Standard operating procedures are used for testing, checkout, startup, normal operations, emergency operations, workarounds, and shutdown
State-of-the-art is written (paper or PDF) procedures
Written procedures are difficult to maintain
Written procedures do not provide an audit trail of compliance
Written procedures do not catch human error
Written procedures do not provide a path to automation
The Solution
XML schema that represents procedures in a human- and machine-readable format
Authoring tool to easily create and maintain procedures
Translation tools that can provide paper or PDF copy of procedure
Viewer that shows the procedure to the operator, tracks compliance and can be deployed on a variety of platforms
Execution tool that automates procedure execution under strict human supervision
Value Proposition
Efficiency
In maintaining procedures
In executing procedures more quickly
In automating routine operations
Safety
Procedures easily updated and verified
Procedure updates easily distributed
Human error is flagged by the system
Automation can reduce human error
NASA Investment
NASA Mission Control has a goal to move from paper procedures to electronic procedures
TRACLabs is developing the tools required to do this
New International Space Station (ISS) procedures are being authored in our environment using our schema, but then outputted to the current representation
Procedure Authoring
Drag-and-drop authoring environment for standard operating procedures
Ability to add notes, tables, images, figures, etc.
Search features across all procedures
E.g., if a piece of equipment changes the affected procedures can be easily and quickly identified
Procedure Execution
Procedure presented to operator in a human-readable format
Procedure has ties to system sensors and commands
Operator can execute procedure in automated fashion
Operator has complete control over execution process
Complete auditing of all procedure and operator actions
