Subtended device mapping through controller introspection

A system comprising at least one computing device comprising at least one processor, a memory, and instructions executable by the at least one processor to create an application comprising:

• a) a data store comprising a plurality of introspection directives, each introspection directive comprising a sequence of instructions specific to a communications protocol, the sequence of instructions comprising instructions to automatically send at least one command, instructions to receive a response to the at least one command, and instructions to parse the response, wherein the at least one command comprises a GET/POST request;
• b) a communication module configured to communicate with at least one controller associated with an automation environment in accordance with the communications protocol;
• and
• c) an introspection module configured to identify an appropriate introspection directive for the at least one controller based on the communications protocol that the at least one controller is operating under, and to execute the sequence of instructions with respect to the at least one controller, in response to identifying the appropriate introspection directive, to discover data sources subtended to the at least one controller and how they are mapped in the at least one controller,
• wherein the communications protocol comprises a control protocol, a supervisory protocol, an administrative protocol, an industrial protocol, or a combination thereof.