SubscribeTraditional implementation of ATM systems has a sad history of delays, rising costs, inability to reach initial objectives and even total project collapses.
One reason for this is the fact that detailed system functionality is negotiated and decided on at a very early stage, i.e. in connection with contract negotiations. The specification thus created will then remain unchanged clear up to the testing phase and, in many projects, the customer will have no real control over or influence on the on-going work. The risk is obvious that he will receive a product that does not correspond to his needs and expectations.
Maybe because the customer and the supplier were not sufficiently clear and detailed in their specification work, or maybe because they simply had no possibility to foresee the changes that are likely to develop during a lengthy implementation period. In the end, nobody is happy. The customer asks for more functionality and the supplier for more money. New negotiations cause turbulence and interfere with the work already in progress.
The Swedish company Si ATM can offer, and has experience from what is known as phased implementation. This approach means that a number of concrete project phases are defined, and the functionality of each phase is carefully specified in order to avoid temporary solutions and dead ends. Each new phase in a project is specified only when the work with the preceding phase draws to an end, and each new phase can, consequently, profit by increased system know-how from the preceding phases.
As a result, specifications become constantly clearer, the system itself constantly better, project fulfilment and customer satisfaction constantly higher and - last but far from least - the mutual understanding and confidence between buyer and seller constantly greater. Each implementation phase constitutes a clearly defined, completed milestone, put into operational use and thereby possible to build on in the next phase. As an example,the ATRACC (Air Traffic Riga Area Control Centre) can be mentioned. It is an ATM system for tower, approach and area Control of the Riga FIR. The system was designed, produced and implemented by the Swedish Company Systemintegrering for Latvijas Gaisa Satiksme, the Latvian authority responsible for air navigation services in the Latvian airspace.
The ATRACC project produced a system that could, as early as six months after the contract signing, be used operationally and then be stepwise upgraded by means of very smooth transition steps. The major part of the system was in operational use just three years after the contract date.
Advantages of the phased implementation model:
- It is easier to control and follow up a project divided into well-defined phases.
- Buyer and User get tangible results (usually high-priority ones) early in the project.
- It is easier to get controller acceptance.
- Acceptance testing becomes less dramatic for both parties.
- The transition to the new system is easier to perform.
- There are a number of clearly defined milestones to which payment schedules and other contractual issues can be connected.
- The project risk decreases.
- The customer gets in-depth knowledge of system hardware, software and functionality.
- The product usability increases.
- The time for operational evaluation can be limited.
