IHS Case Study Shows Promise of Master Data Management

The challenge for all branches of the U.S. military in attempting to manage product lifecycles is legacy data, and specifically the integrity of the data quality within their legacy systems.

The branches are tasked with initiatives to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions and, within ERP, to move to use of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems to manage parts or product data. That task requires that they migrate all of the legacy data, for aircraft, avionics, weapons-system platforms—everything they manage that supports the warfighter—into the new PLM system, which is an enormous undertaking.

The task is complicated by the residence of most of the legacy data in systems that are proprietary or government-specific whereas the ERP and PLM systems are commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems. All of the data must be mapped into correlating formats that the new systems will understand. The task is further muddled by the preponderance of data attributes within an assigned part number and national stock number (or NIIN), which could include unit of issue, commercial contractor, part procurement and replacement, source of supply, and, very likely, multiple part numbers from various manufacturers.

The importance of data integrity cannot be overstated. For example, when a Navy FA-18 Hornet is scheduled for maintenance, it is brought into a hangar where technicians begin tearing the aircraft down and following a series of technical orders to fulfill maintenance requirements so that they can then build it back up. They start taking systems off of the aircraft to conduct numerous inspections. The parts are cataloged into the maintenance system. If there is a problem with the number, the system kicks out an error, and when that occurs, the maintenance action comes to a halt. The work cannot resume until one of the technicians leaves his duties on the aircraft and sits down to manually research and correct the error. Often, parts are put aside for days or even weeks while maintainers allow several of these data failures to accumulate so that they can correct them all at the same time. The Navy has a 60% failure rate for data going into the system.

Earlier this year, an IHS team, lead by Jim Kiracofe, Director of DOD Programs, conducted a case study at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Using the Parts Configuration Management System (PCMS) in concert with Haystack, a tool developed by IHS (which is already in use nearly universally at every Department of Defense [DOD] depot and outsource depot), the team examined the business processes and practices at Warner Robins and determined a method for capturing all of the product data and putting it into one foundational format. They initiated a cleansing process that made the data completely agnostic and therefore capable of flowing into new systems while maintaining integrity. "What we've done," Kiracofe says, "is create a hierarchical bill of materials in electronic format that is sustainable and far more accurate than it was before. "The accuracy rate before the team began its work was in the upper 60% to lower 70% range. "The accuracy rate now," Kiracofe says, "is 97% to 98%."

After successfully demonstrating the PCMS Haystack solution at Warner Robins, IHS had convincing evidence that this was the optimum way to manage product data across the Air Force. The Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) and the Air Force Logistics Directorate agreed. As a result, IHS is in a blueprinting phase working with partners to establish foundational data for the AFMC's Expeditionary Combat Support System.

Encouraged by its work for the Air Force, the IHS team is confident that it can achieve the same results for the Navy and will start on the F/A-18 soon, making all the associated data current, accurate, and agnostic. It is hoped that other projects will follow. "Data problems exist everywhere across the DOD," Kiracofe says, "and there is no magic pill, no single tool that will do it automatically. This work requires a tremendous amount of subject-matter expertise and, quite frankly, human intervention. And that's where we excel."

15 Inverness Way East • Englewood, CO 80112-5776 • USA
Tel: 303-397-7956 • 800-854-7179 • Fax: 303-397-2740
webstore: store.ihs.com