting up any kind of measurement/control system hear about LV and NI hardware and try to put together something which looks like it might work.  Anything you can to do to help them find a satisfactory solution is good for them and for NI.

Perhaps some kind of hint that the proposed solution using NI devices needs just a little help (such as the ULN2003) would be better than offering no solution or only an expensive one.  I suspect that your AEs would have lots of fun helping put that together - and they know which problems keep recurring.

The people who are measurement/control professionals do not need or want that kind of hand-holding but do want to be able to zero in on what is needed to put a system together. Example: Someone who is knowledgeable about measurements and other DAQ systems but has never used a PXI system has a very difficult time determining how to communicate between a host computer and a PXI chassis from your web site.  It is not too hard to find modules for the measurements but controllers and communications are poorly described.  Who knows what an MXI is and whether it is needed or not?  This should not be hard.

Lynn

[Anna_M]

Thanks for all the elaboration on these ideas!  That all sounds useful and should spark some good conversations over here!

[johnsold]

Anna M.,

Thank you to NI and its people for listening to customers.  There are a lot of companies out there where such things simply do not happen.

Lynn