Sam Sciacca’s article for Consulting-Specifying Engineer (CSE), “The Process of Setting Standards,”  addresses how ideas become the basis for standards and the means by which standards are articulated, vetted and affirmed by consensus – the hallmark of the IEEE standards-setting process. The standards process is critical for consulting-specifying engineers to understand because standards address everything from safety procedures in high-voltage situations to hardware and software compatibility and interoperability, to market development and economies of scale in manufacturing. Sciacca’s blog describes the process and the reasoning behind each step.

Pertinent topics discussed in the article include the IEEE-Standards Association (IEEE-SA), the IEEE-SA’s New Standards Committee (NesCom), project authorization requests or PARs, standards-writing guidelines, balloting processes, peer reviews and more.

Read this and other articles by Sam on his blog, Insight on Power, published by CSE Magazine.

Sam Sciacca is an IEEE senior member and current chair of two IEEE working groups dealing with cyber-security for electric utilities: the Substations Working Group C1, which is working on P1686; and the Power System Relay Committee Working Group H13, which is working on PC37.240. Sciacca currently is CEO of SCS Consulting, LLC.