Wonderware InTouch to Ignition migration checklist for tags and alarms

Screens are usually redesigned in a migration from Wonderware InTouch (now AVEVA InTouch HMI) to Inductive Automation's Ignition. The tag database is not: on cutover day operators expect the same values, scaling and alarms. This checklist walks through the tag and alarm work in order, with what AVEVA's and Inductive Automation's documentation says.

1. Export the tag database with DBDump

AVEVA's page Run DBDump from the command prompt describes DBDump as the tool that extracts tag information from an InTouch application's Tagname Dictionary into an export file.

Stop WindowMaker first; AVEVA says it must not be running.
The parameters are AppPath,CsvPath,GroupTypes,OverwriteCsvFile,MessageBoxes, separated by commas, for example DBDump C:\MyInTouchApps\App001,C:\TagDumps\App001.Csv,1,1,0.
GroupTypes set to 1 sorts the tags by tag type, which makes the file easier to review section by section.
For a managed InTouch application, AVEVA describes the export from the System Platform IDE instead: right-click an InTouchViewApp-derived template, point to Export and choose Selected as CSV.

Keep this file unchanged as the project's reference copy.

2. Count what you have

Tags per section, such as :IODisc, :IOReal and :MemoryInt. Each section has its own columns.
Every access name used by I/O tags, and the device each one points to.
Analog tags with scaling, and every tag with an alarm.

These counts are your baseline. The same numbers have to appear in Ignition at the end.

3. Map addresses

Each access name and item becomes an Ignition device connection and an OPC item path on the tag. Write one rule per device type instead of editing thousands of rows, and list the exceptions.

4. Map scaling

Ignition's Tag Properties page lists Scale Mode (Off, Linear, Square Root or Exponential Filter), Raw Low and Raw High, Scaled Low and Scaled High, Clamp Mode, Engineering Units and the Engineering Low and High Limits. Decide for each analog tag which legacy range becomes the raw range and which the scaled range, and whether values outside it are clamped.

5. Map alarms and priorities

Analog limits such as HiHi, Hi, Lo and LoLo become separate Ignition alarms with their own setpoints. Ignition's Configuring Alarms page lists modes such as Above Setpoint and Below Setpoint, and a tag can carry several alarms.
Ignition priorities are Diagnostic, Low, Medium, High and Critical. Agree a table that maps your legacy priorities to these five before converting anything.
Carry deadbands over, and set the alarm display path or notes the operators expect.
Ignition's CSV tag import has no support for alarm configurations. Alarms have to travel in JSON or XML, or be added in the Designer after a CSV import.

6. Folders and UDTs

Flat names such as P101_RUN, P101_FLT and P102_RUN hide repeated equipment. Ignition's UDT page describes definitions with parameters and instances that inherit from them. Decide which patterns become UDTs and which stay plain tags in folders.

7. Import into Ignition

The manual page Exporting and Importing Tags covers the steps:

Import UDT definitions before any instances, as the manual recommends.
In the Designer Tag Browser, right-click a folder and choose Import Tags > Direct (just Import Tags before 8.1.15), pick the .json, .xml or .csv file and a Collision Policy: Abort, Overwrite, Rename, Ignore or MergeOverwrite.
To review tags before they go in, use Import Tags > Interactive (8.1.15 and later).
If a large import does not appear as expected, the manual says the Designer's memory allocation may need raising in the Gateway settings.

8. Test before cutover

Compare tag counts per type with the baseline from step 2.
On a test gateway, check a sample of scaled values and alarm setpoints against the running InTouch system.
List everything not converted, such as scripts and screens, with an owner for each.

Doing steps 3 to 6 with TagBridge

TagBridge is a browser-based converter for engineers and system integrators. It reads InTouch DBDump CSV files, and GE iFIX Database Manager CSV exports too. You review every tag and warning, map each access name to an Ignition device and item path with rules for Logix, Modbus, Siemens S7 or your own template, and set the rules that map legacy priorities to Ignition priorities. HiHi, Hi, Lo and LoLo limits become AboveValue and BelowValue alarms with setpoints and deadbands. Repeated names are proposed as UDTs, and nothing becomes a UDT until you accept it.

It exports Ignition 8.1 and 8.3 tag JSON, so alarms travel with the tags, and an HTML and CSV report of every decision and every item it did not convert, such as indirect tags, rate-of-change alarms or PID blocks: the list step 8 asks for. The tag database is converted inside the browser tab and never uploaded. Screens and scripts are not converted, and its column layouts come from public documentation and sample files, so test on a gateway as above. It has no customers, installations or reviews on this site yet.

Prices in US dollars, excluding taxes, with checkout by Paddle: free for a full preview, the report and an export of up to 200 distinct tags; Project $299 one-off for one tag database of up to 5,000 distinct tags; Project Unlimited $599 one-off for one tag database with unlimited tags; Integrator $1,490 per year for any number of databases.

About TagBridge Open the converter, free

For the import formats in more detail, see How to migrate AVEVA InTouch and GE iFIX tags to Ignition.

Atesen Software is independent. AVEVA, InTouch and Wonderware are trademarks of AVEVA Group Limited or its subsidiaries; GE and iFIX are trademarks of their respective owners; Ignition is a trademark of Inductive Automation, LLC. TagBridge is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by AVEVA, GE or Inductive Automation, and their names are used only to describe which files it reads and writes. AVEVA's page and the Ignition 8.1 manual were checked on 17 October 2026; menus can change between versions.

Questions about this guide: support@atesensoftware.com.