Approvals - Overview

Let us start by reviewing why, what, and how we want to Approve./v2024-3/docs/approvals-introduction#approval-levels

Purpose of Program Security

The inspection records work is extremely important, and appropriate security of the data must be maintained. The first level of security in IMS is the control to access to the program. This is done by controlling Logon ID’s and passwords. The user should never give their Logon ID or password to others. Also, you should never leave IMS running while you are away from your computer.

An additional level of security is provided in IMS for the most important records activities. These critical activities must be approved by someone with the right approval authority. Your IMS administrator will assign approval authority in IMS.

What to Approve

IMS is about identifying when and what to inspect on static / pressure Equipment and to have an audit trail of the results of these inspections. In w-IMS, this is defined in an inspection or repair Schedule. The results of the inspection are captured in the Equipment Condition History (ECH). A user checks which Schedules are due, then go into the unit and perform the inspection, opens IMS to capture the inspection results in the ECH of the Equipment where the user can also credit the Schedule that was due and thereby set a new due date for future inspections.

Such critical activities will be approved by a user with sufficient Approval Privileges. Approval of inspection intervals and strategies and all changes of them in IMS should be administered in IMS to only allow those with a competency level approved by PEI Management. The site should maintain a list of competent people allowed to Approve inspection intervals and strategies. PEI Management should also review the people competencies regularly, at least once every 2 years is recommended.

The Approval of activities (e.g. ECHs, Schedules) results in an Event. All Events that needs Approval from an authorized user are:

• Equipment Condition History (ECH)
• Corrosion Calculation Summary
• Create or Edit Inspection Schedule/Scope
• Credit an Inspection Schedule/Scope
• Change an Inspection Interval
• Extend/defer a Schedule
• Create or Edit an Event

Some program changes associated with Circuits and CMLs do not in themselves require Approval, but the change causes the Corrosion calculations to be “ReCalculated”. These Recalcs must be Approved.

The other articles in the IMS Approval Category aim to clarify the role of the Events and inspection functions, the Approval statuses, and the Approval process for these critical activities.

Approval Levels

In IMS, each primary user has “Write” authority, but only certain individuals have the authority to take these Events to Final Approval. Each IMS user is assigned an Approval Level (none, 1 or 2) for each processing unit. The Approval level is assigned in the Security Settings. The assigned Approval Level for individuals is based on their responsibilities. (See Approval Privileges.)

To reach Final Approval, all Events require someone with a Level 2 Approval Level to approve the event. The table below shows the statuses available for all Events in IMS.

Approval Statuses

Approval Statuses and Approval History

For Events that need to be Approved, it’s important for the user to know the Status of an event. The Status of the event describes where this event is at in the Approval process. For example, a Status called "Draft" means: “The data has been Saved but has not been Approved.” The user may want to add more data later, or it needs to be reviewed by another user.

On each Event window, there is an Approval section where you can view the event’s current Status. Below an Approval Section is shown. This Approval Status data field and buttons work the same in all Events windows (E.g. Calc Summary, Edit Schedule, etc.). The fields shown in this Approval section are explained in the table below.

The Approval Status data field and associated buttons.

All changes in Approval Statuses of the Approved objects (e.g. Schedule, ECH) will be saved in the Approval History. The Approval History can be viewed, by clicking on the calendar icon (see in above picture). The Status can also be seen in the Menu lists (see picture below).

The Approval Status is shown in the Schedules list and other lists.

The following table lists the fields in the Approval Section (see first picture above):

*Note: Editable fields can only be edited when Approval Status is "DRAFT", or "WRITER APPROVED."