When prime contractors are under commercial pressure to deliver, it is essential that senior staff within both government and industry are able to access independent, realistic views on the health of programmes and their likelihood of delivering against their promises.
Sula provides an expert and independent holistic view of the complex programmes that exist in Defence and Aerospace today. A proven success with MOD, this Sula service is being increasingly taken up by prime contractors. The service is delivered by small teams led by highly experienced systems engineers and the areas we examine include:
One of the major reasons for programme failure within Defence is that an overly optimistic view is taken of technical risk and, partly as a result of this, risks are insufficiently mitigated. Sula gives a clear picture of the maturity of those capabilitiesthat must be delivered by determining the technology and systems integration drivers. We take a dispassionate and realistic view of the evidence that supports a maturity assessment, using Technology and System Readiness Levels. We then use Technology Roadmaps to illustrate how the required maturity will then be achieved.
There are numerous well-known examples over the years where major defence programmes have had problems related to the incoherent delivery of the elements that make-up military capability, known as the Defence Lines of Development (DLODs).
Sula Systems has been working with both the Equipment Capability Customer (ECC) and the DE&S’s Future Business Group (FBG) to develop an approach, based upon extensive experience with various projects, which is available for use by all defence projects. Sula can examine and advise on management and review processes to assure that all DLODs will be delivered coherently and in step with development of the Equipment.
Sula is constructive in its approach. We identify with the objectives of the programme, we provide assurance rather than audit, working with IPTs and Prime Contractors to improve success probability.
Our key asset is the provision of senior engineers with industrial experience of programme delivery, together with pragmatism and good judgement.
For a programme to successfully reach its conclusion there must be a co-operative and joined-up approach, shared between a prime contractor and the major tier one subcontractors. With its wide experience of the realities of industry, Sula is well placed as an independent organisation to ensure that specifications, acceptance, risk management and issues are shared appropriately.
- Bowman/CIP
- Future Lynx
- Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Command, Control and Information System
- Taranis
- Lightweight Mobile Artillery Weapon System (Rocket) (LIMAWS)
- Land Environment Air Picture Provision (LEAPP)
- Tornado Capability Sustainment Programme
- Harrier Capability Sustainment Programme
With its understanding of customer desires and supplier realities, Sula is expert at making sure that programme requirements are well-articulated, with sufficient depth for the programme stage without excess and prescriptive detail. Where requirements must be traded, Sula bring a level of clarity to determine how a programme can be incrementally delivered and adapted to technology maturity to give an acceptable balance of performance, time and cost.
Sula examines Risk Registers, Systems Engineering Management processes, project planning and monitoring, technology maturity monitoring, and technology road mapping to give an authoritative view on the quality of processes being used. Sula will also examine a programme to ensure that it has a well-defined set of System and Programme Reviews with clear and concise exit criteria.
Sula has made a difference to the following prestigious programme: