Creating Assets

There are two ways to add assets to a site: create them manually one at a time, or instantiate them in bulk from an asset template.

Manual creation

To create an asset manually, open the site's Asset Hierarchy tab and either:

Click Add Child Asset from the actions menu of an existing asset (the new asset will be a child of that asset), or
Click the create button when the tree is empty (the new asset will be a root-level asset within the site)

Form fields

Field	Required	Description
Name	Yes	Human-readable name, up to 255 characters. Must be unique among siblings. Example: "Pump 001"
Category	Yes	The asset's classification. Select from a searchable dropdown. See asset categories.
Alias	Yes	URL-friendly identifier, auto-generated from the name. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only. Up to 100 characters. Must be unique among siblings.
Status	No	Operational status. Defaults to Active. Options: Active, Inactive, Under Maintenance, Decommissioned.

The alias is generated automatically as you type the name — for example, "Pump 001" becomes pump-001. You can manually edit the alias. A green checkmark confirms the alias is valid and available; a red indicator means it is already taken or invalid.

Category selection

The category dropdown shows all available categories. Each option shows:

Category name
Alias (in monospace)
Source badge (platform or tenant)
Description (if available)

You can search by name, alias, or description to quickly find the right category.

Template-based creation

For sites with many similar assets — such as a facility with dozens of identical pumps or machines — use template instantiation instead. This creates an entire asset hierarchy (with sub-assets and variables) from a template in a single operation.

Single instantiation

Instantiate one asset from a template, optionally including all its child templates as sub-assets. You provide:

Target parent asset (where in the hierarchy to place it)
Asset name and alias
Which optional child templates to include

Hierarchy instantiation

Instantiate multiple copies of a template and its full subtree. Useful for creating many identical pieces of equipment at once. You can customize the name and alias for each instance.

See Instantiating Assets for the full walkthrough.

What happens after creation

Once an asset is created, it appears in the tree hierarchy. You can then:

Add custom attributes for metadata
Define variables for measurement data points
Attach connectors for data acquisition
Create bindings to link variables to data source addresses
Set up associations with other assets