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POLICY ISSUE
INFORMATION

SECY-07-0026

February 5, 2007

• PURPOSE
• BACKGROUND
• DISCUSSION
• COORDINATION

PURPOSE:

To provide an update on accomplishments related to the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) during the period July through December 2006 and to report on current initiatives.

BACKGROUND:

This is the sixth ADAMS semi-annual report and it covers the last six months of 2006. The report uses the "ADAMS Quality Measures and Value Statements" framework, Enclosure 1 , to provide the status of progress on ADAMS initiatives. The framework is based on 13 measures of quality grouped into four key ADAMS components that contribute value to the staff and members of the public who use the system. Improving ADAMS based on these components enhances the usefulness of ADAMS and thereby increases the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the agency's mission.

DISCUSSION:

The main areas of activity during this reporting period are presented chronologically below with a brief description of each. The "ADAMS Program Initiatives Progress Report," Enclosure 2 , describes all of the activities during this reporting period.

(1) ADAMS Release 4.3.2.b.

The deployment of ADAMS Release 4.3.2.b, was completed in August 2006. The specific changes associated with this release are described in Enclosure 3 . These improvements were associated with the servers and enhanced performance and added capabilities and were transparent at the user's desktop.

(2) ADAMS Release 4.3.2.c.

The deployment of ADAMS Release 4.3.2.c, was completed in October 2006. The specific changes associated with this release are described in Enclosure 4 . These changes were also limited to the servers and the Document Processing Center and were transparent to users.

(3) Next Generation ADAMS Project Progress

By deploying the next generation of ADAMS, the staff will improve the existing NRC ADAMS environment with a completely web-based interface, intuitive and powerful search tools for locating documents and information, and better integration with office automation tools to allow NRC to leverage the benefits of an enterprise document management system for improved business processes. As a guiding principle for the next generation ADAMS, staff will replace as much custom programming as possible with the "off-the-shelf" capabilities of underlying vendor products. This should reduce the cost of maintaining ADAMS and make it easier to upgrade when vendors release newer versions of their products.

During the second half of 2006, the staff:

a. Reviewed cost projections in light of new information;

b. Completed work on the next generation ADAMS System Requirements Specification;

c. Completed the search tool evaluation and recommended that NRC not upgrade at this time because moving to a new search tool would not bring additional benefits unless done as part of an enterprise effort that includes documents stored in other repositories in addition to ADAMS; and

d. Revised the project schedule which now starts the business case in quarter 3 FY2007. The schedule is now being vetted with the Division of Contracts since it involves procurement activities.

(4) New Customization to Support E-Filings

A new document class was added to ADAMS, "Electronic Information Exchange (EIE) Auto-populate," along with an automated process of adding and profiling these documents into the ADAMS repository. This new capability was originally intended to ensure NRC could meet High Level Waste (HLW) service level requirements and will now also be used to address the required service levels needed during new reactor pre-hearing activities for early site permits, design certifications and combined licensing reviews.

The information technology/information management (IT/IM) improvements recently implemented to support the adjudicatory process are being utilized in a pilot during the adjudicatory proceeding for the Vogtle Early Site Permit (ESP) that began in December 2006. These improvements provide for electronic filing, review, and distribution of adjudicatory documents. The pilot is being evaluated to identify adjustments to the process and IT/IM components. Once staff and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) are satisfied that the system is functioning, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) will submit to the Commission a draft final E-Filing rule. The rule will require participants from NRC adjudications to submit their documents electronically.

(5) The Ability to Add, Open, Check-in, and Cancel the Check-out of Documents to ADAMS Through Microsoft (MS) Word

Following the direction to move towards having the Microsoft Office suite as the agency standard, the ADAMS team incorporated the same capabilities currently available in Corel's WordPerfect: adding, opening and checking in and out documents, into MS Word. The purpose of this change was to allow staff to have the same capabilities for both applications. Future upgrades may include incorporating ADAMS functions into the other Microsoft applications.

(6) Support for New Reactors

A number of projects are underway to provide technology and services to meet program time lines. The Office of Information Services (OIS) is supporting the new reactor license review process through customization that allows the mass loading and profiling of documents submitted on compact disks. The mass loading and profiling will be accomplished through the use of an automated mechanism that will ensure the integrity of the submitted documents and their relationship with other related information. As the agency prepares to conduct the review and adjudicatory processes associated with new reactor licensing, OIS is coordinating closely with the offices to define and document requirements and service levels in advance of the anticipated ESP and Combined Operating License (COL) applications. Significant progress has been accomplished in partnership with the Office of New Reactors (NRO) and the industry to streamline the process for electronic receipt and online review of COL applications. We have achieved alignment with all of the stakeholders concerning how a COL will be formatted, packaged, and submitted to the NRC. The design of the information technology components that will support the process improvements is progressing on schedule. Project completion is planned for July 2007. OIS has designated a lead project manager responsible for coordinating the office's efforts. OIS continues to review the IT/IM infrastructure and coordinate improvements with NRO and other offices.

Beginning with the seventh semi-annual report, the staff intends to shift the emphasis of this report from the current ADAMS steady state activities, which are considered to be maintenance rather than development activities, to progress made and status on the next generation of ADAMS.

COORDINATION:

This paper has no resource implications and has, therefore, not been reviewed by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The Office of the General Counsel has no legal objections.

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007