Symbols are added to drawings by dragging and dropping shapes from the stencil to the drawing area. As soon as a shape that corresponds to a DB element is dropped, it will if possible be defined (refer to section Define / Undefine), which means that a corresponding database element will be created in the current database session. Some shapes will need a context to be defined. For example, if a valve shape is dropped by itself, it will not be defined until it is connected to a defined member of a pipeline branch, for instance a SCTUB shape.

When a shape is defined, the corresponding database element can also be seen appearing in the DB explorer. When using the Consistency Check function (refer to section Consistency Check), a warning will be issued for undefined shapes.

The attributes of a shape are available through the Shape Data window. As soon as an attribute is changed by the user, it will be updated into the database session. The data will then be written to the database and be available to other users after issuing a Save Work command.