A system for performing remote industrial automation operation, comprising: a memory that stores executable components; a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising: a device interface component configured to collect device data from industrial devices (208, 210) at one or more industrial facilities and store the device data on cloud-based storage of a cloud platform; a control component configured to execute a control program on the cloud platform using the device data as program variables, wherein the device interface component is further configured to send control instructions to at least one of the industrial devices (208, 210) based on outputs generated by the control program; a client interface component configured to generate and send, to a client device, one or more interface displays that allow a user to develop the control program via interaction with the one or more interface displays, wherein the one or more interface displays allow the user to define inputs and outputs of the control program using hierarchical tag names that identify the locations of data items of the one or more industrial facilities corresponding to the tag names; and an indexing system configured to discover available data items distributed across the industrial devices (208, 210), and to record the discovered data items in a federated data model on the cloud platform, wherein the one or more interface displays include a browsable hierarchical search tree display for browsing the hierarchical tag names, wherein the client interface component is configured to generate the browsable hierarchical search tree display from information indexed in the federated data model. a memory that stores executable components; a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising: a device interface component configured to collect device data from industrial devices (208, 210) at one or more industrial facilities and store the device data on cloud-based storage of a cloud platform; a control component configured to execute a control program on the cloud platform using the device data as program variables, wherein the device interface component is further configured to send control instructions to at least one of the industrial devices (208, 210) based on outputs generated by the control program; a client interface component configured to generate and send, to a client device, one or more interface displays that allow a user to develop the control program via interaction with the one or more interface displays, wherein the one or more interface displays allow the user to define inputs and outputs of the control program using hierarchical tag names that identify the locations of data items of the one or more industrial facilities corresponding to the tag names; and an indexing system configured to discover available data items distributed across the industrial devices (208, 210), and to record the discovered data items in a federated data model on the cloud platform, wherein the one or more interface displays include a browsable hierarchical search tree display for browsing the hierarchical tag names, wherein the client interface component is configured to generate the browsable hierarchical search tree display from information indexed in the federated data model. a device interface component configured to collect device data from industrial devices (208, 210) at one or more industrial facilities and store the device data on cloud-based storage of a cloud platform; a control component configured to execute a control program on the cloud platform using the device data as program variables, wherein the device interface component is further configured to send control instructions to at least one of the industrial devices (208, 210) based on outputs generated by the control program; a client interface component configured to generate and send, to a client device, one or more interface displays that allow a user to develop the control program via interaction with the one or more interface displays, wherein the one or more interface displays allow the user to define inputs and outputs of the control program using hierarchical tag names that identify the locations of data items of the one or more industrial facilities corresponding to the tag names; and an indexing system configured to discover available data items distributed across the industrial devices (208, 210), and to record the discovered data items in a federated data model on the cloud platform, wherein the one or more interface displays include a browsable hierarchical search tree display for browsing the hierarchical tag names, wherein the client interface component is configured to generate the browsable hierarchical search tree display from information indexed in the federated data model.