FAQs
We have provided answers below to some of the frequently asked questions we receive from visitors to our site. You will also find a glossary of acronyms at the end of this section.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a design approach to organizing existing IT resources such that different, disconnected, complex systems and applications can be transformed into a network of integrated, simplified and highly flexible assets. SOA provides a blueprint for services-based, flexible business solutions that provide considerable benefits. SOA is business process oriented. It provides for various services that can be strung together to facilitate a business process. The services are loosely coupled to the extent that they could be performed on different hardware platforms and be exposed by different applications.
What are the business benefits of employing a SOA design approach?
SOA business benefits for defense organizations relate directly to organizational agility, technology reuse, the development of enterprise applications with easily integrated modules, and improved business visibility and interoperability. Service-enabled maintenance and logistics management solutions such as GOLDesp (Enterprise Services Platform) facilitate the enterprise integration, innovation and change needed to help manage complexity, permit controlled change and support continuous improvement.
What is the significance of browser-based software?
GOLDesp employs the latest component-based software technologies. That means the software can easily adapt to changes in business needs or to advances in technology. The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with Web Services and Messaging provide both Miro and customer developers the ultimate flexibility to craft a system that meets their exact needs. Open source frameworks, Java EE, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and XML technologies provide customers assurance that their system is built upon the most relevant platforms.
Can GOLDesp be easily integrated with military software, COTS, CBM and HUMS?
GOLDesp uses SOA, Web Services and API sets to seamlessly integrate to DoD software, legacy software or COTS (commercial off-the-shelf software) applications. The manual entry of data into multiple systems and countless man-hours are eliminated with the use of these integrations. In addition to facilitating integrations written by the customer, the SOA architecture also facilitates the capture and management of condition-based maintenance (CBM) and Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) data. Read our recent press release explaining how Miro has linked its technology to the HUMS for the Apache Attack helicopter for the British Army.
What is PBL?
According to the DoD definition, Performance Based Logistics (PBL) is the purchase of support as an integrated, affordable, performance package designed to optimize system readiness and meet performance goals for a weapons system through long-term support arrangement with clear lines of authority and responsibility. PBL programs are designed to deliver favorable outcomes, not products or services.
What is behind the trend toward PBL or availability contracts?
Defense organizations continue to increasingly outsource logistics management of critical weapon systems to commercial service providers under PBL or availability contracts. The drivers for this trend include both internal organizational and external factors that all point toward the need for asset optimization and cost-effectiveness across a network of aftermarket logistics partners.
What IT tools do PBL contractors really need to succeed?
In order to achieve or surpass contract targets, PBL contractors need real-time access to integrated maintenance and supply data, total asset visibility, a complementary set of performance metrics and automated decision support tools for optimizing decision-making. This requires advanced, specialized software tools such as Miro's GOLDesp software to provide enhanced item management support, information currency and transparency, and seamless communication with the battle field.
What are MILS and DLMS?
MILS transactions have been used for nearly fifty years as the standard for EDI between the DoD Services and Agencies and more recently with other government and commercial activities. The basis for MILS was the punch card technology that was the standard data interchange methodology available in the early years of DoD logistics system development. Nearly thirty years ago, DoD began eliminating the use of punched cards but retained the fixed-length positional formats that were in place at that time. Over ten years ago, DoD directed the Services and Agencies to migrate their logistics systems to a more flexible electronic interchange system called the Defense Logistics Management System (DLMS), although the MILS-based logistics systems are still widely used. For more information on this topic, download our White Paper entitled "Migrating to the DLMS".
Is GOLDesp compatible with the MILS and DLMS standards?
Miro has developed one of the most sophisticated DoD-compatible supply systems in the world; Miro's GOLD product line is now the "de facto standard" for USAF Contractor Supported Weapon Systems (CSWS) programs and a leader in supporting many of the new PBL programs throughout the DoD.
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS
CLS - Contractor Logistics Support
COMBS - Contractor Operated and Managed Base Supply
COTS - Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software
DLMS - Defense Logistics Management System
ICP - Inventory Control Point
IOS - Integrated Operational Support
IUID - Item Unique Identification
MILS - an all-encompassing abbreviation that refers to MILSTRIP, MILSTRAP, and MILSBILLS
MILSTRIP - Military Standard and Requisitioning Issue Procedures
MILSTRAP - Military Standard Transaction Reporting & Accounting Procedures
MILSBILLS - Military Standard Billing System
PBL - Performance Based Logistics
RFID - Radio Frequency Identification
SOA - Service Oriented Architecture
TLCSM - Total Life Cycle System Management
XML - Extensible Markup Language
