Disclosed are methods and systems that help identify critical variables for more efficient and robust plan validation process. An example embodiment is a computer implemented method of industrial process control. The example method includes receiving in computer memory a dataset including initial process parameters representing operational data of a subject industrial process, and, using filtering operations and grouping operations on the dataset, identifying a subset of the process parameters indicative of control data for controlling the subject industrial process. The example method further includes automatically applying the identified subset of process parameters controlling the subject industrial process.