Certification
Nova’s recent experience on the certification of the Royal Australian Navy Explosive Ordnance, Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter Tiger, Multi Role Helicopter NH-90, and Boeing C-17 has highlighted to us the importance of both the technical and operational compliance verification, and the process management aspects of the Australian Defence Force certification process. While it is possible to have strong theoretical understanding of the ADF processes there is no substitute for recent experience in guiding projects through to final Service Release. Similarly for complex integration programs a breadth of relevant technical certification expertise and specialist domain knowledge is essential. A key risk in the certification program is that the team will fail to identify and address items that are subsequently deemed to be crucial by the Regulator. The Nova methodology addresses this risk to the greatest extent possible by:
- Using a team with recent experience of like certification projects;
- Involving specialists in the ADF’s Type Certification process at scheduled key reviews to independently ‘test’ the data being developed, well before it is due to be presented; and
- Conducting a certification risk analysis to identify and track likely difficult issues.
Early establishment and ongoing independent monitoring of documentation development, schedule review, and certification risk analysis, is a key element of Nova's approach. Experience shows that even the best managed technical integration programs can be side-tracked by discrete technical issues that end up consuming significant time and resources at the expense of the overall program. Utilising an ongoing monitoring/audit program referenced to a defined baseline and executed by our experienced, expert engineers, will ensure the certification program does not suffer from these problems.
Nova is an accredited training organisation that currently delivers Certification and Airworthiness process training to ADF staff.