During the commissioning of the substation automation systems (SASs) with protection, automation and control traditionally the main focus of testing is on testing the protection system and its settings. Protection testing uses established methods. When looking at the time spent during commissioning, testing the automation and communication system nowadays consumes even more time than testing the protection. Automation systems became increasingly complex and the efforts for testing communication and proper operation of all signals transmitted to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems grew dramatically. This study describes a new approach to be used in all phases of the lifecycle of SAS. By utilizing the data available in substation configuration description (SCD) files it is possible to introduce new and more efficient methods for factory acceptance testing (FAT) and site acceptance testing (SAT). The approach identifies potential signals to be tested in the SCD file. Communication links and the used IEC 61850 services are recognized, documented and can be used for generating test plans. These test templates can be created during the specification phase, adapted for FAT and subsequently reused during SAT. Requirements for test equipment will be identified. An example of technical realization will be presented.