1 - A plant asset management system, comprising in combination: a processing device, a display device coupled to said processing device for providing a graphical user interface to a user in response to receipt of signals from said processing device, a selection device coupled to said processing device for navigating about said graphical user interface and making selections, said graphical user interface including a hierarchical first view hierarchically displaying plant assets in a first window on said display device; means, operatively coupled to said processing device, for storing a configuration associated with each of said plant assets; means for creating a template comprised of at least one of said hierarchically displayed plant assets by saving in a memory at least one of said configurations associated with said at least one of said hierarchically displayed plant assets, and means for exporting said template to another plant asset management system such that said template can be subsequently used for configuring said another plant asset management system.