# Set up an HMI tag database

An HMI tag database consists of records called tags. (A tag is similar to a symbol in PLC programming terminology.) In the HMI tag database you define the data you want the application to monitor. There is one tag database per HMI server.

## To set up a tag database

- Develop a system of conventions for naming tags.
- Develop a hierarchy of folders to organize tags into groups.

  For example, a folder that represents a particular area of a plant can contain folders that represent the machines in that area. Each machine folder would contain a group of tags representing the devices being monitored.

- In the Tags editor, create the folders and tags that make up the database. To create an HMI tag you specify its name, the type of data it will contain, and its data source. The exact information that is required depends on the tag’s type and data source.
- In the Tags editor, set up the alarms for individual tags. You can do this when you add a tag, or you can edit the tag later to add this information.

## See also

Communicate with programmable logic controllers

Create HMI tags

About data sources

About HMI tag types

HMI tag database

The folder hierarchy