Nick Mudge Ignition Software Consulting & Development

Automation World published an article entitled, Want to Build Your own SCADA? Here's a Guideline, which is based on my article A Software Framework for SCADA Applications.

I want to clarify what I meant to say. I was not saying or suggesting that people create their own SCADA systems from scratch or create their own SCADA framework.

I was not providing a list of features that people should implement to build their own SCADA system. On the contrary, I was providing a list of features that people should not create when building a SCADA system — because these things should already exist for them.

I was saying that people should use a framework with this list of features to build the SCADA applications that they need. The list of features is useful for evaluating different SCADA software frameworks.

The real message is this: Don't create a SCADA system from scratch. Don't buy a canned SCADA solution that is too inflexible. Use an existing SCADA software framework that gives you the flexibility and tools to design and create what is needed.

The purpose of a SCADA framework is to take away all the work that isn't the core business application.

I do agree with the Automation World article that my list of features is a good list to follow and use for someone who wants to create their own SCADA system or framework from scratch.

The list of capabilities and features that I wrote about were inspired by Ignition, which is a full-blown software framework for creating manufacturing and business applications.