Assessment - doe-std-1073-20030074

DOE-STD-1073-2003

Configuration Management

7 ASSESSMENT

The quality assurance criteria of 10 CFR Part 830, Subpart A, require DOE contractors

for nuclear facilities (including activities and operations) to assess management processes

and measure the adequacy of work performance. Furthermore, the assessment criteria

require that the persons performing the assessments:

have sufficient authority and freedom from line management and

are qualified to perform the assessments.

The maintenance criteria of DOE O 433.1 also require periodic assessments to verify the

condition of systems and equipment.

This chapter discusses four different types of assessments that can be performed to

determine the effectiveness of different aspects of the configuration management process

(see section 7.1). Periodic assessments help ensure that work processes continue to

function properly or problems are identified, root causes are determined, and problems

are corrected. This chapter provides guidance on performing assessments directly related

to configuration management. While contractors may perform these assessments of the

configuration management process separate from other assessments, it may be more

efficient to combine these assessments with other periodic assessments of the activity.

All or part of the assessment of the adequacy of configuration management for an activity

may be integrated into broader management and performance assessments, such as

quality assurance, maintenance, or integrated safety management assessments. If the

contractor decides to fold the assessment of configuration management into a broader

assessment, it must consider the criteria in this chapter when developing the assessment

criteria for the broader assessment.

7.1

Assessment Objectives

The objective of assessing configuration management is to detect, document, determine

the cause of, and initiate correction of inconsistencies among design requirements,

documentation, and physical configuration. Properly performed assessments should help

identify inconsistencies between these areas, evaluate the root causes for these problems,

and prescribe improvements to avoid similar inconsistencies in the future.

The five specific types of assessments discussed in this chapter are:

Construction assessments, which are performed to ensure configuration is

managed throughout the construction process for new construction or major

modifications.

7-1