Provided is a system and method of configuring IEDs to facilitate standardized communication messages among a plurality of IEDs within a power system network based on the IEC 61850 standard. A description file is described for an intelligent electronic device configured in accordance with the IEC-61850 standard. The description file includes a section which indicates which GOOSE message the intelligent electronic device should receive. In yet another embodiment, the description file includes a section which is capable of linking to logic functions of the intelligent electronic device for performing programmable data binding or dynamic data binding. A configuration tool is further provided for editing and creating such description files. A method for selectively receiving messages from an intelligent electronic device configured in accordance with the IEC-61850 standard is also described herein, along with a method for optimizing file space and improving execution speed of an intelligent electronic device configured in accordance with the IEC-61850 standard.