Building and tracking of an automation engineering environment

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.

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.