diff --git a/da/ct/dasystem.py b/da/ct/dasystem.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fa793538ccf4cffa10a143d62c3658f1a9ddfa61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/da/ct/dasystem.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# control.py
+
+"""
+Author : peters 
+
+Revision History:
+File created on 26 Aug 2010.
+
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+import logging
+import datetime
+
+################### Begin Class DaSystem ###################
+
+class DaSystem(object):
+    """ Information on the data assimilation system used. This is normally an rc-file with settings.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self,rcfilename):
+        """
+        Initialization occurs from passed rc-file name
+        """
+
+        self.LoadRc(rcfilename)
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        """
+        String representation of a DaInfo object
+        """
+
+        msg = "==============================================================="    ; print msg
+        msg = "DA System Info rc-file is %s" % self.RcFileName                                ; print msg
+        msg = "==============================================================="    ; print msg
+
+        return ""
+
+
+    def LoadRc(self,RcFileName):
+        """ 
+        This method loads a DA System Info rc-file with settings for this simulation 
+        """
+        import da.tools.rc as rc 
+
+        self.da_settings    = rc.read(RcFileName)
+        self.RcFileName     = RcFileName
+        self.DaRcLoaded    = True
+
+        msg                 = 'DA System Info rc-file (%s) loaded successfully'%self.RcFileName ; logging.info(msg)
+
+        return True
+
+
+    def Validate(self, needed_rc_items):
+        """ 
+        Validate the contents of the rc-file given a dictionary of required keys
+        """
+
+        for k,v in self.da_settings.iteritems():
+            if v == 'True' : self.da_settings[k] = True
+            if v == 'False': self.da_settings[k] = False
+
+        for key in needed_rc_items:
+
+            if not self.da_settings.has_key(key):
+                status,msg = ( False,'Missing a required value in rc-file : %s' % key)
+                logging.error(msg)
+                raise IOError,msg
+
+        status,msg = ( True,'DA System Info settings have been validated succesfully' )  ; logging.debug(msg)
+
+        return None
+################### End Class DaSystem ###################
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    pass