This second edition revises and updates the award-winning 2004 publication, incorporating improvements suggested by readers and to reflect subsequent changes in industry practice. It provides the knowledge needed to understand and develop the documents and symbols that define a modern industrial measurement and control system. In addition, it uses industry standards, especially ANSI/ISA-5.1-2009 - Instrumentation Symbols and Identification, to define and describe the symbol based "language" that identifies measurement and control devices.

The control systems documentation addressed within includes process flow diagrams, piping and instrumentation diagrams, instrument indexes and data bases, specification forms, logic diagrams, loop diagrams, installation details and location plans. The purpose and content of these documents, as well as options with regard to the information presented, are discussed in detail. Information is presented in the timeline of a typical design and engineering project. The sequence serves to show how the documents evolve and how they are interrelated.

The real-world obligation of control systems documentation to support interdisciplinary coordination during design, to provide sufficient detail to bid and purchase components and services and to support all construction work is addressed. The critical requirement that these drawings and data present critical information for on-going maintenance work is integral to this presentation.