Technical data

Programming with STEP 7
Manual, 05/2010, A5E02789666-01 23
1 Introducing the Product and Installing the Software
1.1 Overview of STEP 7
What is STEP 7?
STEP 7 is the standard software package used for configuring and programming SIMATIC
programmable logic controllers. It is part of the SIMATIC industry software. There are the following
versions of the STEP 7 Standard package:
• STEP 7 Micro/DOS and STEP 7 Micro/Win for simpler stand-alone applications on the
SIMATIC S7-200.
• STEP 7 for applications on SIMATIC S7-300/S7-400, SIMATIC M7-300/M7-400, and
SIMATIC C7 with a wider range of functions:
- Can be extended as an option by the software products in the SIMATIC Industry Software
(see also Extended Uses of the STEP 7 Standard Package)
- Opportunity of assigning parameters to function modules and communications processors
- Forcing and multicomputing mode
- Global data communication
- Event-driven data transfer using communication function blocks
- Configuring connections
STEP 7 is the subject of this documentation, STEP 7 Micro is described in the "STEP 7
Micro/DOS" documentation.
Basic Tasks
When you create an automation solution with STEP 7, there are a series of basic tasks. The
following figure shows the tasks that need to be performed for most projects and assigns them to a
basic procedure. It refers you to the relevant chapter thus giving you the opportunity of moving
through the manual to find task-related information.