A method for managing and configuring field devices of an automation system having a central FDI server, the topology of the automation system and the configuration of each field device within this topology being stored on the FDI server; having a configuration tool connected to the central FDI server via a network connection; and having a software package suitable for managing and configuring, and relates to a configuration system for this purpose, involves, for the purpose of offline configuration, associating a local FDI server (22) with the configuration tool, on which server the topology of the automation system and storing the configuration of each field device within this topology at least in part.