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Visual Conventions#

General Conventions#

The following conventions are applied throughout the document:

Info

Helpful hints to assist in particular situations.

Note

A note with important information.

Warning

A warning or a word of caution.

Tip

A best practice or a recommendation.

These call-outs carry important information that can be very useful. However, in some situations, other smaller icons are visible and should be regarded as a visual identifier that a larger information call-out of the same type can be found below. These icons include:

Convention Callout
ℹ Info
⚠ Warning
Note
Tip

Table: Snippet visual conventions

Other visual indicators are used in the documentation to indicate information on specific actions or operations found in the MES GUI:

Convention Description
🔒 Described functionality is associated with the stated security feature
Icon that symbolizes an edit action
Icon that symbolizes an add action
Icon that symbolizes a remove action
Icon that symbolizes a move up action
Icon that symbolizes a move down action
Icon that symbolizes the use of a camera or scanner
Icon that symbolizes the use of a keypad
Icon that symbolizes a browser modal window view action
Icon that symbolizes a download action
Icon that symbolizes a copy action
Icon symbolizing PDF availability

Table: Visual conventions

Flow Structure View#

In the Flow Structure View, icons will indicate the characteristics of a particular Flow Item. Below is a table listing these icons along with their meanings:

Icon Description
Indicates a Sequential Flow
Indicates a Non-Sequential Block
Indicates an Alternate Flow
Indicates a Line Flow
Indicates a Rework Path
Indicates an Optional Flow Item
Indicates a Pass-through Step
Indicates the presence of a Condition
Indicates the presence of a Rule

Table: Visual Conventions for the Flow Structure View

Context Structure View#

The Context Structure View displays information on the contexts that are associated with a given Flow Item. The available contexts for each Step are represented by icons located next to the Step name. Below is a table listing these icons along with their meanings:

Icon Context
Service
Resource
Recipe
Parameter
Data Collection
Chart
Checklist
BOM
Durable
Document
Flow
Yield and Cycle Time
Future Action

Table: Visual Conventions for Step Contexts

Context Matrix View#

The Context Matrix View shows the entire set of entities that are contextually associated with each Flow Item. Each entity is represented by an icon, and their meanings are provided in the table below:

Icon Description
Service
Resource
Recipe
Parameter
Data Collection
Chart
Checklist
BOM
Durable
Document
Sampling Pattern
Inspection Plan:
Time Constraints
Flow
Certification Requirements
Yield and Cycle Time

Table: Visual Conventions for Entities on the Context Matrix View

Checklist Items#

Critical Manufacturing MES uses icons to quickly convey specific information about Checklist items, helping you to understand the type and significance of each item at a glance. The table below lists the possible icons and their corresponding meanings.

Icon Description
Indicates a Manual Task
Indicates a Manual Action
Indicates an Automatic Action
Represents a Sequential Checklist Item
Represents a Floating Checklist Item
Indicates a Required Checklist Item
Indicates the need for a Signature
Indicates the presence of a Parameter
Indicates the presence of a Documentation Link

Table: Visual Conventions for Checklist Items

Diagram Color Convention#

Diagrams are used to summarize relationships, dependencies, and lifecycle flows that are easier to understand visually than through text alone. To make these diagrams easier to understand, colors are also used to distinguish the role of each element, such as the primary entity, related entities, contextual configuration, optional objects, and lifecycle states.

The diagram below illustrates the standard role-based palette used for entity relationship diagrams:

flowchart LR
  E["Primary entity"]:::entity
  B["Business Data"]:::business
  L["Linked entity"]:::linked
  N["Non-Business Data"]:::nonbusiness
  C["Context / configuration"]:::context
  O["Optional object"]:::optional

  E --- B
  E --- L
  B --- N
  C --- E
  O --- E

  classDef entity fill:#FB9F53,stroke:#FB9F53,color:#000
  classDef business fill:#65CDE8,stroke:#65CDE8,color:#000
  classDef linked fill:#FCD5B5,stroke:#FCD5B5,color:#000
  classDef nonbusiness fill:#B7DEE8,stroke:#B7DEE8,color:#000
  classDef context fill:#B9CDE5,stroke:#B9CDE5,color:#000
  classDef optional fill:#B7DEE8,stroke:#65CDE8,color:#000,stroke-width:1px,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
Label Description
Primary entity The main entity of the diagram. All other elements relate directly or indirectly to this entity.
Business Data A MES Business Data entity that has a direct relationship with the primary entity.
Linked entity An associated entity that connects to the primary entity or to a related Business Data entity.
Non-Business Data A supporting entity associated with the primary entity that is not classified as Business Data.
Context/configuration A configuration or setup object that provides context for the primary entity, but is not directly part of it.
Optional object An optional object for a given entity instance.

Table: Entity diagram labels and descriptions

Other diagram types use a different color convention. Instead of distinguishing entity roles, these diagrams use color to represent states within a State Model or lifecycle:

  • Active or in‑progress states use the initial state color.
  • Terminal or final states use the final state color.

The diagram below illustrates a simple lifecycle workflow, using the standard color convention to distinguish active states from terminal states:

graph TD
    A1[Created] -->|Enqueue| A2[Queued]

    A2 -->|Complete| A3[Completed]
    A2 -->|Cancel| A4[Canceled]

    classDef mermaid_initial_state fill:#d7e4bd,stroke:#92d050,stroke-width:3px,color:#000;
    classDef mermaid_final_state fill:#a7e2f2,stroke:#65CDE8,stroke-width:3px,color:#000;

    class A1,A2 mermaid_initial_state;
    class A3,A4 mermaid_final_state;

Note

Some diagrams may vary slightly depending on their purpose or usage, so the colors should be treated as a visual guide.

Functionality Name#

For every described functionality, the specific security feature associated to it is listed below the name. Example:

🔒 FeatureGroup.Feature

Deprecated Features#

When a feature page is set to be deprecated and removed in a future version, it will display the following indication below the title:

This feature is marked as deprecated and will be removed in a future version.