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Demonstrators

The demonstrators are a collection of open-source applications that show how shared, trusted data can drive practical insight, analysis and decision-making. They illustrate how digital capabilities can be built on top of data made available through the Integration Architecture (IA), and how real-world use cases can be explored with live data, realistic workflows and user-centred design.

Demonstrators help to:

  • explore how shared data supports operational, analytical or planning activities
  • test, validate and stress the IA using real datasets
  • develop repeatable technical and design patterns
  • build tools, workflows and guidance informed by real user needs
  • show how data-driven applications can scale and adapt across contexts

Each demonstrator is developed in phases, with each phase contributing further learning, technical refinement and reusable design patterns.

How the Demonstrator Documentation Is Structured

Each demonstrator uses the Diátaxis documentation framework. This ensures users can learn the system, carry out tasks, look up technical details and understand underlying concepts without confusion.

The four documentation types are described below, using domain-accurate examples from IRIS, VISTA, LISA and NOVA.

Tutorials

Learning through a guided, first-time experience

Tutorials are step-by-step introductions designed for users with no prior knowledge of the demonstrator. Each tutorial walks through a complete sequence that ends in a meaningful, successful result.

Tailored examples include:

  • Using IRIS to analyse EPC data and explore patterns in domestic energy-efficiency performance across England and Wales
  • Loading a scenario in VISTA to simulate an initial cascading-failure event and explore how interdependent assets are affected
  • Capturing an incident in LISA, adding photos, tagging colleagues and viewing the resulting timeline
  • Running your first wind-asset suitability assessment using NOVA with prototype data for the Aberdeen region

These pages help users become familiar with the demonstrator’s core capabilities.

How-to Guides

Completing specific, practical tasks

How-to Guides focus on accomplishing a single task. They assume the user already has a basic understanding of the demonstrator.

Tailored examples include:

  • Configuring IRIS to load updated EPC datasets from a specific data source
  • Deploying VISTA and connecting it to refreshed infrastructure datasets for scenario modelling
  • Setting up LISA to support a real-time multi-agency incident, including tagging rules and photo-upload workflows
  • Adding a new geospatial layer (such as turbine-height constraints or wind-speed datasets) to NOVA for prototype analysis

These guides provide actionable instructions with minimal explanation.

Reference

Precise technical information for lookup

Reference pages contain the authoritative technical detail behind each demonstrator. Users consult this section when they need exact parameters, schemas or definitions.

Tailored examples include:

  • The EPC-data structure used within IRIS and the fields involved in energy-efficiency pattern analysis

  • Definitions of VISTA’s dependency graph, asset attributes and failure-propagation rules

  • The incident-data model in LISA, including status codes, workflow transitions and event-timeline structure

  • NOVA’s geospatial-layer specifications, suitability-score parameters and configuration settings

This material forms the technical source of truth for each demonstrator.

Explanations

Understanding the concepts and rationale

Explanation pages describe the thinking behind a demonstrator: what problem it addresses, how the design evolved and what assumptions guide its operation.

Tailored examples include:

  • How IRIS interprets domestic EPC data to reveal regional energy-efficiency patterns, and why certain modelling choices were made

  • Why VISTA models cascading failures in the way it does, and what assumptions influence the simulation of interdependent assets

  • How LISA supports collaboration, task management and timeline construction during live and planned incidents

  • Why NOVA began with wind-generation modelling in the Aberdeen region and how the approach will extend to other asset types and geographies

  • These pages provide context for users who need a deeper understanding of each demonstrator’s purpose and design philosophy.

Available demonstrators

  • IRIS
  • VISTA
  • LISA
  • NOVA

Each demonstrator has its own set of pages, following the structure above.

Role in the IA ecosystem

Demonstrators provide practical environments where real data, real questions and real workflows come together. They support the ongoing evolution of the Integration Architecture by:

  • proving how applications can consume data shared via the IA

  • identifying edge cases, performance considerations and user interaction patterns

  • validating the scalability and usability of IA components

  • highlighting opportunities for further feature development or refinement

Demonstrators complement the IA by showing what becomes possible once trusted data-sharing foundations are in place.