The Standards & Practices (S&P) Board of the International Society of Automation (ISA; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; www.isa.org) has approved a new committee to be designated ISA112, SCADA Systems. This approval follows widespread support for the idea from a survey conducted via ISA’s InTech magazine and online media.
ISA112 will develop standards and technical reports intended to improve the overall reliability of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system design, installation, integration and operation of the infrastructure for pipelines, water and wastewater, power, oil and gas, and other industries. The standards and technical reports will provide guidance for implementing effective and reliable SCADA systems by documenting best practices in a range of industries.
S&P Board member Greg Lehmann will serve as ISA112 managing director, overseeing the startup of the new committee by drawing on his experience as founding co-chair of ISA101, Human-Machine Interface. Lehmann is process automation technical manager, Engineering and O&M, Oil & Gas, at AECOM.
“Documenting best practices in a range of industries will likely end up being the lion’s share of the work in ISA112,” points out Lehmann. “However, the first order will be to focus on the basics and the multi-industry and inter-industry aspects of SCADA systems — that is, definitions, terminology, normative/informative references and common hardware.”
S&P Board Member Ian Verhappen, senior project manager of Automation at CIMA, led the survey and analysis for the S&P Board. “With the increased connectivity of the wide range of devices used to monitor and control our environment, SCADA systems are becoming a more important part of today’s control infrastructure,” Verhappen notes. “For this reason, ISA has identified a requirement for a series of standards to capture best practices on how to build a system from the many individual parts.”
An initial meeting of ISA112 will be led by Lehmann on 27 September 2016, from 8 a.m. to noon (Pacific time), in Newport Beach, Calif. in conjunction with the ISA Leaders Meeting (www.isa.org/flm2016).
For information on serving as an active member of ISA112, contact Linda Wolffe, ISA Standards, at [email protected].