Re-engineering of the IAEA Safeguards Information System

The strategic requirement to access all available safeguards information and all required application functions from any user workstation, and from any safeguards field locations, but also the age, diversity and complexity of the current information system have led Member States and the IAEA to see very clearly the need for and to take the initiative to replace or re-engineer the IAEA Safeguards Information System (ISIS). The requirements of the strengthened and integrated safeguards measures require a level of interconnectivity and a degree of flexibility from the Department’s computer systems, which cannot be met using the existing systems. Following a feasibility study for the redesign of the IAEA Safeguards Information System in 2001, a planning phase was completed at the end of 2002, and a subsequent cost-benefit analysis study was performed in early 2003. Alternatives for a future, more flexible and expandable information architecture, options for a migration strategy to the new systems, and estimates of the cost and duration of the implementation were considered. This work was done under the auspices of the U.S. Support Programme. The paper will describe some of the results of this project so far, and a road map for the next few months, as well as looking at some of the obstacles along that road.