Project Management 1

1
Project Management (1)

• Understanding the scope up front
• Particularly for upgrade projects
• Understand the sequencing of projects, and have a
  long term vision
• Need flexibility
• Need to consider things outside the control room
  (i.e., holistic view)
• Need to ensure feedback from the right people
• Particularly operators
• Some difficulties in scheduling busy people
• Should there be more of them (expensive)?
• ownership
• How soon?
• As early as possible
• Sell them on the ideas/possibilities

2
Project Management cont. (2)

• Need to look to the future w.r.t. planning for
  obsolescence and change
• Need to ensure that operators have input into
  priority of changes
• Need to ensure continuity
• Need flexibility
• Funding and scheduling
• Need to ensure that each phase has a useful
  deliverable that can be lived with on its own
• Must be able to discontinue a program after each
  project
• Do more while plant is at power outage time is
  limited
• Parallel operation opportunities should be used
  when possible

3
Project Management cont. (3)

• Controlling cost
• Should focus on TCOO (Total Cost of Ownership)?
• Having trained managers manage projects
• Avoid Responsibility without Authority
• Best if the project manager has a say in the
  budget
• Need upper management support
• Need a trained project team
• Need the right resources
• Need stable, dedicated resources
• Many projects are cancelled due to cost overruns
• Strategic alliances with vendors
• Allow for iterations in requirements
• Allow for familiarization time
• Price point needs to be realistic for both groups
• Need long term plan for maintenance
• Get the requirements right
• Control the scope
• Go back to original requirements, rather than
  existing system specs

4
Project Management cont. (4)

• Do more while plant is at power outage time is
  limited
• If redundant, soft displays should show a view
  consistent with the physical devices
• Specific to digital systems
• Engineering is different
• Combination of paradigms (analog, digital)
• More focus on HF
• Different system behaviour serial
• Need to manage tools (e.g., CAD tools)
• Often higher degree of integration required
• Sometimes in a very short period
• Need to focus on long-term configuration
  management
• Ensure that scope includes removal of old
  equipment/cables etc.
• Need to make a decision dont wait for the
  perfect system
• Reuse and share experience for up-front feed
  back, common equipment w.r.t. projects
• IAEA IC database on modernization activities is
  one source
• Database should be grown to include case studies

5
Implementation (1)

• Validation continues into implementation (JD)
• Need good document and configuration management
  for long term maintenance (JD)
• Vendor support needs to be in place early on
• Rationale needs to be captured, not just current
  specs Ref presentation 11
• Constraint need to keep control of a plant,
  even during an outage (JN)
• Need training on new control room devices for
  when they are in place (JN)
• Aggravated by multiple units, with updates
  possibly years apart
• Possible licensing issue with limited training
  simulators, people trained for different
  configurations, etc.
• Timing of updating training simulator (desktop
  and full-scale) needs to be considered may be
  on the critical path
• Need to consider freezing well before changes are
  implemented add to the TOC (RL)
• Test bed needs to be part of every project?
  (YZ)
• Needs to be high-fidelity to ensure no problems
  at the plant
• Good for training of maintenance engineers
• Ref presentation 34

6
Implementation cont. (2)

• How much testing? (MO)
• Guidance on level of testing based on situation
  should be included
• Graded approach
• Functions affected
• Complexity of the change
• Systems affected
• Standards that apply
• Change management and configuration management
  (FD)
• Independent checks
• Audit trail
• Controlled process for updating digital
  documentation in the control room
• Need to include configuration data, documents
  (e.g., alarm sheets or procedures) as well as
  code

7
Implementation cont. (3)

• Handling control rooms that are easier to
  change? (MF)
• What to lock down?
• What should the operators be allowed to
  personalize/customize? (e.g., trending)
• Different levels of security/access
• Need audit trail
• Organize the data workflow, traceability to
  analysis, paper trail for an audit
• Need to track who has access as roles change
• Who owns the data
• Rules for changes on control room systems

8
Implementation cont. (3a)

• Handling control rooms that are easier to
  change? (MF)
• What to lock down?
• Generally all engineering and configuration data
  shall be locked out. Needed access has to
  specifically granted in adequate levels to
  clearly defined roles, eg. Maintenance,
  engineering, system administration.
• Operators and supervisors (shift engineers) shall
  only have access to the operator workplace and
  never to the IC-system or operating system (e.g.
  Windows, UNIX) level
• What should the operators be allowed to
  personalize/customize?
• Operators and supervisors must be able to perform
  all necessary changes to control and monitor the
  plant via the operator workplace (in mimic
  displays, faceplates or specific masks/windows).
  This includes changing of operational setpoints,
  if necessary thresholds or limits and the
  possibility to create ad hoc trend displays by
  means of preconfigured (canned) trend templates.
  Also ad hoc calculations should be possible by
  means of predefined formulas resp. masks.

9
Implementation cont. (3b)

• Handling control rooms that are easier to
  change? (MF)
• Different levels of security/access
• An at least two dimensional access right scheme
  must be implemented, which assigns specific
  access rights (read and/or write) to clear
  defined roles to the different applications and
  system levels. If possible, roles should be
  limited to specific physical work stations, e.g.
  logging in in the operator role should be only
  possible at work stations in the control room
  (operational security), logging in as an engineer
  should be only possible at desigbated engineering
  work stations in secured areas (cyber security).
• Need for audit trail, Need to track who has
  access as roles change
• The IC system should automatically log all
  activities, e.g. operator actions on the
  workplace in the event list / protocol (in
  German Stör- und Schaltprotokoll), configuration
  activities of maintenance personell should be
  logged in a maintenance protokol (if the system
  does not have such a capability a log book
  should be maintained on a specific node of the
  respective IC system)

10
Implementation cont. (3c)

• Handling control rooms that are easier to
  change? (MF)
• Organize the data workflow, traceability to
  analysis, paper trail for an audit
• A clear defined procedure (possibly computer
  supported but not in the IC-system) must be
  established for all modifications on the system
  (base, application, mimics, setpoints other than
  operational setpoints (e.g. tuning constants)
  which influence the
• Rules for changes on control room (resp.
  IC-systems) systems
• Only the assigned roles are to be allowed to do
  the modifications assigned to a role. Acces to
  the system must be in a secure way. In multitrain
  (redundant) safety systems access for chanching
  or downloading data must only be possible to one
  train at a time to avoid CCF. Access to a next
  train shall only be released if the previous
  accessed channel is back in nomal operational
  mode.
• Who owns the data
• The organizational unit which is responsible for
  the correctness and integrity of the data, e.g.
  engineering for engineering and configuration
  data, operation for process data incl. historical
  data etc.