DDE

DDE Dynamic Data Exchange is a technology for communication

between multiple applications under Microsoft Windows or OS/2.

MaintSmart provides a way for you to link the Current Reading

MaintSmart meter field to a DDE link item.

Linking DDE data items to MaintSmart consists of three steps.

The first two steps may only need to be performed once and may
be common to all of the DDE data items.
Step 1: Define the DDE server. This is typically the application
.exe file name.
Step 2: Define the DDE Topic (grouping of data items).
Step 3: Define the actual data items (DDE items) that MaintSmart
uses to update the Current Reading field of the metered
equipment item.

DDE is described in detail in pages 156-161 in MaintSmart User

Guide

OPC
OPC is an abbreviation for OLE (Object Linking and Embedding is a technology
developed by Microsoft that allows embedding and linking to documents and other objects)
for Process Control. OPC provides a way for you to link
MaintSmart meters to PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). By doing so
you may automatically update a meter reading with the value in
the linked PLC memory address. Like DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)
OPC basically shares data between applications. OPC is similar to
DDE but simpler, faster and more reliable than DDE.

Most modern HMI (Human Machine Interface) and PLC communication

applications or services are OPC compliant. If you are not sure if
your application is OPC compliant you’ll need to contact the
vendor of the software in question.
OPC is described in detail in pages 162-166 in MaintSmart User
Guide