A two-year review of an on-line accountability system

In November 1980, Westinghouse Hanford Company installed the initial version of the Safeguards Active Response Inventory System (SARIS). It was designed as an advanced accountability system to meet the needs of process, safeguards, criticality, safety, and inventory control. A single database translates information about a quantity of nuclear material into the language used by process operators or accountants. Modifications made through functions that model the process automatically generate changes in nuclear material reports, including input of transactions to the NMMSS system at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. During the past two years, the user attitude about SARIS has improved, largely due to the changes implemented in four major additions. Problems encountered during development include: obtaining accurate and complete data to load the database, slow computer response, insufficient communication between users and developers, insufficient training of users before system implementation, and functions that did not exactly meet the user's needs. The benefits of SARIS have included: consistency in data reporting, fewer errors due to immediate resolution of discrepancies, a standardized audit trail, and elimination of manual methods. The most important improvement is a reporting scheme that enables rapid conduction and reconciliation of physical inventories