Penny + Giles was founded in 1955, initially to provide flight test instrumentation. A product line of various transducers and recording equipment was developed and by 1957 the first Accident Data Recorder (ADR), based on magnetic recording of data on stainless steel wire (popularly known as the 'Black Box'), was test flown on a Gloster Meteor at the Boscombe Down Research Establishment, England.

Their product range now includes Crash Protected cockpit voice and flight data recorders; quick access recorders; air data sensors; air data computers; air data test sets; pitot-static leak testers; ice & snow detection systems. Penny + Giles key customers include MOD, Agusta, Boeing, Sikorsky, Westland Helicopters and Bell Helicopters.

Working in such a safety critical environment, it is imperative that Penny + Giles have a comprehensive Quality System which has to meet the requirements of the Civil Aviation Authority and European Aviation Safety Agency as well as continuous improvement focussed ISO9001:2000.

Prior to purchasing AllChange, Penny + Giles had used a paper based quality system with a controlled directory structure.

Once the decision to purchase had been made, Laura Chamberlain, Software Engineer and Configuration Manager at Penny + Giles, was responsible for setting up AllChange, and for ensuring that it was suitable for use.

Laura had used PVCS version control previously and she comments, “At this time (1997) I felt that although the user interface was better in PVCS (AllChange is now better) the facilities offered by AllChange were far superior which was a huge plus for the control of safety critical systems.”

Several factors were of particular importance to Penny + Giles when selecting a Configuration Management product.

Laura continues: “The ability to be able to manage several different lifecycles was important, because safety critical applications require a very high level of control to requirements laid down by certification authorities or different customers.”

AllChange is used in Software, Hardware, System Engineering and QA, with support software also being developed. “The use of AllChange as an integral part of the procedures has enabled support software to be developed rapidly and effectively in response to customer requirements.”

Penny+Giles have also benefited from the flexibility of AllChange, customising many features to their site specific requirements.

This aspect of AllChange has been particularly useful in enabling Penny +Giles to adapt it to their existing workflow and procedures.

Laura continues: “AllChange is used constantly to control all lifecycle data. We develop safety critical systems some of which are certified by the CAA to the highest level.”

The many adaptations that they have made include, site specific workflow, Review Checklists stored in AllChange are set to generate a number on entry to a review state and a checklist is generated using a combination of AllChange reports and Word macros.

Penny + Giles have now been using AllChange since 1997. They currently have 20 full time users but this is often larger with the use of sub-contractors, either on site or using AllChange remotely.

AllChange has helped Penny + Giles to improve their working processes and efficiency, and to control workflow, as Laura continues: “Change Tracking and baselining makes it easy to see what has happened.”

AllChange has also made a difference to their business by enabling them to move to a paperless system. Laura comments that: “AllChange is scalable, reliable, and improves efficiency. It is also able to be used over all design areas with varied lifecycles.”

A particularly strong feature of AllChange is the integration with Word and Excel. Penny + Giles make use of this and as Laura comments: “The word and excel integration is used extensively. We also use the integration with Artisan Real Time Studio and DOORS Requirements Capture.”

Adrian Fountain, Principal Software Engineer, uses AllChange on a daily basis, and likes the traceability between referenced parts/CRs etc, control over part lifecycles and audit trails provided. Adrian also particularly likes the tailorability within AllChange, that allows Penny + Giles to track, link, and use electronic checklists.

Penny + Giles are committed to their use of AllChange and see areas where they could extend the use of it in Quality Manuals, CAD drawings and production engineering.

Dave Cooke, Quality Manager at Penny+ Giles is keen to investigate extending the use of AllChange to control other areas requiring Configuration Management.

The software team at Penny + Giles have received in-depth on-site user training for AllChange, delivered by Intasoft’s Malindi Lamb. There were several aspects of the training courses that Laura was particularly pleased with:

“They can be customised to site requirements. Malindi obviously had expert AllChange knowledge as well as good knowledge of Penny and Giles' implementation of AllChange. We found the course very useful, especially the fact that the administrators also learnt ways in which the system could be improved.”

Another feature of AllChange that Penny + Giles found particularly helpful was the technical support service. Laura states: “In the first year we used AllChange we customised the system quite heavily and the support team were extremely helpful throughout this process. Whenever we have needed to use the support team we have always found them to be knowledgeable, friendly and very timely.”

As well as regular training courses, AllChange runs a very popular user group meeting once a year. Penny + Giles have been attending this on regular basis and Laura says: “The user group was extremely useful in the early stages to discuss your ideas and problems with other users and Intasoft consultants. Now we have a mature system it is still interesting to be involved in the future of AllChange and to pick up ideas on things we could be doing better”.

Penny + Giles have also been impressed with the high level of customer service that they receive from Intasoft as a whole.

Laura notes in particular that: “Intasoft are very good, being a small company I like the personal service you get. When you suggest something they listen and wherever possible take it on board.”

Laura concluded: “Overall we are extremely happy with AllChange. It has helped us to improve our quality systems and efficiency. We continue to rely on it to help us maintain the high standards of safety, essential to our business.”

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