System is a set of subsystems that perform a mainfunction
in the plant (e.g., generate el. power, supply steam). The gas
compression system on an offshore gas production platform
may for example be considered as a system. Note that the
compression system may consist of several compressors
with a high degree of redundancy. Redundant units performing
the same main function should be included in the
same system.
The system level is recommended as the starting point for
the RCM analysis5*9. This means that on an offshore oil/gas
platform the starting point of the analysis should for
example be the gas compression system, and not the
whole platform.
The systems may be broken down into subsystems, and
subsubsystems, etc. For the purpose of the RCM analysis,
the lowest level of the hierarchy will be the so-called
analysis items: