Documents within the standards suite are continuously monitored and, where necessary, reviewed to ensure they are compatible with National Grid’s requirement to operate a safe and efficient transmission network. The standard’s documents include procedures for the maintenance of gas transmission and distribution equipment, standards for civil and structural engineering works, validation of measurement systems, major accident prevention policies, and documentation and audit requirements.
As well as referencing each other, these documents also reference standards, technical documents and regulations from external bodies such as the UK government, British Standards Institute (BSI), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Institute of Gas Engineers and Managers (IGEM). Each National Grid document can contain up to 200 references to other documents.
A majority of the standards reference other documents and currently there is no convenient method to readily determine the interlinking of these standards. This has the potential for documents to be reviewed in isolation resulting in inconsistency and gaps within the standards suite. The programme proposes an innovative use of the metadata tables to enable reference mapping of a series of documents. The technique has been used for medical and legal journals but no specific standards application has been found. National Grid is considered the first major utility to engage in the development of a specific referencing mapping application.
The development of a desktop Standards Mapping Tool (SMT) will present the reference inter-relationship between standards, resulting in a more holistic approach to standard management.
Benefits
The ability to readily determine the reference inter-relationship of standards to improve document management efficiency, thereby enhancing the efficacy of the review process.
