Abstract: A method of preparing recipes for operating a metrology tool, wherein each recipe comprises a set of instructions for measuring at least one dimension in a microelectronic feature. A database includes a plurality of known instructions with best known methods for measuring different dimensions in a microelectronic feature by creating a summary of a recipes used by the metrology tool, and adding to the summary categorization attributes to identify the recipe summary for retrieval from the database. There is provided a desired recipe having instructions for measuring one or more desired dimensions, the desired recipe or portion thereof including a summary of parameters relating to metrology tool function with respect to the microelectronic feature dimension to be measured.