print this page

RMSS: News
RSA Defence standardisation strategy

During a recent strategic exercise the RMSS redefined standardisation in the context of requirements that pertain to current operational and strategic needs of the RSA Defence environment.
The draft strategic goal for standardisation was subsequently defined as follows: “Defence Standardisation wants to ensure the provision of effective, efficient and economical solutions in the form of standards for repetitive Defence situations, through the understanding and use thereof, and the selective enforcement of standardisation through required policy”.
This strategic baseline emphasises the fact that, unless the standardisation system is developed to function as an integral part of the other military business processes, it will not be successful. Within this framework the scope and intent of required standardisdation influence implies that it (standardisation) should be practised such that it:
- Covers the complete life cycle of systems and equipment,
- Can be exercised on all system hierarchical levels, and
- Covers requirements related to products (hardware/ materiel), processes, and specialised fields of engineering.

Predetermined objectives for the standardisation effort were defined as follows:
- Reduce variety in solutions, processes, systems and products,
- Achieve economies of scale,
- Enable qualification,
- Enable controlled growth and improvement,
- Transfer technology,
- Capture learning in the Defence community, and
- Achieve the required interoperability, compatibility, interchangeability and commonality at the various levels of the system hierarchy.

In order to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and public acceptability of the standardisation efforts, the following required outcomes were defined:Standardisation shall:
- Take cognisance of proven solutions,
- Be based on real requirements,
- Be based on best practices and methods,
- Ensure that processes are optimised, and
- Strive towards best trade-offs in common and general problem situations in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, economy and integrity.

Once approved, these above draft strategic initiatives will form the basis of restructuring the standardisation system within an improved policy framework.

Interoperability and standardisation concepts in the (RSA) Department of Defence: an exploratory study – Col J de Waal and Prof A Buys

Click on this link for an article published by the Department of Engineering and Technology Management of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The study was done by Col de Waal and Prof A Buys as part of the requirements for fulfilment of a Master's degree in Engineering Management. The full publication is also available. Please contact the secretary of the RMSS (details on this link).