AUTOMATED INTEGRATION OF LEVEL OF REPAIR ANALYSIS (LORA) WITH LOGISTICS SUPPORT ANALYSIS RECORD (LSAR)

SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED DATA INTEGRATION LINK BETWEEN LSAR AND LORA DATA BASES CAN REDUCE REDUNDANT LABOR INTENSIVE MANUAL OPERATIONS CURRENTLY REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN THE INDEPENDENT DATA BASES. BECAUSE ENGINEERING AND PROGRAM DATA BECOME MORE CLEARLY DEFINED AS HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT PROGRESSES, DATA BASES MUST BE CONTINUALLY UPDATED. BECAUSE THE DATA BASES ARE PRESENTLY INDEPENDENT, AN AUTOMATED INTEGRATION LINK WOULD REDUCE LABOR INTENSIVE LOR DATA SET DEFINITIONS AND DATA BASE MAINTENANCE TASKS, INCREASE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN FILES, ALLOW FOR MORE RAPID GENERATION OF REPORTS, AND STREAMLINE THE MAINTENANCE PLANNING PROCESS. AT THE CORE OF OUR APPROACH IS THE REALIZATION THAT, INITIALLY, DATA MIGHT FLOW FROM LOR ANALYSES PERFORMED DURING THE CONCEPTUAL AND DESIGN PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT TO NEW LSAR DATA BASES, AND THEN LATER, FLOW FROM UPDATED AND MORE RIGOROUSLY CONTROLLED LSAR DATA BASES TO LOR FILES. SIGNIFICANTY, WE PROPOSE A FLEXIBLE, USER-CONTROLLED "FLOW SWITCH" DATA LINK CONCEPT WHEREBY THE DIRECTION OF DATA FLOW AND USER-DEFINED TYPES AND CATEGORIES OF DATA CAN BE SPECIFIED, IN ORDER TO COMPLY IN THE GREATEST WAY POSSIBLE WITH THE DESIRES OF THE ANALYST. FINALLY, THE LINK WILL BE DESIGNED IN CONSIDERATION OF THE CALS INITIATIVE IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS ANY NEWLY CREATED DATA BASES, SUCH AS MANUFACTURER'S PART NO./WUC CROSS-REFERENCE WHICH ARE NOT NOW EXISTANT.