Actuate reporting solution earns its stripes at RAF, as support department tightens its supply chain and adds more value

1. Case
Study
Flying high
Actuate reporting solution earns its stripes at RAF, as support
department tightens its supply chain and adds more value
“The functionality of Actuate is very impressive. We can do a lot of the manipulation in the report > Company profile
coding structure itself, rather than having to extract the data and then run macros , which was very The Defence Equipment and
time-consuming. What used to take up to an hour now takes just a few minutes.” Support Logistics (Air) organisa-
tion, DE&S, is part of the British
“Before, we didn’t have network-based tools, so there was no web access. We wanted the user to be Royal Air Force (RAF).
able to log in wherever they were on the network, particularly for support staffs who move from site
to site.” > industry
Government/Defence
— Squadron Leader Alan W Moore
Head of Reporting Services, Management Information Branch, Supply Chain Support > company size
Programmes, Defence Equipment & Support, RAF Wyton 29,000 employees
When your core responsibilities include the DE&S Air Logistics Reporting team is now
> location
keeping expensive, peace-keeping aircraft exploiting the Actuate capabilities to replace
The department is based across
flying, the quality and immediacy of your other reporting solutions for other aircraft
65 locations and represented at
maintenance and supply chain reporting platforms .
150 specific sites.
activities will be paramount.
Yet, until two years ago, the British Royal
Manual manipulation > challenge
Air Force’s Defence Equipment & Support “Typhoon data is stored in two different data benefits
department had clipped wings when it came sources, which we need to pull together to See At-A-Glance (page 5)
to information reporting from its air logistics produce reports,” explains Squadron Leader
engineering systems. Although a wealth of Alan W Moore, head of reporting services
engineering, asset management and other within the Information Exploitation Branch,
essential data was being recorded and Supply Chain Support Programmes, within
safely stored, the process of extracting and Defence Equipment & Support at RAF Wyton.
reporting on this information was far from
For other platforms, it didn’t help that the
easy or efficient. So when the RAF introduced
main database – Informix – was an older,
the Typhoon multi-role combat aircraft, it
legacy system. To provide actionable
decided something needed to be done.
decision-support information from this source
So successful has been its employment of to internal operations staff, contractors and
specialist reporting solutions from Actuate to clients, Sqn Ldr Moore’s department had
provide Typhoon reporting efficiencies, that the painstaking task of extracting the data

2. Case Study: RAF
using SQL queries and manipulating it using Multiple challenges,
spreadsheet macros and then present the
data in an appropriate way, a process which
single solution
was not efficient for report customers to When the DE&S’s Management Information
perform. Branch went to the market, its mission was
to find a modern reporting tool that could
The Informix system holds logistics data,
effortlessly draw data from across new and
such as engineering and asset management
older systems.
records including vital maintenance and
product life parameter information, as well There were other critical requirements too.
as reference data about the structure of the Says Moore: “We needed a solution that
aircraft. Comprehensive reporting depends would comply with MOD Architecture and
on being able to pull together data and be run over the MOD RLI intranet; connect
present it under the reference structure. to multiple database sources of differing
standards; produce output in multiple,
Although Moore’s team did have some
graphical formats; and that would minimise
reporting capabilities in a business
development resources.”
intelligence tool (IQ/Eureka from Computer
Associates) with the introduction of the Crucially, the reporting application also
Typhoon aircraft, this had several limitations, needed to provide Web-based reports that
not least its inability to draw data from more could be manipulated by customers. The
than one source. “Modern reporting tools RAF needed complete flexibility, since a
are generally very good at manipulating further objective was to maximise use of
data from modern data sources, but they internal resources, as well as getting critical,
are not so good at looking backwards and meaningful, accurate information to the
working with older systems,” Sqn Ldr Moore users that needed it without delay.
notes. It became clear that the RAF needed
Requested reports can range from those
a dedicated, powerful reporting capability
with direct operational importance, as
with greater flexibility.
used by operating squadron personnel or
Across the disparate systems, the team support organisations, to those relating to
needed to extract data from numerous customer support agreements and contract
discrete sources, including the RAF’s performance management. To ensure that
Logistics Information Technology System accurate, up-to-date, comprehensive and
(LITS) and the Maintenance Data System relevant information was delivered to the
(MDS), data from the back-office system, right people at the right time, Moore’s team
plus the Management of the Joint Deployed needed to establish a fully network-capable
Inventory Proof of Concept Management system that extended from the technicians
Information System (MJDI POC MIS) which on the ground to customers in different
tracks the flow of material. support organisations, and which could be
accessed flexibly across different locations,
“As it was, we only had one reporting tool for
using workstations & laptops supporting
one application, and we couldn’t employ this
both remote and autonomous use.
to get a complete picture of activities across
whole fleets when fleet data was managed “Before, we didn’t have network-based
in different E&AM systems,” Moore recalls. tools, so there was no web access,” Moore
Trying to achieve this fuller picture was explains. “We wanted the user to be able to
inefficient for his department, which at that log in wherever they were on the network,
time was populated with some 30 people particularly for support staff who move from
dedicated to the job of generating reports. site to site.”
2

3. Case Study: RAF
Flexible automation Pixel perfect, clear
from Actuate graphics
To reduce the burden on Moore’s team, and “The functionality of Actuate is very
ultimately to enable headcount reduction impressive,” Moore notes. “We can do a lot
(the team has now shrunk by two-thirds, of the manipulation in the report coding
from 30 to 10 people), meant automating structure itself, rather than having to extract
report generation so that users could request the data and run macros first, which was very
and process their own reports against live or time-consuming. What used to take up to
operational data stores. an hour now takes just a few minutes. We’re
employing more of a thin-client approach
The RAF found all of the capabilities it
to reporting now, if you like, which is much
wanted, and more, in Actuate.
more efficient.”
“Whereas, before, we had to produce lots
Indeed, the RAF has now deployed its
of individual reports for each piece of
Actuate solution on a Citrix farm, for further
equipment, we can now rapidly generate a
efficiencies. This means report developers
single, comprehensive, holistic report across
have the freedom to move about and can
the whole fleet, yet present this only in terms
work from anywhere.
of what is relevant to a Harrier tradesman or
a Tornado guy,” Moore says. Moore also likes the ‘pixel perfect’ output he
gets with his Actuate reports, and the ability
This has significantly reduced the report
to bring reports alive with interpretative
maintenance burden as there are fewer
graphics. “We need to be able to reproduce
reports to maintain, while, more importantly,
the exact structure of the page, and this is
ensuring users get the information that is
very easy with Actuate,” he says. “We can also
directly relevant to them quickly.
produce all of the data in graphical format,
By contrast, with CA’s IQ/Eureka software, using traffic lights, dashboards or pie-charts
the department had been generating 368 to display problems.
separate reports (around 300 relating to
“These are capabilities we are exploiting
asset management, the rest to maintenance
now and it’s having a great impact,” he says.
management). Moore’s team has now been
“Our customers are happy with the data they
able to whittle this down by more than
are getting back from us. The next step is
two thirds (70%). The users benefit directly
to hone this further by asking customers to
too, as reports are more immediate, and
give us their data preferences, so that we can
easier to digest. Whilst this work is not
focus our reports even more by drilling down
yet fully completed, and customers must
using graphics.”
confirm that the Actuate reports satisfies
airworthiness requirements, it is expected
that the IQ reports will be phased out in
12-18 months – this seems long but a period
of parallel running is required by the users of
airworthiness reports.
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4. Case Study: RAF
Customer control The next steps in the deployment of Actuate,
once it has completely phased out CA IQ
To this end, the RAF has invested in Actuate’s reporting in favour of Actuate (during the
Query module, which allows objects to be transition, the two have been running in
created and made available to customers. parallel), is to integrate more of the RAF’s
“This gives our customers OLAP reporting data into the system, to spread its benefits.
functionality, so they can request specific
“We also want to make greater use of the
columns of information or tables relating
graphical presentation, provide the customer
to specific products. They can order, sort
with a greater ability to set trigger levels, add
and present the reports as they want to see
further data sources and possibly additional
them, whether by squadron, equipment
reporting team requirements,” Moore
name, or other parameters,” Moore explains.
concludes. “We may also move towards a
Equally importantly, the ability to set service-oriented architecture [SOA] and
parameters and define log-in rights means make increasing use of our Enterprise Data
the data can’t fall into the wrong hands. Warehouse to produce federated reports,” he
“This is particularly important if the users says.
are commercial organisations; it means we
can be sure British Aerospace won’t see data About the RAF’s Defence Equipment
about Rolls-Royce faults, and vice versa,” he
and Support Logistics (Air) organisation
(DE&S)
adds.
The DE&S employs around 29,000 people,
Usage-based log-in also creates greater and has an annual budget spend of up to
visibility of who is requesting the reports and £16 billion, representing 43% of the Defence
how these are being used, so that Moore and budget. The DE&S works closely with
his team can prioritise resources, and rectify industry, with partnering agreements and
any reporting problems efficiently. PFIs (private finance initiatives).
Field efficiencies DE&S’s Integrated Project Teams are
responsible for providing support to Air
Such is the flexibility of the Actuate Command; managing support activities;
solution and the way it has been deployed, managing a range of spares; developing
that the RAF has been able to extend its modification program with the Design
information flow to far-flung outposts such Authority; and managing industry contracts
as Afghanistan and Iraq. “Very up-to-date for repair and maintenance.
information on material flow can now be run
by the staff out there,” Moore says. About Actuate
Not all reporting needs to be up to the Actuate Corporation is dedicated to
minute however, he notes, and it is an aid increasing the richness, interactivity
to overall efficiency that Moore’s team can and effectiveness of enterprise data, for
differentiate between time-dependent and everyone, everywhere. Actuate delivers
less urgent reports. For example, fault trend the next generation RIA-ready information
reports do not need access to live faults data platform for both customer and employee-
and data that is in excess of 24 hours old is facing applications. The Actuate platform
fully acceptable. boasts unmatched scalability, high-
4

5. Case Study: RAF
performance, reliability and security. The company has over 4,400 customers
Its proven RIA capabilities and highly globally in a diverse range of business areas
collaborative development architecture including financial services and the public
are backed by the world’s largest open sector, many of which have a long history
source information application developer of deploying Actuate-based solutions for
community, grounded in BIRT, the Eclipse dozens, or even hundreds of their mission-
Foundation’s only top level Business critical applications. Founded in 1993,
Intelligence and reporting project. Actuate has headquarters in San Mateo,
California, with offices worldwide. Actuate is
Global 9000 organizations use Actuate to
listed on NASDAQ under the symbol ACTU.
roll out RIA-enabled customer loyalty and
For more information on Actuate, visit the
Performance Management applications that
company’s web site at www.actuate.com.
improve customer satisfaction and employee
productivity.
AT A GLANCE
Challenge Summary of key benefits:
Improve efficiency; reduce internal staff and administration costs, • The need for fewer reports (from 360 legacy reports down to
while boosting the productivity, value and responsiveness of the 120 Actuate reports)
DE&S’s reporting function • Reduced maintenance & resources = lower costs (enabled by
Actuate report parameterisation). Reporting team has been cut
Before Actuate, the department had to resort to: by two-thirds, from 30 to 10 people
• Logistics Information Technology System (LITS) data, but no • Greater Visibility into reports with drill down capability
web-based reporting • The ability to combine data from multiple sources
• Limited reporting using IQ/Eureka from Computer Associates • The addition of graphical data presentation
• Smart Server scheduling • No more need for macros to be run against report extracts
• Reports accessed via menus from within a single application • The ability to do pixel-perfect layouts
• Created Access database services • The ability to do the difficult jobs thanks to this highly
• Data Mart Service (using DEX - product QinetiQ licensed from configurable tool
ClearPace) • Easier meta-data management for developers (knowledge
• MDS base & data table linking)
• SQL data extractions to customer
With Actuate, it has gained from:
• Web-based reporting (greater visibility helps to diagnose
problems)
• The ability to deliver engineering & asset management and
material flow reports via the Air Command portal
• Access to a mix of live, operational and back-office data stores
• The availability of reports to deployed sites
• Multi data source reports
• Typhoon reporting
• The ability to introduce new services
• The ability to do MJDI, CSA & AwIS reporting
Actuate Corporation Tel: (888) 422-8828
2207 Bridgepointe Parkway Web: http://www.actuate.com
Suite 500 5
San Mateo, CA 94404