The Minimum Equipment List (MEL) is a document and method aircraft operators use to obtain relief from Federal Aviation Regulations requiring that all equipment installed on the aircraft be operative at the time of flight. It is aircraft-specific and spells out which pieces of equipment may be allowed to be inoperable along with any procedures that are required for an aircraft to operate under specific conditions while maintaining airworthiness.
The current MEL software (Adobe FrameMaker 6 and FrameLink) that is required for the assembly and PDF production of MEL documents is not supported with the newest versions of other United software platforms. Consequently, United Airlines engaged Dakota Systems to engineer a new publishing process leveraging the Dakota Content Platform (DCP) to ensure compatibility with enterprise platforms.