The article provides a detailed analysis of the scientific and methodological base of the digital design of industrial enterprises in Russia, namely the standards of a unified system of design documentation (USDD) for working with electronic documents. It is approved at the state level as mandatory for compliance, which includes state standards, guiding technical materials, and methods. According to the authors, the analyzed standards for electronic design documentation are more descriptive than practical. The importance and significance of improving the standards of digital design are based on the fact that they set the vector of industrial development for several years ahead, forcing enterprises to move in a given direction and introduce contemporary high technology. This circumstance will allow bringing the industry of the Russian Federation to the forefront. The results of the study may become the basis for the development of a national standard for digital design. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.