A Northrop Grumman Perspective on Product Data Management
By Nathan Nalven, Northrop Grumman AGS/BMS

This article will give the reader an understanding of Product Data Management (PDM) capabilities and the implementation strategy used at Northrop Grumman Airborne Ground Surveillance and Battle Management System (AGS/BMS). This article is based on Metaphase and the Northrop Grumman customization of the product. The strategy and vision can be used for any major PDM system understanding that system capabilities and depending on the product would require software customization.

The first question you may ask is why did we select Metaphase as the PDM solution and what is Metaphase? The PDM imitative has several goals that will be discussed but include the use of COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf System) tools were possible, data re-use and integration of the enterprise tool suite. Our present system was developed in-house using IMS. The legacy system will be difficult to integrate with CAD and other major tools and we are not in the business of developing infrastructure software. We selected Metaphase a COTS Product Data Management System (PDM) marketed and distributed by SDRC. Our configuration of Metaphase is highly customized by Northrop Grumman's Logicon PDM team located in California. The Logicon customization that is being used has been licensed to SDRC and marketed under the product name of 'Aerospace and Defense Template' (A&D) making this tool a COTS solution. This configuration of Metaphase is in production on many internal Northrop Grumman programs like B-2, JSF, commercial products, and within Northrop Grumman ESSS, ACS, & ISS sectors. In addition, Logicon has been contracted by Lockheed Martin to implement Metaphase on the JSF program as well as other major aerospace companies. So in short, Metaphase is a commercial off-the shelf software package that Northrop Grumman has customized for the Aerospace industry to develop an extensive PDM capability in a user-friendly WEB based environment.

The next question you may ask is what is PDM? PDM is the framework that enables companies to manage and control engineering information, specifically data surrounding the product designs and related engineering processes. From the product perspective, it will organize data required for design revisions, track versions and configurations of evolving design concepts; manage archived data, and other product-specific information. From a process perspective, a PDM system can orchestrate procedural events such as design review, approvals, product releases and configuration audits. Specifically, PDM implementation at Northrop Grumman will address the following areas:

Data Organization and Retrieval
The PDM implementation will provide a business object hierarchical view of the AGS/BMS product development. The system will allow users to customize their view of the product or data to simplify their access. As an example the structural views will describe and provide access through a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and Product Structure (part hierarchy) view in either a As-Designed; As-Methodized; As-Build or As-Maintained. Product design information is created by designers and engineers and is used by many other downstream customers such as manufacturing engineers, purchasing agents, quality engineers, product and inventory control planners, and field support technicians. The ability to electronically retrieve product definition data results in less time spent searching, and more time spent on the design and support.

Product Definition Data
Product Definition Data (PDD) is the design information describing engineering product. This information includes part and document information represented in a PDM system with documentation, objects and attributes. The goal of managing this data with the PDM system will allow data re-use and leverage the Data Organizational and Retrieval tools within the system. As an example, traditionally the data about a drawing were stored in one system, the drawing in a different location and, the CAD model elsewhere.

Information Control
PDM Vaulting capabilities can control the access to all data including work-in-progress and released information. Metaphase will manage the data across the network, controlling access to the information, automatically assign tasks (review, release, etc) based on life cycle rules, report metrics on the status of the data and move data as required.

Product Definition Data Control
Once information access storage and retrieval is under PDM control the next task is to control changes to the product definition data baseline. The PDM implementation will provide for configuration identification, change control, status accounting and history. Baseline capability will be provided to identify structure information by end item, serial or unit number, date or lot. Once information is released to the system, formal change control processes manage revision status and history.

Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support (CALS)
CALS compliance is achieved through the electronic storage, access and distribution of product data. The PDM implementation will provide the framework to support program requirements for CALS and Contractor Integrated Technical Information Service (CITIS).

CALS compliance and the ability to provide an integrated product development environment can be critical success criteria for (Department of Defense) DOD contracts. All new DOD contracts require some level of CALS compliance.

ISO 9000 & 9001
PDM implementation will facilitate compliance with ISO 9001 document control requirements. PDM will ensure that the most current revision of a drawing is available for users that need it, that engineering changes are reviewed promptly, and that a complete audit trail for the reviewer's is available at all times ie: task Assignments; completions; and implementations.

Cost of Quality
Implementing PDM reduces the number of down stream changes and provides faster turnaround in change processing. PDM will enforce data integrity, ensure the use of the right information at the right time and assess the impact of changes and actions. This will be accomplished by organizing, tracking and controlling access of product information as it is created, a PDM system facilitates a team-oriented approach to product development, because it manages data as it is reviewed, modified, approved and archived.

The PDM system will provide a single source for all product-related information navigable through a custom view of the data that best fits the users discipline. A PDM system can directly help to compress the time required to complete product development because it helps accelerate the process in which products are designed and approved. Information access and retrieval will be facilitated through structural relationships and the incorporation of a view/markup/print toolset. Our statistics show that on average a user is able o retrieve 14 documents in 3.5 minutes through our implementation.

Our Environment: Metaphase Turning Information into Knowledge
Looking at an engineering centric view of our tools, how will the PDM system integrate our tool suite? First we must understand the environment. We use DOORS as our requirements management tool, System Architect for our architecture and functional modeling; CATIA and CCD for CAD; SDRC's Patran/Nastran for CAE; Livelink for document management; Microsoft products for our office applications and Rational products for software development. Knowing the tools, how can we now re-use data to allow access to required data and assure synchronization of requirements tasks and process flow. We flow requirements to our architectural models using Teamwork bridge (COTS); to our software environment using a Rational bridge (COTS) and Metaphase which will flow requirements to the product structure using DMI (COTS) product. These integrations allow a user to view the requirements while implementing or designing a component without interfacing with a requirements or system engineer. Integration between Metaphase and CAD are through one of several COTS solution under study (VPM, ACT Bridge; DEBIS…); SDRC's Rational Bridge provides integration with the software development environment and Metaphase. Office applications and Livelink for customer access are also provided by Metaphase out of the box capability.

Need for Change
Lean initiatives, lower cost of ownership, reduced acquisition budgets; all seem to be common terms we hear throughout Engineering. It is clear that in order to stay competitive we need to have more efficient engineering and business processes. The Metaphase product and the resultant customization and implementation here at AGS-BMS will provide a more collaborative engineering environment. This environment will make it easier to for engineering personnel to locate and share data and knowledge as designs and changes move through the product lifecycle. Engineering, ILS, Technology, Manufacturing, and Quality will more easily retrieve and access baseline data and create related products with less rework and re-entry of common information.

The Plan
As part of the overall engineering process improvement plan, AGS-BMS Engineering initiated a PDM project in the latter part of 1999 to address the Product Knowledge needs of the Engineering community. The objectives of this study were and continue to be:

• Reduce project cycle time costs
• Migrate off legacy systems
• Collaborate with Suppliers and Customers
• Maintain and control total system product configurations

In order to accomplish these goals AGS-BMS realized there were three key points to be accomplished to achieve the competitiveness desired. These points were:

• Leverage customizations accomplished by Northrop Grumman for other DOD programs (Commercial Aircraft Division, B-2, JSF, ESSS, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center)
• Interface with tools such as CAD/CAM, Rose, DOORS and Office Products to streamline and automate the creation of product structures
• Integrating PDM and electronic data transfer with suppliers and the Government

The implementation of Metaphase will be implementing the capabilities as a multi-phased project focused around key areas. The following are the set of common focus areas selected to meet the needs of the site.

• Integrated Systems
• Engineering Master Model
• Collaborative Engineering
• Requirements Management
• Configuration Management
• Extended Enterprise

Phase 1, which was completed earlier this year, demonstrated the systems capability for document management and then concentrated on the final stage of phase 1 to provide engineering drawing release and distribution. It provided a Data Management (DM) Prototype, demonstrated a WEB Desktop, and eliminated a legacy system. This article will detail the implementation of Phase 1 of the project.

The project deployment is continuing and will be implemented by working backwards through the engineering life cycle with Phase 2,planned to be completed by the late 2001. Phase 2 will include the conversion of the legacy BOM mechanical parts portion of the Northrop Grumman End Item Definition System (EIDS). This conversion and implementation will result in capturing the "Product Structure" for Joint STARS and attach the drawings and associated engineering knowledge to that structure. It will also provide multiple views (As-Designed, As- Delivered, As- Maintained) of the product data and engineering knowledge. Phase 2 will also include modeling of engineering workflow and automate parts of the processes. As of this writing, a requirements document has been complete and design to the document has started. Benefits expected from phase 2 are:

• Improved Analysis with DOORS and IEDB (Integrated Engineering Data Base tools)
• Improved Visualization of Drawings
• Bill Of Materials (BOM)/BOM Updates
• Historical Data Available
• Drawing EO Release
• 2-way Req. Traceability
• Requirements linked in PDM
• Product Structure Centric
• Seller Change Management

Phase 3 will focus on the completion of EIDS conversion and the integration of CAD systems to Metaphase. A major part of Phase 3 will be the creation of an extended or virtual enterprise, laying the foundation to integrate suppliers and customers. Phase 3, is planned to be accomplished in the latter part of 2002. Benefits expected from phase 3 are:

• PDM/ERP Interface
• CAD/CAM Integration
• Integrated Engineering Data Base (IEDB) integration/interface
• Drawing Electronic Markup
• Design Re-use
• WEB Interface Automated BOM
• Common CM System
• Customers/Key Suppliers Interface
• Integrated Supplier Schedules
• Federated Environment - Integrated PDM systems with the supply chain

Although the majority of the implementation will be complete by the end of Phase 3, it is anticipated that additional functionality and capability will be implemented, as users get more comfortable with the product. Areas such as Quality, Manufacturing, ILS and Program Management will find uses for it and additional requirements will be implemented.

Details of Phase 1
Phase 1 concentrated on the replacement of the shared service's "DocDraw" system. This legacy system was used to manage all the released drawings for the Joint STARS aircraft. Prior to the implementation of Metaphase, a print had to be ordered from the print counter, retrieved by the shared services personnel, copied, and shipped to the requestor. After implementation the process has been refined to logging on the "MetaWEB" system and searching for the drawing required. The user can open the drawing electronically and either view it with off the shelf available viewing tools or print/plot it out locally. This implementation has saved considerable time for the requestor and provides product knowledge at the fingertips of the engineer.

Phase 2
While the DocDraw system was being migrated a parallel effort was started in January 2000 to study the requirements for the replacement of the "mechanical" portion of EIDS. This effort included support of Vehicle Engineering (non-electrical), Manufacturing, ILS, Quality, CDM, and IIS (Logicon). The requirements and system design have been completed and presently awaiting funding. Electronic drawing sign-off has been prototyped and being implemented leveraging lessons learned and processes developed in our legacy systems.

Other Program Support
ALMDS (Airborne Laser Mine Detection System) is using Metaphase to support the design and integration of this new weapon system. Our existing "out of the box" solution will be used for the ALMDS effort and be the first program in AGS/BMS not to use our legacy EIDS system for drawing control and release This solution will be the existing Metaphase product as customized by Logicon for use on the JSF, B2 and F-18.

The TSSR (Total System Support Responsibility) program will also be using Metaphase, customized according to our requirements to provide an as-maintained view of the as-delivered Joint STARS aircraft and initiate the electronic delivery of all drawing and related data to the customer eliminating aperture cards and paper deliveries to the customer.

In Summary
The implementation of PDM in AGS/BMS will leverage corporate investments, tie together islands of data. Allow users from many disciplines to share data without re-creating or re-typing. By utilizing COTS solutions we reduce our support costs and time required to implement software updates. Use of the Mini-Victory approach providing new system functionality and productivity tools, in a timely fashion, improve productivity and inspires the end user to participate in providing input for enhancements and changes to the system.

There are many benefits and cost savings associated to the implementation of this technology, reduction in system support costs, reduction in document reproduction and distribution costs and of course the largest of them all the productivity gains of the user and reduction in errors and cycle time. I would like to take this opportunity to pass along this piece of advice, implement the system were it makes sense in a timely manner, assure that you have customer buy in. This can be assisted by only re-engineering the processes that cause the end-user issues, do not try and fix problems they don't have. Have multi-discipline teams that meet regularly, allowing team members see the bigger picture, improves communication, assists in the product development and implementation and inspires ownership at all levels.

Back to Top