Industrial data analytics provider Maana Inc. is adding to its platform’s capabilities with the launch of a new service called Maana Q that helps its users to obtain better insights from their data. Maana Q makes it easy for subject-matter experts, such as a logistics expert or a drilling engineer to create the digital knowledge layer for their company. A subject-matter expert can use Maana Q to mathematically encode their expertise by creating a model, the company said.

Maana sells something called a knowledge platform powered by a knowledge graph that’s focused on providing data analytics for the industrial internet, especially companies in the oil and gas sectors. Maana Knowledge Graph is a network of models that create a digital knowledge layer over IT and OT data. It indexes the most relevant data in the context of the operation being optimized and brings that into the Graph.

“It’s almost like the Rubik’s cube of databases,” Forrester Research Inc. analyst Michele Goetz once said of knowledge graph technology. “You can look at your data from any angle. You can see the relationships. You can ask questions and get deeper insights.”

With Maana Q, the company said, it’s advancing its core knowledge graph with improved “self-service” capabilities. These self-service capabilities make it easier for business analysts to use the Maana platform to create models and knowledge layers in order to answer questions about their business. The digital knowledge layer can therefore be thought of as a customer’s customized version of Maana’s Knowledge Graph, trained on their specific industry and use cases.

For example, a business analyst with an oil company can ask questions such as “Where should we drill our next oil well?” The analyst can also select the data repositories he or she would like to use to answer the question. Then Maana Q works by transforming that information into a model that helps explain where the company should drill a new well.

“This digital knowledge layer demonstrates the interdependencies between concepts such as equipment, people and activities, enabling enterprises to accelerate building, AI-driven Knowledge Applications that optimize decision flows,” Maana said in its pitch.

Maana Q was built using the GraphQL query language that was first developed by Facebook Inc., another proponent of knowledge graphs. GraphQL provides users with an easier way to interface with Maana’s knowledge graph, making it easier to explore their data and integrate new and existing services with the platform.

For example, Maana Q comes with several “knowledge bots” that automate computational modeling tasks such as field classification, entity recognition and machine learning. That should make it much easier for users to build new applications that leverage Maana’s knowledge graph, the company said.

“The new capabilities of Maana Q make it easier for enterprises to create Knowledge Applications that optimize decision flows,” said Donald Thompson, Maana’s cofounder, president and chief technology officer. “It is this combination of human expertise and machine aid that enables effective digital transformation.”

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