Description
NAVAIR is responsible for managing Special Tooling/Special Tooling Equipment associated with various weapon systems/reportable commodity types. Manufacturing numbers that are created by vendors are used for the stock numbers of the tools. However, the vendors' manufactured numbers have been known to be 25+ long. The length of these numbers are not standardized across vendors. More than 15 characters are assigned to ST/STE to uniquely identify the tool. As such the current solution prevents the use of the Stock Number field and the associated capability within the DPAS system. The Special Tooling Identifier is part of the Stock Number Description Field along with the Noun. In addition, this practice makes it difficult to utilize the Master List Capability to building Tool to Tool and Tool to Part relationships.
The conversion into DPAS utilized a unique identifier from the source systems primary key, but after conversion future entries will require the generation of a unique DPAS key. Loading large numbers of ST/STE from OEM will be further complicated as the OEM assign the Tool ID and the current practice of using the Stock Number Description will not trap duplicate entries on the Catalog.
Recommended
Request the expansion of the current 15 character limit of the Stock Number field to 30 characters in the Warehouse Module to accommodate future Special Tooling and Special Tooling Equipment (ST/STE).
Mission Critical
Mission Critical. Over time the management of ST/STE by NAVAIR will be hampered with duplicate Catalog entries due to the 15 Character limit in the Stock Number field. Future assignment of Inventory to the catalog and asset reporting will be hindered. Duplicate Stock Number entries (via a description) will challenge audit-ability of this data.
Benefits
Users
This change will impact current Navy ST/STE community and potentially the Air Force ST/STE community. Additionally any future or current community for which the Stock Number field proves to be too short.
