SCADA Revamp: The Opportunity to Improve Efficiency, Safety and Legal Compliance

While pipeline components like pipes, valves, pumps and motors have a lifetime in the range of thirty to fifty years, SCADA and automation system lifecycles usually are limited to ten or fifteen years. This is because hardware spares and software updates as well as maintenance services often are no longer available due to rapid technical evolution in this area.

Of cause it is strongly recommended to finalize the necessary SCADA and automation system replacement before a SCADA system failure results into pipeline operation cutback or even shutdown because of safety and legal requirements.

At first glance a one by one SCADA and automation system replacement based on the original specifications might seem to be the quickest and least costly solution. However the opportunity to improve the business case and the entire pipeline system’s value with more flexible and efficient operation and maintenance, advanced business system integration, increased safety and security as well as enhanced legal compliance would be lost that way.

In this presentation it will be shown that to make use of these opportunities a SCADA and automation system revamp project needs systematic requirement engineering for which the existing system with its documentation, its installation locations, its architecture and its functionalities can only be considered as a starting point. Clearly the business case may improve when known system insufficiencies, operation license and current legal requirements, state of the art safety and security considerations, IT and organization strategy, aspects of energy and operation efficiency as well as technology and migration strategy are added to the list of requirements.

After careful value and risk appraisal for each requirement the functional specification and permitting strategy become clear and are the basis for a successful state of the art SCADA and automation system revamp.