Success Stories

ORAU’s Training Analysis Tool Tracks Compliance and Corrective Action

In 2006, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) customized the structure of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) events tracking system and NA-42 Asset Readiness Management System (ARMS) databases.

The goal: to create a master database framework for the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) sites in order to track compliance with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and resolution of corrective actions.

Subsequently, ORAU enhanced the system’s scope of functionality and ease of navigation to provide CSEPP with an Exercise and Training Analysis Tool (CETAT) that improves the training and exercise effectiveness of the CSEPP sites and their respective community response partners.

CETAT’s analytical capabilities include:

• Tracking of CSEPP findings and observations by Emergency Response Outcome
• Disaggregating after-action report data to permit delving into facets of a problem or issue
• Revealing additional aspects to issues commonly assumed to be single-focused
• Identifying NIMS-related issues (e.g., incident command and information sharing)
• Examining trends relating to functional procedures (e.g., decontamination)
• Identifying recommended training solutions by site and across the CSEPP community

The tool identifies ways to modify training to better meet exercise and response needs, and also:

• Promotes information sharing with response partners to enhance their respective training programs and, in turn, improve the effectiveness of the response partnership
• Provides background information for controller assignments
• Identifies and prioritizes training issues by individual sites and across the CSEPP community
• Identifies components to add to procedure and position checklists for job aids
• Enables integrated planning teams to use each site’s historical exercise record in planning future exercises
• Allows staff to better manage past and future exercise data