1.1 Purpose of the NATO CALS Handbook
This handbook is a guide for program managers interested in implementing the NATO CALS concepts of TLM and TLIM within a DS program. A major goal of this handbook is to help the DS Information Manager accomplish the following objectives:
· Develop a Through Life Information Management Strategy (a program strategy for CALS)
· Develop a Through Life Information Management Plan (IMP)
· Implement a Shared Data Environment (SDE)
· Manage the Information Through Life
1.2.1 Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support
The United States Department of Defense launched the Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) initiative in 1985 to accelerate the use of digital product information in acquiring and supporting defense systems.
So, what exactly is CALS? CALS is a joint government/ industry strategy focused on reengineering existing business processes into highly automated and integrated defense system life-cycle management process. Life-cycle in this context covers concept, design/develop, build, maintain, and dispose of a defense system (DS).
The purpose of CALS is to reduce defense system time to market, reduce total ownership cost, and improve quality, across the life-cycle. Information Technology (IT) is an enabler used to support the adoption and use of a shared data environment based on international standards to manage the DS technical information. Embedded in the CALS philosophy is the adoption of a rational approach to manage the production, access, management, maintenance, distribution and reuse of digital technical information. This will enable more effective creation, exchange, and use of defense system and equipment technical information over the life-cycle. In this context, information is of vital importance and must be treated as a valuable asset.
The CALS strategy integrates information technology, business process re-engineering (BPR), concurrent engineering (CE), multi-disciplinary work groups (MDG) and electronic commerce/electronic data interchange (EC/EDI) to achieve very specific government-industry business objectives.
CALS addresses the total life-cycle of a DS owned by NATO or a nation. The Continuous Acquisition side of CALS means optimizing customer-contractor processes during the concept, design/develop and build phases. It is necessary to understand that these phases are continuous throughout the life of the program because DSs last for up to 50 years and are constantly being modified due to technology and emerging threats. Life-cycle support addresses the maintenance, repair, and modification of DSs. Life-cycle support begins at the onset of the NATO or (inter)national DS program where a heavy emphasis is placed on the maintenance and in-service support processes during the design and manufacture stages. Huge reductions in total ownership cost can be realized by considering the maintenance and support processes at the onset of the program while they are still malleable. Therefore, one of the primary business precepts of CALS is to make adequate up-front investment to achieve long term savings for the end-customer while providing operational excellence in the event of military operations.
1.2.2 The Challenge to Decision Makers
Throughout the world, information and communications technologies are generating a new industrial revolution already as significant and extensive as those of the past are. It is a revolution based on information. Technological progress now enables us to process, store, retrieve, and communicate information in whatever form it may take - oral, written, or visual - unconstrained by distance, time and volume. This revolution adds huge new capabilities and is a resource that is going to change the way we work together and the way we do business together. Yet, nothing will happen automatically. The ability to participate, to adapt, and to exploit the new technologies and the opportunities they create is the challenge facing decision-makers both in Industry and Government. Those who fail to meet the challenge, and make use of the opportunities presented, will not succeed in the changed environment.
1.2.3 Industry Perspective
Individual Companies all over the world are investing heavily in Information Technology (IT). They are applying Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) to refine internal process, Concurrent Engineering (CE) practices to build multi-disciplinary teams, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology to exchange information in digital form. They make these investments more or less independently, at each company's own pace and as its finances permit. The motivation for each company is very straightforward - it is to optimize internal efficiency, maximize profit, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. Those companies that make early investment in IT technologies will reap the greatest rewards. By contrast, companies that temporize, or favor half-hearted solutions, could, face disastrous declines in the market in a few years. Transition to digital processes and technologies is a matter of survival in the industrial arena. For those manufacturing companies which supply Defense systems to NATO and national MoD/DoD customers, the desire to improve customer support, increase operational reliability, and to reduce costs is sometimes challenged by the customer's cultural and infrastructure weakness in dealing with new technologies.
1.2.4 Military Perspective
The military has long perceived that advanced computer technology and telecommunications capabilities could greatly reduce the lead times and costs associated with acquisition and support of defense systems, while improving their quality. The paper flow between industry and MoDs/DoDs today includes a massive volume of technical data: engineering drawings, technical manuals illustrated part list, etc. Processes based on such paper documents are error-prone, labor-intensive and do not provide the needed levels of operational readiness and reliability. The necessity to migrate to lean and fast processes, based on digital data, is felt with more and more urgency within the military, and MoD/DoD have started developing and implementing their own organizations to address the problem.
1.2.5 The Multi-National Program Perspective
Multi national defense system programs operate in an environment of extra-ordinary complexity. This is illustrated below:
Figure 1.2.5-1 NATO Multi-National Environment
On the government side of a defense system, separate national offices, within contributing nations typically support an international project office, which manages the relationship with industry. The defense system itself is likely to be operated by several Armed forces, of different nationality, each with their own logistic infrastructures. Within the NATO structure, relations may have to be established with the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA), the NATO Command, Control and Communication Agency (NC3A), the International Staff, the International Military Staff and the NATO Military Commanders. The System may also be deployed as part of a Multi-National Combined Joint Task Force, to operate anywhere in the world, with forces from non-NATO countries.
On the industrial side, the program is likely to be supported by one or more prime contractors, formed by parent companies, often from different nations. These Prime Contractors will have to communicate with an extended chain of sub-contractors and suppliers, many of which will be supplying the same or similar equipment to other Armed Forces and to commercial customers.
Many of the business processes necessary to acquire and support the defense system require the sharing or exchange of data across this extensive supply chain. Data created by a supplier early in the project life-cycle may be needed by the operational unit, at a different location, many years later. Making information easily available, at least cost over the life-cycle, to all that require it, presents a significant management challenge. As the quality and timeliness of program decisions depends on the quality of the underlying data, action to improve information is likely to yield direct and immediate improvements in the quality of the program itself.
1.2.6 NATO Perspective
From the NATO perspective the question to address is whether this will be a strategic creation for the whole Organization, or a more fragmented and much less effective amalgam of individual initiatives by member nations. NATO also recognizes that it no longer makes sense for defense systems and equipment to be designed, manufactured, and operated by a single nation. It is extremely expensive to manufacture and maintain these complex systems in isolation. There is a need for intense cooperation and extensive multinational information exchange throughout the customer, prime contractor, and sub contractors, supplier chain. The CNAD, the NATO decision makers in the field of armaments, gave a clear signal of their commitment to exploit CALS new technologies by establishing the NATO CALS Organization in 1994.
1.2.7 NATO CALS
In 1989, the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) took the lead on all NATO CALS issues by establishing a CALS working group under Allied Committee 301 (Standardization of Material and Engineering Practices) subgroup D. In 1993, the CNAD endorsed the creation of the NATO CALS Organization responsible for the overall direction of al CALS activities within NATO. The NATO CALS objective is to improve readiness, increase quality, shorten time to market, and reduce total life-cycle costs.
NATO CALS is a co-operative activity, funded by 11 of the 19 NATO Nations, to improve NATO's ability to exploit information and communications technology, in the acquisition and life-cycle support of complex DSs. The NATO CALS Mission is:
1. To: increase interoperability, decrease defense equipment life-cycle costs, ensure the readiness of NATO forces and decrease acquisition lead times,
2. By: facilitating continuous improvement of business processes,
3. Through: the use of international standards and practices, application of advanced tools and technologies, and increased co-operation with industry,
4. Thereby: creating an opportunity for NATO industry to enhance its global competitiveness.
NATO CALS has three main components:
1. The NATO CALS Management Board (NCMB) which meets 3 times per year, to control the work program Strategic Plan. The NCMB is comprised of senior level national representatives tasked to provide and maintain the NATO CALS Strategy, Goals, and Objectives needed to meet the CNAD mission for CALS. This mission is executed by the NATO CALS Office.
2. The NATO CALS Office (NCO) was established in 1994, under the leadership of the NCMB, to implement CALS within NATO. The NCO has a -full-time staff located at NATO Headquarters. The NCO consists of nine national CALS experts from BE, FR, GE, IT, NO, SP, TU, UK and US with DK and NL contributing financially. Hungary, Poland, Finland, and Sweden collaborate with the NCO and, the NCO has extensive contacts within NATO, nations, and industry.
3. And the NATO Industrial CALS Group (NICG) who provide industrial advice and assistance.
The NCO, with extensive industrial participation provided through the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), began its work by sponsoring a series of studies, workshops, and development projects. A major outcome of these efforts was the development of the NATO CALS Policy and Strategy.
The Strategic Plan offers both a short term and long term approach. The short-term approach encourages the maximum use of available commercial tools across the government/industry boundary for new NATO DS programs. The long-term approach proposes the development of new information standards for product life-cycle support data to improve the ability to share technical data across the whole DS environment.
A more detailed discussion of NATO CALS is included in Appendix A.
1.2.7.1 Going Digital Now
NATO CALS advocates going digital now (e.g., get out of paper), by using COTS and industry solutions, and by adopting international standards where possible. Programs should also adopt a Through Life Management (TLM) approach to program management and view information as an asset utilizing a Through Life Information Management (TLIM) philosophy implemented through a Shared Data Environment.
1.2.7.1.1 Through Life Management
Through Life Management (TLM) is a business strategy for optimizing the overall success of a program by focusing on the life-cycle return for major DS programs. Return in this instance can be measured in many different ways, e.g., reduced time to market, reduced acquisition cost, reduced support cost, improved performance, improved maintenance turnaround time etc. The objective here is to make it faster, better and cheaper.
1.2.7.1.2 Through Life Information Management
TLIM focuses on how to define and communicate the technical information needed by users to acquire, plan and execute support for complex, long life defense assets. Because products are growing more complex, it is becoming ever more difficult to keep the technical information required for maintenance in line with the changing product. The volume of information needed to conduct maintenance is also growing. This information is created at the beginning of the DS life-cycle and needs to be managed across the life-cycle, e.g., Configuration data, diagnostic data, failure modes, connection diagrams, assembly drawings, special tools and test equipment data, spares details, test requirements, etc. The absence of any of this information may stop the work in progress. Improved feedback is also needed to track maintenance costs and eliminate the causes of downtime. (Depicted in Figure 1.2.7.1.2-1)
Figure 1.2.7.1.2-1 Managing the Weapon System over Its Life-cycle
1.2.7.1.3 Shared Data Environment
The DS Program Shared Data Environment (SDE) will help programs establish the foundation for the new ways of working. Ideally, it will provide an information infrastructure which supports digital communication and allows data to be controlled, accessed, and shared electronically between all industrial and governmental participants through-out a programs' lifetime. To achieve this, the Program SDE must operate with, and may indeed be part of, a wider national or NATO infrastructure for defense system logistic support.
In practice, it is neither sensible nor cost effective for NATO to develop a single, integrated system to meet the needs of all parties associated with a DS over its life-cycle. NATO CALS has developed a strategy to improve the capability to share information across the Alliance by encouraging new programs to develop program SDEs that can bridge the government/industry based on the latest commercial software. A Program SDE should cover the widest possible range of functions, and the largest number of participants that the Program can afford to connect. SDEs will vary from Program to Program. Integration with the existing logistic systems and with the rest of the supply chain will be achieved progressively, partly by tailored interfaces, and partly by the progressive development of new information standards. Initially, these standards will address the requirements of product life-cycle support.
The Program SDE must be available at all stages of the life-cycle. During development, multi-disciplinary groups use the SDE to accelerate and improve the design and development processes. In operations, the SDE provides rapid controlled access to the defense system technical information needed to ensure combat readiness. The Program SDE also helps DS support managers maximize availability and reduce support costs by providing the necessary operating history and feedback for in-service maintenance and support.
The SDE should be established at the beginning of the program, be accessible to all participants, and evolve continuously through the life-cycle to exploit the latest IT deemed to be of value. In a multi-national environment such as NATO, turning this SDE vision into reality presents some significant problems, in particular, at the boundaries between government and industry, and between the many logistic infrastructure systems that support national and NATO operations.
Figure 1.2.7.1.3-1 Representative Shared Data Environment
1.3 Managing the Life-cycle Process
Exhaustive studies conclude that the cost of Defense System (DS) ownership typically exceeds that of system acquisition by two or three times. Furthermore, the biggest potential to impact life-cycle savings occurs at the beginning of the DS program when the design, manufacture and support concepts are flexible. Put another way,, there is a narrow window of opportunity to influence life-cycle cost that diminishes rapidly over time. This creates a powerful incentive to address life-cycle issues at the earliest possible point in the DS life-cycle. Life-cycle information management is a critical element in this formula because most of the information needed to sustain the system throughout its life is created during design/development. Moreover, the quality and availability of the technical information has a profound impact on the system's performance and life-cycle cost.
1.3.1 NATO CALS Environment
The NATO CALS Environment was first described during a business process re-engineering analysis conducted during the NATO CALS Acquisition Workshop in 1994. The participants in the workshop developed a view of how a program that had taken full advantage of CALS would operate over its life-cycle. This vision was further developed by the NATO CALS FRAMEWORK project. The vision is presented in more detail in the NATO CALS Through Life Business Model (TLBM).
In the NATO " Should Be" CALS DS Environment (Figure 1.3.1-1), certain key functions must be managed consistently over the life-cycle. If a through life perspective is not adopted at the outset, then the myriad of system changes that iterate across the life-cycle process become impossible to manage. However, if a life-cycle management approach is applied from the outset, significant cost savings and major quality improvements can be achieved. These in part result from minimizing the errors, delays, and disruptions occurring at organizational boundaries and at major transition points. A good example of this is system hand over which transpires between the acquisition project office and the operational service.
Figure 1.3.1-1 NATO "Should Be" CALS DS Environment
The pressure for NATO to adopt consistent life-cycle management practices is being driven by several important factors. These include the increasing complexity of DSs, the growing industrial involvement in DS support, the increasing use of international Combined Joint Task Forces, Co-operative Logistic initiatives, and the increasing reliance upon digital environments.
Strongly associated with improved program management practices is a life-cycle approach to managing the DS technical information. This includes requirement management, configuration management, quality assurance, and information management.
1.3.2 Program Management Issues
1.3.2.1 Relationship Management
Establishing who will own, operate, and manage the DS over its life-cycle is essential. This is usually defined by contract. Management of any transition responsibility procedures must be developed for both the system and its support. Ownership and control of the DS Shared Data Environment (SDE) and the information it contains, are also critical life-cycle issues.
1.3.2.2 Continuous Review and Approval
The current acquisition process, as presented in the NATO Phased Armament Procurement System (PAPS), relies on a strict sequence of project phases, separated by major reviews. This procedure does not support modern practices being used within industry. Implementing an electronic SDE allows immediate controlled access to information. This concept provides an opportunity to reduce development time and costs significantly by adopting a strategy of continuous review and approval, in an overlapping sequence of events. For example, the maintenance and support processes can be developed concurrently with the design and development activities of the DS. Furthermore, strict reliance on phased reviews becomes impractical when product functionality is geographically dispersed and delivered incrementally as part of concurrent engineering activities performed by Multi-Disciplinary work Groups (MDG).
The CALS concept changes the conditions applicable to DS programs. External controls are defined when the approval to proceed with the program is granted. The validity of DS program requirements is continuously validated and sustained using continuous review and approval practices. This constant monitoring enables any actual or forecast deviation from requirements to be detected and reported immediately. The work continues without interruption unless critical predetermined conditions are breached. This improved program visibility, provided by the SDE, supports continuous monitoring and enables additional external reviews to be conducted at any time, ether at specified intervals, or on demand. This iterative approach renders the strictly serial phased review obsolete.
1.3.2.3 Contract Management
The terms of the acquisition contract(s) have a major impact on the DS system across its life-cycle. Before acquisition contracts are placed, careful thought needs to be given as to how they will end and what arrangements will follow. For example, the role of the prime contractor, in ongoing support and operations, deserves close attention because it will have a major impact on the information required by the government and the approach taken to the SDE.
1.3.2.4 Financial Management
The key change within financial management is the requirement to give much greater attention to the DS life-cycle cost. Credible life-cycle cost models must be established from the program outset. The DS program manager must confirm affordability, and provide a framework for rational decisions such as the scale of the Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) program and the level of expenditure on the proposed SDE. Close attention must also be paid to measuring in-service costs, for comparison with early predictions, as a guide to managing upgrades and reliability improvement initiatives. Short-term budget pressures will inevitably play their part, but a rational DS life-cycle management approach is impossible without a view of the total DS life-cycle cost.
1.3.3 Technical Information Management Issues
1.3.3.1 Requirement Management
The requirement for the DS starts with the statement of mission need. This drives all of the life-cycle processes. From the outset, the requirement statement should be written in a form that facilitates a continuous through life comparison of actual to specified performance. Other elements that need to be included in the requirement are DS capability, availability, and cost. These also need to be stated in a manner that facilitates the comparison between actual and specified performance. The requirement should be maintained in a current and authorized form, over the whole life-cycle, which is readily available to all program participants needing to check their performance. This process can be facilitated through the implementation and use of a Shared Data Environment (SDE).
1.3.3.2 Configuration Management
Product identification and configuration control is essential to product control and logistics operations, and must be managed through life. Configuration Management (CM) must begin by establishing control of the requirement statement. CM must be applied to the DS contract documentation, design, manufacture, product use, technical information, and the support equipment needed to operate and maintain the product in service.
A Shared Data Environment, incorporating an electronic CM module, makes it much easier to apply CM by providing a central authoritative source of secure and integrated data directly associated with the end item. This makes system changes easier and cheaper to manage and maintain; thus, significantly reducing DS life-cycle costs. ("If I know what it is, I know what to buy, and how to support it.")
1.3.3.3 Quality Assurance
In the "Should be" CALS Environment (Figure 1.3.1-1), quality assurance is achieved primarily through self regulating processes, in which the people responsible for doing the work have access to the information they need to assess their own performance. The SDE not only makes this possible, but also makes it easy to achieve, and the approach is entirely consistent with the use of Concurrent Engineering.
In cases like DS safety, where external inspect or audit is still required, the SDE adds value by providing a consistent mechanism for recording and storing quality assurance records, linked by identifier, to the appropriate part. The Should Be CALS Environment improves quality directly by providing maintainers and operators with ready access to design or manufacturing data, which is relevant to the product in their hand. The quality of in-service feedback is improved by capturing information automatically, as work is done, rather than the error prone process of filling in forms after the event.
1.3.3.4 Information Management
The NATO CALS goal of electronic DS life-cycle information management is to ensure the accuracy, integrity, and availability of the DS technical information throughout its life.
Managing information in an SDE, with multiple users, requires significant planning and control. Security, property rights, controlled user access, system administration and information quality control is as complex as the configuration management and control of the product itself. In the NATO CALS Environment, the Information Management activity is very complex. DS technical information crosses enterprise and national boundaries, and involves several heterogeneous infrastructures. The information's form and inter-relationships is also very complex and must be preserved as the information is created, accessed, shared, transported, and delivered to the end user. For these reasons, in the NATO CALS Environment, information is treated as an asset, to be managed over the DS life-cycle.
1.3.4 The Staged Process for Through Life Information Management
TLIM encompasses several basic steps, or activities, that should be conducted in conjunction with the program and systems development life-cycle to yield the maximum benefit. At a high level the activities are:
1. Determine the targets for the program and develop a Program Strategy;
2. Determine through life data and Information Technology (IT) requirements and develop an Information Management Plan (IMP) that supports the Program Strategy;
3. Contract for and implement shared data capabilities based upon the Information Management Plan;
4. Manage the information based upon the terms in the contract.
The four-stage process is illustrated in Figure 1.3.4-1:
Figure 1.3.4-1 NATO CALS Four Stage Process
The practical application of TLIM is likely to require repeated iteration between these various phases as a growing understanding of the issues allows the approach to be refined.
