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New Concepts in Document Managementfor Space Projects

R. Davis, G. Kreiner, P. SivacScientific Projects Department, ESA Directorate of Scientific Programmes, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

M. Alemanni, M. BonatoAlenia Spazio SpA, Turin, Italy

IntroductionManaging complex scientific projects like ESA’sIntegral mission (to be launched in April 2002)requires a high degree of collaboration withnumerous mission participants. ESA’s majorexternal project partners are the industrialconsortium, contracted to develop the

spacecraft, the instrument teams, thespacecraft and science operations centres,and the launch authorities. The project alsoinvolves in-house expertise for such activitiesas mission planning and operations, andspacecraft testing. During the developmentphase, the ESA project team plays the pivotalrole in directing the information flow and thedecision-making process across the projectorganisation (Fig. 2).

It is acknowledged that effective informationsharing among all project participants is acritical success factor for completing theproject on time and within budget. However,the wealth of technical and managerialinformation has traditionally been stored anddistributed in tens of thousands of documents.(Table 1). While documents have been

The Integral Project based its documentation-management approachfrom the outset on electronic document sharing and archiving. Fasterand wider availability of the most current information to all parties,rather than creating the ‘paperless office’, was the main objective.Implementation of the new approach required the capturing ofdocuments in an appropriate electronic format at source, establishingnew procedures for project-wide information sharing, and thedeployment of a new generation of Web-based tools. Key successfactors were the early adoption of Internet technologies and simpleprocedures for improved information flow.

Figure 1. The IntegralStructural Thermal Model

being readied for testing inthe Large Space Simulator

(LSS) at ESTEC in Noordwijk (NL)

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produced with computers for a considerabletime, incompatible, constantly changingtechnologies have limited progress indocument management. Paper has been thepreferred medium for storage, with facsimileand mail being the main distribution services.Paper documents are still best for reading andred lining, but their content is not easilyaccessible and sharable with a geographicallydispersed team.

Focused on efficiency improvements, the ESAIntegral project team saw in emerging Internettechnologies an opportunity to ensure thetimely availability and easy access to the mostcurrent documents for all project participants,whilst at the same time reducing the effortinvolved in document management. By taking abroad view, the Integral project considersdocuments to include any kind of information,ranging from technical specifications, reportsand design drawings, to correspondence andminutes of meetings. A system for electronicdocument distribution and archiving wasdevised and implemented in cooperation withthe industrial Prime Contractor, Alenia Spazio,

in 1995, at the beginning of the projectdefinition phase.

Choosing a system-independentdocument exchange standardIn a large project environment, documents areproduced with a variety of tools and platforms,ranging from simple word processors tocomplex engineering design systems. In such aheterogeneous environment, and one that issubject to frequent information-technologychanges, electronic document sharing can beunreliable and costly. Even though someproprietary document formats are in principlecross-platform compatible, documents maystill appear very different when viewed orprinted on different equipment. Differentimplementations of document styles orvariations in the rendering of graphics aretypical elements impacting the visual integrity ofelectronic documents. Considering theproject’s mixed technical — scientific —commercial environment, with many divergingneeds and specific constraints, it was clear thata comprehensive ‘one-size-fits-all’ documentpreparation tool was not available on themarket.

A key decision for Integral in implementingelectronic document distribution and archivingwas to use a system-independent documentexchange standard. While technical capabilitiesplayed a significant role in the analysis,company policies and cultures had to be takeninto account as well.

Two options were considered at that time(1995):

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Table 1. Scaling the problem

Project Number of documents over project lifetime

Integral* 36 000XMM 64 000Cluster-I/II 51 000SOHO 41 000ISO 79 000

*Two more years to go

Figure 2. Maindocumentation flows. The

main participants in Integralare the prime contractor

(Alenia) and the industrialconsortium of about 30

companies, the instrumentteams, the Mission

Operations Centre (MOC) atESOC, the Integral Science

Operations Centre (ISOC) atESTEC and the Integral

Science Data Centre (ISDC)in Geneva. The Proton

launcher is being providedby Rosaviakosmos

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manner. Where the source documentation isnot available electronically, the paper documentis incorporated into the system throughscanning, either at Alenia or at ESA.

The system is effective in that:– It affords the ESA and Alenia project teams

immediate access to the entire projectdocumentation, ranging from formaltechnical documents to the latestcorrespondence, faxes and e-mails. TheAlenia staff also have detailed productconfiguration information readily available.

– Support staff within ESA and Alenia withappropriate access privileges can alsoremotely consult the entire archive, which isparticularly helpful, for example, foroperations based in ESOC, for testcampaigns at ESTEC, or for launch-relatedmatters involving ESA’s Moscow Office andin the future the Proton launch site.

– Use of the Standard Generalised MarkupLanguage (SGML)The most promising hardware- and software-independent standard at that time was SGML.Although the prime contractor Alenia hadalready gained SGML experience within theInternational Space Station programme, thecomplexity of implementing the concept acrossall participants was beyond the scope of theIntegral project.

– Use of the Portable Document Format (PDF)While the life span of such a proprietary formatwas not assured, this option was retainedbecause of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.At the end of the document-preparation process,it is converted into a PDF file, readable acrossa wide range of platforms whilst still preservingits original appearance. The minimal investmentand the compatibility with the installed document-preparation tools made this a cost-effectivesolution, attractive to all project partners.

Setting up distribution and archiving toolsIn the light of the different needs for automatingengineering and management processes, ESAand Alenia implemented different – thoughcomplementary – systems. Beyond thestandard features present in both systems, likeproviding controlled document access (bothinternal and external), the ESA system focuseson project-wide document distribution andarchiving (see accompanying panel ‘The ESAScience DMS’). The Alenia system offersadditional functions to control the engineeringinformation. By relating all the data to theproduct structure, the system allows detailedconfiguration management down to eachconfiguration item of the spacecraft (see panel‘The Alenia Integral PDM’).

Simple proceduresBased on the above tools, procedures havebeen devised within the project to register,distribute and archive the documentationeffectively. The main flow of information isbetween the spacecraft industrial team and theESA project team. Typically, a subcontractorissues a document in PDF format to Alenia,with a working copy to ESA. The PrimeContractor registers the document and forwardsit with the appropriate index information. Whenit reaches the ESA communications server, thedocument and its index are automatically pre-registered. After verification, the documentregistration is confirmed and the distributionprocess can be performed electronically bothwithin the ESA team and to outsideparticipants. In addition to this main linkbetween industry and the Agency, the otherflows of information between the project andthe other participants are handled in a similar

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The ESA Science DMSThe ESA Science Document Management System (DMS) enableselectronic distribution and archiving. Documents transferred via thepublic Internet to the ESA communication server are automaticallymoved to the document repository, registered and distributed to thefinal recipients. Likewise, faxes are automatically converted to PDFformat, archived and distributed. An Internet search-engine-likeinterface provides easy access for authorised users.

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– Paper copies are still circulated, in particularfor reference documents requiring detailedscrutiny. However, transfer times have beenreduced significantly and a document canbe issued and distributed to all participantsunder full configuration control within a fewhours.

The initial implementation challenge wascoping with the wide range of platforms andthe large number of minor adjustmentsnecessary to individual set-ups. These systemissues could appear in any of the manycomponents and links between the user’sdesktop and the document repository. Morestable configurations and wider experience andacceptance of web-based tools has largelyhelped to overcome this. More proceduralaspects have been the allocation of individualuser access rights to the system, and definitionof appropriate distribution lists. This issue ismuch more evident in the electronicenvironment than in the paper one, because ofthe wider awareness of the availabledocumentation among the users.

OutlookBased on such an infrastructure, informationflows between the project participants can befurther enhanced. An application that has beensuccessfully implemented provides support toproject reviews for both ESA and industry.Using the electronic documentation system, adata package can be posted on the web for

consultation by the review team. Comments ordiscrepancies identified by that review teamcan then be registered and tracked until allissues are closed. Similar extensions have beendeployed in support of document-intensiveproduct-assurance activities, although not yetfully implemented in the Integral project. TheNonconformance Control application, forexample, allows the systematic recording,reporting and tracking of nonconforming itemsand of the associated corrective actions.

ConclusionA key transition was made in the Integralproject by basing the documentationmanagement on electronic document sharingand archiving, covering the main aspects of adocument’s life, from creation to distribution.The approach has been particularly wellreceived by Alenia and its industrial team.Based on this positive experience,documentation is being managed in a similarway for all new ESA science projects. Withsome variations, the concept and the ESAScience DMS are also being used successfullyfor other major ESA missions, such as theMetop project. r

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The Alenia Integral PDMThe core of the Alenia Product DataManagement System (PDM) is the producttree, a hierarchical structure breaking downthe spacecraft into all of its lower-levelelements. Each relevant element in theproduct tree can be associated with all of itsdocumentation, which includes engineering,configuration and management information,such as design data, drawings, contractchanges, applicable specifications, technicalassessments and minutes of meetings.

Based on this key data set, the system can monitor:– the evolution of the baseline product

information– the planning and release of new product

information, such as specification updates– multiple spacecraft configurations, such

as the various development models or specific test configurations

– critical spacecraft properties and techni-cal capabilities, such as mass or power-consumption budgets.

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