Violation Security Level Pro Forma

Related Files

Status:
The Standards Committee directed NERC staff to solicit Regional staff to work on the VSL Pro Forma proposal and bring the project to a close.  Currently, the team is working on an alternative approach which is considerably different from the original one. The team expects to present a final proposal to the Standards Committee, tentatively in April 2012.

 Purpose/Industry Need:
A Violation Severity Level or VSL assigned to each Reliability Standard requirement takes considerable time to develop by Standards Drafting Team members.  VSLs have many different permutations (i.e., number of sub-requirements, the variation or amount of action required, conditional situations, etc.).  It is difficult for SDTs to conceive every possible combination of potential violations, but more importantly create a practical measurement, which is applicable to all entities and circumstances. 

The goal of the pro forma is to 1) provide a general set of VSLs to apply to new and revised standards; 2) to simplify and expedite the standards drafting process, and 3) not disrupt the compliance and enforcement processes already in place.