Data federation with industrial control systems

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing system including a processor, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• creating, in response to first configuration input, a controller data structure comprising a first portion of a hierarchical data model of an industrial organization, wherein the first portion of the hierarchical data model is maintained in a controller and comprises one or more first nodes defining hierarchical relationships between a first set of entities on a control level of the industrial organization;
• creating, in response to second configuration input, an enterprise data structure comprising a second portion of the hierarchical data model, wherein the second portion of the hierarchical data model is maintained in a device that is different than the controller and comprises one or more second nodes defining hierarchical relationships between a second set of entities on an enterprise level of the industrial organization that is hierarchically higher than the control level;
• defining, in response to third configuration input, a mount point in the controller that defines a location within the hierarchical data structure at which the first portion of the hierarchical data structure connects to the second portion of the hierarchical data structure;
• and
• aggregating the first portion of the hierarchical data structure and the second portion of the hierarchical data structure based on the mount point.

A method for data communication, comprising:

• defining, in a controller comprising a processor, a first portion of a hierarchical data model of an industrial organization, wherein the first portion of the hierarchical data model comprises one or more first nodes that define first hierarchical relationships between first entities of a control layer of an organizational hierarchy;
• defining, in a first network node that is different than the controller, a second portion of the hierarchical data model, wherein the second portion of the hierarchical data model comprises one or more second nodes that define second hierarchical relationships between second entities of an enterprise layer of the organizational hierarchy, wherein the enterprise layer is hierarchically higher than the control layer;
• defining, in the controller, a mount point that identifies a location within the hierarchical data model at which the first portion of the hierarchical data model connects to the second portion of the hierarchical data model;
• and
• aggregating the first portion of the hierarchical data model and the second portion of the hierarchical data model based on the mount point.