Creating System Projects

Overview

In the Project section of the Start Page, you can create system projects.

System projects and the data they contain are stored in the Control Expert repository of the system server whose IP address is indicated next to the root node.

When you create a system project, it automatically uses the hotfixes that are installed on the local computer at that time.

For each system project, you can view and/or edit its properties.

Setting a Password

When you create a system project, you can set a password for it.

NOTE: Schneider Electric recommends setting a password for your system projects and storing them securely to help protect against data tampering. The password is used as application password of control projects and to enable file encryption.

Creating a System Project

To create a new blank system project, proceed as follows.

Step	Action
1	Connect Control Expert to the system server on which you want to create the system project.
2	Open the Start Page.
3	In the Project section, right-click the Control Expert repository root node or a folder and select New System Project. Result: The New System Project dialog box opens.
4	Enter a name for the system project and enter a password. Click OK . Result: A new system project is created. The system project password is used as application password of control projects and to enable file encryption. NOTE: You can set and manage the password also from the User Preferences window once the system project is created. To create the system project without setting a password, leave the password text boxes blank.

System Project Actions

Right-click a system project to open a context menu with the following commands.

Command	Description
Delete	Deletes the system project including all of its contents after confirming the command. You cannot delete a system project if it is being used by another user.
Export	Opens the Export dialog box that lets you create an export file containing the system project data.

Command

Description

Delete

Deletes the system project including all of its contents after confirming the command.

You cannot delete a system project if it is being used by another user.

Export

Opens the Export dialog box that lets you create an export file containing the system project data.

Moving System Projects

To move a system project, drag it to its new position in the tree of the Control Expert repository, which appears in the Project section of the Start Page .

You cannot move a system project if it is open in the Topology Manager.

System Project Properties

Select the system project in the Start Page or the SYSTEM PROJECT pane to show its properties in the PROPERTIES pane.

You can view and/or edit the following attributes.

Category	Attribute	Description
General	Identifier	Editable name of the system project. The software accepts only identifiers that are unique within the System project repository of the system server.
	Description	Optional. You can enter a description of the system project by using free-form text. Default value: Blank
	Customer	Optional. You can enter a description of the customer that the system project pertains to by using free-form text. Default value: Blank
	Site	Optional. You can enter a description of the site that the system project pertains to by using free-form text. Default value: Blank
	Creation Date⁽¹⁾	Date of the system project creation.
	Created By⁽¹⁾	User name that was entered to log in to the Control Expert instance.
	Modification Date⁽¹⁾	Date of the last modification of properties of the system project.
	Modified By⁽¹⁾	User name that was entered to log in to the Control Expert instance.
	Supports Upward Compatibility⁽¹⁾	When enabled (check box selected), indicates that you can export the system project and import it in a later version of the software to continue using it. Otherwise, you can import the file only in the same version. This applies also to the topology of a system project. To enable upward compatibility, it requires that the control projects of all Modicon PAC controllers of the system project have been built and no changes have been made thereafter, which impact the build state. For M580 PACs, this is indicated by the Build State Built.
	Change Description	Optional. You can enter a description of the changes made to the system project by using free-form text. Default value: Blank
Syslog Server	For a description of the attributes, refer to the topic describing the Syslog Server category of the SERVICES tab. NOTE: The values that are set for the system project are applied to the PACs that you create from that point on but can be overridden for each PAC. The values configured for the PAC are the ones that are used for communication with the Syslog server.
(1) The attribute is read-only and managed by the software.