IEC 62646:2016 establishes requirements for the whole life cycle of operating procedures that the designer wishes to computerise. It also provides guidance for making decisions about which types of procedures should be computerised and to what extent. Once computerised, procedures are designated as "computer-based procedures" (CBP). This new edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition: clarification of the way in which the standard is to be used in conjunction with related standards.

This publication is to be read in conjunction with IEC 60964:2009 and IEC 61839:2000.