A New Naming Convention Emerges for RBDMS Applications

Over the last few years a new naming convention for RBDMS applications has emerged.  A number of RBDMS web applications now have the STAR acronym in their name. This acronym was first used in California’s implementation of RBDMS 3.0 (WellSTAR) and stands for Statewide Tracking and Reporting.

When the first member states came together over 25 years ago to develop an Access database to manage Underground Injection Control (UIC) and other oil and gas regulatory data, they named it RBDMS, which stands for Risk Based Data Management System. As the suite of RBDMS applications grew over time, new names were needed for new applications. Just like Microsoft Office is the overarching name for a suite of applications (Word, Excel, etc.), RBDMS is the overarching name for its application suite (Explorer, Wellbore, Seismic, etc).

Each state decides what to call its implementation of the main RBDMS application, RBDMS Core. California was the first state to implement RBDMS 3.0, the web version of RBDMS Core. They named their implementation WellSTAR. Both North Dakota and Texas are implementing RBDMS 3.0. Their applications are NorthSTAR and LoneSTAR, respectively. Michigan is the first state to implement RBDMS 3.0 Lite, a lightweight version of RBDMS 3.0. Their implementation is called MiSTAR. WaterSTAR is the new version of what used to be called RBDMS Environmental. As more states implement RBDMS web applications, we may see more RBDMS applications with this naming convention.

For questions about RBDMS, contact GWPC (Paul Jehn, National RBDMS project manager) at pjehn@gwpc.org. RBDMS was developed by GWPC and member states, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. Over 20 states have implemented one or more RBDMS products and have found that RBDMS increases efficiency in mission-critical tasks.