Design Checklist

Stages

Requirements and documents

• Is there a functional description, and has the owner read and approved it?
• Do the I/O list, the instrument list, the P&IDs, and the functional description agree on tags, counts, and signal types?
• Are the modes of operation, hand, off, auto, local, remote, defined consistently across the system?
• Are the operating constraints stated: minimum flows, filter rates, cycle limits, regulatory monitoring and recording?
• Are the failure requirements stated: what runs without SCADA, without a controller, without power, without communication?
• Is the standard the design follows named: the utility standard, the panel standard, the instrument and HMI standards?

Architecture

• Is the controller architecture drawn: which controller runs what, where the I/O is, what is remote?
• Is redundancy decided for each element by consequence: controllers, servers, networks, power, communication paths?
• Are the security zones drawn, with the conduits and the firewalls between them, and the DMZ?
• Are remote sites designed as zones with local control and a fallback on link loss?
• Is the SCADA platform chosen, with servers, clients, historian, and licensing sized with headroom?
• Is time synchronization designed from one source to every device?

Controllers and I/O

• Is spare I/O of each type provided, wired to terminals, at twenty percent or the utility standard?
• Are analog inputs isolated where the field device is grounded, and are signal types matched to the cards?
• Are hardwired safety and protective functions independent of the controller: overloads, emergency stops, high-high floats?
• Is the program organization standard applied: device blocks, I/O mapping, naming, comments?
• Are heartbeat, change detection, and diagnostics tags planned for every controller?
• Are retentive data, first-scan recovery, and sequence recovery on power loss designed?

Panels and power

• Does every panel carry the required listing and the short-circuit current rating, with the calculation?
• Is the enclosure type right for the location, and does the heat calculation prove it with the cooling method?
• Is the layout to scale with spacings, clearances, wireway separation by class, and room to grow?
• Is control power designed: transformer and fusing, UPS sized for the generator start, surge protection at the feed?
• Is grounding designed: the equipment ground, the ground bus, the shield bar, the DC common bond, and drive cable bonding?
• Are drives placed with clearance, shielded motor cable, and control wiring routed away from motor leads?
• Are conductor colors, wire numbering, and terminal conventions per the standard?

Instruments

• Is every instrument selected for its service, with the technology justified against the alternatives?
• Is every installation detailed: taps, straight run, mounting, impulse lines or seals, sample lines, freeze and sun protection, access?
• Are ranges, units, and scaling consistent from the instrument list to the controller to the HMI?
• Are calibration provisions included: isolation, test ports, calibration columns for feeders, sample points for analyzers?
• Are backup measurements provided where a lost signal would stop the process or violate a permit?
• Are surge protection and isolation specified for instruments on long cables and remote sites?

Networks and security

• Are the logical and physical network drawings and the schedules complete, with addressing per the plan?
• Is every conduit between zones a firewall rule with a reason, and is there a default deny?
• Is remote access designed through a jump host with multi-factor authentication and logging, with no other path?
• Are media and separation correct: fiber between buildings, cable classes separated, radio paths studied?
• Are switches managed, with VLANs, port security, management on its own VLAN, and unused ports shut down?
• Is the security baseline specified: hardening, accounts and roles, credential handling, backups and offline copies, patch and firmware process, change detection?
• Is the vendor and integrator access procedure in the specification?

SCADA and alarms

• Is the display hierarchy designed, with an overview that gives situational awareness and a style guide it follows?
• Are alarms rationalized: each with a priority, a deadband and delays, a response, and state-based suppression where it applies?
• Is notification designed: who is called for which priority, escalation, and the roster owner?
• Is the historian configured: what is collected, at what rate and compression, retention by data class, and the compliance records?
• Are reports specified: the regulatory reports, the operating reports, and the data they need?
• Are the failover, backfill, and client behavior on server failure specified and to be tested?

Deliverables, spares, training, commissioning

• Is the deliverable list complete: drawings, schedules, functional description, program files, project exports, licenses, test records, as-builts, and the formats for each?
• Are spares specified: controllers, cards, power supplies, switches, radios, instruments, at the quantities the risk assessment supports?
• Is training specified for operators, technicians, and engineers, with the functional description as the text?
• Is the commissioning plan written: loop checks, factory and site acceptance tests from the functional description, the cutover sequence, and the acceptance criteria?
• Is the change management process in place before construction starts, so that field changes become records?