HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACES 573 Modern HMI panels and software are almost exclusively tag-based, with each graphic

object on the screen associated with at least one data tag name, which in turn is associated to data points (bits, or words) in the PLC by way of a tag name database file resident in the HMI. Graphic objects on the HMI screen either accept (read) data from the PLC to present useful information to the operator, send (write) data to the PLC from operator input, or both. The task of programming an HMI unit consists of building a tag name database and then drawing screens to illustrate the process to as good a level of detail as operators will need to run it.