AN MD80 REQUIRED A COMPASS SWING BEFORE DISPATCH. STATION ASSIGNED SWING DID NOT HAVE A SURVEYED COMPASS ROSE. ENGINEERING APPROVAL GIVEN TO USE ALTERNATE METHOD OF COMPASS SWING.

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ON MAR/MON/06 WAS OVERNIGHT AT ZZZ1. THE ACFT HAD A STANDBY COMPASS ON PLACARD AND IT NEEDED A COMPASS SWING TO REMOVE THE PLACARD. THE OVERNIGHT WORKLOAD HAD IT AS A NO-FIX; NO-FLY BECAUSE IT WAS ON THE 10TH DAY OF THE PLACARD. I AM THE AVIONICS LEAD FOR THE TERMINAL. WHEN I SAW THE COMPASS SWING ON THE OVERNIGHT WORKLOAD; I CALLED THE MAINT MGR ON DUTY TO INFORM HIM OF GPM SECTION 09-08 THAT STATES IN SECTION 'A' SENTENCE 2; 'THE FOLLOWING MAINT STATIONS HAVE SURVEYED SITES TO BE USED WHEN ACCOMPLISHING A COMPASS SWING.' THOSE STATIONS ARE ZZZ2; ZZZ3; AND ZZZ4 ACCORDING TO THE GPM. MR X CALLED THE MAINT OPS DIRECTOR. MR Y TOLD MR X THAT THE GPM 09-08 DID NOT APPLY BECAUSE WE WERE USING THE ALTERNATE SWING PROC PER THE MAINT MANUAL. MR X CALLED ME AND TOLD ME WHAT MR Y TOLD HIM. I TOLD MR X THAT I DISAGREED WITH THAT INTERP OF THE GPM SECTION 09-08. MR Y FELT THAT IF YOU WERE NOT USING THE COMPASS ROSE YOU DID NOT NEED A SURVEYED SITE. I FELT THAT THE ROSE WAS NOT THE IMPORTANT PART BUT THE AREA NEEDED TO BE SURVEYED AND FOUND TO BE MAGNETICALLY STABLE TO ACCOMPLISH A COMPASS SWING. AFTER A LONG DISCUSSION WITH THE UNION STEWARD AND MYSELF; I WAS GIVEN A DIRECTIVE TO DO THE COMPASS SWING PER MAINT MANUAL. I SAID I WOULD BUT I WANTED THE QUALITY ASSURANCE MGR TO READ THE GPM 09-08 AND GET HIS INTERP. AFTER I FINISHED THE COMPASS SWING; I SPOKE TO MR Z. HE SAID THAT WE NEED TO GET AVIONICS TO CLARIFY GPM 09-08. MR Z CALLED AVIONICS. WE TALKED TO MS A. MS A FELT THAT IF YOU USED THE ALTERNATE PROC THAT YOU DID NOT NEED A SURVEYED SITE THAT THE GPM CALLS FOR. I SAID THAT I NEEDED AN APPROVAL MESSAGE STATING THAT I COULD DO A COMPASS SWING AT ZZZ1. IT WOULD TAKE A FEW HRS TO SEND AN APPROVAL MESSAGE. THEY TOLD ME TO MAKE AN ENTRY ITEM ON THE MAINT RPT AND HE WOULD SIGN THE ITEM OFF. TO REMOVE SECTION 9-08 A; 2 OR PUT THE WORDS IN THAT SECTION.