Electronic Procedure Verification and Workflow Management System

Procedures play a large role in successfully testing and operating complex equipment. They provide step-by-step instructions for system check-out, experimental set-up, test plans, and responding to off-nominal situations. They also provide an electronic record of all test activities. As NASA moves away from traditional paper procedures to more flexible electronic procedures, there is an opportunity for a more flexible and efficient electronic procedure review, approval, verification, and publishing process. The existing process, both at NASA and in commercial companies, is based on routing Microsoft Word documents with "track changes" turned on and obtaining physical signatures on cover pages. This process does not take advantage of new developments in on-line collaboration (e.g., systems like Google Docs) nor developments in automated verification of structured documents. The traditional procedure change management process also does not integrate with electronic procedure platforms creating silos of information. This proposed work will build an innovative change management system for electronic procedures. This system will automatically route new or changed procedures via web servers to reviewers, collect comments and revisions for display back to the procedure author, show the changes from one version of the procedure to the next, perform automated procedure verification, and keep an audit trail from procedure development through procedure publication. A simple interface that allows "one click" automated verification and publishing of a new or revised procedure once all approvals have been given would greatly increase the usefulness of electronic procedures in test environments.

TRACLabs will continue to work with the Air Volt project at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in deploying and supporting PRIDE for test procedure execution. As PRIDE extends to other projects at AFRC, a fully-capable change management system will be a requirement. We are also working with NASA JSC on using PRIDE for Extra-vehicular Activities (EVAs) and Visiting Vehicle Officer (VVO) activities. We are also exploring applications to operations at NASA Ames Research Center including the Astrobee robot on ISS.

TRACLabs is working with oil and gas companies in deploying PRIDE in their world-wide operations. These companies have expressed explicit interest in this project. TRACLabs is also working with chemical manufactures in deploying PRIDE for their world-wide operations. TRACLabs is working with several commercial space companies who are licensing PRIDE for their operations.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.