From Helical Insight to StyleBI: Transforming Dashboarding in Industrial Wastewater Reclamation
AquaRenew Systems is a leading industrial wastewater reclamation provider specializing in membrane filtration, advanced oxidation, and zero‑liquid‑discharge (ZLD) solutions for manufacturing plants across North America. Their facilities process millions of gallons of contaminated water each day, converting industrial effluent into reusable water streams that support cooling towers, boilers, and production lines. With rising regulatory pressure and increasing demand for water reuse, AquaRenew’s operations have become more data‑intensive than ever. Every pump, membrane, blower, and chemical dosing system generates continuous telemetry that must be monitored, analyzed, and acted upon.
For years, the company relied on Helical Insight as its primary reporting and dashboarding platform. While it served basic BI needs, the system struggled to keep pace with the company’s evolving operational requirements. As AquaRenew expanded into multi‑site operations and adopted more IoT‑driven monitoring systems, the limitations of their existing analytics stack became increasingly apparent. This led to a strategic decision: migrate from Helical Insight to StyleBI to build a modern, dynamic dashboarding environment capable of supporting real‑time industrial operations.
Why Helical Insight Was No Longer Enough
Helical Insight had originally been selected for its open‑source flexibility and customizable reporting engine. It allowed AquaRenew’s data team to build scheduled reports, basic dashboards, and ad‑hoc queries. However, as the company’s operational complexity grew, several challenges emerged.
- Limited real‑time capabilities: Wastewater reclamation requires continuous monitoring of pH, turbidity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, membrane pressure, and flow rates. Helical Insight’s refresh model was not designed for high‑frequency updates.
- Rigid dashboard layouts: Creating interactive, multi‑layered dashboards required extensive customization and scripting, slowing down development cycles.
- Scaling issues: As AquaRenew added new facilities, the platform struggled to handle multi‑site data blending and role‑based access without significant engineering overhead.
- Slow iteration: Operators frequently requested dashboard changes, but implementing them required developer intervention, creating bottlenecks.
These limitations were not flaws in Helical Insight itself—it simply wasn’t built for the type of dynamic, sensor‑driven analytics environment that AquaRenew now required. The company needed a platform that could support real‑time operational dashboards, flexible data modeling, and rapid iteration. After evaluating several BI tools, StyleBI emerged as the clear choice.
Why StyleBI Was the Right Fit
StyleBI offered a fundamentally different approach to dashboarding—one that aligned with AquaRenew’s operational reality. Instead of relying on static reports or rigid layouts, StyleBI provided a dynamic, interactive environment where dashboards could be built around workflows, not just data tables.
Several capabilities stood out:
- Real‑time data integration: StyleBI could connect directly to AquaRenew’s SCADA systems, sensor streams, and data lake, enabling dashboards that updated continuously.
- Flexible visual composition: The platform allowed designers to build dashboards that mirrored the physical layout of treatment trains, membrane racks, and ZLD systems.
- Role‑based parameterization: Operators, engineers, compliance officers, and executives could all view the same dashboard with different filters and permissions.
- Rapid iteration: BI developers could prototype and refine dashboards quickly, reducing turnaround time from weeks to days.
For an industry where a membrane failure or chemical imbalance can cost thousands of dollars per hour, the ability to visualize and respond to operational data in real time was transformative.
Designing Dashboards for Wastewater Reclamation Workflows
AquaRenew approached the migration by rethinking how dashboards should support daily operations. Instead of replicating Helical Insight dashboards, they started from scratch, interviewing operators, maintenance technicians, and compliance managers to understand their workflows.
The result was a set of dashboard categories tailored to the unique demands of industrial wastewater reclamation.
1. Treatment Train Overview Dashboard
This dashboard provided a high‑level view of each facility’s treatment stages—equalization, biological treatment, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, evaporation, and crystallization. Operators could see flow rates, tank levels, and energy consumption at a glance, with color‑coded indicators for anomalies.
2. Membrane Health and Fouling Analytics
Membrane systems are the heart of wastewater reclamation, and their performance must be monitored continuously. StyleBI enabled AquaRenew to visualize:
- Transmembrane pressure trends
- Fouling rate predictions
- CIP (clean‑in‑place) scheduling
- Flux recovery after cleaning cycles
These insights helped reduce downtime and extend membrane lifespan.
3. Chemical Dosing and Water Quality Dashboard
Chemical dosing must be precise to maintain water quality and meet regulatory standards. The new dashboard displayed:
- Real‑time pH, ORP, turbidity, and conductivity
- Dosing pump performance
- Chemical consumption trends
- Alerts for deviations from compliance thresholds
This allowed operators to adjust dosing proactively rather than reactively.
4. Energy Optimization Dashboard
Wastewater reclamation is energy‑intensive, especially in ZLD systems. StyleBI enabled AquaRenew to correlate blower loads, pump speeds, and evaporator performance with energy usage, identifying opportunities for optimization.
5. Compliance and Reporting Dashboard
Regulatory compliance is a major burden in this industry. StyleBI allowed AquaRenew to automate:
- Discharge monitoring reports
- Permit limit tracking
- Historical water quality logs
- Audit‑ready data exports
This reduced manual reporting time significantly.
The Migration Process
AquaRenew executed the migration in phases to minimize disruption.
- Phase 1: Inventory and assessment — The team cataloged all Helical Insight dashboards and identified which ones were still relevant.
- Phase 2: Data modeling — StyleBI was connected to SCADA systems, historian databases, and the cloud data lake.
- Phase 3: Dashboard redesign — Instead of copying old dashboards, the team rebuilt them around workflows and user needs.
- Phase 4: Parallel run — Both systems ran simultaneously to validate data accuracy.
- Phase 5: Decommissioning — Helical Insight was retired once users fully adopted StyleBI.
Throughout the process, AquaRenew emphasized user training and feedback loops, ensuring that dashboards were intuitive and actionable.
Business Impact of Switching to StyleBI
Within months of adopting StyleBI, AquaRenew saw measurable improvements across operations.
- Faster anomaly detection: Operators identified membrane fouling and chemical imbalances earlier, reducing downtime.
- Improved energy efficiency: Visualizing energy consumption across treatment stages led to optimized blower and pump schedules.
- Reduced compliance risk: Automated reporting and real‑time alerts helped maintain regulatory adherence.
- Higher user adoption: StyleBI dashboards became part of daily stand‑ups and shift handovers.
- Shorter development cycles: Dashboard updates that once took weeks could now be completed in days.
Most importantly, the company shifted from reactive troubleshooting to proactive optimization—a critical advantage in an industry where operational stability and regulatory compliance are paramount.
Embracing a Modern, Dynamic Dashboarding Platform
The migration from Helical Insight to StyleBI marked a turning point for AquaRenew Systems. By embracing a modern, dynamic dashboarding platform, the company gained the ability to monitor complex treatment processes in real time, optimize energy usage, extend membrane life, and streamline compliance reporting. In an industry where every gallon of reclaimed water matters, StyleBI provided the visibility and agility needed to operate with confidence and efficiency. As AquaRenew continues to expand its footprint, StyleBI will remain a central pillar of its data‑driven operational strategy.