During the recent IEEE relay meeting, the issue about functional hierarchy was once again raised and the question was asked, whether this will be addressed in IEC 61850, Edition 2 and if yes, how? The short answer is yes - that will be addressed. It is  described as "management hierarchy" in the current draft of IEC 61850-7-1, Ed 2...For the long answer, we will need to have a look at some technical details of IEC 61850. More