RailDOCS Mobile, Configuration Management

Introduction to Configuration Management:

The terms "configuration management" and "configuration control" are used interchangeably, and in many circles, with greatly varying meanings depending on context. In general, these terms describe the management of safety and security features and assurances through control of changes made to hardware, software, firmware, documentation, test, test fixtures, and test documentation of an automated system, throughout the development and operational life of that system. A deep dive into general definitions of configuration management is outside the scope of this reading, but some references are provided at the end of this page for those interested in more information.

49 CFR 236.18, 49 CFR 236 Subpart H, and the Need for Configuration Management:

In mid-2005, new FRA rules went into effect related to configuration management of certain railroad assets. The rules are 49 CFR Part 236.18 and 49 CFR Subpart H (see references), and are better known to the rail industry as the "Configuration Management" rules. The FRA describes 49 CFR 236 Subpart H as intended to "promote the safe operation of processor-based signal and train control systems, subsystems, and components that are safety-critical products." 49 CFR 236 Subpart H "prescribes minimum, performance-based safety standards for safety-critical products, including requirements to ensure that the development, installation, implementation, inspection, testing, operation, maintenance, repair, and modification of those products will achieve and maintain an acceptable level of safety. Each railroad may prescribe additional or more stringent rules, and other special instructions, that are not inconsistent with this subpart."

For several years leading up to, and since the finalization of 49 CFR Part 236.18 and 49 CFR Subpart H, 10East Corp. has been building a configuration management system to address these new realities. 10East's configuration management system is built upon the tried-and-true foundations of RailDOCS and the RailDOCS Mobile Business Platform.

Configuration Management Can Provide Real Return on Investment:

Today, on most railroads, a need to know how many of a given product, and where each is in the infrastructure, forces a request to find and report on that product, down through the entire labor pool. This is immensely inefficient and labor intensive. Configuration management deployed on RailDOCS Mobile enables field workers to always maintain a current and accurate inventory of the hardware they depend on, facilitating planning and management of that infrastructure in proactive ways. When a service bulletin is issued, our customers understand immediately how they will be effected, and know every location effected. 10East customers can begin managing their remediation right away, giving them both a competitive and safety edge.

FRA's configuration management requirements are meant to enhance safety, and therefore do not address broader railroad operational issues like the example just discussed. Because of 10East's deep understanding of the rail industry, and our commitment to providing real value to our customers, 10East's definition of "Configuration Management" addresses not only the FRA minimum requirements, but also broader requirements for building a better and more efficient railroad.

The RailDOCS Configuration Management System is tailored to the railroad industry, tightly integrated with the RailDOCS Mobile FRA Testing and Inspections Platform, and ready to deploy today.

Configuration Management Validation:

Every individual signal location started out as an engineering effort, representing the "intent". Safety is a key component of the engineering effort, so it is important to ensure the original intent was instituted, as well as maintained throughout the entire life cycle. To accomplish this, the engineered solution (represented by drawings, application level software, etc.) is validated against the physical installation. Once verified, it is important to document modifications that are made throughout the life cycle. This means that process changes must ensure maintenance activities are captured and documented within CM. To ensure that the maintenance processes are being properly documented in the CM system, it is also wise to instate an audit process (also natively supported by RailDOCS) to provide some level of verification on a regular basis.

There are many good ways to accomplish CM Validation, and 10East has engineered two of the very best and most practical approaches into its CM system.

The first is called POP (Point of Presence) Validation, and depends upon verification of all maintenance activities (after the initial CM validation has been accomplished). It relies upon the fact that engineering has officially published the "plans of record" that were used to construct the location and are used by the maintenance forces to ensure the intent is maintained. Since most maintainers are responsible for maintaining the integrity of a location against the intent of the plans already, this only adds the burden of documenting changes as they are made. POP Validation is a very natural and common sense approach to CM Validation, and is likely to be the most widely adopted approach.

The second form of validation supported by RailDOCS is called Double Blind Validation. This consists of a two stage verification process where one stage is nothing more than POP Validation, while the other stage provides independent validation of the documented engineering intent. Once these two independent data validations have been accomplished (both supported by RailDOCS), then they are processed against each other for inconsistencies. RailDOCS identifies, reports, and manages any inconsistencies. This approach provides a higher level of "comfort" in the validation process; however, it is more labor intensive.

Each customer must weigh the costs and benefits of the varying approaches and determine the most appropriate course of action for their own organization.

More Details:

More details on the major components of the RailDOCS Configuration Management System, and how they work together, can be found in the Configuration Management System Details page.

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