Hi,

I am looking for some generalize standard which guide me how to deal with control system obsolescence. I have looked at IEC62420 but it only tells about obsolescence management. I am looking for some standard/ design guidelines which I can follow to replace the obsolete systems.

 

When you find one, post a reference here. I don't believe there is one, but there should be...at least some guidance and best practices.

Walt Boyes
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This is the kind of thing that one pays a consulting engineer consulting engineering firm for, and it should be customized to the site and the application.

It's very common to have a consultant or a consulting engineering firm write a specification like this to use for a bid request document to be submitted to multiple vendors to ensure you get reasonably similar responses to a consistent requirement.

Two of the serious problems of this approach are that, one, a lot of time the consultant or the firm will use something from a previous similar (relatively similar) job, and, two, a lot of firms responding to the request will take some (sometimes a lot) of exceptions to the specifics of the proposal.

In the first case, the consultant or the firm may have wanted to or would have wanted to bid on the job so they write a terribly difficult specification. Or, they just use something from a (relatively) similar job which doesn't really match the job requirements.

In the second case, depending on the complexity of the job the exceptions may be very difficult to compare and assess, for price or for supply or for scope. It could be a very difficult task to try to choose a firm if the exceptions are wide and varied.

It's very poor practice, but all too common, to subjugate responsibility to a standard or a specification which can be open to interpretation. If some performance guarantee is desired, you should include the guarantee in the proposal, as well as baselining any existing performance to be used in determining any improvement. The people most involved with the equipment and the process need to be intimately involved with the bid specification and the scope definition.

And, most importantly, for checking the references of the firms which are being considered to be awarded the job. Because, there are a lot of firms which will say then execute or have the correct hardware, software or expertise to engineer the job. But nothing, <b>NOTHING</b>, speaks louder than the references of people who have used the services and equipment of the firms bidding on the job. Words in a proposal or contract or sales presentation pale in comparison to the words spoken from experience.