A template in P2 Server is a way of defining the attributes of an entity, where an entity is a real world object (such as a pump) or a conceptual object (such as an area).
For example, an organisation may have a number of wells. Some wells produce oil while other wells produce gas. Instinctively, we can understand that oil producing wells share a number of characteristics that we want to model, whereas gas producing wells have a different set of characteristics that we care about.
The grouping of characteristics of a well is called a “template”. In the above example, we have an Oil Producing Well Template and a Gas Producing Well Template.
All entities that are assigned a template take on the attributes of that template. For example, all Oil Producing Well templates will have attributes like Tubing Head Pressure, Tubing Head Temperature, and Choke Position; whereas Water Injection Wells might have Injection Pressure, Annulus Pressure, and Water Flowrate.
Note that in common usage the meaning of template may change, depending on our frame of reference:
- When we talk about a template in reference to a particular entity, then we are normally referring to the template instance.
- When we otherwise talk about a template, then we are normally referring to the template definition.