Process Templates

Process Templates let you define the structure of a process once and reuse it across many processes. A template owns the shared parts — the list of steps and the transition algorithm that links them — while every process that follows the template keeps its own per-step content. This is the single source of truth for the common case where a plant runs the same procedure on several units: a CIP cycle for unit A and the same CIP cycle for unit B share one definition, yet each carries its own valve states.

🧩 What a Template Shares — and What It Doesn't

So if your CIP template defines Pre-Rinse → Caustic Wash → Final Rinse → Drain with the timing logic between them, every follower inherits exactly those four steps and that logic — but each one decides for itself which valves open during Caustic Wash on its own piece of plant.

🔄 How Following a Template Works

A process that follows a template stays in step with it automatically. When you open (activate) a follower, AseptSoft checks whether the template has changed since the follower last synchronised, and if so it brings the follower up to date on the spot:

• Steps added to the template appear in the follower (with empty per-step content, ready to fill in).

• Steps removed from the template are removed from the follower.

• Step names, order and the transition algorithm are refreshed to match the template — including any nested sub-steps inside composite steps.

• The follower's own per-step content is left untouched.

This synchronisation happens quietly as you work — there is no background task and no blocking dialog. You edit the template, open a follower, and it has already adapted.

📋 Workflow: Promote a Process to a Template

1. Build one process completely — for example a finished CIP Rinse Cycle with all its steps and transition logic.

2. Right-click the process and open its Template menu.

3. Choose Mark as template. The process moves to the end of the list and turns purple.

4. Create followers from it (see below).

📋 Workflow: Create a New Process from a Template

1. Right-click the template and open its Template menu.

2. Choose Create instance from template… and give the new process a name (for example CIP — Tank B).

3. The new process appears with the full step structure and algorithm copied in, and empty per-step content.

4. Fill in the valve and instrument states for each step on this unit's P&ID.

📋 Workflow: Attach a Template to an Existing Process

When you already have several near-identical processes and want to bring them under one template, the Apply Template dialog maps the existing steps onto the template's steps.

1. Right-click the process you want to convert into a follower and choose Apply template… from its Template menu.

2. The dialog shows two columns of steps side by side — the process's existing steps on the left, the template's steps on the right.

3. AseptSoft proposes a mapping automatically, matching first by name and then by position. Review it.

4. Use the arrow buttons in the middle to link or unlink any pairs the auto-mapping didn't get right.

5. The summary line at the bottom previews the outcome — for example "3 steps will synchronise, 1 will be deleted, 2 will be created".

6. Click Apply. The process becomes a follower and immediately synchronises to the template.

⚙️ Other Template Actions

📊 Keeping Followers in Sync

On a template row, an indicator shows when one or more followers have drifted out of date — for example after you added a step to the template. An Update all subscribers action appears only when there is genuinely something to bring up to date, so it never nags when everything is already aligned.

🔗 Related Pages

• Processes Workspace — where templates and followers are created and managed.

• Process Design - Processes and Steps — the underlying model of processes and steps.

• Algorithm Design — the transition logic a template carries.