Situation
The Royal Navy has taken delivery of two new Aircraft Carriers, HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES. A consortium built the aircraft carriers, but it closed in early 2020. ShareAspace is used to hold the design data and other documentation from the consortium so it is available to the multiple organisations (both inside and outside the Ministry of Defence) that need controlled access.
Problem
The Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), the consortium that built the new-generation aircraft carriers, has closed, and its IT applications, including PLM, have closed with it. The Royal Navy wanted a standards-based approach to hold and share the ACA’s design data over time. The problem was to move the data from the ACA into a new repository, organising it and preparing it for the support of the carriers, an activity that will involve many organisations for the next forty or more years.
Solution
Eurostep has been working with BAE Systems Maritime, which provided the secure infrastructure. A data pipeline was established to import the data for the aircraft carriers. This included the different compartments (over 3000 on each ship) and their grouping into zones, the installed equipment, where the same equipment item may be installed in multiple places within the ship, and the associated documentation. Three different ShareAspace spaces have been used: one for current documentation, one for documents subject to special control, and one to archive versions of documents that are no longer applicable, allowing access to the design history when needed.
Benefits
- Continuity – Closing the ACA will not affect the availability of data and documentation for support.
- Accessibility – It is easy to search for and access the documentation for each piece of equipment on each carrier.
- Controlled sharing – Information can be shared with other parties, such as those contracted to support the carriers, in a secure and controlled manner.
