ISA publishes new SCADA systems standard

The International Society of Automation reported Feb. 26 that it’s published “ANSI/ISA-112.00.01-2025, SCADA systems—Part 1: SCADA lifecycle, diagrams and terminology.” The standard is available for sale, and is accessible to ISA members as a benefit.

ISA-112 Part 1 provides a vendor-neutral, technology-independent framework for managing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems long term, and executing SCADA modernization projects using an overview of SCADA lifecycles, as well as diagrams and terminology. The standard applies to a variety of industries, including municipal water/wastewater, oil/gas, pipelines, dam/irrigation, electricity transmission/distribution, railways, highways, bridges/tunnels, airports, civil infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, defense and remote monitoring. 

ISA-112 Part 1 is intended for companies, utilities, system integrators and others, whether they’re designing a new SCADA system or upgrading existing legacy systems to meet modern security and connectivity requirements. As an ANSI-approved American National Standard, ISA-112 Part 1 includes a functional architecture model and lifecycle framework applicable to every type of SCADA project, regardless of industry, geographic location, technology, regulatory environment or operating history.

Particular areas of focus include organizing end-user SCADA standards, work processes for management and operation, and a set of standardized workflows for designing, building, operating, maintaining, expanding and auditing SCADA systems. The standard’s development committee plans to release further parts of ISA-112 addressing SCADA lifecycle review processes and SCADA architectures in the future.

This committee was initiated by experts from the oil/gas, pipeline and municipal water/wastewater sectors, who saw a need for an industry-wide standardized framework for managing, designing, building and pricing SCADA systems. Since its inception, the committee has grown to more than 350 volunteer experts worldwide, who represent many industries, and have the common goal of making SCADA systems easier to design, build, operate and maintain.