The client, Naval Aircraft Servicing and Development Organization (NASDO), is instrumental in promulgating and enforcing policies in the paradigm of Indian Naval Aviation. The unit originates and handles vast amounts of sensitive data ,where accuracy and tracking of historical changes of values is of major importance. A need was felt to automate the organizational workflow involving various departments with the software acting as the custodian of information.
Such a software had to be a centralized , multiuser system ,tailor made and customised to suite the specific requirements of the organization.Given the distinct way defense organisations work, the developers were expected to understand the 'work culture' to be able to execute the task successfuly. The software was to warehouse and operate on highly technical data related to Naval Aviation, so there was no scope for even minor bugs and problems which could have been taken kindly in regular software projects.
The software was christened as "NASDOOR" , which implied "The Door to NASDO Functions" .
The Endeavour
A plan was formulated with active consultations with the senior officers and staff of the IT cell where a task group from the organization was formed to liaise with Team Inertia.
A team was formed comprising of Shaan Nair (Project Manager) and Joseph Jambunathan (Project Lead ) to study the work culture of the organization and workflow of various functions by the departments.
The project was kickstarted with a briefing to the NASDO personnel on 27th February 2008.During the presentation, the "to be users" were made aware of the broad objectives of the envisaged ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software.The staff was encouraged to get actively involved in the analysis phase by listing all the activities of their respective department/designation and explaining the developers and answering their queries.
The teams from NASDO and team Inertia used to meet at the starting of every week to schedule interactions with various departments and review the findings with the stakeholders at the end of the week. Given the interconnectivity of functions across departments coupled with the "unconventional" work culture of a Defense unit and the hi-tech nature of the aviation data , the analysis phase proved to be quite challenging.
The software analysis phase lasted for almost 7 weeks where the team members could confirm the requirements and were in a position to plan out the design and development phases. This is apart from other achievements like Joey actually able to understand and laugh at Hindi jokes and both Joey and Shaan able to identify most of the warplanes effortlessly ...even by their sound at times :) !. There was a joke doing rounds the NASDOOR analysis team members knows so much about the organization and work that they could be 'called for duty' in case of a man power shortage :) .
Apart from the core functional modules the software comprised administrative modules such as a full blown "mail management system" with facilities for mail marking and notings,"task management system","technical library","scheduler", "Digital Filing System","Duty Roster", "Biometric Attendance System","Leave Management System" with Leave forecast and man power projection facilities.Numerous utilities were made part of the software to make it a singlemost largest reference point for the entire organization. Development phase planned and executed in 12 weeks during which the liaison team from NASDO carried out data sanitization work. Data incorporation and implementation was carried out module by module.
Implementation of customized ,organization wide workflow management systems is no easy task , given the inherent "resistance to change" in human nature and the complexity of the system adding to this difficulty. We were a little apprehensive about this phase as it involved inducing people to work in a different way than they used to be working all along their careers... spanning more than our own lifespan in some cases :)
Worries aside, Implementation of the software was quite smooth due to the coordination dating back since the initiation and analyze phases and remarkable discipline (not surprisingly) of the NASDO staff who adapted seamlessly. The resolve of the Officer-In-Charge, patience of senior department officers and positive attitude of the men created a great synergy , helping the process to complete in a record time. The user friendliness of the software was another aspect which made it easier.
A few modules went through smoothening efforts based on user feedback.
The Result
The software proved to be successful in strengthening the "Unity of Purpose" and coordinating interconnected activities of the departments while providing transparency. New staff members learned and adapted themselves this new , 'tech-savvy' way of working without much effort. Efficiency of work increased with more productive time at disposal . Locating previous communications and reference to old tasks became easier.The movements of physical files reduced considerably , owing to the digital filing cabinet and mail management.Looking back at the project with regards to the value addition to the organization , It gives us immense satisfaction to be part of such a great endeavor.
