This part of IEC 62832, which is an International Standard, defines the general principles of the Digital Factory framework (DF framework), which is a set of model elements (DF reference model) and rules for modelling production systems. This DF framework defines: " a model of production system assets; " a model of relationships between different production system assets; " the flow of information about production system assets. The DF framework does not cover representation of building construction, input resources (such as raw production material, assembly parts), consumables, work pieces in process, nor end products. It applies to the three types of production processes (continuous control, batch control or discrete control) in any industrial sector (for example aeronautic industries, automotive, chemicals, wood). NOTE This document does not provide an application scenario for descriptions based on ISO 15926, because ISO 15926 uses a different methodology for describing production systems. The representation of a production system according to this document is managed throughout all phases of the production system life cycle (for example design, construction, operation or maintenance). The requirements and specification of software tools supporting the DF framework are out of scope of this document.