SCADA system documentation guidance

One of the great failures of many industrial and communication systems is the lack of good documentation. Poor documentation makes maintenance of installed systems very difficult. Therefore, the quality of documentation required should be clearly described in the tender document.

There should be (at least) two maintenance handbooks provided for each type of equipment. Major items should also have an operating manual provided. An overall system handbook should also be provided. This should contain an extensive description of the system, including design, operating and performance data. It should contain an overall approach to operation and maintenance of the system. Included in the system manual should be all system drawings, plus the procedures and results of the commissioning tests.

System drawings are probably the most important of all system documentation. At a minimum, the following should be requested from the contractor:
• Block and level diagrams
• Input/output logic diagrams
• Termination schedules including connector details
• Equipment interconnection diagrams of all sections of the system
• Rack elevations and equipment layouts
• Equipment room layout
• Mast and antenna layouts
• AC power wiring schematics
• DC power distribution and wiring schematics
• MDF, IDF and FDP schematics
• Jumpering records