Radiation Sources Regulatory Partnership (RSRP) program sponsored a workshop on the new version of Advanced Regulatory Information System (ARIS v1.5). Held in Yerevan, Armenia, July 16-18, 2013, the workshop was organized by the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center, the developer of the ARIS software. Essential changes in ARIS v1.5 are
- Rewritten code utilizing Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft SQL Server Express and efficiently operating on computers with 64-bit Windows 7 operating system;
- New modular design, where information about users of radiation sources is now in a separate LICENSEE module, which common to both radiation sources accounting module RASOD and AUTHORIZATION module on licenses and permits, there is no longer need for data synchronization;
- Potential to incorporate additional modules (Inspection module for inspection procedures and check list). Module NUCMAT for nuclear materials accounting is in preparation, modules on occupation doses and radioactive wastes were discussed;
- ARIS administrators can easily adopt all ARIS Reports produced in national languages.
The workshop program included detailed presentations on all modules and features of ARIS v1.5 and brief information on modules in preparation. The workshop focused primarily on practical exercises on how to upgrade ARIS to version 1.5; mainly on how to install and uninstall the new version and how to convert the previous database format (MS Access) to the new database format (MS SQL Server Express). Participants represented countries in the Eurasian region that use previous versions of ARIS/RASOD, (e.g. Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). All participants actively practiced installation and usage of ARIS v1.5, including database conversion. In principle, no issues preventing the upgrade were discovered but several comments and requests from participants will facilitate further software improvements. Participants received all workshop presentations, ARIS v1.5 installation package, and Russian manual on a CD. It is expected that participants will be able to install and test the new ARIS v1.5 at their workplaces with actual data, while keeping in parallel the old version. Testing period is planned until beginning of September 2013.