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Overview

Data sources are the raw inputs to ProDex — the files and systems that carry the operational data your work builds on. There are two ingestion paths: file uploads, which you drive yourself, and system integrations, which an organization admin connects or the ProDex team sets up. Sources are the raw material; ProDex does not modify them. Once a source is in ProDex, Dexter reads and profiles it, resolves its codes and quirks with you through Exploratory Analysis, and turns it into whatever you asked for: an answer, parameters for a simulation model, a module for exploring the data, a report, or a pipeline for data you pull on a recurring basis. Uploaded files are listed on the Data page, in the Uploaded files folder of the Files tab. Your organization’s integrations are listed on the Integrations card of the Data page’s overview. For how sources fit into the wider data lifecycle, see Data Overview.

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Get Started

Upload a file in any conversation — drag it into the chat, or use Upload files on the Data page’s Files tab — then ask Dexter to explore it. Whether Dexter runs an exploratory analysis on its own depends on where you uploaded and the response mode; on the Data page, an Analyze your new data? prompt offers one as soon as the upload finishes. For integrations, an organization admin connects the systems listed on the Team page; for any other system, ask your ProDex representative.

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File Uploads

The self-serve path. Drop a file into any conversation with Dexter (an MES export, an ERP report, a spreadsheet, a work-instruction PDF, a CAD file), or upload it from the Data page. Uploaded files are the fastest way to get real data in front of Dexter without waiting on IT. Uploads accept spreadsheets, documents, Power BI files, images, CAD files and text, up to 2 GB per file. User Files has the full list of formats, and covers how to upload, preview and delete files.
A structured export always beats a screenshot of one. Dexter can read charts and tables in images, but exact figures — especially from dense dashboards — are far more reliable from a CSV or Excel export when one is available.
Where uploads live. In the factory you uploaded them to, in the Uploaded files folder under Data → Files. Files persist across conversations in that factory, and a file uploaded in one factory isn’t visible from another.
Uploads stay in your factory. Each factory belongs to one user. Sharing a factory gives the recipient their own copy, and neither a share nor a factory export carries your uploaded files with it. Anything Dexter already built from a file — a simulation model, a BOM — does travel with that artifact.

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System Integrations

An integration connects Dexter to one of your operational systems — an ERP, MES, WMS, database or data warehouse — through its API or query endpoint.
  • Connected by an admin or by ProDex. Organization admins connect the systems listed under Available on the Team page and enter the connection details themselves. The ProDex team sets up any other system and keeps its connection details and credentials.
  • Organization-wide. An integration belongs to your organization, not to a factory: every factory in the organization can use it.
  • Documented for Dexter. Each integration comes with documentation that tells Dexter what the system holds — its resources, fields, filters and limits. Organization admins can read and edit that documentation from the integration’s Docs tab on the Team page, to steer how Dexter uses the integration.
  • To request a new one, ask your ProDex representative.
How Dexter uses an integration. When a task needs data from one of your systems, Dexter reads that integration’s documentation, then queries the system for the records it needs and works with the results as it would with an uploaded file. Access is read-only: Dexter can pull data from an integration, but can’t change anything in the system. You can also point Dexter at an integration directly — Create with Dexter on the Data page lets you pick integrations, alongside files, as inputs for a request. ProDex can connect to systems across the manufacturing stack. The set below is representative — ask your ProDex representative about your specific systems: ERP
MES
WMS
BI
Cloud Platforms
Data Warehouses and Lakehouses
Databases
Industrial and IoT
CRM
Don’t see your system? Ask your ProDex representative — a system that exposes a REST or GraphQL API, or a SQL query endpoint, is usually a candidate.

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Email and Calendar Connectors

Separate from your organization’s integrations, you can connect your own Gmail, Google Calendar, Outlook Mail or Outlook Calendar account so Dexter can read your email and calendar when you ask it to. Open the account menu (your email address at the bottom of the left sidebar) and choose Connectors. These connections are personal — each one is tied to your own ProDex login, and access is read-only. See Connectors.

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What Dexter Does with a Source

Whether the source is an uploaded file or an integration, the flow is the same:
  1. Profile. Dexter works out what the source holds — what its columns mean, what one row represents, and where the quality problems are.
  2. Interpret with you. Dexter surfaces codes, tags, and terms it isn’t certain about and confirms interpretation with you before building on them.
  3. Deliver what you asked for. The result takes the shape the task needs: an answer with its evidence, parameters for a model, a module for exploring the data, a report, or a pipeline for a recurring data pull.
  4. Remember what it learned. Dexter’s understanding of the source — its schema, what the codes mean, common pitfalls — is saved to the Data sources area of your knowledge base, so future work on the same source starts from settled ground.

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After a Source Is In

With a source in ProDex, you can: