# Design considerations

**URL:** <https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** experience\
**Created:** [November 26, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411 "2019-11-26T13:32:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lars\_Andersson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@Lars\_Andersson](https://forums.losant.com/u/Lars_Andersson)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411/1 "2019-11-26T13:32:31Z")

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I have 8 machines (A,B e.t.c)) that I will equip with 2 data collection devices each (A1, A2).  
Some of the data collected comes in as a mA value, but some are scaled.  
Would this be a good reason to use a “system” relationship setup?  
That way each of the A1,A2 devices data would be scaled through a workflow and posted to the A device.

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**Author:** ![Lars\_Andersson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@Lars\_Andersson](https://forums.losant.com/u/Lars_Andersson)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411/3 "2019-11-26T13:43:48Z")

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These 8 machines are spread out on 4 different geographic locations(2 each), so the other path I was thinking was to make each Location a system, if that makes sense.  
Can I child device report to 2 different parents, but different data? I’m guessing not.

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**Author:** ![JuliaKempf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.losant.com/juliakempf/32/2446_2.png) [@JuliaKempf](https://forums.losant.com/u/JuliaKempf)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411/4 "2019-11-26T15:11:55Z")

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Hi @Lars_Andersson,

Currently, a device can only report to only one parent, but Systems can have many child devices. However, I do believe a System would be ideal in your use case, as you can form a virtual representation of your physical environment. When you say “some are scaled,” are you referring to device attributes or raw data?

Thanks!  
Julia

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**Author:** ![Lars\_Andersson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@Lars\_Andersson](https://forums.losant.com/u/Lars_Andersson)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411/5 "2019-11-26T15:19:18Z")

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device attributes.When a 4-20mA value get scaled to, let’s say a pressure range of 0-500 psi  
what would raw data be? bitvalues?

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**Author:** ![Lars\_Andersson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@Lars\_Andersson](https://forums.losant.com/u/Lars_Andersson)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://forums.losant.com/t/design-considerations/2411/6 "2019-11-26T15:53:21Z")

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As far as system goes, I don’t see the need of aggregating data from the child devices, so would it be wrong to use the geographical location as a system where each have 2 machine children, and each of those machines has 2 device children with attributes