Understanding the OptigoVN Network Health Score – Optigo Networks

The Scoring Philosophy

The Network Health Score (0–100%) is a composite metric designed to reflect the real-world reliability and efficiency of your OT network. A higher score indicates a healthier, more reliable network.

Unlike simple "pass/fail" systems, our algorithm uses a weighted product model. This means we don't just count errors; we evaluate their potential to disrupt your specific building environment. For example, a Circular Network (which can crash an entire network) impacts your score significantly more than a Programming Error (which might only affect a single point).

How We Measure: 2-Dimensional Scoring

To ensure the score reflects reality, OptigoVN evaluates most network issues across two specific dimensions:

Magnitude: How severe is the behavior? (e.g., Is a device polling every 30 seconds or every 4 minutes?)
Volume: How widespread is the issue? (e.g., Is this affecting a single VAV box or 80% of your controllers?)

Why Thresholds and Weights are Not Customizable

A frequent question from enterprise teams is: "Can we tweak the sensitivity of the score?"

The answer is no, and this is by design. OptigoVN enforces standardized thresholds and weights to establish a common industry baseline.

By locking these variables, we ensure that an OptigoVN Health Score of 90% represents the same high standard of reliability whether you are managing a data center, a university campus, or a commercial office. This allows you to benchmark performance objectively across your entire portfolio without "grade inflation."

The 5 Pillars of Network Health

OptigoVN categorizes diagnostics into 5 distinct "Pillars" based on their weight and impact on your system. This helps you prioritize which fires to fight first. Issues found in the first two pillars represent the greatest risk to your network.

1. Connectivity, Reliability, & Critical Routing (Critical Impact)

This pillar measures the fundamental ability of your devices to communicate and the integrity of your network's paths. If these are compromised, the network is considered unstable or broken. Example diagnostics include:

Circular Networks: Traffic loops endlessly, triggering broadcast storms that can make controllers unreachable. This carries the highest single weight of any diagnostic component.
Unacknowledged Requests & Request Retries: Devices are silent or only intermittently responsive when asked for data, often due to network bottlenecks.
MS/TP Checksum Errors & Lost Tokens: Physical wiring faults or electrical noise are corrupting data packets or causing devices to drop off the network.

Score Impact: 🔴Critical. These issues represent immediate data loss or total segment failure.

2. Critical Configuration (High Impact)

This pillar identifies severe setup errors that cause unpredictable behavior and device conflicts. Example diagnostics include:

Duplicate Device IDs: Two or more devices share the same identity, leading to communication collisions and confusion.
Duplicate Network Numbers: Multiple routers routing traffic to the same segment, disrupting normal operations.
Duplicate BBMDs: Redundant broadcast management causing doubled traffic.
Duplicate Device Addresses:: Addressing conflicts on a common network segment.

Score Impact: 🟠High. These issues destabilize the network and must be corrected to ensure long-term reliability.

3. System Performance (Medium-High Impact)

This pillar evaluates responsiveness. A slow network is functional, but it negatively impacts user experience and control loop precision. Example diagnostics include:

Slow Response Time: High latency or average delays in device replies.
Router Bottlenecks: Routers sending "Busy" signals because they are overwhelmed by traffic.
Excessive Router Response Time: Sluggish performance specifically moving through BACnet routers

Score Impact: 🟡Medium-High. These diagnostics alert you to congestion before it turns into a total failure.

4. Traffic Best Practices (Medium-Low Impact)

This pillar analyzes "noise" and resource waste. These issues are often the root cause of future performance bottlenecks. Example diagnostics include:

Excessive Read/Write/COV Rates: Data is being polled or updated more frequently than necessary, bloating network traffic.
Excessive Object Discovery: Constant "Who-Is" or "Who-Has" broadcasts for objects that may not exist.
Excessive Broadcast Rate: High volumes of traffic visible to every device on the segment.

Score Impact: 🟢Medium-Low. These are optimization opportunities to "future-proof" your network.

5. Informational & Error Codes (Low Impact)

This pillar captures specific BACnet error messages generated by devices during normal operation. Example diagnostics include:

Operational Errors & Programming Errors: Specific instances where a device doesn't understand a command or encounters a software error.
Fully Unreachable Devices or Partially Unreachable Devices: Devices in your database that never responded or responded only intermittently during the capture.
TrendLog Buffer Ready Rate: Notifications indicating polling or COV rates are set too aggressively.

Score Impact: 🔵Low. These are primarily for database cleanup and localized troubleshooting.

How to Use This Score

When prioritizing repairs, we recommend addressing issues in the following order to maximize network stability:

Fix "Connectivity" and "Critical Configuration" issues first. (e.g., Fix wiring causing CRC errors, remove Circular Networks).
Address "System Performance" bottlenecks. (e.g., Investigate slow routers or overloaded links).
Optimize "Traffic Efficiency." (e.g., Tune COV thresholds or reduce polling rates) to future-proof the network.