Caption: By being involved at every step of the process, SCADA professionals continue to make the world a better place with automation when it comes to critical infrastructure.

In February 2026, Part 1 of the ISA-112 SCADA systems management standard was published by the International Society of Automation (ISA). As the first part of a standard that will eventually be three parts, ANSI/ISA-112.00.01-2025, SCADA Systems – Part 1: SCADA Lifecycle, Diagrams and Terminology provides a vendor-neutral, practical framework for managing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems throughout their lifecycle.

Frequently used across multiple industries and for large portions of critical infrastructure, SCADA systems play an integral role in controlling and monitoring these essential systems. Historically, due to their size, geographic distribution, overall complexity and high-uptime requirements, the task of managing a SCADA system has been challenging and often frustrating for both system owners and designers/constructors due to a lack of a standardized workflow and common terminology. The publication of ISA-112 – Part 1 breaks this cycle by providing a standardized lifecycle, framework and work processes for all stakeholders of SCADA systems to use.

Introducing ISA-112

The ISA-112 Part 1 standard is built around two key concepts. The first is a standardized lifecycle, also known as standardized workflows, for managing SCADA systems during their entire lifespan from initial planning, design/construction, upgrades/expansions of the years, operations/maintenance and technology upgrades over time.

The lifecycle itself is broken into numerous elements called work processes. These work processes are then organized into seven groupings, which are organized into the table above.

Governance, Planning and Resourcing for SCADA Systems

The ISA-112 Part 1 standard lays out specific requirements when it comes to governance, long-term planning and resourcing for SCADA systems. Strong documented governance processes are essential.

To support the SCADA systems, the ISA-112 standard requires SCADA system owners to develop a SCADA governance policy document that clearly defines key governance characteristics of the system. The governance policy provides a framework for how the SCADA system will be developed, built and maintained over time, and it includes a work process for how decisions regarding the SCADA system will be made. It requires executive endorsement and support in the organization, so the role of SCADA is clearly established in the organization.

Well-managed SCADA systems will also have a long-term operational and capital plan. Effective long-term planning includes looking at both system components and engineering investments from a lifecycle approach, recognizing that all parts of the system will need ongoing investments and upgrades to continue to meet business needs and be sustainable in the long term.

Individual Asset-Owner Collections of their SCADA System Standards

One of the major strengths of the ISA-112 Part 1 standard is that it provides a standardized list of what SCADA system standards a SCADA system owner needs to develop and how to organize them. This standardized grouping makes it easier for system owners to specify how they want their SCADA system designed, built and managed, while also providing the asset-owner/end-user specific SCADA standards in a standardized format that can be easily used by consultants, vendor, system integrators and other service providers.

Importantly, ISA-112 does not specify the level of detail an asset owner/end user must use for each of their individual SCADA standards. A small SCADA system may only need a paragraph or two of guidance for each of the individual ISA-112-mandated asset-owner/end-user SCADA system standards. Whereas a large complex SCADA system, such as a municipal water/wastewater system for a large metropolitan area or a large natural gas transmission/distribution network, may need highly detailed specifications, templates and sample drawings/documents for each SCADA system.

Whether the individual SCADA standards for an asset-owner are very brief or very detailed (in accordance with the asset owner’s wishes), the ISA-112 SCADA system standard provides commonality; they will all be organized in the same way.

Table 1 – ISA-112 SCADA management lifecycle work process groupings. NOTE: The activity group numbers correspond to their identifiers on the ISA-112 SCADA lifecycle diagram.

SCADA Projects

In addition to providing continuous work processes, the ISA-112 lifecycle also establishes a comprehensive framework for planning and executing SCADA projects, including the SCADA aspects of larger capital programs/projects.

Using ISA-112, SCADA projects begin with scoping the project, developing a project charter, a project terms of reference and defining what the desired outcomes will be. This is then followed by gathering background information, verifying any conditions on site and then preparing a preliminary design brief.

Once the preliminary design has been reviewed and feedback gathered, the next step is to proceed to detailed design. The decision of how many detailed design stages will be used, and if any supporting technical memos are to be developed, will have been defined in the design team’s Terms of Reference (ToR) at the start of the project.

At the end of each detailed design stage, an increasingly detailed package of drawings and specifications will be provided to the utility for review. As the design stages progress, the number of project drawings and length of the specifications will increase as well.

The Role of the SCADA Team During Detailed Design

From a SCADA perspective, the main goal during detailed design is to ensure that all the various aspects of the design have been properly coordinated with each other, and that the utility’s SCADA design standards are being followed, so the automatic control system will be to work effectively.

Both the utility’s and the design team’s SCADA staff needs to carefully review all the drawings and specs together, not just the SCADA-specific sections, so they can check the overall coordination of the design. In short, this is to ensure the new automated control system – the SCADA system – will be able to effectively monitor, control and log the processes in the newly built facility.

Construction Pricing and Tendering

Once the design phase of a project is completed, the next step to construct the facility. The main deliverable from the design phase are the construction-ready (or tender-ready) set of drawings and specifications. These will be used to price and construct the facility.

Construction Phase and Shop Drawings

Once the construction project has been awarded, a construction kick-off meeting will be held, followed by regular construction meetings between the utility, the design team, and the construction team.
At the construction meetings, the construction schedule will be reviewed and details relating to the construction will be coordinated as needed. On most projects, the construction team will be responsible for maintaining the construction scheduled and advising if any upcoming deviations are expected.

As part of the construction process, the contractor will then start to issue shop drawings. Shop drawings consist of product-specific specification sheets and other submissions for the various products the contractor proposes to install along with information about how they propose to install them.

It’s very important that the shop drawings are reviewed by all the various design disciplines that are impacted by them, and this includes the SCADA team. Most SCADA professionals will want to review the shop drawings to ensure the automation aspects of the project are properly coordinated. Ensuring this coordination is done well is essential.

SCADA Aspects of Construction

While the physical construction takes place, a system integration team will usually work on the off-site SCADA aspects of the project. Depending on how the project is structured, these aspects may be handled by one team or may be split up between several specialty teams that coordinate with each other.

As the work progresses, a series of factory acceptance tests (FATs) will be held for the various pieces of automation/SCADA equipment and software.

For complex systems, Factory Integration Tests (FITs) may also be undertaken. As with any fabrication or development phase, it is always best to resolve problems as early as possible in order to avoid costly rework later on.

Commissioning

Commissioning is the step where all the various pieces of installed equipment, software and support systems on site must work together as a system for the first time. Commissioning is also a busy time with many teams of people coming to site to start-up and test all the various pieces of equipment and support systems. Best practice is for a detailed commissioning plan to be developed and followed for the entire commissioning process.

Commissioning usually starts by individually checking each piece of equipment on its own before attempting to run multiple pieces of equipment together. Only after individual checks are complete can subsystems and then the entire system be tested together.

From a SCADA perspective, commissioning will usually involve power-on checks, equipment functionality checks, I/O wiring checks, loop checks, informal pre-testing, site acceptance tests and site integration tests. Particular attention needs to be paid to the ability of the control system to control the process smoothly, while also ensuring the required permissives/interlocks are enforced and equipment startups/shutdowns are handled smoothly.

Commissioning is also usually the time where the contractor and various equipment vendors will provide training on how all the various pieces of equipment in the plant are to be used, maintained and troubleshooted during the length of the facility.

Performance Test

After all the commissioning tests are complete, the facility will enter a performance test period during which it is expected to run with few, if any, adjustments. For many projects, the utility may make a significant portion of the payments for the for the design firm and construction firm be dependent on the successful completion of various performance tests.

Project Close-Out

The design and construction teams must now both document what has been built in a series of submittals called operations and maintenance manuals (O&M manuals) and as-built documentation.

A typical contractor-provided O&M manual will include the specifications and manuals for every component installed in the plant, along with copies of the associated approved shop drawings, and copies of the various associated configuration settings and commissioning reports. The system integrator will then provide an O&M and as-built package that consists of back-ups of any automation code and documentation on how the various SCADA systems work. Finally, as part of the ToR, the design team will provide an O&M submission to document how the plant is intended to operate from an operations point of view, plus a full set of as-built drawings to reflect how the plant was actually built.

Summary

Building critical infrastructure is a complex process with many moving parts. It is a team effort that requires personnel who have a wide variety of skillsets working together during all the various project phases for the result to be a successfully operating facility.
Because of the prevalence of automation, SCADA professionals are an essential part of this team effort. By being involved at every step of the process, SCADA professionals continue to make the world a better place with automation when it comes to critical infrastructure.

Further Reading

• ISA-112 SCADA systems – Part 1: SCADA Lifecycle, Diagrams and Terminology:
  • https://www.isa.org/products/ansi-isa-112-00-01-2025-scada-systems-part-1
• ISA112 SCADA Systems standards committee: SCADA systems management lifecycle, standards and technical reports for SCADA systems:
  • https//www.isa.org/isa112/

Graham Nasby, P.Eng, PMP, CAP, CISSP, PBX Engineering