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Going Paperless Commercial Benefits—Spinoffs You can easily imagine the mounds of paper permit search and retrieval work required to certify that payloads are interactions, and generate task ready for a Space Shuttle mission or to status reports and trend analyses. approve equipment for installation aboard the EPIC has been targeted for use in International Space Station. the Space Shuttle Main Engine To lessen document overload, NASA-sponsored Shop and for Space Station development of an Electronic Portable Information ground processing. Collection system, or EPIC for short. SENTEL’s leadership role in EPIC stemmed from a NASA Small Business QAPDC and EPIC led to the Innovation Research (SBIR) project, sponsored by the Kennedy Space Center. During the project, the SENTEL Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia, designed, built, and tested prototype paperless work authorization procedures for NASA. Initially called Through a the Quality Assurance Portable Data Collection partnership with system (QAPDC), this project was a key step to the NASA, SENTEL goal of minimizing paper and maximizing quality for Corporation Space Shuttle and Space Station operations. In 1996, developed a system NASA awarded SENTEL the prestigious SBIR of the that simplifies Year Award in the computer software category for procedures and that work. documentation. QAPDC was a response to manual and paper intensive Work Authorization Documents, record keeping done for all Kennedy procedures. However, 1998 announcement that the company was teaming this documentation was prone to inconsistency and with two other firms to commercialize a paperless error. In addition, complexity was increased due to information collection system. In a major commer- the involvement of several working groups, contrac- cial venture, SENTEL has joined with configuration tors, and multiple disciplines. Task coordination and management specialist CMstat and data manage- verification proved complex and cumbersome. ment industry leader, Symbol Technologies. To NASA wanted a system that could convert a provide complete worker mobility, SENTEL is procedure from a word processing document to a augmenting the information collection system by database. The procedure could then be executed incorporating Symbol Technologies’ Spectrum 24™ using a portable computer. Data are now entered wireless networking technology. This partnership electronically, either with keyboard or pen, using is also geared to offer the Advanced Process handwriting recognition. The system then distributes Manager™. the data to other terminals. Once a procedure is According to the SENTEL officials, the Advanced completed, it is electronically stamped and uniquely Process Manager™ is a state-of-the-art system for identified, converted to a Portable Document executing maintenance and inspection procedures Format (PDF), and stored electronically in a within a robust product data management frame- documentation system. As a prototype of EPIC, work. Primary market targets for the Advanced QAPDC was tested and shown to be viable. Process Manager™ exist in the aerospace and SENTEL and NASA formed a partnership through a defense sectors for life cycle data management. nonreimbursable Space Act Agreement. This SENTEL believes that marketing of the Advanced permitted the go-ahead to develop the operational Process Manager™ is also appropriate for the airline version of the system, and the EPIC Procedure industries, the shipbuilding industry, warehouse and System was born. shipping industries, law enforcement agencies, and For NASA, the system has proven itself as a rapid public utilities. v and efficient way to collect data, temporarily store data, transfer data to a central personal computer, Advanced Process Manager™ is a trademark of SENTEL Corporation Spectrum 24™ is a trademark of Symbol Technologies Computer Technology 71