Project Procurement for Baggage Handling & EDS Systems
Though often seen as a construction project, procurement, design, implementation and testing of baggage handling systems and electronic distribution systems (EDS) have much more in common with IT projects. This reflects the many interfaces - electrical, mechanical and software - that form the structure of these projects, and also the number and range of stakeholders.
The MSP Solutions approach sets key milestones so that the deliverables of each phase of the work must be completed before work can proceed to a later stage. The six main stages are outlines below.
Requirements Definition
We recognise, from experience, that requirements definition is the most important element of the project. Inaccurate or inappropriate requirements detected at this stage may be changed with minimal impact. Those proceeding to systems manufacture may result in major additional cost or delay.
Concept Design
The preparation of concept designs is an extension of the requirements definition process. These designs are essentially a way of testing the requirements definition and determining if it offers a means of achieving good value. It may become apparent that solutions providing full compliance with the requirements are prohibitively expensive or lacking in value.
Value Engineering
A key consideration is the concept of value. Often, ‘value' is taken to mean cheap and ‘Value Engineering' is a means to justify a cheaper solution. However, we also know that a cheaper solution that does not fulfil the key requirements may be much more expensive to maintain or operate.
Contractual Framework
In a traditional project it is common for a consultant to prepare a specification and present it to the client as completed item. What is often missing, however, is the integration of the specification with the contract.
Detailed Design and Manufacture
The key issue here is the accuracy and certainty with which, on the one hand, we can translate requirements and constraints into solutions and, on the other, how we reverse the process to determine how effectively a given solution will meet the requirements.
Acceptance Process
We do not consider the acceptance process to be just a few tests that are carried out at the end of the work. The Acceptance Process, in our view, an important element of the Validation process and answers the question – ‘did we build the right product'? The acceptance testing process is usually divided into three elements:
- Factory acceptance testing;
- Site acceptance testing;
- Performance trials.
Each set of tests uses, as a common base, the original requirements and must be carried out using a defined procedure and test specification to fully evaluate system functionality and performance in terms of requirements.