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If you manage or document process engineering projects, it's likely that you have standard data — such as manufacturer, model, material, and inventory number — that you associate with each component that you add to your project diagrams.

In Visio Professional process flow or piping and instrumentation diagrams, you can quickly create standard sets of data and apply these sets to the components that your diagrams includes.

You can also apply the standard data sets to shapes on stencils so that components that you include in future diagrams automatically have the data set attached.

After you create standard data sets for components in your diagrams, you can add data values for each component and extract the data into equipment lists and other reports.

This article describes how to:

• Create a standard set of data for a component
• Modify the data set
• Apply the data set to components in future diagrams
• Add data values to components in your diagrams
• Generate a component list based on the data

Create a standard set of data for a component

Each component in a Visio Professional process engineering diagram has a default data set already assigned. You can quickly create a new set from scratch that includes your own standard data or you can modify the existing data set.

Note  In Visio Professional, data sets are also referred to as custom property sets.

To create a data set from scratch

1. Open the process engineering diagram in which you want to create a new data set.
2. If the diagram doesn't already exist, on the File menu, point to New, point to Process Engineering, and then click the type of diagram you want to create.
3. On the Process Engineering menu, click Edit Custom Property Sets, and then click Add.
4. For Name, type the name of the component type (for example, pumps) for which you are creating the data set, make sure that Create a new set is selected, and then click OK.
5. In the Edit Custom Property Sets dialog box, click Define.
6. For Label, type a descriptive name for the first piece of data that you want to associate with the component.
7. In the Type list, choose the format (such as string, number, or date) in which you want the data.
8. To add a label and type for the next piece of data, click New.
9. Repeat Steps 5–7 until the data set contains all the pieces of data that you want to add to the component, and then click OK twice.

Tip  If a shape in one of your process engineering diagrams already contains all the data fields that you want to include in a new data set, you can create the new set from that shape. Select the shape that contains the data fields, and then follow Steps 2 and 3. However, in Step 3, make sure that Create a new set from the shape selected in Visio is selected before you click OK.

To apply the new data set to components in a diagram

1. Select the shapes that represent the components to which you want to apply the new data set.
2. On the Process Engineering menu, click Apply Custom Property Set.
3. In the Custom Property Set list, choose the name of the data set you just defined.
4. Make sure that Apply to shapes selected in drawing is selected, and then click OK.

Modify the data set

After you create a data set, you can modify it by adding, deleting, or renaming data fields.

To modify a data set

1. Open the process engineering diagram that contains the data set that you want to modify.
2. On the Process Engineering menu, click Edit Custom Property Sets.
3. In the Custom Property Sets list, select the set that you want to modify, and then click Define.
4. In the Define Custom Properties dialog box, do one of the following:
   • To revise a data field, under Properties, select a data field, and then, in the Label box, type a new label or, in the Type box, choose a new type.
   • To add a new data field, click New.
   • To delete a data field, under Properties, select the field, and then click Delete.
5. When you're finished modifying the data fields, click OK twice.

Tip  To delete or rename an entire data set, follow Steps 1 and 2. In the Edit Custom Property Sets dialog box, under Custom Property Sets, select the data set that you want to delete or rename, and then click either Delete or Rename.

Apply the data set to components in future diagrams

After you have a standard data set in place, you can easily apply the data set to components in any future diagrams that you create. By adding the data set to shapes on stencils, you can bring the data set into a diagram each time you drop a shape on the drawing page.

Note  If the diagram that you drop a shape into already contains a data set with the same name as your standard data set, properties from the existing data set will replace your data set's properties in the shape. To avoid having your data set properties overwritten, give the data set a unique name.

By applying a data set to the pumps on this stencil, you can avoid having to re-create the data set each time you add a pump to a new diagram.

To apply a data set to shapes on stencils

1. Open a process engineering diagram that includes the data set that you want to apply to shapes on stencils. Make sure that no shapes are selected.
2. If not all of the stencils containing shapes to which you want to apply the data set are open, on the File menu, point to Stencils, click Open Stencil, and then open the stencils you want.
3. On the Process Engineering menu, click Apply Custom Property Set.
4. Under Custom Property Set, select the set that you want to apply.
5. Select Apply to shapes in a stencil, and then click Choose Shapes.
6. In the Document list, select a stencil that contains shapes to which you want to apply the data set. Under Shapes, select each shape to which you want to apply the data set.

   Note  You can preserve the original Visio Professional stencils if you save a copy of a stencil before you modify it. To save the copy, right-click the stencil's title bar, and then choose Save As.

7. Click OK twice.

   The next time you drop a shape from one of these stencils onto the drawing page, it will contain the data fields in the new data set.

Tip  If you modify an original stencil and don't like the changes you made, delete the stencil from the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio 10\1033\Solutions\Process Engineering folder. The next time you start a process engineering diagram, the original stencil will be reinstalled (you may be prompted to insert the Microsoft Visio Professional CD).

Add data values to components in your diagrams

The purpose of creating a data set is to allow you to add specific data values to components in your diagram so you can extract the data in the form of component lists and other reports. After you apply your data set to the appropriate components in your diagram, you can quickly add data values using the Custom Properties window.

To add data values to components

1. If you haven't already done so, apply the appropriate data set to components in your process engineering diagram.
2. If the Custom Properties window isn't open, on the View menu, click Custom Properties Window.
3. Select the component to which you want to add data values.
4. If several components have identical values, select all the components.
5. Type the values you want in the data fields in the Custom Properties window.

Generate a component list based on the data

From the data values stored in data sets associated with the components in your process engineering diagrams, you can generate component list reports that allow you to track and identify all the components involved in a project.

Before you generate a component list report, you must define which components you want to report on and which data associated with the components you want the report to include.

This report, in the form of an Excel worksheet shape that you can include in your diagram, lists data values for all the equipment that this diagram includes.

To create a report definition

1. Open the process engineering diagram for which you want to create a component list report.
2. On the Tools menu, click Report.
3. In the Report dialog box, click New.
4. Choose the shapes that you want the report to include, and then click Limit Selection.
5. In the Property list, select CPMSetList. For Condition, select =, for Value, type the name of your standard data set, click Add, and then click OK.
6. Click Next. Select check boxes for the data that you want the report to include, and then click Next.
7. Type the report title the way you want it to appear at the top of the list. If you want to sort, format, or calculate subtotals for the data in the list, click the appropriate button and make your choices. Click Next.
8. Type the report title the way you want it to appear in the list of available reports, and then:
   • If the report is relevant only to the open diagram, select Save in this drawing.
   • If you might want to run the same report in other diagrams, select Save in a file.
9. Click Finish.

   The report definition that you created appears in the Report Definition list.

To generate a component list

1. If the Report dialog box isn't open, on the Tools menu, click Report.
2. In the Report Definition list, select the report definition that you just created, and then click Run.
3. Select the format that you want the component list report to appear in, and then click OK.
4. To close the Report dialog box, click OK.