Complex programmes run on information that has to hold for decades.
New build programmes, defence enterprises and decommissioning sites commission this work where thousands of people, hundreds of suppliers and decades of records have to stay aligned, and where the output has to satisfy a regulator. Digital and systems is NCL’s largest consultant group: configuration and PLM specialists, information and data architects, systems engineers and AI architects who have done this on the largest programmes in the United Kingdom. Products built on these methods reach the market through Atomeris.
What the practice covers
Business process and ways of workingProcesses designed for digital delivery, and adoptedTechnical and systems integrationEngineering, procurement, construction and commissioning systems made to work as oneConfiguration managementKnowing what the plant is, as designed, as built and as modifiedInformation managementRecords that carry regulatory weight and survive decadesData and analyticsA single source of truth, and the insight drawn from that sourceDigital tools and AIPLM, digital twins, automation and AI where the output has to be assured
Business process and ways of working
Processes designed for digital delivery, and adopted
Process design for programmes moving to digital, data-centric working: commissioning arrangements, change control and handover processes built from first principles, and the adoption work that decides whether a new way of working is used or shelved.
ExampleCommissioning arrangements, test package and handover processes designed and owned for a new reactor programme moving to data-centric working.
Technical and systems integration
Engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning systems made to work as one
Integration of the functional systems a complex programme runs on into a single trusted source of information, with the interfaces, business analysis and IT pipeline that keep them aligned as the programme moves.
ExampleFunctional systems integrated into a single trusted information source on a major capital programme, with a business analysis function established to sustain the result.
Configuration management
Knowing what the plant is, as designed, as built and as modified
Configuration governance, baselines, effectivity and change control for new build, defence and legacy programmes, to ISO 10007, EIA-649 and the defence standards.
ExampleThe configuration management foundation for the intelligent replication of an EPR design baseline, reviewed against ISO 10007 and IAEA guidance.
Information management
Records that carry regulatory weight and survive decades
Information architecture, asset information strategy to ISO 55000, records and retention, and the traceability a regulator will ask for years after the people who created the records have gone.
ExampleAsset information strategy and enterprise, solution and data architecture across defence support programmes.
Data and analytics
A single source of truth, and the insight drawn from that source
Data strategy, data management and analytics for regulated programmes: turning raw programme, plant and reactor data into evidence and decisions, with foresight and decision science where the question is what comes next.
ExampleIn-service reactor data management leadership within a defence nuclear programme, and analytics turning raw data into decisions for energy and government clients.
Digital tools and AI
PLM, digital twins, automation and AI where the output has to be assured
PLM and ERP platforms, digital commissioning solutions, digital twins, process automation, and secure enterprise AI with the governance and guardrails an assurance case needs before AI is relied upon.
ExampleFirst-of-a-kind digital commissioning solutions for a new build programme, and a proposed proof of concept using AI and document intelligence to structure a safety case written across decades.
Case studyTechnical leadership of a £100m digital transformationThe commissioning programme on the UK’s first new build in a generation had to move from first-of-a-kind activities to bulk commissioning while adopting fully digital, data-centric working. NCL supplied technical leadership across configuration, change control, digital intelligent customer and independent review functions within a £100m digital transformation, sustained for more than ten years.
Leading the practice
Practice director Alfred Power
A service director is accountable for the standard of every deliverable in this practice and for the people who produce them. The consulting partner who takes an assignment stays with the client for the life of the work, and draws on this practice and the others around it as the assignment requires.
Projects and programmesRelated practiceSafety, regulation and assuranceRelated practiceAtomerisStructured learning and digital products, from NCL’s sister company