CIOIN

Tanmoy Chakrabarty

VP & head, global government industry, TCS

Executive summary

Imagine an Air Force that depends on manual processes to keep track of where 500,000 pieces of spares, equipment and other material are located. In the actual event of a war, it's a nightmare to not know, in realtime, how many of which spares or ammunition India's defence forces have, where they are needed the most, and how quickly they can be forwarded.

Information superiority assumes a great importance in today's digitized battlefields. Computer services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) built and deployed the application it calls the Integrated Materials Management Online System or IMMOLS. IMMOLS is a strategic IAF initiative that facilitates the translation of information superiority into combat power by the effective utilization of inventory resources, says   Air Marshal B.U. Chengappa, the air officer-incharge (maintenance).

IAF has achieved logistics e-governance by shifting gears from a manual system to an e-enabled online environment. IMMOLS has facilitated attaining integrated logistics functionality, a composite of all support considerations, and ensured economically viable support for weapon systems throughout their lifecycle.

The project started in 1993-94 and just the initial pilot took a few years to build and roll out, after which the project's endorsement came through, and final phase was rolled out. Being a replacement system, IMMOLS posed significant challenges, says Air Marshal Chengappa. Many of these were sorted out, Chakrabarty says, because the project was initially started with two teams: one from TCS and the other from the maintenance core of the air force. They thrashed out the functionalities, which many applications required, right at the start - bypassing a requirements  mess that could have stopped the project cold.

The final phase was covered in the last eight months. Initially, there was the need to get buy-in, clear internal validation and go through several leadership cycles (within the Air Force). The nature of the program was holistic and enterprise wide, which meant that it had a longer evolutionary phase. The application tackles two essential processes in order to achieve efficient materials management: the procurement/supply chain management cycle, and the repair management cycle. Efficient materials management at the IAF is directly related to the speed  at which these two cycles are churned by decision-makers at various techno-logistics echelons or the infrastructure.

This, in turn, is dependent on the time taken for the execution of every activity in each cycle. IMMOLS ensures the movement of these two cycles leading to cost and time efficiency. It was implemented in a distributed manner at various depots of the IAF and replaces the current manual system of materials management at all levels of hierarchy.

Being a custom-designed application software, IMMOLS caters to all facets of materials management at various levels of hierarchy in the Indian Air Force.

The IT infrastructure covers a nationwide installation of computing platforms, campus LANs and other hardware equipment. What TCS did was to develop and deploy an enterprise wide logistics management system that encompasses the inventory management control capabilities of all items present in the Indian Air Force, right from the air headquarters to the battlefield command operating station.

Logistics management is under the maintenance command of the Air Force, where all items in excess of 500,000, whether they are aircraft spares or ration and clothing for the airmen, are controlled, maintained, and their procurement processes automated. The IAF now has real-time access to information on any spare part or piece of equipment at the push of a button, information that would take weeks to collect. And as the IAF gets their nuts and bolts in place, and closes their ranks in a world of network-centric warfare, the Indian skies will hopefully be a safer place.