The purpose of this document is to define a data format for the sharing of AutomationComponent information between the participants in the OfflineEngineering workflow.

OfflineEngineering is a design phase activity. The configuration for AutomationComponents is planned (typically without the hardware available), implemented, and later deployed to the physical/logical elements in the commissioning phase at a plant.

This document defines the concept of a Descriptor as a means for capturing the information for using and configuring AutomationComponents in the OfflineEngineering phase, including the Information Model defined in OPC 10000-81.

This document outlines the OfflineEngineering processes and required functionality where the Descriptor is consumed or produced by the engineering tools. How engineering tools implement the processes and functionality for the internal handling of Descriptors is left to the engineering tool vendors.