What is SCADA? (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)–Parasyn

The following brief video shares some of our experience with implementing large scale SCADA Systems. Visit https://www.parasyn.com.au/scada-serv....



A SCADA system can be a simple standalone software-based system or it can be part of a much larger enterprise solution where SCADA may be only a component of the overall wider system. SCADA is also an integral component in an organisation’s Digital Transformation journey. The SCADA System could also include RTUs, PLCs and other control devices.



Taking a systems engineering approach to sequential design, coding and testing is a starting point so that SCADA projects don’t end up a disaster. Because SCADA connects with real world devices and usually provides operators with control of those devices, you cannot take chances with the implementation. To help implement a system which is safe, standards should be applied to how the system is configured. After the system is thoroughly tested in a lab and inputs simulated where possible, the SCADA System and its components should be staged into the production environment. This provides both the “implementors” and the “owners” a higher degree of confidence that the system will work as intended. Following this process also creates a baseline meaning if something doesn’t look right in the production environment, reference can be made back to the lab test results and any changes to the environment or testing scenarios can be evaluated on its own merits.


For large enterprise SCADA systems it takes a team of people working together and coordinating their efforts. Their collaboration of efforts is made easy when a common language (standards) are understood and applied by the whole team. For best results these standards should be applied across all software applications including SCADA HMI, enterprise historian, enterprise gateways, business intelligence applications, AI applications and so forth.