Getting Started with Procedures

This tutorial walks you through creating a complete procedure hierarchy for a simple example: pasteurized juice production. By the end, you will have built all four ISA-88 levels.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Access to the Admin > Procedures section in OpSee
• (Optional) Equipment classes configured, if you want to link unit procedures to specific equipment types
• (Optional) Equipment capabilities configured, if you want to link phases to required capabilities
• (Optional) Units of measure configured, if you want to assign units to phase parameters

Step 1 — Create Phases

Phases are the smallest building blocks. Start by creating the individual actions your process needs.

1. Navigate to Admin > Procedures > Phases
2. Click the Add Phase button
3. Fill in the form:

Field	Example value	Description
Name	Set Temperature	Display name for the phase
Code	HEAT	Unique short code (used for identification)
Description	Heat the tank to target temperature	Optional longer description
Duration (seconds)	300	Estimated duration (optional)
Required Capability	Heating	Equipment capability needed (optional)
Active	Checked	Whether the phase is available for use

4. Click Create

Repeat this to create a few more phases for our example:

Name	Code	Duration
Set Temperature	HEAT	300s
Agitate	MIX	600s
Hold	HOLD	120s
Dose Ingredient	DOSE	60s
Drain	DRAIN	180s

Add Parameters to a Phase

Phases become powerful when you add configurable parameters. For example, the "Set Temperature" phase needs a target temperature value.

1. In the phases list, click the settings icon (gear) on the "Set Temperature" row
2. The Parameters dialog opens. Click Add Parameter
3. Fill in the parameter form:

Field	Example value	Description
Name	Target Temperature	Display name
Code	target_temp	Unique code within this phase
Data Type	numeric	One of: numeric, text, boolean, enum
Unit	degC	Unit of measure (from UOM configuration)
Default Value	85	Default when no recipe override is provided
Min Value	20	Minimum allowed value
Max Value	150	Maximum allowed value
Required	Checked	Whether a value must be provided

4. Click Create

:::tip Add parameters to each phase Add an "Agitation Speed" parameter (code: agit_speed, unit: RPM) to the Agitate phase, and a "Hold Duration" parameter (code: hold_time, unit: seconds) to the Hold phase. These parameters will later be overridden by recipes for specific products. :::

Step 2 — Create Operations

Operations group phases into meaningful steps. An operation defines an ordered sequence of phases.

1. Navigate to Admin > Procedures > Operations
2. Click Add Operation
3. Fill in the form:

Field	Example value
Name	Heat and Mix
Code	HEAT_MIX
Description	Heat the tank and agitate until homogeneous

4. Click Create

Link Phases to the Operation

1. Click the list icon on the "Heat and Mix" row to open the Manage Phases dialog
2. Select "Set Temperature" from the dropdown and click Add
3. Select "Agitate" and click Add
4. Select "Hold" and click Add

The phases appear in sequence order. Use the arrow buttons to reorder them if needed. You can also toggle phases as optional using the switch.

Create a second operation for our example:

Name	Code	Phases
Heat and Mix	HEAT_MIX	Set Temperature > Agitate > Hold
Prepare Ingredients	PREP_INGR	Dose Ingredient > Agitate

Step 3 — Create Unit Procedures

Unit procedures group operations that run on a single equipment unit. They can optionally be linked to an equipment class.

1. Navigate to Admin > Procedures > Unit Procedures
2. Click Add Unit Procedure
3. Fill in the form:

Field	Example value
Name	Mixing Process
Code	MIX_PROC
Description	Complete mixing process on the mixing tank
Equipment Class	Mixing Tank (optional)

4. Click Create

Link Operations to the Unit Procedure

1. Click the list icon on the "Mixing Process" row
2. Add "Prepare Ingredients" first, then "Heat and Mix"
3. Reorder with arrow buttons if needed

Create the unit procedures for our full example:

Name	Code	Equipment Class	Operations
Mixing Process	MIX_PROC	Mixing Tank	Prepare Ingredients > Heat and Mix
Filling Process	FILL_PROC	Filler	(add filling operations)

Step 4 — Create the Batch Procedure

The batch procedure ties everything together as the top-level process.

1. Navigate to Admin > Procedures > Batch Procedures
2. Click Add Batch Procedure
3. Fill in the form:

Field	Example value
Name	Juice Production
Code	JUICE_PROD
Description	Complete juice production process from mixing to filling

4. Click Create

Link Unit Procedures

1. Click the list icon on the "Juice Production" row
2. Add "Mixing Process" first, then "Filling Process"
3. Use the parallel execution toggle if unit procedures can run simultaneously on different equipment

:::info Parallel execution The "Can Run Parallel" toggle on each unit procedure link indicates whether it can execute at the same time as other unit procedures in the batch. This is useful when different equipment units can operate independently (e.g., mixing and pasteurizing on separate tanks). :::

The Complete Hierarchy

Here is what we built:

Next steps

• Add parameters to all your phases so recipes can override specific setpoints
• Create recipes that reference this batch procedure and provide product-specific values — see Recipes
• Link to equipment by setting equipment classes on unit procedures and capabilities on phases — see Equipment
• Read the detailed reference pages for each level: Phases, Operations, Unit Procedures, Batch Procedures

Related

• Batch Model (ISA-88)
• Recipes — complementary module