Maintenance

System and Message Overviews

Document Version: 6.0

Date: March 3, 2014

Document Revision History

The following revision history table reflects all substantive changes to this document.

Table Of Contents

1  Introduction

This document defines the interfaces which govern the interchange of data between a Maintenance system and other systems within an Airline Operation Center (AOC).  Each AOC interface is represented by a message described in an associated XSD (XML Schema Definition). The XSD defines and enforces the required, optional, and conditional data that can be included in a message.

Maintenance systems store and retrieve aircraft maintenance information such as deferred maintenance item (e.g. MEL, PDL) and maintenance events.

1.1  Audience

The intended audience for this document includes existing and potential Jeppesen customers, integration partners, and personnel with roles associated with application architecture, application development, system testing, implementation, and application support related to aircraft maintenance.

1.2  Scope

This document discusses the Maintenance messages currently supported by the Jeppesen Solution Integrator. Each message description includes the following:

• Overview for common message uses within an AOC
• Message Version Summary listing all available versions of each message
• Links to the message specifications including direct links to XSD documentation, where you can explore the XSD hierarchy and interface specifications in a navigable HTML format
• Links to the XSD source code
• Links to sample XML messages for each AOC message

Other data interfaces or formats not included in this document will be considered custom and not supported.

1.3  XML Schema/XSD

The XML schema for this ICD is published in the following file: Maintenance.XSD

1.4  Key Concepts

1.4.1 Maintenance Systems

Airlines may use multiple maintenance systems to manage scheduled and other emergency maintenance items. The following maintenance systems are referenced in the following message descriptions:

Maintenance Control System:
Used on the day-of-operation to manage aircraft maintenance. These systems are used to track aircraft as they are taken out of service, returned to service, and throughout the scheduled and emergency maintenance work. These systems often communicate with Operations Control systems.

Maintenance Planning Systems:
Used to schedule routine and other future maintenance for aircraft. These systems often communicate with Schedule Planning systems to ensure that out-of-service aircraft are not schedule for flights.

Other Maintenance Systems:
Used to track and communicate DMI penalties. These penalties are often stored in a central location where other systems can access it. For example, the Dispatch system could access this maintenance system to locate a penalty associated with a particular DMI when planning a flight.

1.4.2 Maintenance Roles

The following roles within a maintenance organization are referenced in the following sections:

Maintainer:
Airline employee who performs actual maintenance on an aircraft.

Maintenance Controller:
Airline employee who manages and tracks maintenance items. This can include tracking DMIs, parts, and outstanding maintenance issues.

2  Message Summary

Table 2-1 lists the messages that can be sent or handled by the application. The messages originated by this application (messages that begin with “MX”) are further discussed in Section 3 AOC Interface Messages.

Table 2-1 Message Summary

3 AOC Interface Messages

The following messages are processed by the Maintenance system.

3.1 MX001 – DMI Report

3.1.1  Message Overview

This message is used to send Deferred Maintenance Item (DMI) information to Dispatch system from the Maintenance Control system.

Federal Aviation Regulations require all equipment on an aircraft to be operational in order for that aircraft to fly. However, there are less significant pieces of equipment on an aircraft that do not hinder flight’s safety when not operational. Therefore, an airline can file a Minimum Equipment List (MEL), which lists the items that must be operational for an aircraft to fly. Any non-operational item can be listed as a Deferred Maintenance Item (DMI), and the flight can proceed. For example, a single cabin light bulb burns out before a flight. Because the light is not critical for flight safety it is listed as a DMI, and the flight can proceed as planned.

MX001 is also used to notify flight planning systems of any limitations that might be applicable to an aircraft.  These limitations, which are also known as penalties, are critical elements in flight planning.  For example, if a fuel penalty DMI exists for an aircraft limiting the amount of burnable fuel an aircraft contains, it is critical for the dispatcher to not assign the aircraft to a flight that is farther than the fuel allows. 

3.1.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. MX001 message system flow

3.1.3 Message Details

The following table provides details on the message version and includes links to the message’s technical specification.

3.2 MX002 – Update DMI Report

3.2.1 Message Overview

This message is used to update a MX001 message previously sent to the receiving system from the Maintenance Control system.

3.2.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. MX002 message system flow

3.2.3  Message Details

The following table provides details on the message and includes links to the message’s technical specification.

3.3  MX003 – Clear DMI

3.3.1  Message Overview

This message is used to clear an MX001 message previously sent to the receiving system from the Maintenance Control system. A clear DMI message typically indicates that a DMI has been resolved.

This message is similar to MX004 - Delete DMI. It’s up to individual airlines to determine how they want to use Clear versus Delete. The different messages can trigger different business logic. For example, the Clear can trigger final maintenance paperwork, whereas the Delete just removes the record and cancels all pending work on an item.

3.3.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. MX003 message system flow

3.3.3  Message Details

The following table provides details on the message and includes links to the message’s technical specification.

3.4  MX004 – Delete DMI

3.4.1   Message Overview

This message is used to delete a previously sent MX001 message. For example, an airline may want to remove (or delete) a DMI message that was logged incorrectly. Depending on the airline's business logic, the DMI could then be completely deleted from the system or simply marked as "deleted."  

This message is similar to MX003 - Clear DMI. It’s up to individual airlines to determine how they want to use clear versus delete. The different messages can trigger different business logic. For example, the Clear can trigger final maintenance paperwork, whereas the Delete just removes the record and cancels all pending work on an item.

3.4.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. MX004 message system flow

3.4.3  Message Details

3.5  MX005 – Reopen DMI

3.5.1  Message Overview

This message is used to reopen a previously cleared (MX003) or deleted (MX004) DMI.

For example, a DMI related to the aircraft's air conditioning was cleared after the maintenance crew reported that the item was fixed. After one hour of operation, the air conditioning unit failed. The maintenance controller sends the MX005 message to reopen the DMI. This way the maintenance history is preserved to help with troubleshooting and later reporting.

3.5.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. MX005 message system flow

3.5.3  Message Details

3.6  MX006 – Extend DMI

3.6.1  Message Overview

This message is used to extend the times set by a previously sent MX001 message. 

For example, a DMI is set to expire today (on December 11) and the dispatcher is planning a flight for tomorrow (December 12). After further investigation the maintenance team decides that the DMI will not be fixed until next week (December 15). In this situation, the DMI would not show up in tomorrow’s list and the dispatcher would assign the aircraft without considering any penalties resulting from the still-active DMI. Therefore, to avoid dispatch errors, the DMI is extended through December 15 to reflect the updated aircraft maintenance schedule.

3.6.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. MX006 message system flow

3.6.3  Message Details

3.7  MX007 – Schedule Event

3.7.1  Message Overview

This message is used to create a scheduled maintenance event.  Scheduled maintenance events are those that are planned in advance and are normally sent to the Schedule Planning system. The Schedule Planning system then knows not to schedule an aircraft for out-of-service dates.

3.7.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. MX007 message system flow

3.7.3  Message Details

3.8  MX008 – Update Scheduled Event

3.8.1  Message Overview

This message is used to update a scheduled event received from an MX007 message. Schedule updates can be the result of shifting maintenance priorities or resources.

3.8.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. MX008 message system flow

3.8.3  Message Details

3.9  MX009 – Delete Scheduled Event

3.9.1  Message Overview

This message is used to delete a scheduled event previously received using a MX007 message. Deletions can result from incorrect event scheduling or because a DMI was corrected earlier than scheduled.

3.9.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. MX009 message system flow

3.9.3  Message Details

3.10  MX010 – Create Out Of Service Event

3.10.1  Message Overview

This message is used to create an out of service event. This is used for both scheduled and unplanned maintenance. This message is typically sent from a Maintenance Control system to the Operations Control system to communicate that the aircraft is unavailable.

3.10.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. MX010 message system flow

3.10.3  Message Details

3.11  MX011 – Update Out Of Service Event

3.11.1  Message Overview

This message is used to update an out of service event received from an MX010 message.

3.11.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12. MX011 message system flow

3.11.3  Message Details

3.12  MX012 – Return To Service

3.12.1  Message Overview

This message is used to return an aircraft to service. This message is typically sent from a Maintenance Control system to the Operations Control system to communicate that the aircraft is once again available.

3.12.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13. MX012 message system flow

3.12.3  Message Details

3.13  MX013 – Create DMI Penalties

3.13.1  Message Overview

This message is used to create defined penalties and aircraft degradations associated with maintenance items (e.g. DMI, MEL, PDL, SEL). These penalties are sent to a centralized location that can be accessed by the flight planning system. When DMIs are later created for an aircraft, these penalties (defined by MX013) are attached to the aircraft. The dispatcher must then accommodate for these penalties when scheduling flights for the penalized aircraft.

Example: Aircraft 123ABC has a problem with its fuel tank. The maintenance controller logs a DMI for the aircraft's fuel tank using MX001. A separate maintenance system assigns penalties to the different potential maintenance items using MX013. The dispatcher assigns plane to a flight – the maintenance item and penalty (from different systems) are displayed or automatically accounted for in the flight plan.

Figure 14. Example using MX013 message

This message is one of three messages designed to create, update, and delete DMI Penalties.

TIP: After MX013 updates the database, CS001 can be configured to notify other products that the database has been updated. Those products can then refresh their data as required.

3.13.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. MX013 message system flow

3.13.3  Message Details

3.14  MX014 – Update Penalty

3.14.1  Message Overview

This message is used to update a defined penalties and aircraft degradations associated with maintenance items (e.g. DMI, MEL, PDL, SEL). These penalties are sent to the flight planning system. When DMIs are created for an aircraft, they contain the penalties that are defined by this message.

This message is one of three messages designed to create, update, and DMI Penalties.

TIP: After MX014 updates the database, CS001 can be configured to notify other products that the database has been updated. Those products can then refresh their data as required.

3.14.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16. MX014 message system flow

3.14.3  Message Details

3.15  MX015 – Delete Penalty

3.15.1  Message Overview

This message is used to delete a defined penalties & aircraft degradations associated with maintenance items (e.g. DMI, MEL, PDL, SEL). These penalties are sent to the flight planning system. When DMIs are created for an aircraft, they contain the penalties that are defined by this message.

This message is one of three messages designed to create, update, and DMI Penalties.

TIP: After MX015 updates the database, CS001 can be configured to notify other products that the database has been updated. Those products can then refresh their data as required.

3.15.2  Message System Flow

This message interacts with the systems as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17. MX015 message system flow

3.15.3  Message Details