Group Templates for Entire Field Device Configuration

If you want to use a Group Template to represent a Field Device's entire configuration, you have two options:

• You can use a template bulk configuration file (if supported by your Field Device)
• You can pre-configure a Group Template to contain the 'common' configuration that is to be shared. Then you create Group Instances to represent each Field Device, each containing an Outstation item. Your Field Devices' 'regular' bulk configuration files can then be imported or uploaded into the Outstation items.

The simplest way of using a Group Template to represent the entire configuration of a Field Device is to use a template bulk configuration file. However, you will need to use the pre-configuration approach if your Field Device does not support template bulk configuration or if you want to upload configuration.

To use a Group Template to represent a Field Device's configuration:

1. Log on to ViewX via a user account that has the Configure permission.
2. Create a Group Template in your ClearSCADA database (Select Create New and then select Group and then select Group Template. For more details, see Configure a Group Template in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).
3. In the Group Template, create and configure a WITS Outstation item, WITS database points, and any Time Profiles. For more details on configuring these items, please refer to the topics listed under Further Information (at the end of this procedure).

4. If your Field Devices have any application programs that can be shared, create appropriate WITS Application Programs in the Group Template (see Configuring a WITS Application Program). You will need to import the appropriate program file into each Application Program item (see Import Program).

5. Configure appropriate Property Overrides for the items in the Group Template (see Property Overrides in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).

   NOTE: You need to configure a Property Override for the Outstation item's DocumentContent property. This property represents the bulk configuration file and each Outstation item (in the Group Instances) has to have its own bulk configuration .

To configure each Field Device, you can follow the procedures for any of the WITS Configuration Strategies. The only difference is that instead of creating a WITS Outstation, you need to create a Group Instance of the Group Template (see Configure a Group Instance in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).