Standards, Procedures & Compliance Glossary
The API, ANSI, ISA, and regulatory standards, work procedures, and documentation practices that govern automation projects. 111 terms in this topic - each defined in plain English on its own page.
Automation work runs on paper as much as on wire: standards that define how things are built, procedures that control how work is done, and records that prove both. This topic collects the standards bodies and specific standards an automation engineer meets (API, ANSI, ISA, NFPA, hazardous-area classification), the work-control practices (permits, lockout/tagout, management of change), and the documentation vocabulary (P&IDs, loop diagrams, FAT/SAT) that ties a project together.
111 Terms
What Is 21 CFR Part 11 for Electronic Records and Signatures?
The FDA rule making electronic records and signatures trustworthy - audit trails, access controls, e-signatures, ALCOA+.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Alarm Management of Change?
The approved, logged workflow for changing any alarm attribute that keeps rationalization from decaying.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Alarm Response Procedure?
The documented cause, consequence, and corrective action an operator follows, often shown as HMI help text.
Read → GlossaryANSI Device Numbers
Decode IEEE C37.2 codes like 50, 51, 87, 27 and 59 on relays and one-line diagrams.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is API 11E?
The standard for beam and sucker-rod pumping units - its designation code, gearbox, structural, and stroke ratings.
Read → GlossaryAPI 12F Shop-Welded Tanks
The spec for small shop-welded lease tanks: standard sizes, connections, and how it differs from field-erected API 650.
Read → GlossaryAPI 14C
The offshore recommended practice that uses SAFE charts and a two-barrier philosophy to determine required surface safety devices.
Read → GlossaryWhat is API 21.1 electronic gas measurement?
The standard governing how gas flow computers calculate, log, and audit volumes for custody transfer.
Read → GlossaryWhat is API 21.2 electronic liquid measurement?
The standard governing how liquid flow computers and LACT units record batches, meter factors, and audit logs.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is API 2350?
The overfill protection standard for aboveground tanks: levels of concern, response time, and independent detection.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is API 650?
The construction standard for large welded field-erected tanks: shell courses, bottom and roof types, and atmospheric design.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is API 653?
The standard for inspecting, repairing, and reconstructing aboveground storage tanks in service - intervals and integrity - explained.
Read → GlossaryAPI RP 1165
Human-factors recommended practice for designing consistent, legible pipeline SCADA control-room displays.
Read → GlossaryArea Classification
The mapping of a facility into hazardous zones or divisions by likelihood of a flammable atmosphere, dictating which equipment may be installed.
Read → GlossaryArea Classification Zones
Graded Zone 0/1/2 and 20/21/22 categories describing how often a flammable atmosphere is present, driving equipment selection.
Read → GlossaryWhat Are As-Built Drawings and Redlines in an Automation Project?
Field-marked corrections captured during construction versus the finalized drawings showing what was actually installed.
Read → GlossaryATEX
EU directives governing equipment and workplaces in explosive atmospheres, using zones, categories, and Ex protection concepts.
Read → GlossaryHow do you audit an electronic gas measurement system?
A step-by-step walk through configuration logs, event logs, edits, and the quantity record.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a batch report?
The compiled record of one batch - recipe, actual vs target, timings, charges, exceptions, and signatures.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is the Benzene Waste NESHAP (BWON)?
How the total annual benzene (TAB) from waste streams sets control duties and feeds the annual 6BQ report.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Car Seal?
A tamper-evident seal that locks a valve open or closed (CSO/CSC) to protect relief paths and process safeguards.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a CEMS quarterly emissions report and what data must it include?
The quarterly electronic summary of monitor readings, excess emissions, downtime, and data availability, backed by status capture.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Class I Division 2?
The NEC hazardous area classification for gases present only abnormally, how it differs from Division 1, and equipment impact.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Walkdown During Commissioning?
The structured physical inspection that verifies an installed system matches the drawings and generates the punch list.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Compliance Calendar and Record Retention Schedule?
Tracking recurring filing deadlines and how long measurement and report records must be kept and stay auditable.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Compliance Monitoring Plan?
The formal plan defining monitored parameters, frequency, data availability thresholds, and QA that proves compliance.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Confined Space Entry Permit?
The authorization for tank and vessel entry, covering atmosphere testing, entry roles, and rescue provisions.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Containment Liner?
The impermeable HDPE geomembrane under tanks and berms, welded at the seams with an interstitial leak-detection layer.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a digital checklist for field inspections?
A smart form with conditional logic, required photo and reading fields, and pass-fail steps that enforce and prove completion.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Diverse Redundancy in Overfill?
Using different level-measurement principles for control and safety so one process condition cannot fail both.
Read → GlossaryHow do you file an EPA Subpart W GHG report in e-GGRT?
Feed metered throughput, vent, and flare data into the Subpart W equations and file by web form or XML before March 31.
Read → GlossaryWhat is electronic reporting in oil and gas regulatory compliance?
The shift from paper to agency portals and structured uploads, where one validated data layer feeds many filings.
Read → GlossaryWhat Are Entity Parameters in Intrinsic Safety?
Matching a barrier's Voc, Isc, Ca, La against a device's Vmax, Imax, Ci, Li plus cable to verify an IS loop on paper.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is EPA Method 21?
The portable-analyzer procedure for screening equipment leaks, with a ppm threshold and probe technique.
Read → GlossaryEPA Quad O / OOOO
EPA New Source Performance Standards limiting methane and VOC emissions from oil and gas, driving leak detection and repair.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is EPA Subpart W?
The annual greenhouse-gas reporting rule for oil and gas facilities - source categories, methods, and thresholds.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is EPCRA Tier II Reporting?
Annual chemical-inventory thresholds, the March 1 deadline, and how stored quantity data streamlines the reported amounts.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Excess Emissions and Deviation Report?
The semiannual and annual filings disclosing exceedances and monitor gaps, auto-fed by SCADA alarm history.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Explosion-Proof Enclosure?
The flameproof housing that contains an internal blast and cools escaping gas, how flame paths work, and where it is used.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT)?
The shop checkpoint where a customer verifies a control or SCADA package before shipment, with punch items.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a flaring and venting report and what volumes does it capture?
A monthly report of flared and vented volumes by cause, made defensible by a metered flare header and categorized event logs.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a Form H-10 annual disposal well report?
The yearly per-well report of monthly injected volumes and maximum surface pressures, fed cleanly by continuous logging.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for an Automation Project?
The early phase that turns an automation concept into a defined, costed scope before detailed design.
Read → GlossaryWhat is the PHMSA gas gathering annual report for Type C lines?
New annual mileage and incident reporting for regulated Type C gathering, answered by one maintained gathering map.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Gas Testing for Permits?
Confirming a safe atmosphere by LEL, oxygen, and toxic tests before hot work or entry.
Read → GlossaryWhat is an H2S contingency report and when must it be filed?
A pre-planned contingency plan plus a release report on H2S exceedances, backed by continuous timestamped detector logs.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Handover Package for a SCADA Project?
The bundle of as-builts, records, backups, manuals, and sign-offs transferred to operations at project acceptance.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Hot Work Permit?
The authorization for welding and grinding near hydrocarbons, with gas testing, fire watch, and cleared radius.
Read → GlossaryHow do I set up a scheduled report in SCADA?
Map the template to tags and a relative time range, pick PDF or CSV, set the schedule, and add recipients.
Read → GlossaryIECEx
International certification scheme issuing globally recognized Certificates of Conformity for equipment in explosive atmospheres.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is API 653 In-Service Inspection?
External and routine tank inspection while in operation, versus internal out-of-service inspection, with corrosion-driven intervals.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Intrinsic Safety?
The protection method that prevents ignition by energy-limiting field circuits, barriers vs isolators, and its use in hazardous areas.
Read → GlossaryIP Rating (Ingress Protection)
IEC 60529 two-digit code rating an enclosure's protection against solid objects, dust, and water ingress.
Read → GlossaryISA-5.1 Instrumentation Symbols
How ISA-5.1 bubbles, line types, and tag codes like FT and PIT let anyone read a P&ID and map it to SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Isolation Certificate?
The register that lists every isolation point for a job and controls de-isolation and reinstatement.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Job Safety Analysis (JSA)?
Breaking a job into steps, identifying each step's hazards, and assigning controls before work begins.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is the KKS Power Plant Identification System?
The hierarchical KKS code that names every function, equipment item, and signal in a power plant.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Line Walkdown?
The physical field check of valve positions against the P&ID before startup, transfer, or return to service.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Lockout/Tagout (LOTO)?
Physical control of hazardous energy so equipment cannot restart during maintenance.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Management of Change (MOC)?
The disciplined process for reviewing and approving changes to equipment, procedures, or limits.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a measurement audit in oil and gas?
The periodic review of a custody point's meters, calculations, calibrations, and records.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Measurement Data Reconciliation Report?
The auditor-facing report that closes the balance between metered in and out and flags disagreeing meters.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Continuous Methane Monitoring Compliance Report?
The submission that documents exceedance events, repair timelines, and monitoring completeness under newer methane rules.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is NAMUR NE43?
The 4-20 mA fault levels that let a broken loop signal failure instead of a plausible reading.
Read → GlossaryNEMA Enclosure Rating
NEMA 250 classification telling you whether an electrical enclosure resists dust, water, corrosion, or explosive atmospheres.
Read → GlossaryNFPA
US fire-protection body whose codes (NEC, NFPA 30, 496, 70E) govern hazardous-location wiring and flammable-liquid handling.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is NFPA 30?
The Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code: liquid classification, tank spacing, diking, and containment sizing.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is NFPA 497?
The recommended practice for classifying flammable gas and vapor areas: release sources, area type, and extent.
Read → GlossaryNFPA 70 National Electrical Code
The NEC as a document: how it is structured, adopted into law, and applied to SCADA panels and field wiring.
Read → GlossaryNFPA 70E
The electrical safe-work standard: permits, PPE categories, boundaries and de-energizing.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an NPDES Permit?
How Clean Water Act discharge permits set effluent limits and sampling, and how readings become Discharge Monitoring Reports.
Read → GlossaryWhat is an OGOR disposition report and how is disposition tracked?
OGOR-B assigns every barrel and Mcf a disposition code and balances only when gauges and meters reconcile.
Read → GlossaryWhat is ONRR Form 2014 and what production data does it report?
The monthly OGOR reports production, disposition, and well data for federal and Indian leases and must reconcile with sales.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Overfill Prevention System (OPS)?
The full API 2350 management system - procedures, alarms, AOPS vs MOPS, and risk categories - not just a switch.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Overfill Protection?
The independent high-high level layer required by API 2350 that trips an automatic shutoff before a tank overflows.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Permit to Work (PTW)?
The formal written authorization gate before hazardous or non-routine field work begins.
Read → GlossaryPHMSA
US federal pipeline safety regulator enforcing 49 CFR Parts 192 and 195, integrity management, and control room management.
Read → GlossaryWhat goes into the PHMSA annual report and when is it due?
A year-end inventory of pipeline miles by material and pressure plus facility counts, due June 15 on the Form 7100 series.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Pre-Commissioning in an Automation Project?
The de-energized static checks done after mechanical completion and before live commissioning energizes a system.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Punch List in a SCADA or Automation Project?
The register of outstanding deficiencies from FAT, SAT, and commissioning that gates final acceptance.
Read → GlossaryPurge and Pressurization
A hazardous-area technique that keeps flammable gas out of an enclosure with clean-air purging and maintained positive pressure (Ex p).
Read → GlossaryWhat is a quantity transaction record audit package under API 21.1?
The QTR plus configuration, event, and alarm logs and the constants to independently recompute the custody volume.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Reduced Emission Completion?
Capturing or combusting flowback gas during well completion instead of venting it - a Quad O procedure.
Read → GlossaryWhat is an audit trail for regulatory reports and why does it matter?
The tamper-evident chain from raw sensor reading to submitted number that lets a filing survive an audit or enforcement.
Read → GlossaryHow Does SCADA Report Scheduling and Distribution Work?
Running reports on a schedule and delivering them, with gas-day boundaries, subscriptions, and delivery retry handling.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a report subscription in SCADA?
Self-service opt-in to scheduled reports where each user picks cadence and format, scoped to what they can see.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Report Template and a Parameterized Report?
One reusable report design driven by parameters like site, date, and tag set to generate a per-well report for a whole field.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Sampling Procedure?
The workflow to take a representative sample: purge the point, choose a container, label, and keep chain of custody.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a SCADA Audit Report and Audit Log?
The queryable record of user actions - logins, setpoint and config changes, acknowledgments, and control commands.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is SCADA Commissioning?
The staged transition from a built, tested control system to a live operational one, phase by phase.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a scheduled PDF report in SCADA?
A report engine rendering branded, page-formatted PDFs from historian data on a timer, with charts and tables.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Secondary Containment?
The engineered berm and liner sized to hold the largest tank plus rainfall, with leak sensors tied into SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Shift and Operator Log Report?
The electronic log of alarms, actions, setpoint changes, and exceptions handed to the next crew, auto-compiled by SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Shift Handover?
The structured turnover of plant state and abnormal conditions between shifts.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a shift report screen on an HMI?
A live display of shift totals, key events, active alarms, and handover notes for clean turnover.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Site Acceptance Test (SAT)?
The on-site test that proves a control system works with real field wiring and instruments, triggering handover.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a State Regulatory Production Report (Form PR)?
The monthly production and disposition filing to state regulators, and how SCADA measurement data flows into it.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a SWPPP & Stormwater Permit?
The stormwater plan and permit, their inspection and benchmark-monitoring duties, and how to keep records audit-ready.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Tag Audit for Orphan and Duplicate Tags?
Reviewing a historian's tag database for orphaned, duplicate, and unused points that inflate cost.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Tank Calibration Certificate?
The signed document that publishes a tank's official capacity table for custody transfer, its validity, and recalibration triggers.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Tank Gauging Procedure?
The full operator routine to gauge a tank: opening gauge, temperature, water cut, closing gauge, and paperwork.
Read → GlossaryTCEQ
Texas environmental regulator issuing oil and gas air permits and implementing delegated Clean Air Act programs.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Temporary MOC?
Time-limited change control for jumpers and bypasses, with an expiry and required reversion.
Read → GlossaryTexas Railroad Commission (RRC)
Texas oil and gas regulator over drilling, production, well integrity, and intrastate pipeline safety.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Title V Air Permit?
The operating permit that consolidates a major source's air requirements into monitored, reportable conditions.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a Title V annual compliance certification?
A responsible official's yearly term-by-term compliance statement, made evidence-backed by continuous parametric records.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a Title V semiannual monitoring report?
A twice-yearly summary of monitoring results and permit deviations, built continuously by automated excursion capture.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Toolbox Talk?
The short pre-job crew briefing that turns the JSA and permit conditions into shared understanding.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Valve Lineup Checklist?
The documented open or closed state of every valve in a flow path, cross-checked by SCADA telemetry.
Read → GlossaryWhat is the methane Waste Emissions Charge and how is it reported?
A per-ton fee on Subpart W methane above an intensity threshold, where measured vent and flare volumes lower the bill.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a water draw procedure?
The step-by-step field execution of a water draw: fill, stabilize, draw into test measures, repeat, and correct.
Read →One Platform for the Field
Merobix is cloud SCADA for oil & gas - it reads the instruments and protocols defined here into one dashboard.