The Cameron Group is introducing a new approach to using a Requirements Management System (RMS) in the nuclear industry for managing and complying with the dynamic nature of the regulatory and many other requirements that impact all phases of the industry and the Life Cycle Management of a plant. This brief Capabilities Statement provides a description of Cameron’s RMS concept– how it works and its benefits.
Overview of a Requirements Management System
The RMS is a computer database system specifically tailored to capture, edit, analyze, trace relationships of, manage, and report on requirements fulfillment within a nuclear facility’s lifecycle. Requirements Management (RM) is a key process in the nuclear industry where compliance with government and industry standards is mandatory. RM encompasses the capture of those regulatory, code and other design statements of how a nuclear design or facility must be implemented, tested, validated, operated, maintained and ultimately decommissioned safely. Periodic reporting is also captured with report specifics. Requirements Management specifically involves summarizing and documenting those regulatory requirements, agreeing upon statements of how those requirements will be met in the implementation being undertaken. The implementation documents specific compliance with the needs of all internal (Engineering, Operations, Safety, Finance, Supply Chain, Licensing, Legal) and external stakeholders. Finally, the RMS itself will be updated as a continuous process throughout the lifecycle management of the facility.
The engineering industry that designs, implements and operates complex systems has demonstrated that using an RMS toolset is key to:
- Complete requirements accountability reflected in the project design
- Reduce or eliminate redesign due to missing requirements
- Improve Stakeholder collaboration that accelerates design schedules
In addition, studies in other engineering disciplines show that:
- Requirement changes are controlled and managed, increasing productivity and reducing project cost and risk
- Requirement compliance is demonstrated by providing requirement validation and complete requirement traceability from the source to the component
How an RMS Works — Using an RMS Toolset
Cameron supports the Requirements Management process with Requirements Management Systems Engineers and nuclear Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) using an RMS toolset. This toolset consists of
- Database computer package optimized for Requirements Management
- Software tools for the Import and Export of MS Word, EXCEL and Adobe PDF files
- A software tool for extracting Requirements statements
- A software tool for building (Parent-Child) relationships between requirements to show fulfillment
- Automated Report Generators
- Note – Cameron internally uses the CORE® RMS software package from Vitech Corporation
Cameron’s Approach
- Start with a Pre-Populated RMS Database of nuclear Industry requirements documents (to the extent agreed upon)
- Tier One – Requirements Documents
- Tier Two – Design Documents
- Tier Three – Reporting Documents
- Cameron and/or Client nuclear SMEs determine Operational & Regulatory documents to be produced
- Cameron (and/or) Client SMEs capture existing client design documents for RMS input
- Cameron Staff analyzes, imports and reviews/finalizes Client design documents, builds RMS Links
- Trial Output Reports are created & validated by nuclear SMEs
- Client and Cameron SMEs continue Requirements & Design Iterations Improvements
- Output Reports are updated and Validated for Use and Submission
Additional notes:
- The RMS can facilitate simulating scenarios over the dynamic lifetime of a nuclear facility
- An RMS can help a team document the relationships among numerous documents, from different authors, and can provide a Glossary of Terms detailing the equivalences – differences between these terms.
- Using the output from Analytical Analyses and the RMS data, it is possible to allocate failure modes and rates to each component and to each operational function, from which the RMS Toolset can then help, perform a Risk Allocation to each. Evaluating the resultant accumulation of risk, this can be fed back to the PRA to confirm or contradict the initial estimation(s).
- There are many departments who would potentially access the RMS Database (DB) frequently: Design, QA, Maintenance, Operations, Legal, Manufacturing, Supply Chain. RMS can enhance information sharing.
- With the way in which an RMS works, RMS Toolsets can provide Risk Management, Change Management, QA support, Workflow generation, Scheduling.
- RMS can greatly assist in automatic drafting reports.
- An RMS is innovative, this tool having been developed from the NASA, Aerospace, INCOSE, DOD world.
Cameron’s Capabilities
Cameron provides a combination of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), both nuclear and systems, with the right tools and the best support methods to further our Clients’ success in their own environments. We bring the correct, integrated package to the Client and tailor the requirements management effort to our Clients’ desires.
Cameron has undertaken the development of a Requirements Management System (RMS) tailored for the support of nuclear design, operations and maintenance. We continue to build the repository of nuclear industry requirements documents within this RMS database which resides in our CORE® RMS software toolset.
We are developing the nuclear RMS process and roadmap so that we can make a complete nuclear lifecycle package available from Design, Design Certification, Procurement, Site Construction, Delivery, Start-up Testing, Operations & Maintenance, Safety, Training, Upgrades and Decommissioning with Compliance Reporting at every stage. This is a work-in-progress, as Cameron is adding more industry documents, reports and staff experts to enhance and add to the RMS database every month.
Summary
- The objective of The Cameron Group RMS process is to reduce client design costs and control client project risks.
- Cameron provides the right combination of nuclear and systems Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), the right tools and the best support methods to further our Clients’ success in their own environments.
- Outsourcing the RMS task to Cameron avoids a major in-house development and puts Nuclear SME ‘eyes’ on each regulatory and design requirement and solution.
- The value proposition – We provide this service at a very attractive, hourly rate. We cover the in-house development costs, the seat licenses, and the training for your engineers and our SMEs from our overhead. We look forward to working with you on this project.
Please email cameronconsults@comcast.net with questions or for more information.
The Cameron Group, Inc. 