Configuring an industrial automation system for internet-of-things accessibility

A method of configuring an industrial automation system for internet-of-things accessibility, the industrial automation system having a system hierarchy including low-level devices, automation devices and supervision and production control devices, the method comprising:

• a) receiving, at a computing device, a first user input indicative of a functional object representing one or more of said low-level devices, and/or one or more of said automation devices, and/or one or more of said supervising and production control devices in the industrial automation system;
• b) receiving, at the computing device, a second user input indicative of a cloud object representing a cloud service provider being external to the industrial automation system;
• c) receiving, at the computing device, a third user input indicative of a user terminal object representing a user terminal device being external to the industrial automation system;
• d) causing, by the computing device, the cloud service provider to enable communication between the user terminal device and at least one of the devices in the industrial automation system as represented by the functional object via the cloud service provider;
• e) presenting, at the computing device, a plurality of variables for said at least one of the devices in the industrial automation system as represented by the functional object;
• f) receiving, at the computing device, a fourth user input indicative of a selected variable among said plurality of variables;
• and
• g) causing, by the computing device, said at least one of the devices in the industrial automation system as represented by the functional object to make the selected variable accessible to the user terminal device,
• wherein the functional object, cloud object, and user terminal object are selectable objects in an automation system configuration program executed on or by the computing device, said automation system configuration program being communicatively connected with an HMI tool and/or a PLC tool and/or a cloud tool being installed in or accessible by the computing device, wherein the HMI tool is a configuration program for supervision and production control devices in the industrial automation system, and wherein
• the PLC tool is a configuration program for automation devices in the industrial automation system, and
• wherein the automation system configuration program executes step g) by invoking functionality in the HMI tool and/or PLC tool and/or cloud tool to communicate with the cloud service provider to make the selected variable communicatively accessible between said at least one of the devices in the industrial automation system and the user terminal device.