The situation
Sugar Australia’s Racecourse Refinery OT team had limited visibility of the specific hardware and software deployed within their OT network. Several experienced engineers were retiring — some already gone — and the institutional knowledge of how the systems were configured and interconnected was at risk of being permanently lost. Without an accurate, current-state picture of the OT environment, lifecycle planning and future upgrade decisions were effectively guesswork.
Our approach
- Conducted site visits to the Racecourse Refinery to physically inspect and photograph OT equipment throughout the facility, with the OT boundary defined by the IT/OT firewalls.
- Interviewed current engineering staff to capture system operation knowledge, undocumented configurations, and historical context.
- Compiled a detailed inventory of all hardware and software within the OT network — PLCs, DCS, SCADA PCs, servers, workstations, and network equipment.
- Documented the system architecture and interconnections across the OT environment.
- Identified obsolescence risks and produced recommendations for lifecycle management and future upgrades.
Outcome
Sugar Australia received a comprehensive OT Audit Document for the Racecourse Refinery — a single, authoritative reference capturing the full current-state inventory of the OT environment. The document provided the foundation for lifecycle planning and future upgrade decisions, and preserved critical institutional knowledge that would otherwise have been lost with retiring engineers.