FRESH MEADOWS, NY – If you’re Lockheed Martin Space Systems, ready to launch the new millennium with up-to-date, Y2K compliant missile assembly programs, how do you meld the future with the past?

This was the position Lockheed Martin found itself in when it decided to replace a Cobol-based documentation system with an Oracle database application. The Cobol documentation, in conjunction with LMSS’s publishing system, produced procedural “work packages” involved in missile assembly.  A specific package is created for each part of the assembly, and thirteen packages are required to build a complete missile.

The Problem

The existing documentation had been authored in XICS- (Xerox Integrated Composition System) encoded ASCII text. The documentation needed to be converted to SGML (standard generalized markup language), a rapidly-spreading standard for tagging text, tables and graphics.  Specifically, LMSS’s data had to be encoded in accordance with the IMPS DTD (document type definition) the company had developed.

The SGML standard is becoming the de facto standard in the world of complex technical documentation. The standard allows documents to be transferred across platforms and displayed properly across media (Internet, CD, printers and screens). Other benefits of SGML include hyperlinking that would not be possible in traditional publishing systems, and more refined search capabilities.

Lockheed Martin had 25,000 critical pages currently in use (with missile manufacturing systems) that needed to be converted almost immediately. Another 225,000 pages were to be converted by LMSS for archival purposes at a later date.

As with any precision data conversion, the very nature of how the data was being used  meant the conversion had to be 100 percent accurate. The complexities of the Lockheed Martin data made this a formidable task.

Aside from the difficulty of converting text in standard XICS markup to SGML, specific XICS tags and markup had been used in non-standard ways by various authors. In fact, as LMSS’s Mark Ferrara, the Conversion Project Lead, discovered, there were many more of these than anticipated.

“When we first raised the question of doing the conversion, we knew we couldn’t do it in-house with our own resources,” Ferrara stated. “We had no SGML conversion ability in place.  The very nature and volume of what we had to convert, coupled with our tight delivery schedule, meant we needed the expertise of an outside facility with considerable SGML experience.  We also knew our own special tags and exceptions would present problems in creating conversion software.  Given the challenges, there was some skepticism as to whether it could be done at all within the time allotted.”

LMSS and DCL

Ferrara met a Data Conversion Laboratory spokesperson at an SGML conference in 1997.  At that time, Lockheed Martin was first considering conversion related to another project, but hadn’t yet decided to move on it.  “We were checking out resources and companies,” Ferrara noted.  “This was our first large-scale conversion and we’d heard horror stories, and read case studies, about conversions gone bad.  We didn’t want ours to be one of them, especially this project.”

After reviewing several other companies, Ferrara was convinced that Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), with its SGML expertise and an outstanding reputation for high-quality, on-time, on-budget work, matched his needs. Contracts were signed in August, 1998, calling for DCL to convert the 25,000 critical pages at their facilities. Upon completion of that phase, DCL would license the conversion software to Lockheed Martin so the company could convert its remaining 225,000 pages in-house, as needed.

The Process

In the trial or “proof of process phase” of a project this complex, DCL typically does a sample conversion of selected data or text—usually the most difficult data to be converted—in order to test the conversion software for accuracy.

Howard Shatz, DCL project director, reflects, “In this early phase, many of our clients find it difficult to understand the complexities of the process and how they can help. Mark Ferrara and LMSS were very forward-thinking.”

Ferrara and LMSS presented DCL with a XICS-to-SGML standard conversion map, and instructions for handling exceptions.  According to Shatz, “this was an enormous, time-saving help. We incorporated LMSS’s templates and tried one or two iterations of the conversion software on sample documents. As is usual in these types of conversions, these early iterations identified new exceptions. We went back and forth, incorporating exceptions and ironing out the kinks.  In a few short weeks, we were able to convert the most difficult data from XICS to SGML with 100 percent tagging accuracy.”

Ferrara compliments Shatz on this phase of the process. “DCL was very patient with us, often going the extra mile and doing things above and beyond the call to make the adjustments and get the software to 100 percent,” he noted.

The Solution

In November, 1998, the conversion software was ready and the conversion shifted into high gear.

“From that point on, DCL sent us 1,500-2,500 pages a week. The quality and accuracy were outstanding. The entire conversion of the first 25,000 pages finished exactly on time, at the end of January, 1999. It also finished on budget.  This is remarkable because the budget had been drawn up 15 months earlier, before anyone knew how complex the job was,” Ferrara added.

At the completion of the critical 25,000 pages, DCL not only licensed the conversion software to Lockheed Martin (to convert the remaining 225,000 pages in-house), DCL’s technical advisors helped LMSS’s programmers become familiar with the software in order to help facilitate the in-house conversion.

“On the conversion of our non-time-sensitive data, DCL again went the extra mile, assisting our programmers, troubleshooting, helping us understand the software. Much of the extra time they spent with us was off-budget, and they did it anyway. This earned a lot of points with our people,” Ferrara said.

Post Project Reflections

Today the 25,000 critical pages are in use in LMSS’s Missile Assembly Plan (MAP) program, and products are being built with them.  These pages are also being prepared for use in Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs).

The 225,000 pages of archived data have also been converted.

“We have nothing but positive things to say about Data Conversion Laboratory,” Ferrara concluded. “DCL maintained their schedule and their budget while giving us superior service—and a superior product—above and beyond the call. This project helped launch Lockheed Martin and our U.S. Navy customer into the new millennium, and DCL was absolutely key in launching the project.”

ABOUT LOCKHEED MARTIN - Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a highly diversified global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology products and services. The Corporation's core businesses span aeronautics, electronics, energy and environment, information and services, space and strategic missiles, and systems integration. To learn more about Lockheed Martin and its operating companies, visit the company's corporate website.

Disclaimer: This case history does not represent an endorsement by Lockheed Martin or its employees.