Gamifying change management in ATM

The ATM system is a complex systems-of-systems and all of its subsystems synergistically co-operate, through the creation of tight interdependencies among the institutions, enterprises, humans, hardware and software systems. Due to strong interdependencies, any change introduced might trigger changes in other parts of the system and it is a challenge to understand all possible consequences of a design decision. For this reason, it is important to involve multiple ATM domain stakeholders in change management processes.

PACAS’ main objective was to support change management by investigating how to better understand, model and analyse changes at different layers of the ATM systems, while capturing how architectural and design choices influence the overall system. The project developed an innovative participatory change management process wherein heterogeneous stakeholders could actively participate in the architectural evolution of the ATM system.

The novelty of PACAS relies on three key components of the participatory change management process. First, the process is implemented as a gamified collaborative platform to increase participation. Second, domain specific modelling languages are supported to ease the contribution of multiple ATM domain stakeholders, each having a different view on the system. Third, the platform supports complex impact analyses through automated reasoning techniques. This allows better trade-offs and ultimately better change decisions to be made.

The web platform developed by the project has already been tested with a sample of a solution project of SESAR, results so far indicating that it could potentially be useful for supporting the design of new operational concepts and technologies being developed within SESAR.

Benefits

Collaborative change management platform

Involvement of heterogeneous stakeholders

Increased participation through gamification