IEC 61850 has been developed in the late 1990's mainly by protocol experts and protection engineers - results are well done and applied all-over. Later IEC 61850-6 (SCL - Substation System Configuration Language) was in the focus. Now, 30 years later the industry has learned that the System Configuration Description goes far beyond information models and communication networks and services - AND PROTOCOLS. The crucial aspect is about a COMPLETE description of the WHOLE system ... from device independent descriptions of Functions and Function Models applying a Top-Down-Modeling-Approach. Work towards this approach is going on in several projects, e.g., IEC 61850-90-30 (IEC 61850 90-30 – IEC 61850 Function Modeling in SCL). A nice description from Jörg Reuter (Helinks) can be found HERE from the pacworld magazine. IEC 61850 based aspects is - of course - just one (crucial) aspect of a system. There are more aspects ... like Hardware, Software, Cybersecurity, Operation, ...
In addition to getting a complete system specification based on SCL to get a running IEC 61850 based system that does the job you want to have ... there is another crucial aspect: Engineers may be happy to use a complete SCD file to configure everything and then forget the SCD file ... don't forget it BUT keep it up-to-date and NEVER EVER make any change in the system without updating the SCL based System Description!
You may need the complete and updated SCD file to help you "protecting" yourself in case there is a damage or an accident ... when "a fleet of well dressed lawyers who will use the lack of that document to make you all look guilty after ..." may arrive immediately after ... as Jake Brodsky (a well known engineer) just published in an article about "Industrial Cybersecurity “Gatekeeping”" ... worth to read.
Here is one excerpt from his article: "Take the time to find out where the important documents are such as the Standard Operating Procedures, the chemical Safety Data Sheets, and especially the Control System Narrative documents are located. If you can’t find the control system narrative documents, stop. Get someone to agree to write them with you. This is effectively your contract with the engineers, technicians, and operators that indicates in plain language what is supposed to happen normally and in most upset conditions. If you’re operating without that living document you will all be fodder for a fleet of well dressed lawyers who will use the lack of that document to make you all look guilty after an accident."
What could be done to get and maintain such complete descriptions of various aspects of a system? Do we need more lawyers, politicians, engineers, ... ?
I am kidding (just a bit): "Hire a lawyer to escort you when you have an interview for a new position as a responsible engineer in a utility or ... in order to figure out (by the right questions of the lawyer) that the company applies with what Jake Brodsky recommends!"
What we really need is more engineers ... gray-hair experts that know a lot about the systems ... that could write down what the systems do and how they work ... and that could train the young people ... BUT: it isn't easy to convince the management to let the engineers learn from the experienced, gray-hair experts ... gray-hair engineers could lead the horses to the water - but they cannot make to drink it.
What do you think? Let me know!
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