BLUEHILL^® CENTRAL | FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

No, Bluehill Central is an application for centralized management of users, templates, and data. Bluehill Universal remains the application used to control and program the Instron system. When Bluehill Central is configured in your lab, each Instron system running Bluehill Universal simply connects to the Bluehill Central database to gain access to all shared data.

Current Bluehill Central (Version 2) requires Bluehill Universal 4.54 or greater. Contact Instron to learn about compatibility with earlier versions of Bluehill Central.

Yes, any location that can access the network domain which a Bluehill Central database is stored can connect. Refer to teams to learn about how files, users and settings can be managed when Bluehill Central is shared by multiple labs.

All clients and servers must be hosted on the same network. Meaning, all copies of BHU, BHC and the SQL server database must have access to the same network.

Only Instron systems running Bluehill Universal software can connect to Bluehill Central.

Bluehill Central allows groups of users to be organized into teams that share common files and settings. An operator’s permissions and access to files are defined by their team. This gives your lab the flexibility to support different workflows and settings depending on the group using the system.

No, all user management can be performed centrally for all connect Instron testing systems when using Bluehill Central.

When logging into Bluehill, the user selects the team they are signing into and enter their username and password for authentication.

Teams can be configured with Windows Active Directory, Bluehill security, or No security. When security is enabled (recommended), users are required to log into Bluehill Universal and Bluehill Central.

Yes, team administrators will need to add the user to each team.

Yes, a user’s permissions are specific to each team.

No, each team Bluehill Central file system is independent. When logging into Bluehill Universal or Bluehill Central, a user will only see the files associated with their team. If two or more teams require the same methods, one team is recommended. If multiple teams are required to support different file modification approval workflows, a file can be shared between teams by downloading from one and uploading in the other. File revision history is maintained during the download and upload operations.

Sample, PDF report, method, and report template files can be saved to local or network drives if the file type is configured without signature requirements. If signatures are required, it must be stored to the Bluehill Central database to secure the file and control its approval workflows. Note: Saving a file to Bluehill Central allows access to prior revisions of the file, which is not possible when saved on a local or network drive from the Windows file system.

No, Bluehill Universal is used to create and modify test methods and report templates. It is recommended to have Bluehill Universal installed on computers with Bluehill Central viewers for ease of access.

No, Bluehill Universal is used to open sample files to view test curves or modify calculations and results. PDF reports and export files of test results are accessible on the database. It is recommended to have Bluehill Universal installed on computers with Bluehill Central viewers for ease of access.

TrendTracker allows Instron users to view results from multiple samples, which cannot be done in Bluehill Universal. For instance, a test lab runs 10 specimens per batch (we call this a sample). In Bluehill Universal, users cannot compare that data with a batch that was run yesterday, last week, or last year to understand if there are outliers and to identify trends in material production. TrendTracker would be opened in Bluehill Central to view results over time in a table or in a chart. Data can be searched with customizable queries to filter the results as necessary.

Yes, sample files from Bluehill 2, 3 and Universal can be exported to TrendTracker to begin meaningful analysis immediately.

TrendTracker results are stored in a SQL database separate from the audit trail and Bluehill files. This allows legacy TrendTracker customers to keep their databases / searches and allows them to manage their data independently from the audit trail database to maximize performance when datasets become very large.

Bluehill methods must be configured to export to a TrendTracker database. When this method setting is enabled, test results and method parameters are sent automatically when an operator presses the Finish button while testing.

No, raw data cannot be exported. Only values from Results 1, Results 2 and Method parameters can be exported to TrendTracker. Users can toggle which of the three (if any) are exported.

If a method is configured to export to a TrendTracker database, any user with ‘Test specimens’ permission can initiate an export to TrendTracker.

Yes, if you have legacy TrendTracker and have an existing SQL database with test results, you can configure Bluehill Central’s TrendTracker module to point to your existing SQL database. Reminder – TrendTracker data in Bluehill Central is stored in an independent SQL database from Bluehill Central’s files, audit trail, and settings.

Refer to our whitepaper on this topic.

Yes, each team can be configured with their own signature settings to support different workflows. It is common for labs with Bluehill Central and Traceability to have a development team without method change approval and production team with 2 or 3 signatures to required to begin testing with a method. Note: regardless of signature settings, all changes are tracked in the audit trail and contained in the file itself.

Yes, if you are upgrading from local to networked Traceability, you can export your existing audit trail directly into Bluehill Central.

File revision history is retained when moving existing templates into Bluehill Central.

For superior performance and longer data retention, use your company’s SQL Server license. Without access to a full SQL Server license, Instron can install SQL Server Express with a limit of three system connections. If network infrastructure is not required, the local machine installation is an option — but this diminishes the intent of a client/server solution.

A viewer license is required for each computer that intends to install a Bluehill Central viewer for TrendTracker analysis, change approvals, audit trail viewing, user management, or any other functions in Bluehill Central. One viewer is included with your Bluehill Central license. Additional viewers are available depending on your needs. Note: if your IT intends to virtualize a viewer for access by multiple employees, the unlimited viewer option must be purchased.

No, a Bluehill Central viewer is not required at each test system. Most labs choose to install viewers on employees’ computers for remote access, but some install viewers at each test system or on a shared, centralized computer in the lab. Note: Bluehill Universal itself connects to the Central database, giving users access to the test methods and samples stored on the database they need for testing or to open existing sample files.

There is no limit to the number of user accounts that can be created with a single viewer license.

If you require electronic approvals and/or an audit trail of system activity, you will need Traceability. It is sold as a bundle with Lab Management to store all Bluehill files on the database.

If you require the centralized file system, you will need Lab Management.

If you require statistical process control (SPC) analysis on Instron results, you will need TrendTracker.

Yes, Instron offers an upgrade path to move from local to network Traceability and other centralized management functions provided by Central. Bluehill allows users to migrate existing, local databases to Central’s database.

Yes, if you currently use ComplianceBuilder (licensed by Xybion®) and would like to add Bluehill Traceability, the two applications can coexist.

No. When you are ready to make the switch, Instron recommends archiving the ComplianceBuilder audit trail.

No, all Bluehill Central data is hosted and managed on your corporate domain and servers. Instron has no ability to access any data.

Microsoft SQL Server is the only supported database provider.

Yes, existing licenses can be used. A dedicated database will be created for storing Bluehill data. SQL Server Express is an option but has inferior performance and is limited to a maximum of three connected Instrons.

Bluehill Server and Bluehill Central viewer clients are both desktop applications. The SQL Server database used to store data is typically on-premise, but a cloud-based database is supported if it has access to the domain being used by the clients.

Bluehill security (managed by Bluehill applications) and Windows Active Directory are the two available security types. Active Directory requires the formation of user groups to assign to Bluehill permissions.

Bluehill Central uses a client/server architecture to manage the flow of data. Clients include Bluehill Universal installed at each Instron system and Bluehill Central viewers installed on any computer where a user would like to access Instron files, perform reviews, view the audit trail, or modify any settings being managed by Bluehill Central. A server application manages all the transactions between the clients and the SQL database as data flows to and from the database as users work with Bluehill Universal and Bluehill Central’s viewer.

Yes, there is a manual backup operation to create a “.bak” file of the database, including all files stored in Lab Management, the audit trail, and all team/user settings. Automated backup operations can be configured in SQL Server. Note: if using the TrendTracker option, its data is stored in one or more independent SQL databases. There is currently no backup option in Bluehill for TrendTracker, meaning backups would be managed in SQL Server. Note: Test data and results are always retained in the Instron sample file regardless of their results being exported to TrendTracker’s database.

Yes, if a backup is available – a database backup can be restored.

No, there is no archive operation in Bluehill Central. Files can be downloaded and removed from the database as independent functions, but there is not an archive function to move files/data from the database to a secondary storage location. Backup and restore functions are available.

The storage capacity of the data servers will depend on which features your lab uses. We recommend Traceability and Lab Management users have 2TB of free disk space and TrendTracker users have 16GB of free disk space. Actual requirements vary depending on the volume of data generated.

No, files and results stored on Bluehill Central are intended to be accessed through Bluehill applications. Files and results cannot be transferred to external databases.