SMB/6905/R

STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN (SBP)

IEC/TC OR SC: S ECRETARIAT : D ATE :

TC 3 Sweden 2019-07-12

Please ensure this form is annexed to the Report to the Standardization Management Board if it has been
prepared during a meeting, or sent to the Central Office promptly after its contents have been agreed by the
committee.

A. S TATE TITLE AND SCOPE OF TC

N EW TITLE

Documentation, graphical symbols and representations of technical information

S COPE

Standardization in the field of documentation, graphical symbols and representations of technical

information, covering

1) Rules, principles and methods focusing on machine sensible representation of information. This
includes but is not limited to:

- Definition and identification of classes and properties (e.g. sematic data) ,

- ontologies and data dictionaries (e.g. CDD),
- Information models for structuring of technical data and document management,
- information exchange based on existing communication means ,

It includes definition, co-ordination and management of the information required during the whole life
cycle of a device, system, or plant, also covering aspects of documentation.

2) Rules, principles and methods focusing on human sensible representation of the information. This
includes but is not limited to:
- presentation of information in documentation,
- graphical symbols for use in documentation,
- graphical symbols for the human interaction with equipment,

The standards deal with the presentations and graphical symbols as shown in documents or on
equipment, independently of their forms of representation, analogue or digital, but may also include
requirements for the development of documentation.

3) Rules, principles and methods for general and safety related marking, identification and arrangement
of information in electrical installations, equipment and man-machine interfaces. This includes but is
not limited to:

- the meanings of colours and alternative means, when used for marking and identification,
- the arrangement of indicating devices and actuators,
- coding principles for indicating and actuating devices,
- terminal designation of electrical and electronic components, apparatus and equipment,
- designation of certain designated conductors,
- marking of electrical and electronic equipment with ratings related to supply and to its
properties,
- marking of bare and insulated conductors.

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B. M ANAGEMENT S TRUCTURE OF THE TC

Chair: Mr Eirik Selvik, Norway

Secretary: Ms Martha Levin, Sweden

MAINTENANCE TEAMS

MT 60073 Maintenance of IEC 60073

MT 60152 Maintenance of IEC 60152

MT 60445 Maintenance of IEC 60445

MT 60447 Maintenance of IEC 60447

MT 60617 Maintenance of IEC 60617DB

MT 60757 Maintenance of IEC 60757

MT 60848 Maintenance of IEC 60848

MT 61082 Maintenance of IEC 61082

MT 61175 Maintenance of IEC 61175

MT 61293 Maintenance of IEC 61293

MT 61355 Maintenance of IEC 61355

MT 61666 Maintenance of IEC 61666

MT 62023 Maintenance of IEC 62023

MT 62027 Maintenance of IEC 62027

MT 62491 Maintenance of IEC 62491

MT 62507 Maintenance of IEC 62507

MT 62744 Maintenance of IEC 62744

MT 81346 Maintenance of the IEC 81346 series

MT 81714 Maintenance of the IEC 81714 series

MT 82045 Maintenance of IEC 82045

JOINT WORKING GROUPS

JWG 16 Maintenance of IEC 82079 series

JWG 17 Documentation of communication in power utility automation

VALIDATION TEAMS

VT 60617 Validation team for IEC 60617 - Graphical symbols for diagrams

Project Teams

PT 62569 Development of the IEC 62569 series of standards

Apart from working groups directly connected to TC3, there are currently two subcommittees as below:

SC 3C Graphical symbols for use on equipment

SC 3D Classes, Properties and Identification of products - Common Data Dictionary (CDD)

SC 3C Scope

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Standardization in the field of graphical symbols for the human interaction with equipment regarding methods and
rules.
Included:
- Basic design rules for graphical symbols.
- The design of graphical symbols for particular applications.

Graphical symbols for use on equipment are primarily intended to:

- identify the equipment or a part of the equipment (e.g. a control or display);
- indicate a functional state (e.g. on, off, alarm);
- designate connections (e.g. terminals, filling points for materials);
- provide information on packaging (e.g. identification of contents, instructions for handling);
- provide instruction for the operation of the equipment (e.g. limitations of use).

PROJECT TEAMS
PT 45 Survey of graphical symbols for use on equipment used in product committee publications
MAINTENANCE TEAMS

MT 60417 Graphical symbols for use on equipment

MT 62648 Graphical symbols for use on equipment – Guidelines for the inclusion of graphical
symbols in IEC publication
MT 62964 Graphical symbols for use on equipment – Graphical symbols for multimedia equipment
– Current practice
JOINT WORKING GROUPS

JWG 11 IEC/SC 3C - ISO/TC 145/SC 3

VALIDATION TEAMS

VT 60417 Validation Team for the maintenance of IEC 60417 - Graphical symbols for use on
equipment

SC 3D Scope

Standardization for representation of technical information along the life cycle of a product including service, device,
system or plant, covering rules, principles and methods associated with the machine sensible representation of the
technical information. This refers to:

- definition, structuring and identification of classes and properties

- structural design of product data dictionaries and ontologies
- consistent methodology for the purpose of structuring technical information and its exchange
- support for the design of classes and properties in all domains/industries and their publication in IEC
Common Data Dictionary (IEC CDD)
- maintenance and quality control of the IEC Common Data Dictionary (IEC CDD)
- supporting semantic interoperability

SC 3D working groups are:

Working Groups

WG 2 Classification of components and definition of technical data element types

WG 3 Model-extension and interface for IEC CDD

PROJECT TEAMS

PT 62656-5 Interface for activity description

MAINTENANCE TEAMS

MT 61360-1 Maintenance of IEC 61360-1

MT 61360-2 Maintenance of IEC 61360-2

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 MT 61360-6 Quality guide for IEC 61360 compliant database content

MT 61987 IEC 61987 in IEC CDD

MT 62656-1 Maintenance of IEC 62656-1

MT 62656-2 Maintenance of IEC 62656-2

MT 62656-3 Maintenance of IEC 62656-3

MT 62683 IEC 62683 in IEC CDD

MT 62720 Maintenance of IEC 62720

VALIDATION TEAMS

VT IEC CDD Validation Team for the maintenance of IEC Common Data Dictionary

C. B USINESS E NVIRONMENT

Provide the rationale for the market relevance of the future standards being produced in the TC.

If readily available, provide an indication of global or regional sales of products or services related to the
TC/SC work and state the source of the data.

Specify if standards will be significantly effective for assessing regulatory compliance.

C.1 GENERAL
With regard to the external business environment, the work is greatly influenced by the following factors:

- The documentation related to the whole life cycle is an integral part of any product, system or
installation to be delivered
- Documents and information from different sources need to be integrated
- Multi-disciplinary environment, increased need for interoperability and the need of information on
demand
- The extensive use of Information technology requires new ways of information management
- The growth in usage of e-commerce with the development of new data dictionaries and
increasing requirements for interoperability
- The requirements on globally valid safety rules

C2. Competing standards

In the area of graphical symbols for diagrams: “Old standards” (National standards as well as other
practices not being formal standards) never really die since they are preserved in text books used at
schools and universities and thus promoted to the next generations. A similar preserving tendency is
apparent in CAD-systems delivered with symbol libraries of old origin: users of the systems apply them
instead of creating proper ones.

In the area of graphical symbols for use on equipment: Some IEC standards developed by product
committees independently of SC 3C, which should be aligned with IEC 60417 DB taking into account IEC
80416-1.

In the area of data element types: Specifications developed by RosettaNet and [email protected] growing activities

within international standardization to develop and promote standards not adhering to ISO / IEC guide 77.

C.3 Application standards

Many of the standards produced by the TC 3 and its SCs e.g IEC 60617, IEC 60417, IEC/IEEE 82079 and
CDD will be used as part of the assessment for verifying compliance with regulations.

In the area of properties to characterize products IEC 61360 and its corresponding standard ISO 13584
(Industrial automation systems and integration – Parts library (PLIB)) provide requirements for information
management i.e. Data Element Types (DETs). The DETs are collected in reference dictionaries such as
IEC 61360 DB, which is also known as IEC Common Data Dictionary (IEC CDD).

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 The SC 3D work is increasingly used in different areas, for example by IEC TC 111 as a basis for material
declarations to support the transition to a circular economy.

D. M ARKET D EMAND
Provide a list of likely customers of the standards (suppliers, specifiers, testing bodies, regulators,
installers, other TC/SC’s etc.). Do not specify company names, only categories of customers.

Development of graphical symbols for use on equipment is an ongoing activity reflecting the expressed needs
from product committees for such symbols.
For graphical symbols for use in documentation the needs are less expressed as most functions can be
expressed by the existing symbols. However, the rapid development of new technology and techniques may
change that picture.

Today, the industry is focused on information management, rather than documentation. Documentation is more
considered being a way of conveying the information, i.e. the knowledge between parties involved.
TC3 needs therefore to change the focus from documents and documentation to information management.

The evolution from document and documentation management to information management started in the 1980
and it is ongoing. However, this change need to be speeded up in TC 3 activities to meet the stronger markets
demand.

The industry is requesting possibilities for a digital representation of products etc. for easy exchange of
information between parties and including possibility for online check of compliance. These requests made it
necessary to develop the methods for precise definition of concepts and properties being implemented in the
IEC CDD. Thus, the demand for providing standardized representation of products is increasing and forcing
TC3, SC3D and other TCs to meet these demands. SC 3D is currently cooperating with IEC TC 65, IEC TC
111 and TC 121 on this matter based on a guide (IEC TS 62768) for product c ommittees to specify the source
descriptions in their own standards and for submitting the information to IEC CDD.

General rules for marking, identification and actuation principles related to products play an important role,
particularly in relation to the human-machine interface. Growing world-wide trade requires that the safety
rules for electrical equipment and components are compatible. Many parties involved in the design and
manufacturing of electrotechnical products require a consistent set of safety regulations and standards.
Users of electrotechnical products require that in addition to the safety aspect the ergonomic aspects of the
use of the product are to be considered too. This statement includes a high-level requirement for the
development of safety standards.

E. T RENDS IN T ECHNOLOGY AND IN THE M ARKET

If any, indicate the current or expected trends in the technology or in the market covered by the products of
your TC/SC.

There is a rapidly increasing worldwide demand for information management, data communication, exchange of
technical product information and interoperability for a variety of business functions.

1. Classification standards should be accessible online

2. Graphical symbols should be accessible and usable online
3. Concepts and properties as defined by IEC CDD should be accessible online

Classification of objects, documentation and information are increasingly used in industry for easy
recognition and handling of objects. IEC TC 3 sees increasingly use of IEC 81346 and especially on the
letter codes. A proper classification of documents and documentation is sought by the industry for
implementation in their document management system, thus forcing IEC TC 3 to revise the IEC 61355 in
cooperation with ISO TC 10.

The dynamic use of graphical symbols in different applications requires standards for representation of
symbols in dynamic form and even for definition of different states of an object represented by such
symbols. Although IEC has developed IEC 62744 on this matter, IEC TC 3 foresee that more work may be
necessary.

F. S YSTEMS APPROACH ASPECTS (R EFERENCE - AC/33/2013)

The concept of “system approach” is primarily associated to the building of technical equipment, but

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 can also be applied to more abstract systems.

Therefore, at least two system aspects is considered:

1. The object (product, technical system or installation) to be documented is to be seen as a system

which more and more often contains components and equipment (hardware and software) from
different technical areas. This requires that the applicable documentation rules are similar or at least
harmonized among those areas, in order to obtain a coherent overall documentation.

This calls for co-operation with other bodies, especially in ISO, working with documentation.

2. The documentation standards per se need to form a documentation system, in which the
components (the standards) are “modules” that can be applied generally and seamless in the
documentation processes. This system includes standards from IEC as well as f rom ISO.

Another example of this is the common information model between IEC 61360/ISO 13584 ensuring
interoperability across a wide range of technical dictionaries.

G. C ONFORMITY A SSESSMENT

For the time being, no IEC Conformity Assessment System is being considered in the development of the
basic standards for TC 3.

H. H ORIZONTAL ISSUES
Many IEC TC 3 standards are classified as “horizontal”, which means that the standard is prepared for the
purpose of other TCs as well as for the industry outside of the TC or SC environment.

In addition IEC TC 3 has also developed Basic Safety publications regarding basic and safety principles for
human-machine interface, marking and identification.
SC 3C is working in close cooperation with IEC / ISO TCs and SCs for the development of graphical symbols
on products.
SC 3D is working in close cooperation with a number of TC s and SCs and also with ISO committees for
adding information to the IEC CDD.
Documentation methods have no direct impact on the ecological environment, although there may be some
indirect effects: the use of IT-tools and electronic distribution of documents has a potential for decrease of
the paper consumption and physical transportation of documents.

Additionally, in the lifecycle of equipment and systems in the fields of electrical, electronic and related
technologies, graphical symbols to indicate special treatment and handling play an important role for taking
care of the ecological environment.

In the light of the increasing requirements of environmental sustainable production and usage of energy, the
concept of Smart grid has become more in focus. This concept includes many different functions and high
demands for efficient exchange of information. TC 3 basic standards for modelling and structuring of
systems and plants have appeared to give useful support for modern communication concepts, e.g. IEC
61850 series of standards for communication in power systems. Awareness and understanding of the
communicated information is essential for the concept. A new edition of the standard for designation of
signals was prepared in cooperation with TC 57 for better coordination with this kind of communication
standards and for more general use in plant design.

The exchange of information in a Smart grid concept also put high demands on the identification and
comprehension of the relevant information. The properties (DET) as defined in IEC CDD intends to be used
in any exchange of product data for undoubted understanding both by humans and by computerized
systems, receiving and acting on the information.

I. 3-5 Y EAR P ROJECTED S TRATEGIC O BJECTIVES , A CTIONS , T ARGET D ATES

S TRATEGIC O BJECTIVES 3-5 YEARS A CTIONS TO SUPPORT T ARGET D ATE ( S )

THE STRATEGIC TO COMPLETE THE ACTIONS
OBJECTIVES

TC 3

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Further development of the standards for “Generic Nomination of a
Specification of Information on Products (GSIP)” in line with convenor
the project already started. Part 1 on principles and methods
of this series is published as standard in 2017, Part 2 on the
structure of the GSIP and part 3 to contain a collection of
generally applicable properties. Further the “Interoperability
between electromechanical and electrical applications in CAx- Part 2 in 2021 and
systems” (see IEC/PAS 62569) will be included in the series.
Part 2 is planned to be completed in 2021 and part 3 is part 3 in 2022
planned to be completed in 2022.

Establishment of JWG
Continuous revise work on IEC 61355 dB and establishing a with ISO TC 10 2021
JWG with ISO/TC 10 in order to converting the IEC 61355 to
IEC / ISO 81355 and improve the database

Continuous maintenance of IEC 60617 DB initiated by

Change Requests in accordance with Annex SL to IEC Constantly
specific procedures, ISO/IEC Directives

Continuous work on “Documentation of communication in 2020

power utility automation” as a JWG with TC 57 and make the
Technical Report published in early 2020

Revision of IEC 81346-1 2021

Minor revisions of a number of standards

SC 3C

Continuous maintenance of IEC 60417 DB initiated by Constantly

Change Requests in accordance with Annex SL to IEC
specific procedures, ISO/IEC Directives

Co-ordination and collaboration with other committees which Constantly

are developing graphical symbols for use on equipment in
their standards to avoid inconsistency among IEC
deliverables by following the horizontal standard IEC 62648
Maintenance of the 80416 series of International Standards in Constantly
collaboration with ISO TC 145/SC 3 via Joint WG 11

Maintenance of on-line guidance for applicants of change Constantly

requests to IEC 60417 DB in accordance with IEC 80416-1

In collaboration with the parent committee and taking into

account IEC 62744, to develop families of graphical symbols
to be used for “representation of states of objects by
graphical symbols

SC 3D

Continuous maintenance of IEC CDD initiated by Change

Requests in accordance with Annex SL to IEC specific
procedures, ISO/IEC Directives
Constantly

Collaboration with other committees which are developing

data element types in their standards, initially specifically IEC
SC65 E and SC 121A
Constantly

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Elaboration of the business model for IEC CDD Constantly

Implementation of the new version of IEC CDD as a joint

effort of IEC CO and IEC SC3D. Improved features are in
work for import and export, consistency checking and
sophisticated data structures in accordance to the current
versions of IEC 61360-2 and ISO 13584-42. The improved The improvement
database will allow the National Committees to create needs IEC IT
localized versions of the database content department support
(multilingualism).
Maintenance of IEC 61360 publication series standards in Constantly
collaboration with ISO TC 184/SC 4 WG 2.

Development of IEC 62656 - Standardized product ontology

register and transfer by spreadsheets, a standard that
enables input, output, and exchange of product classes and
properties and their values conformant to IEC 61360, in a Constantly
tabular form, exemplified by spreadsheets.

Note: The progress on the actions should be reported in the RSMB.

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