A data processing and transmission system, said data processing and transmission system comprising a device (S, 200) for data exchange with at least one further subscriber (A, B, C, D, E, X) to which said device (S, 200) itself representing a first subscriber is connectable via a PROFINET network, and wherein said data processing and transmission system comprises an engineering system for transmitting configuration data to said device; characterized in that - the device (S, 200) is programmed to configure at least the at least one further subscriber with regard to the data exchange via the PROFINET network according to a target state; - the target state comprises a target topology; - the device (S, 200) is adapted to generate the target topology in response to a set of configuration-relevant information for a particular variant of a modular system or machine; - the set of configuration-relevant information comprises specific information describing the at least one further subscriber as a device in detail, and wherein the specific information comprise at least one of the following information of the at least one further subscriber: i) a unique device name; ii) information about the kind of device, type of device and device manufacturer; iii) a functional description; iv) a definition of process data; and v) a unique designation for each network interface and the respective type of network interface; - the device is adapted to generate, in response to at least one item of configuration-relevant information specified by an operator, a set of configuration data required for configuring the at least one further subscriber, and to transmit at least a subset of this generated set of configuration data to the at least one further subscriber via the PROFINET network; - the set of configuration data generated and required for configuring the at least one further subscriber with regard to physical aspects comprises the target topology for the PROFINET network; - the device is adapted to perform a test of the target topology against the present actual topology. - the device (S, 200) is programmed to configure at least the at least one further subscriber with regard to the data exchange via the PROFINET network according to a target state; - the target state comprises a target topology; - the device (S, 200) is adapted to generate the target topology in response to a set of configuration-relevant information for a particular variant of a modular system or machine; - the set of configuration-relevant information comprises specific information describing the at least one further subscriber as a device in detail, and wherein the specific information comprise at least one of the following information of the at least one further subscriber: i) a unique device name; ii) information about the kind of device, type of device and device manufacturer; iii) a functional description; iv) a definition of process data; and v) a unique designation for each network interface and the respective type of network interface; i) a unique device name; ii) information about the kind of device, type of device and device manufacturer; iii) a functional description; iv) a definition of process data; and v) a unique designation for each network interface and the respective type of network interface; - the device is adapted to generate, in response to at least one item of configuration-relevant information specified by an operator, a set of configuration data required for configuring the at least one further subscriber, and to transmit at least a subset of this generated set of configuration data to the at least one further subscriber via the PROFINET network; - the set of configuration data generated and required for configuring the at least one further subscriber with regard to physical aspects comprises the target topology for the PROFINET network; - the device is adapted to perform a test of the target topology against the present actual topology.