Building and tracking of an automation engineering environment

1. A method for automatically updating a multi-hierarchal representation of a system, the method comprising:

defining, for a first component included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system, by a processor, a connection between the first component and a hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system;

storing, by a memory in communication with the processor, the defined connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system;

automatically connecting, by the processor, the first component and a second component included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system based on the stored defined connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second component is not included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system when the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system is identified.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-hierarchal representation of the system includes a first representation of the system and a second representation of the system, the first representation of the system being a representation within a first discipline and the second representation of the system being a representation within a second discipline, the first discipline being different than the second discipline, the first discipline being mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or automation engineering, and the second discipline being mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or automation engineering; and

wherein the first component is within the first representation of the system, and the second component is within the second representation of the system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a representation of the first component includes a plurality of hierarchal views, the plurality of hierarchal views including a function view, a location view, a product view, and an automation view.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein identifying the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system includes:

identifying, by the processor, a hierarchal view of the plurality of hierarchal views; and

identifying, by the processor, a number of levels to move up or down the identified hierarchal view from a first level within the identified hierarchal view to a second level within the identified hierarchal view.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

identifying, by the processor, a component included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system corresponding to the second level within the identified hierarchal view;

identifying, by the processor, a port of the identified component; and

storing, by the memory, the identified port.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the identified component is the second component.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the component is a third component, the method further comprising:

identifying another component within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system having the identified port, the other component being the second component.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

defining, by the processor, at least one property to be extracted for a type of component when the type of component is connected to the first component; and

storing, by the memory, one or more defined properties to be extracted.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least property to be extracted includes one of (i) a control voltage, (ii) a power, (iii) a supplier, (iv) a manufacturer, (v) a power rating, (vi) a power frequency and (vii) a power loss, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the type of component is one of (i) a motor, (ii) a drive, (iii) a sensor, (iv) a checking line and (v) a conveyor.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

automatically extracting, by the processor, the one or more properties from the second component after the second component is automatically connected to the first component, a type of the second component being the same as the type of component, for which the one or more properties are defined.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processor is a processor of a server, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the processor of the server, a representation describing the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system from a first workstation in communication with the server via a network, identifying, by the processor, the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position including identifying the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position based on the received representation describing the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position; and

communicating data representing the first component to a second workstation in communication with the server via the network based on an automatic connection of the first component and the second component.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the received representation describing the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position is a navigation scheme.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes and automatic update of a multi-hierarchal representation of an engineering system, the instructions comprising:

program code for defining, for a first component included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system, at least one property to be extracted from a type of component when the type of component is connected to the first component; storing, by a memory in communication with the processor, the at least one defined property to be extracted; and

program code for automatically extracting the at least one property from a second component when the second component is connected to the first component, a type of the second component being the same as the type of component, for which the at least one property is defined.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the second component is not included within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system when the at least one property to be extracted is defined.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further comprise:

program code for defining, for the first component, by the processor, a connection between the first component and a hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system;

program code for storing, by the memory, the defined connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi- hierarchal representation of the system; and

program code for automatically connecting, by the processor, the first component and the second component within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system based on the stored connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the multi-hierarchal representation of the system includes a first representation of the system and a second representation of the system, the first representation of the system being a representation within a first discipline and the second representation of the system being a representation within a second discipline, the first discipline being different than the second discipline, the first discipline being mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or automation engineering, and the second discipline being mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or automation engineering; and

wherein the first component is within the first representation of the system, and the second component is within the second representation of the system.

19. A system for automatically updating a multi-hierarchal representation of an engineering system, the system comprising:

a memory configured to store the multi-hierarchal representation of the engineering system, the stored multi-hierarchal representation of the engineering system including a representation of a first component and a representation of a second component; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured to:

define, for the first component, a connection between the first component and a hierarchical position within the multi- hierarchal representation of the engineering system, at least one property to be extracted from a predetermined type of component when a component of the predetermined type is connected to the first component, or a combination thereof;

automatically connect the first component and the second component within the multi-hierarchal representation of the engineering system after the representation of the second component is stored in the memory, based on the defined connection between the first component and the hierarchical position within the multi-hierarchal representation of the engineering system; and

automatically extract, after the first component and the second component are connected, the one or more properties from the second component when the second component is a same type of component as the predetermined type of component.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the memory is further configured to store at least one of (i) the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position, (ii) the at least one or property to be extracted and (iii) the connection between the first component and the hierarchical position and the at least one property to be extracted.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the at least one property to be extracted is defined before the representation of the second component is stored within the multi-hierarchal representation.

22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the multi-hierarchal representation of the engineering system includes a first representation of the engineering system and a second representation of the engineering system, the first representation of the engineering system being a representation within a first discipline and the second representation of the engineering system being a representation within a second discipline, the first discipline being different than the second discipline; and

wherein the first component is within the first representation of the engineering system, and the second component is within the second representation of the engineering system.