A method includes receiving one or more data files that have one or more user-selected input parameters associated with one or more electrical devices in an industrial system, one or more output parameters associated with the electrical devices, one or more input/output parameter tags, a frequency or a condition associated with data transmission for each electrical device, or a combination thereof. The electrical devices may communicate via a first communication network based on the International Electrotechnical Commission 61850 standard, and the controller may communicate via a different communication network. The method also includes automatically programming the controller to control one or more operations of each electrical device based on the data files and transmitting the data files to a gateway device communicatively coupled to the controller along a backplane of a chassis system. The gateway device is automatically configured based on the one or more data files.