From preview of a report titled "Aircraft Maintenance, Repair And Overhaul (MRO): A Global Market Report' published by Global Industry Analysts Inc.:
Aircraft Maintenance, Repair And Overhaul (MRO) is a highly volatile market subject to rapid and unexpected changes in economic and international business conditions. Short-term challenges abound in the form of the ongoing economic downturn, high prices, market saturation, slower new aircraft deliveries, shortage of skilled labor, and airline consolidation. The weakness in the global market is presently the result of tight financial conditions, rising fuel costs, falling air traffic demand, and reduced spending on air travel by both households and corporates. Expansion plans, which had started to recede in the early 2008, widened back out as persistent news about deferred aircraft deliveries injected yet another dose of uncertainty into the MRO market. An estimated 1,025 aircrafts were deferred in 2008 and the oldest, most maintenance-demanding aircraft were the first ones in hangar. Nearly 75 percent of the deferred planes were of North America. Gains in Asian MRO market have beleaguered but haven't completely stalled as they have in the United States.
However, as the market recovers poise, strong demand fundamentals will re-emerge to prop up growth. Resurgence of the aviation industry, reduced airfares, greater connectivity, increase in low cost airlines, technological innovations, and expansion in the overall capacity of air seat miles, will drive growth in the medium to long-term. Asian markets will emerge as the hub of activity, for instance, expanding air traffic has already led to the establishment of numerous, low-cost MRO facilities in high growth potential Asian markets including Singapore, China, India and Malaysia. Dramatic proliferation in air traffic and increase in number of passengers has been and will continue to remain an important factor in attracting foreign investment and paving the way for future development. The growth in the domestic as well as international fleet movement has led to a heavy appreciation in the stocks of the aviation industry. This in turn leads to the requirement for an effective maintenance and overhaul system and service structure for aircrafts and their engines.
World market for Heavy Airframe Maintenance is poised to grow at a steady pace over the years 2006 through 2015, as stated by the recent report published by Global Industry Analysts Inc. Engine Overhaul is forecast to grow the fastest in Asia-Pacific over the analysis period.
Key players dominating the market include Air France KLM, Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., AAR Corp, Ameco Beijing, Ametek Inc., Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, Bedek Aviation Group, Delta TechOps, ExelTech Aerospace Inc., Aviation Technical Services Inc., Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, Lufthansa Technik (LHT), MTU AeroEngines, Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aerospace), SR Technics, SIA Engineering Co., Snecma Services, STAECO, TIMCO Aviation Services Inc, and VEM/TAP M&E, among others.
Managing the scope of a project is one of the main instruments to manage the project budget. Over the years I have a developed a more holistic view on scope management, discovering budget overruns are not always due to changes to the functionality but also due to changes in project approach. Another reason is the willingness of the project team to make the project a success and therefore spent time on support activities not foreseen at the start of the project.
As a result I describe scope in terms of FANGs:
Functionality
Activities
Non-functional requirements
Governance
This article explains the thinking behind the concept and provides examples and tips to manage each of the aspects.
Functionality
Functionality starts with having the business/functional requirements signed off. It's pretty straightforward as soon as the approval and the sign-off has been obtained. From that moment on, the functionality is under change control. The only potential budget consumer is impact analysis. All projects have a standard change-control procedure in place, which starts with approval for impact analysis. How many of you have a separate budget for impact analysis, irrespectively if the change will be approved?
Besides the additional work that might not be covered in the budget, there is also the fact of distraction that will reduce the productivity--and potentially extend the project time lines. There are two ways to handle impact analysis funding:
Establish a separate contract/budget for impact analysis, outside the project budget. This budget is used to finance impact analysis on a time-and-material basis.
Allocate a percentage of the total project for impact analysis, e.g. 5 percent. In a fixed-price project, this will not be acceptable since there is no control or visibility on the way the money is spent.
Activities
All assignments to project resources, which have no clear deliverables, are considered activities without added value to the functionality:
Timeline-dependent activities
In most cases these activities will increase in effort when the timeline extends. When a change request is raised extending the timelines, the additional effort for these tasks need to be taken into account as well.
Project management is a must for a project; however, the scope of project management can be different per project (and therefore the effort required). If a full PMO is required with extensive activities, I would argue this to be a part of project management (it will increase the effort).
Configuration Management
Quality Assurance
Demand-driven activities
These activities focus on support the customer during certain project phases. There are two options on how to deal with these activities:
Maximize the support effort per activity to a number of man days and include that in the project charter or contract.
Exclude the activities from the scope and agree on a separate assignment or contract to deal with these activities on a time and material basis. The disadvantage of this option is in case of increased support it might influence your planning if you are using shared resources.
Examples of these kind of activities are:
Support to develop test scenario’s, test scripts etc
Test support during UAT
Training support (to explain the system and to give demonstrations to users)
Deployment support (to support the IT organisation to implement the application in new environment)
After Go-Live support
Internal project activities
These general activities are focusing on supporting and coaching teams and juniors whereby there are no deliverables defined. This is often resulting in a reduced productivity and therefore an increase in hours. Another example are when the number of (sub) team meetings increases to discuss the approach or solutions.
One of the ways to crosscheck if you have not forgotten any of these activities is to check the RACI matrix and to identify all consulted and informed tasks. The first group is asking your professional experience often without a deliverable; this might range from a quick question to attending workshops or reviewing a solution.
Informed-type tasks are harder to estimate since the team only absorbs information. If a lot of these tasks occur, it means the project is highly interactive with its environment--which will require time from the project team. As a project manager, it is important you allocate time for these activities.
Non-functional requirements
The main focus of the business is to describe the desired solution in terms of functionality. Another important topic is the non-functional requirements--when they are discussed, it is often thought of as the performance requirements. However, from a scoping perspective there is more to take into account. Non-functional requirements can be divided in:
Sizing requirements: Performance is a result of this group of requirements. When the project starts there needs to be a clear understanding on the growth strategy of the business in terms of users, usage of the system during the day, volumes of data to be processed, history to be directly available, system resilience, system availability, etc. This will lead to a system configuration, which might require specific technical solution for software development, e.g. parallel processing of certain functions.
Application landscape integration: These requirements deal with the interfacing between the applications and the type of interfaces. Will there be a real-time or a batch exchange of information, and what kind of impact does this have on the business requirements?
IT integration: Will it be necessary to integrate with specific monitoring systems, single sign on systems, security systems, etc., and what will be the expected effort in these areas to the project? There can also be specific middleware and database querying tools required, impacting the effort or complexity of the total solution.
Documentation: Not only user manuals but also technical documentation needs to be delivered. What is the scope and level of detail required?
Training: User training is often raised as a topic where there are three models: Train the trainer (a group of super users will be trained, or professional trainers, who will train the rest of the organization); train the end-users (all users will be trained by the project team); training on the job (there needs to be an extensive online manual for help, and during the first weeks there will be consultants available to answer questions during the day). Each of the models has its own impact on estimating and defining activities. Besides the training of the users it might be required to train the IT department because of new hardware, software package or software development language used.
Each of these topics will have its influence on your scope, planning and timeline--and some often appear only at the end of a project when there is already a time squeeze.
Governance
The final part of scope has to deal with governance or the terms of engagement. Not only do the turnaround times for reviews and approvals need to be discussed, but other topics will influence the total effort and timeline of the project:
Project Approach: This encompasses all strategic decisions to be made in terms of testing (one user acceptance test or a number), number of releases, introduction of a pilot phase and or shadow runs, roll-out strategy (per department, complete company, all functionality, per location, etc.) and development methodology (waterfall, RUP, agile)
Managing External Dependencies: You are dependent on certain deliverables of other parties or departments that are not under the project control, e.g. delivery and installation of hardware, changing legacy systems for interfacing. Availability of these external dependencies determine the project pace and therewith the usage of project resources. Having agreements on external dependencies is crucial for viable planning.
Conclusion
Managing scope is more than just making sure the functional requirements do not change. By applying a holistic view to the scope, it will be possible to deliver a project within time and budget. More importantly, it will make it possible to determine the consequences in an early stage and to have the stakeholders informed in time in such a way that corrective actions could be taken without immediately increasing the project budget and or timeline.
Following the links in this article to FAA website gives a good idea of the Part 145 certification requirements (sourced by Kuttan as a reference for domain specialists):
The 14 CFR Part 145 certification process provides for interaction between the applicant and the FAA from initial inquiry to certificate issuance or denial. It ensures that programs, systems, and intended methods of compliance are thoroughly reviewed, evaluated, and tested. Any questions about this process should be directed to the nearest Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).
The certification process consists of five phases:
(1) Preapplication Statement of Intent (PASI), FAA Form 8400-6
(a) The PASI will be used by the Manager, Flight Standards Division or designee to evaluate the complexity of the proposed operation. This allows the establishment of the certification team to be based on the complexity of the certification. A Certification Project Manager (CPM) will be designated as the principal spokesperson for the FAA during certification.
(b) An applicant should conduct a thorough review of the appropriate regulations and advisory material to provide guidance for personnel, facility, equipment, and documentation requirements. As a result of this review, the applicant must address, in FAA Form 8400-6, Preapplication Statement of Intent (PASI), how these requirements will be met.
NOTE: Submittal of the PASI by the applicant shows intent to initiate the certification process.
(2) Preapplication Meeting. The preapplication meeting should be held in the district office. This will allow the applicant to become familiar with the assigned FAA personnel.
(3) Application for Repair Station Certificate and/or Rating, FAA Form 8310-3. During the preapplication meeting the applicant should be instructed on how to complete the application.
(4) Formal Application Attachments. During the preapplication meeting requirements for the application attachments should be discussed. This discussion should include the following:
(a) Manual. The applicant should be encouraged to use Advisory Circular 145-9, which provides information and guidance material for all repair station certificate holders or applicants under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 145 to develop and evaluate a repair station manual (RSM) and quality control manual (QCM). The material presented in this AC describes an acceptable means, but not the only means, to develop a manual and comply with the referenced regulations. The manual should allow the user to understand its content without further explanation and must not contradict any regulatory requirements.
NOTE: It is the applicant's responsibility to develop manuals and procedures that ensure safe operating practices and compliance with the rules. The team can offer suggestions for improvement but must not "write" the material.
(b) Letter of Compliance. The letter of compliance will ensure that all applicable regulatory requirements are addressed during the certification process. Listing each applicable FAR section, in sequence with the FARs, does this. After each listed regulation, there must be a brief narrative or specific reference to a manual/document that describes how the applicant will comply with that regulation. The letter of compliance must be reviewed to ensure that the applicant has a clear understanding of the regulation and that the proposed method of compliance meets the intent of the regulation.
B. Formal Application Phase. To begin the Formal Application Phase the team will receive the application, and attachments. As a rule, the team will meet with the applicant after receiving the formal application package. All questions about the proposed operation, the formal application, and attachments should be resolved at this time. The meeting should consist of the certification team members and all key management personnel from the applicant's organization.
Corporation Papers: If a corporation makes the application, the FAA must have a copy of the Certificate of Incorporation by the State and any accompanying documentation to evaluate the eligibility of the applicant.
Drug and Alcohol Program: All applicants wishing to perform maintenance functions on Air Carrier / Commuter aircraft or components must provide a drug and alcohol program to be approved by the FAA. The Drug Abatement Home page is located at the following address: http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/drug_alcohol/
C. Document Compliance Phase. In this phase, the application is thoroughly reviewed for approval or disapproval, and the manual and related attachments are reviewed for acceptance or rejection. This review ensures both conformity to the applicable regulations and safe operating practices. This phase is done in the district office by the certification team.
D. Demonstration and Inspection Phase. In this phase the certification team ensures that the applicant's proposed procedures are effective and that facilities and equipment meet regulatory requirements. The Certification Project Manager must decide if demonstrations will be required.
E. Certification Phase. Once the applicant meets the regulatory requirements of CFR Part 145, the certification team will issue the repair station certificate and operations specifications with the appropriate ratings.
Forms * FAA Form 8000-4, Air Agency Certificate
* FAA Form 8000-4-1, Repair Station Operations Specifications
* FAA Form 8060-4, Temporary Airman Certificate
* FAA Form 8310-3, Application for Repair Station Certificate and/or Rating
* FAA Form 8400-6, Preapplication Statement of Intent
* FAA Form 8610-2, Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application, if applicable
* FAA Form 337 , Major Repair and Alteration. Instructions are in AC43.9-1E.
* FAA Form 8130-3 , Airworthiness Approval Tag. Instructions are in Order 8130-21D.
The following information is used by FAA Inspectors as guidance information during the certification process. This information would be very valuable to the applicant to review.
