Group Templates for Part of a Field Device's Configuration

You can use a Group Template to contain parts of a Field Device's configuration, rather than the entire configuration. For example, if you have multiple pumps in your system, you can create a Group Template for the points that are used to control and monitor an individual pump. You can then create Group Instances of that Group Template for each pump.

To use a Group Template to contain part of a Field Device's configuration:

1. Identify the common elements in your system, for example, common types of pump.
2. Log on to ViewX via a user account that has the Configure permission.
3. 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).
4. In the Group Template, create appropriate items for the common configuration elements. For example, you could add the points that are used to control and monitor a pump. For more details on configuring WITS items, please refer to the topics listed under Further Information (at the end of this procedure).

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

   NOTE: If your Group Template contains a WITS Outstation item, 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.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each common element of your system.

You have now completed the configuration of the Group Template(s) and can create Group Instances (see Configure a Group Instance in the ClearSCADA Guide to Core Configuration).

To complete the configuration for your Field Devices, follow the procedure in the Pre-Configure ClearSCADA - Upload or Import Later strategy. The only difference is that you will pre-configure by using a combination of 'ordinary' database items and Group Instances of Group Templates.