The RAMS ToolKit (RAMSTK), Reliability, Safety Analysis, and
Risk Assessment Software and Tools, Linux

The RAMS ToolKit (RAMSTK)

Features

RAMSTK is available for Linux and Windows .

There is no such things as a "one-size fits all" reliability program or process. Every organization needs to have a process that fits best with their corporate culture and their industry. However, there are certain methods and analyses common to all successful reliability programs. RAMSTK supports many of these popular analyses and more functionality is added with every release. Many existing RAMSTK features are discussed on this page.

RAMSTK is layed out in three windows. Each of these windows is referred to as a Book. There is a Module Book, a Work Book, and a List & Matrices Book. The Module Book allows the selection of one of the five RAMSTK modules. Lists and matrices associated with the selected module are found in the List Book. The attributes of the selected item in the Module Book can be viewed and edited in the Work Book.

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Modularity

As mentioned above, RAMSTK consists of modules. A module represents a characteristic of a system or an aspect of the development program. Each module provides a different view of the system under development. RAMSTK consists of five modules. These five modules are:

  • Revision
  • Function
  • Requirement
  • Hardware
  • Verification & Validation

Modules are accessed via the RAMSTK Module Book. These modules are discussed in greater detail in the side pane.

Attributes

Each RAMSTK module has various attributes. The number of attributes, as well as the content of each attribute, varies with each RAMSTK module. Attributes can be anything from the name of a revision, the failure rate of a hardware assembly, or the failure mode of a function.

Attributes are primarily accessed through the RAMSTK Work Book.

Customization

Many aspects of RAMSTK are user-configurable. Users have some control over the look and feel of the user interface such as the position of the tabs in the various notebooks. The column headings in the various spreadsheet-type views can be set by the user if the default headings don't meet their needs. For example, the column headings in the FMEA use typical MIL-STD-1629A or J1739 terminology. These headings can be changed by the user to reflect the terminology used by their organization. Items in many of the drop down lists can be deleted, edited, or appended by users with administrator credentials.

Customization beyond this can be performed by ReliaQual Associates, LLC. Just contact us with your customization needs and we'll provide a proposal.

The RAMSTK Modules

Revision

The Revision module is used to document and analyze different revisions or configurations of a system. For example, a revision could be a model year, a change to an existing system, or a configuration that includes optional features.

Requirements

Requirements for a configuration are documented and analyzed in the Requirements module. Documentation of a revision's requirements begins with the elicitation of stakeholder inputs. Once stakeholder inputs are captured, requirements can be developed and written in engineering terminology. These requirements can then be analyzed for clarity, completeness, consistency, and verifiability. Finally, those tasks that will be used to validate the design can be linked to each requirement.

Function

The Function module documents and analyzes the functions of a system. Functional analysis is important during conceptual design before hardware details are defined. As the development program progresses and hardware becomes defined, the Function module allows the relationships between hardware assemblies and functions to be visualized.

Hardware

Analysis of the system hardware is performed in the Hardware module. Available analyses include reliability allocations, hazards analysis, similar item analysis,handbook reliability predictions, and FMEA. The FMEA supports MIL-STD-1629A and automotive style (RPN) criticality analysis.

Verification & Validation

Verification and validation tasks are those analyses and tests used to verify and validate the design satisfies program requirements. These tasks can be linked to the requirement to be verified and validated in the Requirements module. Within the Verification & Validation module, the overall progress of the validation program is tracked.