Based on the set up communication protocol described in SEMI E4 or SEMI E37, messages can be exchanged between factory hosts and the equipment. These messages, also referred to “Functions” are categorized into activity categories called “Streams”, e.g. communications, data publication, job management or recipe management. This standard precisely states the structure of the messages, the used data elements, anticipated responses, and potential exception scenarios. This allows for the host and the equipment side to be constructed with only minimal knowledge of each other. As SEMI E5 defines the very basic SECS-II messages and data items, most further SEMI standards build on it. Depending on the functions that shall be met in the specific project, the fitting SECS-II messages can be chosen and applied. It is also possible to utilize custom stream functions to meet the requirements of fabs beyond SEMI E5.