Appendix I-B Background Material and Concepts for Operational Configuration Management

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This appendix provides background material and concepts to establish the proper context in which this

Standard should be understood. The additional information provided here is intended to help managers

(and others who want a broad overview of operational CM) understand the background behind this

technical standard. This appendix also describes the context in which to apply the concepts of

operational CM discussed in this Standard.

This guidance was developed to address weaknesses known to exist at DOE nuclear facilities, as

confirmed by occurrence reports, Tiger Team assessments, and other external reviews. The main

existing source of DOE configuration management requirements, DOE 4700.1, Project Management

System, addresses design and procurement configuration control (similar to the DOD/NASA model) in a

general manner. These existing requirements are not consistently implemented and are viewed by many

DOE contractors to be applicable only during the design and construction phase. Because of

uncertainty in the congruence of design requirements, facility physical configuration, and facility

documentation, DOE contractors have found that accurate and complete information is not always

available to make decisions related to design, operations, and safety evaluations. The Defense Nuclear

Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) has also reviewed configuration management practices in the DOE

complex and recommended improvements to enhance safety.

The development of this Standard was based on a technical feasibility study. The study included:

review of information on configuration management from the Department of Defense (DOD), the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC),

the Nuclear Management Resources Council (NUMARC), and the commercial nuclear industry;

interviews with licensed commercial nuclear utilities and DOE contractors; review of nuclear utility

configuration management programs and procedures; and consideration of the status of configuration

management experience at DOE nuclear facilities. The study established the basis for a technically

appropriate and feasible approach for operational CM programs at DOE facilities. Although developed

for nuclear facilities, this Standard can be adapted and applied to non-nuclear applications and provides

information that may be useful for other processes, activities, and programs.

One of the models of configuration management with which many professionals in the DOE Complex

are aware is that used by both DOD and NASA. Discussion and consideration of this model helped in

the development of the functional model of operational configuration management described in this

Standard. Although the DOD/NASA model and its terminology were not used directly in the functional

model of operational configuration management, the philosophy and many of the basic concepts are

similar. For example, the basic program elements of the DOD/NASA model (configuration identification,

configuration control, configuration audits, and status accounting) generally can be correlated to the

basic elements of the DOE operational configuration management program model: configuration

identification correlates to the design requirements element; configuration control correlates to the

change control element; configuration audits correlates to the assessments element; and status

accounting correlates to the document control element.

The DOD/NASA model of configuration management is strongly oriented toward the configuration

management challenges that arise during the design, procurement, and acquisition phases of a project,

rather than those that predominate during the operational phase. This orientation makes its difficult to

apply the DOD/NASA model to configuration management of DOE facilities during their operational

phase because many of the challenges are quite different in nature and extent. Further, the

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