BAE SYSTEMS Submarines - Barrow-in-Furness

In 2001, BAE Systems Submarines of Barrow-in-Furness appointed Datech Management Solutions Ltd to provide consultancy services to support their company wide maintenance strategy review. This included the management of the software selection process to replace the legacy Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). To support this process, based on his extensive experience of CMMS products and knowledge of suppliers within this specialised field, Datech engaged Tony Lackey of SRO Solutions Ltd.

Support activities included development of the CMMS Selection process, day-to-day management of the selection process, as well as preparation & management of necessary data cleansing and data collection activities. The project was managed in accordance with standard BAE project management practices, compliant with Nuclear Site Licence conditions. This required a strict audit trail of all decisions, processes and copies of all meeting minutes, to ensure compliance with BAE procedures.

The comprehensive selection process involved the formation of a ‘Core Team' made up of BAE Management, BAE Super Users, a Datech consultant and Tony Lackey of SRO Solutions. The role of the ‘Core Team' was to determine which system most closely matched the requirements of BAE; this was achieved by attending demonstrations, scoring of the products, discussing their issues and clarification of system functionality. Through the down-selection process systems were eliminated and eventually a solution was selected along with a reserve product. Throughout the project Core Team members were kept fully informed of all developments by means of regular formal meetings and informal email updates.

Project Key Stages:-

• Refinement and enhancement of BAE Functional requirements, including development of a vendor ‘self assessment' scoring matrix.
  
  
• Telephone interview conducted for all vendors to discuss submitted score sheets, in particular ensuring the vendor clearly understood the terminology and functional requirements. In some cases the score cards were modified after the discussions with the vendor and their agreement. The detailed reasoning behind the score modifications were logged for future reference.
  
  
• Initial down-selection process was conducted both by utilising the scores achieved by the vendors and discussions within the Core Team.
  
  
• Remaining vendors were invited to demonstrate their products following a pre-defined agenda, agreed upon by the BAE Core Team, to ensure that specific criteria were demonstrated satisfactorily. During the demonstrations the Core Team scored the software utilising a ‘weighted' scoring Matrix, allowing for extra emphasis to be given to BAE mandatory items.
  
  
• Second down-selection process, based on the scoring matrices form the Core Team, which resulted in three vendors selected to undergo further evaluation, cost negotiations.
  
  
• Further demonstrations from the remaining three vendors were carried out and particular areas of interest were evaluated in detail, and again scored.
  
  
• Final system selection process was carried out utilising the matrix scoring, Core Team observations and associated costs to fully implement the system. In addition there were independent vendor assessments conducted to determine customer satisfaction, successful delivery of previous projects and financial stability.
  
  
• Upon selection of the ‘preferred supplier', site visits were arranged to visit customers using the software package and to discuss their findings and opinions as well as to see the system ‘in action'.
  
  
• All appropriate information was gathered and a presentation was carried out to Senior BAE Management to explain selection process and selection of ‘preferred supplier'. Upon approval form senior management Finance Application was submitted to board to secure final project approval and ‘go ahead'.
  
  
• After a comprehensive systems selection, Engica Q4 was chosen and has now been successfully implemented.

SRO Solutions Ltd specialise in Maintenance & Purchase systems (CMMS), ship-to-shore communications, Safety & Quality systems, bespoke development, training & support. As well as being able to provide cost effective skills & resources for your onboard and office ICT related projects, software interface development work, database activities and systems integration projects.

Datech Management Solutions Ltd is a leading asset management consultancy providing implementation support for businesses requiring development of cost effective and regulatory compliant maintenance strategies. The range of services include maintenance business process re-engineering, RCM based preventive maintenance definition, & CMMS implementation support.

Web:- http://www.datechmgt.co.uk/
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