ISA Launches SCADA Systems Standards Committee

ISA’s Standards & Practices (S&P) Board 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 PT, US in Newport Beach, California in conjunction with the ISA Leaders Meeting (www.isa.org/flm2016).

About ISA
The International Society of Automation is a nonprofit professional association that sets the standard for those who apply engineering and technology to improve the management, safety, and cybersecurity of modern automation and control systems used across industry and critical infrastructure. Founded in 1945, ISA develops widely used global standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; hosts conferences and exhibits; and provides networking and career development programs for its 40,000 members and 400,000 customers around the world. For more information, visit www.isa.org.

ISA owns Automation.com, a leading online publisher of automation-related content, and is the founding sponsor of The Automation Federation (www.automationfederation.org), an association of non-profit organizations serving as “The Voice of Automation.” Through a wholly owned subsidiary, ISA bridges the gap between standards and their implementation with the ISA Security Compliance Institute (www.isasecure.org) and the ISA Wireless Compliance Institute (www.isa100wci.org).