Business Overview

Business introduction

This DEX enables the transmission of information reporting on:

maintenance activities, both scheduled and unscheduled, that have been undertaken on selected aircraft components and modules, referred to as Products In Focus;
details of work done to the Products In Focus during a maintenance activity, including removals, repairs, overhauls or rebuilds, installations and gains/losses to the aircraft operators inventory;
activities that have been performed by an aircraft or components that will affect maintenance. For example, flying an aircraft or running an engine test will consume the life of the components that may trigger a scheduled maintenance task;
the status of a Product In Focus, such as fault states, symptoms and serviceability state, of the aircraft and its components;
inventory gains and losses.

This information is required by the aircraft operator and maintainers to effectively manage and operate the Products In Focus. The use of this DEX is particularly relevant in service based contracts where the operator and maintainer are different organisations with the maintainer being responsible for ensuring a level of product availability. In these situations, the DEX can be used to exchange product information between the two organisations ensuring that the aircraft Product Configuration Information is accurate.

Business process

The business process for which the DEX provides information is summarized in the UML activity diagram in Figure 3. This shows a product being used, the authorization of scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, undertaking the maintenance activity and then updating the aircraft status.

Information about the activities is collated, packed in the DEX and sent on. Typical information includes details of the maintenance activity undertaken, by whom, on what date. Information about the product on which the activity was done, (the Product In Focus), such as what was replaced, what were the life measurements of the product, e.g hours flown. The types of activities reported are described in Reportable activities.

NOTE The process shown in Figure 3 is very high level and intended to provide an overview.

Figure 3 — Typical business process using the Aviation Maintenance DEX

Data exchanges

When the DEX is deployed, it is necessary to analyse the exact business process being supported and to identify the points in the process where a data exchange is to be triggered. This may vary from business to business. An illustration is provided in the UML activity diagram in Figure 4 shown below which gives some examples of where data exchanges typically take place. Namely:

Sortie / post usage feedback: reporting after an aircraft has flown a sortie;
Consumption of life: reporting when the life of a Product In Focus has been consumed;
Ownership change: reporting after an aircraft has changed ownership;
Geographical location change: reporting after an aircraft has changed geographical location;
Serviceability change: reporting after an aircraft has been removed from/returned to service;
Symptom: reporting when a symptom has been identified;
Scheduled maintenance: reporting when scheduled maintenance starts and finishes. Depending on the business there may be a series of triggers reporting on activities performed during the maintenance, e.g. when parts are fitted, removed, exchanged etc.
Unscheduled maintenance: reporting when unscheduled maintenance starts and finishes. Depending on the business there may be a series of triggers reporting of activities performed during the maintenance, when parts are fitted, removed, exchanged, faults identified etc.

Figure 4 — Example exchange points

Reportable activities

The following section outlines some of the activities that are reported by this DEX.

Product In Focus usage

The following events about the usage of the Product In Focus are reported on by this DEX:

Consumption of life: Information about life units consumed by the Product In Focus and its component parts following product usage.
Sortie / post usage feedback: Information about the usage of the Product In Focus, such as sorties flown, sortie duration, take offs and landings, sortie profile, operating environment.

Product In Focus status

The following product status events are reported on by this DEX:

Serviceability change: This activity reports when the serviceability status of the Product In Focus changes for any reason. Either a serviceable Product In Focus becomes unserviceable (cannot be used), or an unserviceable Product In Focus becomes serviceable. For example, "rejection due to a fault", "maintenance has become due" and "an operator has identified a fault".
Symptom report: This activity that produces a symptom report identifying an observation of Product In Focus behaviour that was unexpected and affected the performance of the Product In Focus.
Fault report: This activity that produces a fault report identifying a state that renders a Product In Focus unusable for its primary function.
Geographical change: This activity reports when a Product In Focus changes location. E.g. an asset is still owned by the Air Force but changes geographical location
Ownership change: This activity reports when a Product In Focus changes ownership.
Lifing extension: This activity reports when the life measurement limits of a component are extended or a concession to exceed the usage limits or limits to periodic maintenance activity or task are granted. The activity reports the new life value, e.g. date, at which the deferred maintenance activities or tasks are due.

Maintenance activities

The following sections outline the types of maintenance activities that may take place during scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and are reported on by this DEX:

Maintenance

This activity records management information, such as approval, recording effort, recording task completion, recording task coordination, about scheduled or unscheduled maintenance activities and tasks. Typical activities are:

Removal for Access: This activity reports when a serviceable Product In Focus is removed from an aircraft or component for access and the Product In Focus is then reinstalled.
Removal and evacuation: This activity reports when a serviceable or an unserviceable Product In Focus is removed from an aircraft or component and the item is not reinstalled on the same aircraft or component.
Repair / Overhaul: This activity reports when a serviceable or unserviceable Product In Focus is removed from an aircraft or component for repair, overhaul, or rebuild.
Installation: This activity reports when a Product In Focus is installed on an aircraft or component.
Removal of Serviceable Products In Focus for Controlled Exchange: This activity reports when any removal of a serviceable reportable component and module from one aircraft for installation on another aircraft. This is done within the same organization or in support of another organization. The installation on another aircraft is reported as a separate, related activity.

Part Number, Part type or Serial number Change

This activity reports when the Part Number, Stock Code / Stock Number, and/or Serial Number of a Product In Focus is changed as a result of a manufacturers work order or other directive

Inventory activities

The following Inventory activities are reported on by this DEX:

Gains To Inventory: This activity reports when a Product In Focus is first placed in the aircraft operators inventory. This includes installed or uninstalled items. For example, when the Product In Focus is received from the supplier by the operator.
Loss to inventory: This activity reports when a Product In Focus is removed from the operators inventory. For example, when the Product In Focus has been decommissioned or transferred to another operator.

The reportable activities described above are summarised by the UML class diagram in Figure 5.

Figure 5 — UML model representing reportable activities