Building a concept solution for upgrade planning in the automation industry

Industrial automation systems are long living systems controlling industrial processes such as power stations or pulp and paper production. These systems have strict requirements on the system's availability since all downtime is costly for factories. In such circumstances, all upgrades require special concern and planning, in a context of collaboration between the automation system's provider and user, to minimize downtimes in the user's critical processes. This paper discusses the problem of upgrade planning for such automation systems. It presents a concept solution based on a case study. The research is a part of broader research aiming at a better understanding of system upgrades in the case study company's service sales. The aim is also to enhance solutions for handling the identification and analysis of upgrades in collaboration between the case study company's internal teams and customers