Frequently Asked Questions cont'd

DOE-HDBK-1148-2002

assumptions serves to address issues of feasibility in going from the pre-WSS situation

of the organization to a post-Process state of WSS conformance. As stated in Chapter

III of the Manual, "Planning and performing work in accordance with the approved set of

standards requires an adequate system for managing the work." Properly developed

WSS sets will document assumptions about the specific "system for managing the work"

into which the care and implementation of the new standards set will be entrusted. Such

documentation serves primarily to inform those within that "system" what considerations

the Process applications had in mind when settling to closure on a particular WSS set.

During Process Element 5: Confirming the Necessary and Sufficient Set of Standards,

the Confirmation Team examines how well the Convened Group and the Identification

Team in working to closure on the proposed WSS set have anticipated and addressed

the conditions in the receiving (i.e. implementing) organization. This is done to provide

the Approval Parties assurance that the existing "system for managing the work" can

"get there" (to WSS conformance) "from here" (the prevailing condition of the

organization). It is critical to recognize that, as with the "adequacy" of protection test, the

Confirmation Team is not expected to develop a fully independent assessment of

"feasibility." Rather the evidence of feasibility should come primarily from the

documented work of the Convened Group and the Identification Team to assure that the

WSS set is understandable both in terms of protection and its context for

implementation. This point simply restates the recognition that a WSS set must address

both technical and management considerations and takes it one step further by requiring

that the managerial aspects of the proposed set be grounded in the specific local

conditions of an existing management system.

As with adequacy confirmation, there can be no explicit limits upon the ability of the

Confirmation Team to assess the credibility of the implementing assumptions and other

elements of the set that address feasibility for implementation. The Convened Group

and Identification Team will necessarily apply some presumed effectiveness of the

receiving management system's ability to take the WSS set and then develop the

needed system or upgrade the existing management system to the new set of

standards. To the extent that documentation of the Process application makes clear

what was assumed about the management system; what level of capability was

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