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Industrial Automation and Robotics · SCADA Systems Companies
HR for SCADA Systems Companies: Control Rooms, Software Teams and Plant Commissioning
SCADA systems companies build the screens and software that let operators watch and control a plant. Their engineers spend their time between software desks and customer control rooms, and responsibility after go-live is heavy.
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Share your requirementsA SCADA systems company designs and builds supervisory control and data systems for water, power, process plants and factories. A project begins with understanding the process and the customer's list of signals, then engineers configure screens, alarms, historian and reports, connect to PLCs and field devices, and test against a simulator. Installation and commissioning take place in the customer's control room, often during a plant shutdown or tight window. Once live, the system must be available around the clock, so support engineers take calls out of hours. Engineers need process understanding as well as software skill, and customers depend on the one engineer who knows their plant. Standards of documentation and handover decide whether the customer can stand alone. See also HR for manufacturing.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in SCADA systems companies, you may see
- One engineer knows each customer's plant
- Commissioning windows are short and fixed
- Round-the-clock support lacks a fair rule
- Documentation is left to the end
- Process knowledge is learnt on the job
- Software and field engineers pull in different directions
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in SCADA systems companies
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- SCADA configuration engineers
- Software and database developers
- Controls and communication engineers
- Commissioning engineers
- Support and service engineers
- Project managers
- Testing and simulation staff
- Documentation and training staff
Where HR strains in SCADA systems companies
One engineer knows each customer's plant
Customers phone the engineer who built their system, and when that person leaves or is on leave, support falls apart.
Commissioning windows are short and fixed
A plant shutdown gives a narrow time to go live, and engineers work long stretches under pressure with no room for delay.
Round-the-clock support lacks a fair rule
Out-of-hours calls land on the same people, and rest and recognition are unclear.
Documentation is left to the end
Handover documents and drawings are written in a rush after go-live, if at all.
Process knowledge is learnt on the job
A software engineer new to water or power learns the process by making mistakes at a customer's expense.
Software and field engineers pull in different directions
Software engineers want time to test, field engineers face the plant deadline, and the gap shows up at commissioning.
HR topics for SCADA systems companies
Start with the topics that matter most here: Organisation Design; Employee Administration; Learning and Development. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for manufacturing, not in general.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a SCADA systems companies business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Name two engineers for every customer
A primary and a backup engineer for each live system, with shared notes, so support never depends on one person.
What this coversHide
Name two engineers for every customer
A primary and a backup engineer for each live system, with shared notes, so support never depends on one person.
What this coversHideA primary and a backup engineer for each live system, with shared notes, so support never depends on one person. See role design and job descriptions.
Plan commissioning with rest built in
A schedule that covers shift handover, rest between long stretches and a backup for each key task.
What this coversHide
Plan commissioning with rest built in
A schedule that covers shift handover, rest between long stretches and a backup for each key task.
What this coversHideA schedule that covers shift handover, rest between long stretches and a backup for each key task. See attendance, shift and leave process.
Make a fair on-call system
A rota for out-of-hours calls with time off after night calls and clear recognition, checked with a qualified professional for the legal side.
What this coversHide
Make a fair on-call system
A rota for out-of-hours calls with time off after night calls and clear recognition, checked with a qualified professional for the legal side.
What this coversHideA rota for out-of-hours calls with time off after night calls and clear recognition, checked with a qualified professional for the legal side.
Make documentation part of the project plan
A handover pack that is a stage of the project with an owner and a due date before payment milestones.
What this coversHide
Make documentation part of the project plan
A handover pack that is a stage of the project with an owner and a due date before payment milestones.
What this coversHideA handover pack that is a stage of the project with an owner and a due date before payment milestones. See hr documentation process.
Teach process basics to new engineers
A short learning plan on the plants the firm serves, paired with a senior engineer.
What this coversHide
Teach process basics to new engineers
A short learning plan on the plants the firm serves, paired with a senior engineer.
What this coversHideA short learning plan on the plants the firm serves, paired with a senior engineer. See learning and development process.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- List your live customers and the engineer who knows each one best.
- Check how many customers have a named backup engineer.
- Count night and weekend calls last month and who took them.
- Look at the last three projects and find when the handover documents were completed.
- Ask a newer engineer which plant processes they find hardest to follow.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the registration, record-keeping and employment obligations that apply to your SCADA systems business.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Role design and job descriptions
Primary and backup engineer roles and clear duties so no customer depends on one person.
- Attendance, shift and leave process
Commissioning and on-call rosters with rest rules.
- HR documentation process
Handover and knowledge records written as part of the project, not after it.
- Learning and development process
Process knowledge plans for software engineers moving into new plant types.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in manufacturing, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Management
Everyone reports to the founder: when and how to redesign the structure
A flat structure works until the founder becomes the only route to a decision. How to tell when you have passed that point, and how to redesign without a reorganisation.
8 min readRead article
HR Process
One employee, three versions of the record: fixing employee information management
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead article
HR Process
The training calendar nobody attends: fixing the learning and development process
A calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
7 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Name a backup for each customer, share notes and let the backup join a visit or two. Review the list every quarter.
Plan the schedule with rest built in, name a backup for each key task and agree who decides if a delay is needed.
A shared rota, time off after night calls and clear recognition. Check the employment side with a qualified professional.
Make it a project stage with a named owner and tie it to a milestone. Review a sample before sign-off.
Pair them with a senior, give short learning on the process and let them shadow commissioning before leading one.
We would list customers against the engineer who knows them, count who has a named backup and see how on-call is shared. A good first piece of work is a primary and backup engineer scheme. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
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