Key Concepts

Key Concepts

A few words come up everywhere in this app and in the AAS world. Learn these once and the rest of the guide reads easily. You do not need to memorise them; skim now and come back when a term trips you up.

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The one that matters most: type versus instance

This is the concept people get wrong first, so start here.

• A product type is the model, the blueprint. For example "NW-4021 pump". You describe it once.
• A product instance is one physical unit you actually built, with a serial number. For example "NW-4021 pump, serial 00417".

You describe the type once, then register as many instances under it as you manufacture. Everything about the model (specifications, documents, certificates) lives on the type and is inherited by every instance. The instance only adds what is unique to that one unit, such as its serial number and build date.

If a screen ever seems to ask you to repeat the model's data on each unit, you are on the wrong screen.

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The AAS words

Term	What it means
AAS (Asset Administration Shell)	The standard digital description of a product. Think of it as the product's complete data file in a form any Industry 4.0 system can read.
AASX	A single file (a zip) that holds the AAS plus all its documents and images. This is what you hand to a customer.
Submodel	One themed section of an AAS. The nameplate is one submodel, technical data another, documents another. A product's AAS is made of several submodels.
IDTA	The industry body that publishes the submodel specifications. When a page cites something like IDTA 02006, that is the specification a submodel follows.
Metamodel	The underlying structure all AAS files share. The app produces version 3.0. You rarely need to think about it.

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The product words

Term	What it means
Manufacturer (Company)	The legal entity that makes the product. Its name, address and logo appear on every product you publish, so you set it up first.
Product type	A product model, the blueprint. Also called a Product model on some screens.
Product instance	One physical unit of a type, with a serial number.
Type AAS	An AAS describing the model, with no serial number. Marked AssetKind = Type inside the file.
Instance AAS	An AAS describing one physical unit, with its serial number. Marked AssetKind = Instance.
Order code	The code a customer uses to order a product, for example FMABC1234. In this app it is also a product's identity.

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The type-code words

The app can read a manufacturer's product codes automatically. These terms belong to that feature.

Term	What it means
Type code	A compact code for a product variant, for example NW-4021-P075-U3. It packs several choices into one string.
Rule	A description of how one family of type codes is built, so the app can decode any code in that family.
Segment	One part of a type code, for example P075 in NW-4021-P075-U3.
Lookup table	A table that turns a segment into a meaning, for example U3 into 400 V.
Parsing	Decoding a type code through a rule to create a product.

For the whole feature, see Type Code Overview.

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The document words

Term	What it means
Shared document	A document in the library that can be attached to many products. Fix it once and every product sees the change.
Owned document	A document that belongs to one product or one unit only.
Document set	A named group of documents applied together.

For the whole feature, see Documents.

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The technical-data words

Term	What it means
Template	A reusable list of specification fields, built once and assigned to a whole product family.
Value	What you type into a template's fields for one specific product.

For the whole feature, see Technical Data.

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Where to go next

• The four-step path is on the Home page.
• To understand what the app is for, read Introduction.
• To start, set up your Manufacturer Details.