Aircraft IT MRO V1.5 Spring 2012

ISSUE 5 • SPRING 2012

Seeing everything RFID helps TAP M&E follow all parts everywhere

LMC CHALLENGE

Upgrading for a fleet serving cities, islands and beaches

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION SURVEY

Reading the past: seeing the future

GETTING STARTED

Projects go nowhere unless and until they’re initiated

ONE APP: ONE DAY

One hackday of a challenge to build a cabin defects app

White Paper: Envelope APM Inc. Case Studies: TAP M&E, Loganair Vendor Job Card: Sheorey Digital Systems Business Transformation Survey… plus New column ‘How I see IT’, News, Webinars and MRO Software Directory…

04 Technology and news

Change and development are part and parcel of Aircraft MRO and especially MRO IT. Those who want to know what is happening can check regularly on www.aircraftit.com/MRO and here in the AircraftIT MRO e-journal.

Editor’s comment

10 CASE STUDY: Driving the Line – Line Maintenance Control Software

Aircraft IT MRO: never a dull moment; always new horizons; IT and engineering in constant forward motion.

In the matrix that is commercial aviation, the sector relies on the quality and diligence of MRO engineers and management which, in turn, rely increasingly on IT systems to manage multiple operations in a complex world. But IT itself is a constant state of development in what it can do as well as in how users can access its power.

Take the iPad, already a ubiquitous part of the aviation IT scene, including for us at Aircraft IT. An increasing number of you favor this way of reading Aircraft IT and our News section reports the 2nd May 2012 2,000th download, since launch in October last year, of the Aircraft IT iPad app. We’re pleased that you like the idea and plan to add more for your reading value in the future.

However, while the method of accessing information is important, even the best devices rely on great content if what they display is to be of use. That’s why we go to such lengths to ensure that the content in Aircraft IT MRO is as well informed and as professional as you.

And we take our lead from you, which is why you’ll find the results of the Aircraft IT MRO 2012 Business Transformation and Software Survey sponsored by Rusada so interesting. It’s not what we believe should be your thinking; it’s your thinking as you (if you responded to the survey) have told us.

This issue also includes the challenge of upgrading an MRO line maintenance control (LMC) system and something on keeping track of the myriad parts that are in and pass through an MRO operation; plus how to start a project: and we report on a Hackday in which an MRO iPad app was designed in a day; high energy stuff.

Also, we’re proud to introduce yet more value in the form of our new column from Michael Denis: whether you agree or disagree with his views, they’ll make you think.

As well as that, the Aircraft IT live demonstration webinars continue to let readers research the software package most appropriate for their needs and access past webinars while, of course, future webinars are open for every reader who registers.

At Aircraft IT we’re building a knowledge bank for your aviation intelligence.

CLICK HERE: Send your feedback and suggestions to AircraftIT MRO AircraftIT MRO is published bi-monthly and is an affiliate of Aircraft Commerce and part of the AviationNextGen Ltd group. The entire contents within this publication © Copyright 2012 AviationNextGen Ltd an independent publication and not affiliated with any of the IT vendors or suppliers. Content may not be reproduced without the strict written agreement of the publisher.

The views and opinions expressed in this publication are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of their companies or of the publisher. The publisher does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.

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Alan McCartney, Planning, Scheduling & Airworthiness Manager, Loganair When Loganair decided to upgrade to the latest standard of line maintenance control (LMC) the changes had to take account of a very challenging operating environment and the whole of the airline’s IT resources

14 Past webinars: knowledge transfer and access for industry experts

View Video Recordings of our Past Live MRO Software Demonstration Webinars See full information and view video recordings of past Live MRO Software demonstrations, including: 2MoRO, EmpowerMx, Hexaware and Aircraft Data Systems (ADS).

16 SURVEY: Learning from the past; looking to the future

If only we could operate with the benefit of hindsight. However, MRO organizations have to operate in a real world where planning needs to be a little more informed: so this survey should be a useful addition to their business armory.

20 How I see IT

Our new feature brings Michael Denis’ world view right into your Aircraft IT eJournal. With a brief to cast an alternative light on MRO and IT developments, his first column surveys the scene in which MRO IT has to operate.

22 CASE STUDY: TAP M&E’s RFID Project — Keeping track of parts and process Fernando Ferreira Matos, Head of Information Technologies, TAP Maintenance & Engineering MRO is a complex process, involving thousands of parts that must all be accurately identifiable and traceable. TAP M&E has introduced RFID tagging to keep track of all parts going through the workshop.

26 Upcoming live MRO software demonstration webinars

A preview of live MRO Software Demonstrations Webinars with InfoTrust’s Technical Publications Management Masterclass and Software demonstration on 17th May 2012 and Mxi Technologies presentation of the Maintenix Software Suite on 7th June 2012

28 SPECIAL REPORT: Hackday – Creating an App in One Day

Creating an App in just one day was a challenge but it can be done and here’s the evidence to prove it!

30 WHITE PAPER: MRO IT Project Management — Project initiation

Wesley Parfit, CEO, EnvelopeAPM Inc. Every project has to start somewhere and, if it is to start as it is meant to continue, then the first stage should be a structured initiation in which the foundations are laid for the project, the resources assembled and the purposes of the project clarified.

34 VENDOR JOB CARD: What drives Sheorey Digital Systems – we ask Vivek Sheorey Ed Haskey ed.haskey@aircraft-commerce.com +44 1403 230 700 or +44 1273 700 555 www.aircraftIT.com John Hancock Dean Cook deancook@magazineproduction.com

In the latest in our series of Q&A pieces, we ask Vivek Sheorey CEO & Managing Director of Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd. to answer our questions.

35 MRO Software directory

A detailed look at the world’s leading MRO IT systems.

4 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

AircraftIT for iPad reaches 2000 downloads

The 2nd May 2012 saw a significant milestone with the 2,000th download, since launch in October last year, of the AircraftIT iPad app from the iTunes App Store. The app, which complements the AircraftIT website, a global portal for aircraft MRO and operations IT suppliers and buyers, has been developed by Conduce Software.

After an initial flurry of downloads, which saw the first thousand downloads achieved in less than a month, there has been a steady trickle of new installs each week.

AircraftIT for iPad, is available as a free download on the iTunes App Store. Keep an eye out for the next version of AircraftIT with new content and features coming very soon. Preview AircraftIT for iPad here.

AV-BASE joins AircraftIT vendor group Speakers announced for

AircraftIT is very pleased to announce that AVBASE Systems has joined the publication’s growing panel of vendors. AV-BASE develops and supports WinAir maintenance and inventory software solutions to increase operational efficiency and harmonize departments, even in complex operations. WinAir users include airlines, government operations, MROs, military operations, law enforcement agencies, corporate aviation firms, and aviation services such as medical evacuation organizations.

AircraftIT editor and publisher, Ed Haskey, welcomed the involvement with AV-BASE, saying, “This further reinforces the professional involvement and industry experience that not only informs so much of AircraftIT’s content but also is drawing increasing numbers of aviation IT professionals to join our growing readership.”

InfoTrust Group awarded contract by Esterline Control Systems

InfoTrust Group (InfoTrust) announced in May 2012 the award a multi-year contract from Esterline Control Systems to provide XML-based ATA iSpec 2200 and S1000D publication solutions. Esterline manufactures Korry products.

InfoTrust will be utilizing its software and service capabilities to create and maintain ATA iSpec 2200 and S1000D technical content for Esterline customers. The XML content, which can be used to publish traditional Component Maintenance Manuals (CMMs) as well as more modular, targeted service information, can be dynamically tailored to current and future customer needs.

As part of the agreement, InfoTrust will provide a turnkey solution for Esterline that includes authoring services, software capabilities, and on-site project management to ensure quality and responsiveness to Esterline’s day-to-day needs.

Frankfurt Conference

With the finalization of the speaker line-up, everything is in place for another informative, lively and valuable Airline & Aerospace MRO & Operations IT Conference — EMEA in Frankfurt, Germany on 12th and 13th June 2012.

The focus for day one will be on MRO IT with Operations IT at the heart of day two; so presentations, workshops or software demos will be relevant and topical, delivered or hosted by experts in their respective fields.

For the complete line-up and agenda, click here. In the words of Cathay Pacific Airways, “Airlines will be doing themselves an injustice not to attend this event”.

Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

What Downtime?

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Supporting PDF, Automated Job Cards S1000D and Revision Management

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SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 5

Conduce Software win eTechlog contract

Mxi expands customer base in Malaysia and USA AIROD modernizes maintenance management with Mxi Maintenix

Mxi® Technologies announced in February 2012 that Malaysian MRO AIROD Sdn Bhd (AIROD) has gone live with the Maintenix® software. With plans for increased capacity and expansion into the commercial MRO market, AIROD is now well positioned to achieve its organizational and business objectives.

To support both the fleet management and non-fleet managed MRO aspects of the business, AIROD has implemented a comprehensive Maintenix footprint covering the maintenance planning, execution, engineering, and materials functions. The Maintenix software enables AIROD to benefit from task definition repeatability and complete traceability between planned and executed work. Seamless integration to finance and document management systems further solidifies the move to modern maintenance management and a holistic enterprise.

Mxi and Boeing expand long-term agreement

Later, in February 2012 Mxi® Technologies, announced an expanded long-term agreement with Boeing as a key partner in the on-going support and delivery of the GoldCare program. The renewed agreement reflects a continued investment to deliver a comprehensive maintenance solution set built around Boeing’s OEM expertise and underpinned by Mxi Technologies’ Maintenix® software. This marks an on-going commitment on behalf of Mxi Technologies and Boeing as they shift from GoldCare development to GoldCare production operations.

First developed for the 787 Dreamliner and recently offered for additional Boeing airframe types, GoldCare is marking the next phase of entry into the market with the arrival of production 787 aircraft and the launch of the GoldCare service into mission critical airline operations.

Conduce Software announced in mid-May that they have been awarded a contract by Thomas Cook Airlines to provide hosting and support services for the airline’s CAA approved Electronic Techlog and Electronic Flight Bag (ETL/EFB). The contract runs for three years with the work to transition the support and service taking place with immediate effect.

The current ETL/EFB solution has been in place with Thomas Cook for a number of years, but when the current provider expressed their desire to exit from the EFB market last year Conduce Software were well positioned to take over the service having already been contracted by Thomas Cook to develop iPad data acquisition software for their pilots. Conduce Software were selected from three tendering companies and have been working with the current provider to ensure there is a relatively seamless transition of service and that licenses are in place to grant usage of the various patents and intellectual property behind the solution.

Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

Why ARMS®: Aviation Resource Management System?

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Flexible Ownership/ Usage Plans: Pay-per-Use or Pay-per-Month

Engineering & Maintenance

Fully Scalable; from large intercontinental Fleets to small Charter Operations

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Seamlessly Integrated Ops Crew M&E MRO, etc.

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Deployed as a Turnkey Solution: Aviation IT Products + Services + Support

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ARMS® and InfoPrompt® are Registered Trademarks of Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd. Mumbai, India.

6 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Swiss-AS AMOS developments in Europe and North America Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) now using AMOS for its entire aircraft fleet Braathens Technical now fully operational with AMOS as implementation project successfully completed

After 12 months of project work, Swiss-AS was delighted to announce in February 2012 the go-live of AMOS at Braathens Technical in Sweden.

The major modules were smoothly put into operation via a big bang approach whereas modules such as Publication Management or Shift Planning will be implemented at a later stage. AMOS is now used by 100 Braathens employees, who received e-learning and classroom training to gain the necessary AMOS knowledge. The Swedish MRO provider uses AMOS ‘as is’ since no customizations were needed.

Braathens Technical is providing MRO services for Malmö Aviation, the official launch customer for NetLine/Ops 9 from Lufthansa Systems. As a result, Swiss-AS was in the lucky position to be able to test the existing AMOS interfaces to the MaintenanceControl module of NetLine/Ops at an early stage, and was very pleased to confirm the compatibility of AMOS and the latest version of NetLine/Ops MaintenanceControl .

Swiss-AS awarded order by Canadian North

In March 2012, Canadian North was the second airline in the Americas region to join the AMOS community since the recent setting up of a USA office through a partnership deal of Swiss-AS and Lufthansa Systems. After the expected 10 months implementation, the Canadian airline will be in the position to monitor all aspects of its MRO business operations on an end-to-end basis with AMOS. The approximately

100 users will be trained via a mixture of e-learning, on-the-job and class-room training. Implementation will be ‘as is’ without customized developments

Swiss-AS wins order from Flybe May 2012

In May 2012, Flybe Aviation Services, Europe’s largest regional airline, chose the fully-integrated software package AMOS to manage its entire aircraft maintenance, engineering and logistics’ requirements. The AMOS implementation is expected to take 12-15 months and will incorporate business process mapping, ‘gap’ analysis, data migration, key-user workshops and key and end-user staff training for 600 potential users. It will replace Flybe’s current and somewhat fragmented in-house built legacy system and leverage greater efficiencies and cost savings.

Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

AMOS

A Story of Success “The project commitment of Swiss-AS was very high in areas such as project management, consulting, training and go-live support,” states Alitalia.

Read more about the world-class M&E software system at SWISS-AS.COM

“Having a complete technical overview of all SWISS data in AMOS has reduced the complexity of the fleet management while significantly increasing cost transparency,” stated Peter Wojahn, Chief Technical Officer of SWISS, with the May 2012 announcement that the entire SWISS fleet is now managed in AMOS. Before the in-sourcing process was finalised, SWISS managed only the Avro and A330 fleet in-house. SWISS has now taken over the responsibility for 84 instead of the 32 aircraft so far. This also means that SWISS relies heavily on AMOS in its full extent to cope with the significant strategic change.

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 7

2MoRO Solutions develops TRAX announces new deals in North America and Japan Latin American links.

2MoRO backing up HELISUR’s growth in Peru.

In February 2012, 2MoRO Solutions and its Peruvian partner SYPSOFT SA delivered to Peruvian operator HELISUR a global Information System based on the SAP® Business One ERP and its Aero One® add-on dedicated to maintenance and fleet management functionalities. HELISUR now works with one single database which ensures both the integrity and reliability of its data and increases the firm’s quality and safety levels in all its departments (General Management, Finance, Sales & Purchasing, Human Resources, Inventory and Maintenance).

Three new partnerships in new Latin America reseller network for 2MoRO Solutions

In April 2012, 2MoRO Solutions was proud to announce a new partnership with EXXIS, its new Aero One® reseller in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and soon Brazil.

2MoRO Solutions was also glad to announce its alliance with AsesTI to market its software solutions in Mexico and with AdN Consulting, its new reseller in Mexico for Aero One® Solution.

First Air Joins TRAX

It was announced in February 2012 that First Air has chosen to sign with TRAX. TRAX software will help First Air manage their numerous locations and diverse fleet with MRO software to ensure that maintenance and engineering work, and records are in good shape. First Air will be implementing e4, the latest version of Trax Maintenance in areas such as material management and finance to technical records and reliability, First Air will now have aircraft, inventory, and maintenance activity information integrated into a single system.

Jetstar Japan Joins TRAX

Later, in March 2012, it was announced that Jetstar Japan had chosen Trax software to help manage their numerous locations and diverse fleet with its MRO software to help with efficiency and organization. Jetstar Japan will be implementing e4, the latest version of TRAX Maintenance and will now have aircraft, inventory, and maintenance activity information integrated into a single system.

Commsoft’s OASES increases its footprint OLT airline group becomes growing OASES user following mergers

Rapidly growing European airline group OLT became an important new user of Commsoft’s OASES maintenance management software in March 2012 following its mergers with Polish carriers Yes Airways and Jet Air. Warsaw-based charter carrier Yes Airways, which is rebranding as OLT Express Poland, was already an OASES-user from May 2011. Regional carrier Jet Air, based in Gdansk, is rebranding as OLT Express Regional and will initially use OASES to support its fleet of two ATR 42-300 twin turboprop aircraft.

OLT Express Poland intends to grow its current fleet of three Airbus A320s to as many as 11 A319/A320s this year and, as a result, is increasing its OASES licence to cover 20 concurrent users. OLT Express Regional intends to add six ATR 72 twin turboprops in the coming months and six further aircraft later in the year. It is signing for an initial 10 concurrent users of OASES.

Commsoft’s OASES goes live on Hi Fly widebody fleet

Also in March 2012, one of the most complex implementations of maintenance management specialist Commsoft’s OASES software went live on the nine wide-body aircraft of Portugese ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) operator Hi Fly. The challenging implementation covered a fleet of three basic Airbus types (A310, A330, A340), including five major sub-types (A310-300, A330-200, A330-300, A340-300, A340-500) powered by five major engine types from four different engine manufacturers.

Its difficulty was increased by a constantly changing fleet composition during the project (which will continue with three aircraft to be added in 2012) and the diverse and continually evolving operational environment that is characteristic of ACMI operations. The introduction of OASES to Hi Fly has required a particularly close working relationship over the past year with Hi Fly’s engineering team in Lisbon.

Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

8 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Alkym® deployed from Norway to Africa On site project complete at Helitrans

Volartec announced in April 2012 the successful conclusion of the on-site project at Helitrans AS in Norway. The Volartec three person project team were on site for six weeks at the main Helitrans base at Trondheim. Helitrans now have Alkym Management & Control System for Aircraft Maintenance deployed and have switched off the incumbent maintenance management software.

Africa Charter Airline selects Alkym

Africa Charter Airline (ACA) and its sister authorized maintenance organization (AMO) Jet Centre in April 2012 selected Alkym Management and Control System for Aircraft Maintenance as preferred software system. This brings the Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

Volartec customer list in Africa to five. ACA had gone to the market in a number of different ways to ensure they got the best value proposition for their organization.

The remote set up of the ACA servers is already complete and the on-site implementation and training project is currently underway in Johannesburg. ACA will have Alkym live within four weeks from the project start date with all of the aircraft loaded and under control of the system.

Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines go-live with Alkym®

Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines based in Equatorial Guinea completed the on-site phase of the Alkym implementation in February 2012. The onsite project was started in early January 2012 and involved a Project Team of three personnel from Volartec working with the Ceiba team to ensure overall success. The duration of the project was completed in just five weeks with the ‘go live’ phase carried out on week four.

EmpowerMX signs new agreements

Aviation & Defense, Inc. (ADI)

Aviation & Defense Inc. (ADI) and EmpowerMX announced in March 2012 the signing of a softwareas-a-service (SaaS) licensing agreement. Under the terms of this agreement, ADI will employ the EmpowerMX-hosted FleetCycle® Execution Suite - MRO Manager (FCXM) and FleetCycle® Material Manager (FCMM) products (in an integrated mode) as its enterprise-level MRO software solution.

California Pacific Airlines (CP Air)

Later, in April 2012, EmpowerMX announced a back-office support agreement with California Pacific Airlines (CP Air). As part of this new strategic partnership, the EmpowerMX Professional Services Group (PSG) will use FleetCycle® planning and management tools to manage the technical depth and breadth of CP Air’s aircraft-maintenance program, reliability, CASS, materials management, planning, maintenance, execution and recordsmanagement operations. In addition, CP Air will employ FleetCycle® Execution Suite - Line Manager as the production-control tool for all of its scheduled and unscheduled line-maintenance work.

New manage/m® Module

A new manage/m® application for the service of life time and shelf life control of components is in the process of being designed, it was announced

by Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International in April 2012. Geared towards the requirements of customers and official bodies, the new tool will enable components to be tracked within the manage/m® WebSuite and will provide information on the standardized installation positions based on an aircraft master parts list and counter statuses of individual components. Thus, component information will be available for all external customers in manage/m®.

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 9

Who’s in the news: Vendors

Who’s in the news: Airlines, Operators, OEMs and MROs

2MoRO Solutions

African Charter Airline / Jet Centre

InfoTrust group

2MoRO Solutions is a software development company for the Aerospace market with software operating in over 17 countries and across multiple companies, joint ventures and Airlines or Aircraft Operators with their own MRO center. The firm is also a SAP® Partner for Airlines, Aircraft Operators, MRO centers and OEMs.

InfoTrust Group delivers solutions to hundreds of companies, in the aerospace, defense, manufacturing, automotive, high-tech, publishing and health care industries for their information processing, conversion, authoring, content and change management, publishing and distribution objectives.

AV-BASE

Lufthansa Technik is a manufacturerindependent provider of maintenance, repair, overhaul and modification services for civil aircraft. The six business units of Lufthansa Technik (Maintenance, Overhaul, Component Services, Engine Services, VIP Services and Landing Gear Services) serve about 750 customers worldwide.

AV-BASE develops and supports WinAir maintenance and inventory software solutions to increase operational efficiency and harmonize departments. Users include airlines, governments, MROs, military, law enforcement agencies, corporate aviation firms, and aviation services.

Commsoft and OASES

Lufthansa Technik

African Airline Charter (ACA) arranges charters for private and corporate groups ranging from small groups of 10, right through to larger groups of 350 to any destination. The fleet includes 4 B737, 2 X B727 and shortly arriving will be 2 MD-80 aircraft. Jet Centre is the newly established fleet maintainenance AMO.

Mxi Technologies

AIROD Sdn Bhd, was established primarily to support ‘self-reliance’ as a defense strategy and to spearhead the development of the aerospace industry in Malaysia.

Today, AIROD is an MRO and modification center with world-class facilities to support civil and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

Communications Software OASES is utilized in around 50 airlines and maintenance organisations. The system includes services ranging from implementation support, user training and system tailoring as well as dayto-day help desk, maintenance support and update release services.

Mxi Technologies provides integrated and intelligent software, support, and services for aviation maintenance to commercial airlines, MROs, OEM aftermarket service providers, and defense operators. Customers range from emerging, small and midsized organizations, to the largest global enterprises.

Conduce Software

Swiss Aviation Software and AMOS

Founded in 2010 Conduce Software has a small and agile development team, so is able to turn great ideas into real working software in a very short time. The firm is also pragmatic and flexible to adopt approaches and methodologies that work best for the specific problem.

EmpowerMX

EmpowerMX delivers business products that equip airline operators, MROs, OEMs and military M&E departments with real-time, globally available business intelligence for decision making. The Consulting Services division empowers maintenance operations personnel with the knowledge they need to maximize efficiency.

Esterline Control Systems

Korry Electronics Company is marketed under the Esterline Control Systems brand and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Esterline Technologies Corporation. Esterline’s Korry products have been a trusted name in aircraft cockpit control solutions since 1937.

Swiss-AS counts more than 100 customers worldwide, including pure operators, lowcost, regional and flag carriers, large airline groups and MRO providers. AMOS is a comprehensive, fully-integrated software package that manages the maintenance, engineering and logistics requirements of modern airlines and MRO providers.

TRAX

TRAX USA Corp. is a global seller of airline maintenance software. TRAX Maintenance solution has been developed with Airlines, for Airlines to provide a comprehensive and advanced MRO software solution.

Volartec

Volartec specializes in the development and implementation of software systems for the aviation industry. With more than 10 years of experience in the aviation industry and with a team of IT and aviation experts, Volartec offers a combination of professionalism and experience.

AIROD

Aviation & Defense Inc. (ADI)

ADI is a full-service repair station providing A-D phase checks, AOGs, drop-ins and mod jobs for commercial and defense customers.

With 25 years experience, ADI operates from 385,000 square feet of hangar space next to a 10,000 foot, ILS-equipped runway close to five major airports.

Boeing

As the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined, Boeing also provides numerous military and commercial airline support services. The company provides products and support services to customers in 150 countries and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales.

Braathens Technical

Braathens Technical AB is a Swedish MRO provider for RJ100, BAe146, A320, B737 and E-170/190 aircraft types. As part of the Braathens Aviation group, Braathens Aviation consists of several aviation related companies offering its services to its sister company Malmö Aviation (12 x AVRO RJ) and to other European airlines.

California Pacific Airlines (CP Air)

CP Air is a very recent (2012) start-up regional airline founded by 91 year old entrepreneur Ted Vallas and initially

operating 2 Embraer 170 to six destinations Norway. Expanding over time they currently operate and manage a total fleet of 35 from September 2012. aircraft. They have their own EASA Part Canadian North 145 approved maintenance facility which Canadian North offers scheduled passenger includes two hangars at Trondheim. and cargo services in the Northwest Territories Hi Fly and Nunavut as well as charter operations Portugal based Hi Fly is engaged in longthroughout Canada and the U.S. The fleet haul/widebody wet leasing and ACMI comprises 11 x Boeing 737 and 4 x Dash 8, maintained in-house up to Line Maintenance (aircraft, crew, maintenance & insurance) operations worldwide. The operator and A Checks. completed the certification process in April Ceiba Intercontinental 2006, and is in full compliance with all the Airlines EU, JAR-OPS and EASA regulations, being Ceiba Intercontinental Airlines is the flag IOSA certified as well. carrier of Equatorial Guinea. Its main base is Malabo International Airport from where Jetstar Japan Jetstar Japan is a partnership between the it operates a fleet of 4 ATR Aircraft (both ATR-42 and ATR-72). The recent delivery of Jetstar Group (via the Qantas Group), JAL a brand new B777 direct from Boeing is the and Mitsubishi Corporation and will begin domestic services from July 3, 2012 with a start of the wide body fleet expansion. fleet of three A320 aircraft which they plan First Air to grow to a fleet of 24 A320 aircraft within First Air connects more of the Arctic than the first three years. any other airline with scheduled flights and charters. The fleet, comprised of a very OLT Germany-based regional airline group OLT versatile aircraft for scheduled passengers was acquired in August 2011 by Amber and air cargo, is capable of gravel and ice Gold of Poland, which has also acquired Yes strip operations and can land in remote locations providing service to more than 30 Airways and Jet Air which are being folded into the group as separate AOCs. The new northern communities and major centers. airlines will be called OLT Express Germany, Flybe OLT Express Poland and OLT Express Flybe is Europe’s largest regional airline Regional. with 196 routes serving 17 countries, Swiss International Air Lines operating from a total of 93 UK and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is European airports. The airline operates a Switzerland’s national airline, serving 70 fleet of 80 aircraft including Bombardier destinations in 37 countries from Zurich, Q400 turboprop, Embraer 195 and E175.

Flybe Aviation Services also offers its MRO Basel and Geneva, and carrying some 15 million passengers a year with its 90-aircraft services to third parties. fleet. The company’s Swiss WorldCargo HELISUR division provides airfreight services for highHELISUR is a Peruvian chartered operator value and intensive-care consignments to for both cargo and passenger air transport, about 120 destinations in over 80 countries. operating a fleet of seventeen Mil helicopters. The company also performs its Thomas Cook Airlines own fleet maintenance, in Lima, and is the Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, part of only specialist in Latin America certified to Thomas Cook Group PLC, is the second largest leisure travel group in the UK with carry out repairs on Russian Mil aircraft. around 19,000 employees. The Company Helitrans operates a fleet of 44 aircraft flying Helitrans AS is a pure helicopter company from various airports to destinations with headquarters at Trondheim Airport, worldwide.

10 | LOGAN AIR | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Driving the Line Upgrading to the latest line maintenance control standards called for careful planning and meticulous implementation as Alan McCartney, Planning, Scheduling & Airworthiness Manager at Loganair explains.

A proud tradition and a challenging environment

F

ounded in 1962, Loganair is the United Kingdom’s oldest continuously operating airline, proudly serving regional routes in its native Scotland and from the U.K. It boasts the world’s shortest scheduled air route from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands and also operates into the famous beach runway at Barra, where the timetable is constructed according to the local tide table.

Notwithstanding these noteworthy claims to fame, at its core Loganair operates a high-intensity scheduled passenger service across relatively short sectors and serving both business and local communities. The airline’s network extends to 28 airports with over 130 sectors flown daily on an average stage of 48 minutes flight time. In addition to the passenger operations, flown under a FlyBe franchise, code shares are flown with British Airways, and corporate and

private aircraft charters; dedicated mail and freight services are also operated.

These diverse operations are frequently flown in challenging weather conditions, requiring very tight control of line maintenance operations and technical compliance in order to ensure the highest technical reliability and safety standards. Many of Loganair’s line stations are in relatively remote locations.

Systems background

Having used Commsoft’s OASES computerised maintenance planning and control system for around 20 years, in late 2009 we upgraded to the latest Oracle based version of OASES, at the same time embarking on a journey to integrate new Line Maintenance Control (LMC) functionality into workflows and processes. Critical to this was the need to strike a balance

between rapid turnaround performance, predictive trouble shooting and rigid technical compliance.

We currently manage a fleet of 16 Saab 340’s, 2 DHC6 Twin Otters and 2 BN2 Islanders on the OASES system which copes extremely well. We manage all our records within the system which allows historical reliability, component installation, maintenance forecasting, work pack generation and pre-loads to be easily managed. In addition our stock is controlled within OASES, which allows us to REQ (requisition) the required parts from any of our line stations which OASES manages.

We were fleet leaders at getting the current OASES LMC system working and have done so for the last couple of years so that we are now in a position where the complete fleets records (Tech Logs/Base Checks) are in the system for each aircraft tail by 12.00 hours each day. This allows the

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | LOGAN AIR | 11

“…operations are frequently flown in challenging weather conditions, requiring very tight control of line maintenance operations and technical compliance in order to ensure the highest technical reliability…”

LMC and Engineering Support teams to react to almost live data. Links to an EFB (Electronic Flight Bag) could be next, but we believe that EFB technology needs to catch up first, especially in the areas of ease and speed of use.

Loganair manages its flight crew rostering and commercial operations flying through a RM Rocade operations system. This has been in place for many years and suits our needs. We have been running a live link between OASES and Rocade since January 2010, which allows us to pull live flight feed every 15 minutes from ROC into OASES facilitating ‘live’ forecasts to be in place for the LMC/Planning teams. The flight data gets verified at the beginning of each day, as the tech logs come through.

MAINTENANCE WORK REQUEST DAILY TIME LINE ASSUMPTIONS?

Maintenance work request daily time line assumptions?

PRIOR TO 0700 HRS

• LINE STATIONS -­‐ SEND IN COMPLETED MAINTENANCE WORK REQUESTS. • AIRWORTHINESS RECORDS -­‐ PROCESS COMPLETED MAINTENANCE WORK

0700 – 1000 HRS

1000 – 1200 HRS

POST 1200 HRS

REQUESTS FROM LINE STATIONS INTO OASES. THEN ADVISE LMC THAT ALL OVER-­‐NIGHT ACTIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.

`

• AIRWORTHINESS RECORDS – PROCESSES ALL RECEIVED TECHNICAL LOGS &

CONFIRM ALL CERTIFIED DATA IS CORRECTLY UPDATED WITHIN THE OASES SYSTEM.

• LMC -­‐ CAN RUN FRESH FORECASTS FOR EACH AIRCRAFT & PREPARE THE NEXT BATCH OF MAINTENANCE WORK REQUESTS, READY TO ISSUE FOR THE NEXT NIGHT!

1 We also use a system called AirVault operating on a cloud from USA based servers and currently have all of our component batch records stored within these servers. OASES has a link between each system, so we can get instant access to any batch record files. As a next step we are planning to soon start working with base packs.

A new LMC solution

Commsoft first proposed its integrated OASES LMC module in mid2009. After initial presentations and demonstrations, at Loganair we felt that it could meet our needs to integrate disparate systems within a ‘one stop shop’ philosophy for all maintenance control. It was also apparent that some developments would be required to be able to achieve key efficiencies, speed and controls, while also being able to ‘sell’ the system to key stakeholders in the user community at Loganair.

Our then existing LMC system was very popular with the line engineers and LMC team and had served us well in extensive use for many years: so

why change? The system was MS (Microsoft) Access based but operated as a standalone independent system. All data was manually loaded and all MEL (minimum equipment list) data was in hard copy format. Using OASES as our main maintenance control system meant that there were no interfaces between the two systems and both greater control and compliance could be achieved by opting for the LMC module within OASES linked to the operational data feed from Rocade. Errors from duplication of data could be eliminated and other efficiencies could result from the move as would greater team cohesion, focus and understanding. On top of this, our existing MS Access based system was no longer supported.

How it was done

Having opted for the LMC module on a trial basis, in September of 2009 Commsoft gave initial managers’ user training in the then configured LMC module. This allowed us to begin to formulate our trial evaluation plans

and to test work and process flows between departments in Loganair. The advent, in January 2010, of the test RM Rocade link to OASES further facilitated this process. This showed that some refinement was required in the automatic data refresh cycle between the two systems and it also highlighted some of the internal challenges in deciding which department had authority over what aspect of engineering control between line engineers and airworthiness records staff. Both sides were passionate in defending key aspects of control from their own perspectives, all leading to a final balanced conclusion. Comparisons of existing processes to proposed streamlined processes within OASES were conducted in parallel.

These would suggest refinements in OASES, especially for ease of line engineers’ use, and would all ultimately inform the live roll out plans. It also highlighted a requirement for developments to the Maintenance Work Request (MWR) format in order to eliminate the need for data to be entered twice.

12 | LOGAN AIR | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

LMC ‘MWR’ SSUE / CLOSE PROCESS LMC ‘MWR’ ISSUE / CLOSE IPROCESS

TF50 VIEW AIRCRAFT DUE FORECAST

LM52 RAISE MWR WORK ORDER

LM52

IR09

GENERATE PRE-­‐LOAD (IF REQD)

RAISE ADD REQS (IF REQD)

LM52 CALL TASKS AS REQUIRED

LM52 RUN FORECAST REPORT

LM60 ISSUE MWR TO LINE STATION

TF50 RUN FRESH FORECAST RE-­‐CHECK

LM34

LM25

CLOSE DOWN ISSUED MWR TASKS

RAISE NEW ADD’S , ETC

THE ABOVE FLOW CHART SHOWS THE ASSESSMENT OF THE FUTURE DUE TASKS, ALLOCATING THE TASK TO A WORK ORDER, RAISING THE PRE-­‐LOAD, ISSUING THE MWR TO THE LINE, RETURN OF THE COMPLETED MWR, THEN THE CLOSE DOWN & RE-­‐RUN OF A FRESH MAINTENANCE FORECAST. 1 THE SLIDES THAT FOLLOW SHOW SCREEN SHOTS & NOTES TO SUPPORT THE ABOVE.

A key element in this project was to form an internal team and, with Commsoft’s application development team, to develop a working specification in which closed and outstanding actions would be clearly listed and allocated target dates. Particular emphasis was placed on full transparency of the capabilities of the existing LMC system and associated processes with a view to easing the operational transition, while still ensuring better control through integration.

At Loganair, we conducted our own in-house training during June 2010 to support the accelerated evaluation. This obviously brought its own workload challenges which were exacerbated by the challenging conditions at the time when volcanic ash was threatening our airspace and operations.

With fresh evaluation came new proposals for tweaks and modifications to the OASES system. In total, around 35 detailed modifications were requested and these were prioritised with a view to achieving an initial ‘go live’. Of these requirements, twelve were deemed as being critical to initial operation; others were functional fixes while the balance were future enhancements, requiring some initial process workarounds. With Commsoft’s progressive delivery model, enhancements were fed into the system and evaluated by the team.

Oases lmc data ‘process loop’

LMC RE-­‐PLAN & ISSUE ANY ‘DUE’ MAINTENANCE PHYSICAL FLIGHT COMPLETED

Priority tasks and continuing feedback

In order to achieve complete operational ‘buy in’ from all stakeholders, some key areas needed to be addressed. Key elements in line diagnosis are the observational notes that constitute a LMC diary. These give important clues as to impending reliability issues. It was therefore critical to achieve a marriage of certified techlog entries with non-certified diary observations and balance these in internal processes and reporting. Considerable effort was expended in designing the input and control screens within OASES and refining outputs in forecasts and reports. RDI (remote defect indicator) improvements with the need to display open RDIs automatically in forecasts for review and MWR (maintenance work request) call up against each aircraft were identified and are under development. Other changes were proposed to MEL (minimum equipment list) display formats and associated presentation and control of ADDs (automatic document distributions).

COMPLIANCE AUDIT PERFORMED BY AIRWORTHINESS RECORDS

OASES UP-­‐DATED

BY LMC OR LINE ENGINEERS

FLIGHT DATA PULLED EVERY 15 MINUTES OASES User Group 2010

Whilst OASES has simple, intuitive design and on-line help text, it became clear that this project required a comprehensive but clear process based training manual, specifically designed to aid the launch of the LMC project across our diverse organisation. This would allow every individual

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SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | LOGAN AIR | 13

to see the relevance to the overall process of each data entry format, form, report and screen. Until this time, as a result of daily work commitment conflicts, there had been a lack of OASES process knowledge in ‘front end’ departments. Training staff over many shifts would need to be carefully planned. It was also clear that key decisions needed to be made on data/number entry standards with key ownership by each department as to the data accuracy, and with final data control and amendment upon receipt of the tech log.

By mid-July we started a month long LMC trial to utilise the OASES functions and provide feedback. This was critical to achieving a final buy in and to propose changes that would make for easier use in the difficult field environment. Further changes were suggested to Commsoft, a process that continues even today in the light of operational experience.

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“From a management perspective, the paramount need for rigid technical compliance was enforced at each stage and required each progression in the launch to be carefully and sensitively tested before a final push…”

Your Preferred

Up and running

By September all was in place for a final push to go to a live fleet trial. After two days of final management focus, we drove ahead and within three days had managed to push 18 aircraft into a live trial with automatic data feed from RM Rocade. LMC and CAMO (Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation) control processes were finally tested by early October 2010 and, by mid-November, seven day cover was provided in Airworthiness Records to process the MWRs and raise any deferred defects raised on each night stopping aircraft. This enabled our LMCs to concentrate on the fleet serviceability.

This whole OASES LMC launch process highlighted the need for close harmony and planning with the need for responsiveness to the specific demands of the user community to achieve a committed launch. Loganair drove this but Commsoft had to respond with suitable system enhancements. From a management perspective, the paramount need for rigid technical compliance was enforced at each stage and required each progression in the launch to be carefully and sensitively tested before a final push, driving the line on our processes. This was (and is) in every sense a journey.

Meeting expectations

By early 2011, the OASES LMC system was showing the benefits we desired and full live deployment was achieved by May 2011. Of course, many new tweaks and enhancements can be made and have been requested. Future enhancements include greater alerting of parts movements, maintenance location moves, exceedances and task call up clashes plus further digital links with ‘dirty fingerprints’ source evidence.

As Craig Stewart, our Head of Line Maintenance will attest, we are now seeing much better repetitive defect alerting, significant efficiencies from an integrated automated data feed and freeing of resources, offering greater concentration on driving the line. n

Alan McCartney

Alan McCartney, Planning, Scheduling & Airworthiness Manager at Loganair

Alan has accumulated 24 years of experience in aircraft and airline support with BAe Systems, Manx Airlines, IASG and Loganair; 14 years of that has been in a management role. Currently responsible for a small team monitoring, planning and constantly improving the current fleet’s maintenance programmes and base maintenance plans, Alan ensures that the aircraft’s airworthiness records are up-to-date daily, fully compliant and readily available for any level of scrutiny. His focus has always been on adding value and efficiency into an airline’s continuous airworthiness monitoring systems and striving to ensure that the systems become a ‘user friendly’ integrated part of the company’s suite of support packages. Loganair has successfully integrated a number of seamless links between the Commsoft ‘OASES’ system and the RM Rocade Operational System, picking up live flight information for forecast/monitoring purposes as well as the AirVault repository system which stores evidence files and aircraft certification paperwork.

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14 | WEBINARS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

View Video Recordings of our Live MRO Software Demonstration Webinars at www.aircraftit.com /MRO/Webinars/Past.aspx Sign up for free to view video recordings of the live MRO Software demonstration Webinars hosted by Aircraft IT over the past few months.

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SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WEBINARS | 15

About the Live Software Demonstration Webinar Recordings

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These Live Software Demonstration Webinar recordings provide airlines, MROs and operators with the perfect chance to view, at a convenient time of their own choosing, the different MRO solutions on the market. Each webinar is an hour long and offers an excellent overview of that IT Vendor’s software solution with the cost savings and increased efficiency they can deliver.

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This exceptional video library contains recordings of Live MRO Software Demonstrations from the following major IT Vendors: Trax, Swiss-AS (AMOS), Enigma, Rusada, Mxi Technologies, Gen2Systems, Ramco Systems, AeroSoft Systems, 2MoRO, Lufthansa Technik (manage-m)

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Using the software as a guide, the Webinar will show how to establish an electronic Technical Records library and how to link the software to other MRO systems. You will also see how to manage Technical Publication Authoring via a live demonstration of the ADSTPA software solution and how to manage all your manuals in a digital format and to save modifications in a central platform.

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16 | MRO SURVEY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Learning from the past; looking to the future The Aircraft IT 2012 Business Transformation survey conducted with Rusada software.

I

n our news driven world, we tend to remember sudden changes; earthquakes, terrorist attacks, revolutions… the turning points following which things were different. But, more often than not with ‘apocalyptic’ changes, the natural order of things quickly closes around the site of change to try and restore as much normality as possible. In contrast some less startling changes really do alter the manner in which we operate in the long term and yet are rarely accorded the same newsworthy distinction as headline grabbing events receive. It is probably because, while substantive, these changes are gradual, incremental, guided by past successes and future requirements; in a word, transformative.

In business, transformation is the favored way to move from one state to another: sudden changes are disruptive, costly and dangerous for operational continuity whereas transformation can be understood, mapped, managed and, hopefully, leveraged to exploit its full value. It is often that first stage, Fiumicino – winner of the iPad understanding, that poses the greatest challenge for businesses trying to plan for the future. So Aircraft IT with Rusada Software has instigated the Business Transformation survey to identify experiences, thoughts predictions and expectations of people involved with MRO IT, and establish a baseline understanding for the sector in 2012.

The survey, conducted during January and February 2012, garnered 358 responses, a high figure for any exercise of this nature in a specific sector such as aircraft MRO. Working jointly with consultants from Rusada the returned data was collated and analysed to bring some interesting results and insights into our business.

Of those 358, the majority were people working in airlines (61.5%) or aircraft operators (9.2%) while a further 15.4% were working in independent MRO facilities. OEMs and consultants each accounted for 4.7% with military, parts suppliers and IT vendor’s together accounting for less than 2% of respondents. This, in addition to the total number of responses, was good news with a significant majority of opinions from the user end of the market.

In the first instance, looking back over the past five years, we asked what were the biggest changes during that period that have affected the way people do business; choosing their top three from a list supplied in the survey. This is interesting because, while individual first, second and third choices varied, put together, the broader pattern that emerged was Fig 1: Respondents very consistent.

While 30% indicated that ‘streamlining resources and personnel utilization’ was top of their list, 23% ranked it as the second most important change in the way of doing business over the past five years and 20% cited it as their third most important change. That means that for 73% of respondents ‘streamlining resources and personnel utilization’ was one of their top three biggest changes affecting the way they conducted business. Unsurprisingly, the next most important change, according to respondents was ‘leveraging the usage of new technology’ (e.g.

web services, new data formats). 25% indicated that this was at the top of their list while 20% put it second and 23% third. Again, some 68% of respondents have ‘leveraging the usage of new technology’ in their top three changes that have affected the way they conduct business. With 20% of respondents giving it as their third choice ‘maximizing use of business data’ was the other key area in the group’s top three changes that have affected the way they conduct business.

Fig 2: What are the biggest changes in the way you’ve done business over the past 5 years?

Summary of all rankings.

The picture that emerges when we average the results follows similar lines with streamlining resources accounting for 24% of responses, leveraging technology 23% and maximizing the use of business data 17%, in this version of the results. The other significant results were for consolidation at 14% and outsourcing at 9%.

However, when a third dimension was added to the chart an even more interesting outcome could be discerned.

This chart looks solely at where the top answer for question 1 was given as streamlining resources, i.e. how do I make more money from less people, if we are being generalistic.

The other answers are in secondary consideration as a percentage of the whole – it’s interesting to see that Airlines concentrate on new technology much more than do MRO’s. This would seem to indicate that airlines see technology as an enabler to the ability to streamline.

In fact MRO’s seem to be behind the curve (we have used percentages rather than actual numbers to account for the reduced number of returns by Fig 3: What are the biggest changes in the way you’ve done business sector). This seems to work because over the past 5 years? By sector.

MRO’s see CAMO (Continuing

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | MRO SURVEY | 17

“…it’s interesting to see that Airlines concentrate on new technology much more than do MRO’s. This would seem to indicate that airlines see technology as an enabler to the ability to streamline.”

Airworthiness Management Organisation) as a good thing, but OEM’s don’t really pick up on it as a valuable service – and yet they want to maximize the use of business data. Incredible when you consider that one of the ways of gathering such data is to undertake CAMO services. Also, airlines see outsourcing as a good thing.

When asked how best to manage change projects, our survey group split nearly three ways with 36% saying

that they outsource only when faced with a scenario they have never managed, 33% claiming that their in-house team has the skills to manage this type of work and 27% stating that they outsource over 50% of the time. Only 4% would outsource 100% of the time. It does seem that teams are happier handling their own projects wherever possible; perhaps to ensure that the skills needed to continue the long-term operation that follows a change project will be available within the business, perhaps because they feel more in control of a project being run within the business or perhaps because of concern (whether correct or not) that managing costs will be too much of a third party decision when the job is outsourced. But equally with 27% outsourcing over 50% of the time 36% outsourcing when faced with a scenario with which they are not familiar and 4% outsourcing all of the time people are clearly not against the idea of using outside skills when there is a good business case.

When asked what are the top three requirements for successful business transformation projects, ‘the ability to integrate skills training into personal development’ and ‘flexible software tools for rapid implementation’ were each ranked first for 41% of respondents.

Fig 5: What are the top 3 requirements for successful business transformation projects? Top answers.

Fig 4: How do you manage change projects?

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18 | MRO SURVEY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

“When asked what was ‘the biggest threat from emerging service suppliers’, it was China by a long way that respondents cited with India some way behind as the second challenge and Europe further yet behind ” A further 22% put ‘flexible software tools…’ as their second choice while availability of ‘real-time data to manage risk’ was the second choice of 23%. For nearly half (41%) of respondents ‘a software vendor who responds quickly’ was their third priority. At first, this may seem an odd thing with software vendor response time being such a critical element in any IT operation.

However, taking a slightly more analytical approach, it is likely that people’s main concerns will usually reflect the areas where they sense there is work to be done and we know from our Vendor Job Card responses that being regarded as a reliable business partner is how vendors would like their customers to speak of them.

So, it is most likely that this response area is one where vendors have already invested thought to develop levels of service that make quick response a given element in the relationship rather than something on a wish list.

The natural conclusion to be drawn is that businesses want to ensure that their personnel are able to learn and increase their skill set through work and the tools provided to them, the fact that their environment is changing through the adoption of new rules and new aircraft types also means that the same tools have to be flexible and adaptable to a wide set of circumstances especially for companies who may see the need to change or enhance their portfolio of services. The critical issue however, is not just flexibility but a fast response to change from the vendor.

With the next question, we move from looking inwards to the way the business handles change to looking outwards to the challenges that aviation will face over the next five to 10 years. As before, respondents were asked to rank their top three priorities.

For 45% of respondents the top challenge was ‘driving internal cost control due to external cost increases’ which would include elements such as fuel costs, airport charges, taxes, labor costs and even the cost of buying or leasing aircraft, parts and equipment as well

Fig 6: Top 3 challenges for aviation in the next five to 10 years. Top answers.

Fig 7: Where is the biggest threat from emerging service suppliers?

Fig 8: Top three change requirements in current environment. Top answers.

as the costs of outsourced services such as catering, vehicle maintenance and back-office administration.

This was also the second top challenge for a further 31% of respondents. But then when was cost control ever not one of the main concerns for anybody running a business? ‘Lack of experienced and trained staff’ also figured high on respondents concerns with 14% making it their first concern 19% their second concern and 17% their third concern. The ‘competitive market situation’ was the first concern of a further 14% of respondents, second concern for 15% and third concern for 18% while ‘environmental accountability’ was first concern for only 15% of respondents and third concern for 26%. Perhaps this reflects that environmental accountability is such a prescribed area of operation that people feel confident in their understanding of its parameters and the ability of their systems to cope with it whereas cost control, staff and the competitive market are all true challenges to which every business’s response must be of their own making.

When asked what was ‘the biggest threat from emerging service suppliers’, it was China by a long way that respondents cited with India some way behind as the second challenge and Europe further yet behind as third. There may be an extent to which this reflects received rather than informed wisdom but everything does point to Asia consolidating its position as the world’s workshop in the future. Whether that will be enough to threaten established businesses in the more technically sophisticated disciplines such as aircraft maintenance may not be so clear cut.

Moving back to looking at their own businesses respondents were asked, in assessing change requirements in their current environment, to choose the top three that are the most important. Perhaps again reflecting the perennial focus of any capitalist business, 54% of respondents put ‘better maintenance cost control’ as their first concern while 28% saw ’better forecasting’ as their top priority – a further 29% made ‘better forecasting’ their second priority.

Beyond this top two there was less consolidation of opinions with 21% making ‘better visibility of information’ their second priority; 43% making ‘ease of integration with legacy systems’ their third priority (perhaps reflecting levels of mergers and takeovers in the industry plus independent MRO facilities taking on the maintenance of established fleets with their own legacy systems) and, possibly in the same vein, 20% making ‘flexibility to customize systems easily and quickly’ their third priority.

The results of a survey like this will not, of course, do the job of business planning for individual readers but should provide clear landmarks on a map that they can use to plan a sensible route forward and navigate the best course for their business.

• Click here to view the full results in PowerPoint format.

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20 | VENDOR JOB CARD | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Thought leadership

With a publication such as AircraftIT readers seek knowledge: to know what is going on and share real experiences that can inform their own activities. They want access to the latest thinking in the sector and they want to read thoughts that fall ‘outside of the box’. To help readers in that objective and to add yet more value to your read, we are very pleased to welcome to AircraftIT Michael Denis and his considerable experience of IT. Michael’s opinions will be personal (what other kinds are there?) and you might agree or disagree with him but we know that his pithy and informed comments will make you think.

Welcome to the first of Michael’s regular columns, ‘How I see IT’

How I see IT

Exciting times but with excitement, explains Michael Denis, comes challenge

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These are excitin g developments ar times for aerospace, aviation m e not all positiv aintenance and e, there are so be invigorated. many trends wh information technology. Although ich should lead current even the casual New generation observer to aircraft, engines, avionics and co executed. At the mpo sa prognostics and me time, eEnabled aircraft are sites are fundamentally changi ng how mainten asset health man driving real-tim ance is e, condition-bas agement for the capabilities acro ed ss the logistics in m di ai vi nt du en al an ai ce rc ; ra an di ft global sustainm ag d supply networ ent ecosystem. k from operator at fleet level. Autonomics exte nostics; s to OEMs and nd these MROs thus compl On the informat eting the ion technology front, n-tiered enterprise servic (multi-layered) e bus (ESB) capa services bilit service (IaaS), so ftware as a serv ies are enabling cloud computin oriented architectures (SOA) ut ice (SaaS) and m ilizing Commoditizatio g delivery of in n (iP ass collaborative fr business process astructure as a cost of IT down ads, 'bring your own device' (BYOD) outs while simultaneou sly increasing us , social networking) and virt ourcing (BPO).

At the crossroads ualization are dr ability, adoption of aerospace, bu iving the and mobility. siness and techno and manufacturi ng 'product' proc lo gy is cl osing the esses, lifecycle managem ent (PLM), the OE and airlines' operation and m total lifecycle gaps between OE Ms' design operator's view, aintenan M' s view, has been co to achieve total mbined with serv ce 'service' processes. Product lifecycle managem ice lifecycle ent via multi-di Industry standard mensional config management (SLM), the s uration managem SX000i family of are also evolving. A4A SPEC2000 ent. , standards and re placing a myriad iSPEC 2200 and SPEC 2300 are (MIL-SPECs). ASD co S1000D documen of ns ol m id ili at tary data and te t and XLM schem enabling both 'hu chnology interope ing with the ASD aman consumptio rability specificatio n' of content as based content management are Technical Manual ns criti well s / Publications (IETM/IETP). From as 'technology consumption' of cal specifications for data to off-boar d health managem Inte ASD S4000M auto en IETP as well as nomic integratio ractive Electronic n of on-board co the global supply t systems, maintenance packagin g ndition standards. While, network, can on ly be realized by and scheduling systems, and a at the same tim m e, ASD S5000F cl th echanic's es e new indust oses the SLM to Regulatory standa PLM feedback lo ry data and process rdization across op. generation techno governmental or ganizations com logies promises bined with indu to decrease the operators. IATA's stry standards an USD$7 billion bu Ma rden on the leas d new OEMs, ICAO and intenance Cost Task Force is ing industry an working across regulatory bodies d in aircraft dust asset return cond to itions and aircra standardize lease contracts, ai ry lines with airlines, lessors, standards play MROs, ft rc ra re ft co m rd ai s nt management. In a significant ro formation techno enance reserve conditions, le in achieving lo gi quality, cost an Fourth generatio d 'turn time' go es and content management n als. bundled services MRO network business models are consolidatin , flight operatio g as ns only achievable through the info optimization, engineering, maint set financing, 'cost per flight hour' rmation technolo en gy initiatives de ance, logistics, parts pooling, Yes, these are de and are scribed above. finitely exciting times for our in dustry.

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22 | TAP M&E | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Keeping track of parts and process

“…applying this technology to the engine workshop could generate improved safety, economy and quality in the processes that take place in that area…”

Mobile RFID is fully operational at TAP M&E and is already making a difference. Fernando Ferreira Matos, Head of Information Technologies at TAP Maintenance & Engineering

T

AP Maintenance & Engineering (TAP M&E) has introduced state-of-the-art technology into daily engine overhaul operations. An innovative mobile solution harnessing RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) technology is being used to help trace engine components undergoing overhaul. This is believed to be the first such fully integrated operational RFID application to aircraft engine components within an MRO process. The system allows for improved real time visibility within the process to trace components from disassembly to re-assembly; it also generates operational efficiencies and helps secure full traceability and greater assurance for customer engines. With this technology, cost savings of more than €2.5 million per annum are expected to be achieved. This initiative was successfully delivered in collaboration with MEGASIS (a TAP group company), Airbus, Accenture and OAT systems.

The mobile solution in the engine overhaul shop is called MEERA (Mobile Enabled Engine Repair Application) in which UHF passive RFID tags are encoded, printed and attached to engine components under overhaul. This helps operations identify each

component through all subsequent processes during the overhaul.

The MEERA solution supports and enables operational users on the shop floor in all engine inspection workshop processes; specifically for instance: • Inventory; • Mini module ‘kitting’; • Search.

It also supports improved management reporting. TAP M&E delivers a full service MRO offer to customers, including aircraft, engine and components maintenance.

The MEERA innovation is expected to help optimize the engine overhaul turn-around time and provide visibility and traceability of engine components under overhaul.

The story

TAP M&E is committed to continual innovation to realize the full potential from its business and in line with TAP strategy the key success factors are cost, turn-around time (TAT) and quality. Against this background, at the beginning of 2007, we decided to look closely at RFID, to support cost reduction and

business growth in the engine workshop.

At that time, because RFID in Airlines and MROs was still at the innovation stage, no common standards had yet been established between Airbus and Boeing.

Nonetheless, we had tooling problems that we felt could best be solved with this technology. Additionally, at that time, tracking tooling was more difficult, with the RFID tags and technology needed to build a strong project not yet available as they are today.

However, we soon understood that applying this technology to the engine workshop could generate improved safety, economy and quality in the processes that take place in that area; what is more, at any given time in that area we also have around 10,000 parts circulating for processing. As we saw it, RFID is all about visibility and tracking, which was exactly what we needed; therefore, after the initial internal analysis, we realized that, with an RFID application, we could get: • Enhanced visibility in the location of parts; • Improved productivity and a more efficient process; • Greater reliability within the processes; • Lower costs; • Reduction in TATs.

Moreover, we were able to create significant added value by leveraging an extensive capability in…

• Knowledge of engine repair shop processes; • Clear definition of business requirements; • IT environment control.

However, to deploy such a project we needed partners with specific knowledge of RFID, experience and knowledge of MRO processes, to work alongside TAP M&E and MEGASIS, its sister IT business in the TAP group. Interestingly, by the time that we had reached that stage, in late 2007, Airbus and Boeing announced they would finally adopt common RFID standards and, alongside of this announcement, Airbus called for a partner in this field: we knew it was time to start our project.

Although this system runs in a closed loop inside our MRO business, it is much safer, in terms of the future, that the standards applied are common to Airbus and Boeing. A simple example is that of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) that do not yet comply with the same standards as Airbus and Boeing. A mixed team of TAP M&E experts, MEGASIS, Airbus, Accenture and OAT elements, started analyzing what would be the future mobile enabled engine workshop application. The first thing was to define the methodology: • Opportunity Analysis: • First level of process analysis; • Business Case (BC).

• PoC (Proof of Concept): • Proof of Concept on site; • BC validation.

• Production: • Prototype industrialization; • Ensure scalability for the future.

We particularly focused on the processes of logistics/ marshaling, repair and sub-assemblies, as those were where more pain points existed, such as:

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | TAP M&E | 23

Logistics/marshaling: • Time spent searching for parts; • No confirmation of when parts were available for re-assembly, requiring considerable manual work; • Time spent on parts ‘accounting’; • Time spent on checking shop visits and dirty finger prints for records filling.

Repair: • No confirmation of current repair stage and/ or delivery to next work-station, causing work disruption; • Time spent searching for parts; • Parts can get lost and/or mislaid during the process.

Sub-Assemblies: • Need to know, in real time, if sub-assembly parts are all available and well stored.

In this analysis, we needed about nine months of continuous effort, until the business case was produced and validated by a functional PoC (fPoC); Briefly, we established that we could bring about improvements to: • Parts idle time; • Production disruptions; • The need for manual searches; • The cost of lost parts.

Importantly, we achieved a fast ROI (return on investment) within one year with a total identified benefit in excess of â‚Ź14 million over five years. The annual savings associated with inventory processes alone, added up to â‚Ź1.6 million. Interestingly, even during the fPoC stage, a quick win was found in the inspection workbook check: simply by using RFID tags in the inspection worksheet, we generated annual savings of â‚Ź125,000.

On the strength of these conclusions, we decided to

move on to a production project that would also be integrated with the engine workshop back office system Genesis II. At this point it is important to understand that TAP M&E, has its own IT platform, COSMOS (COmmon Structured Maintenance Operational Systems), built in house using MEGASIS and TAP M&E resources. It’s a custom made solution, where all vertical and transversal processes are present.

Genesis II is the new engine workshop management system. Aircraft engines are complex pieces of

equipment consisting of modules and mini-modules and amounting to around 5,000 pieces in each unit, 500 of which, on average, require attention from the repair workshop as part of their maintenance circuit. And sometimes that involves dismantling or breaking them down into more basic parts: a job that requires great skill and thoroughness.

One of the most important factors to consider in the control process for engine maintenance activities is to ensure that all removed parts are permanently Click here for full SOFTWARE details and for a demo

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24 | TAP M&E | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

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“…the project to introduce RFID technology to the MRO process involved an investment of 750,000 € with an expected ROI of 2.52 million € per annum. Additionally, we acquired new competences in this field and started creating our own RFID architecture…” tracked until they are re-used or re-assembled. Equally important is to be able to find the one part among thousands that, for whatever reason, was incorrectly placed on the storage shelf or, from a parts inventory at a given location, automatically identify which parts do not belong to that location or to find missing parts needed to rebuild a module. The parts identification system is critical for the efficient management of all maintenance processes.

After removal and inspection to assess their condition, parts are identified with a unique code stored in the RFID tag, which is then glued onto the sheet that accompanies the piece in the workshop circuit, and is printed with the same detailed information (including its part number, serial number and industry, number) maintaining this identification to be reinstalled in the respective engine, or destroyed if they are considered scrap.

The code of the RFID tag is thus uniquely associated with the piece and all the detailed information on the accompanying sheet.

There are 10,000 pieces in circulation at any one time

All parts are subject to inspection after removal, and may thus be either considered capable of repair or consigned to scrap. So, what happens next? A set of steps is assigned to a spare and a repair following different

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | TAP M&E | 25

Conclusion

The advantages of using RFID technology are, in summary: • Reduced turn-around time (TAT); • Greater visibility for the location of parts in the power unit; • Productivity gains and improved procedural efficiency; • Greater process reliability; • Cost reduction; • Improved quality.

Following from the success of this project, we are now extending RFID projects to tools tracking, life jackets and emergency equipment, as well as logistical support for Line Maintenance. n

Fernando Matos

Head of Information Technologies, TAP Maintenance & Engineering

circuits involving various jobs in different sectors, which are spread over several buildings. The useful parts are delivered to the logistics sector to be grouped in sets (mini modules) and mounted later. Even pieces that are in scrap condition must comply with specific procedures: there is a legal requirement for the logistics sector to ensure their destruction. Given all that, it is easy to understand why each part has to be closely identified with a label from its removal from the power plant until re-assembly or scrapping.

The visual process of reading the tag number and other information entered into it is very time consuming. It is estimated that, during the maintenance of an engine, it is necessary to carry out about 5,000 daily readings of labels; also bearing in mind that there are some 20 dismantled power units in the workshop at any time as well as there being some 10,000 pieces in circulation at any given time.

RFID technology thus has an important impact in dramatically reducing the time taken on these tasks as well as opening up new possibilities by facilitating a daily inventory of all parts currently in circulation in the workshop and/or in storage, in order to immediately detect any discrepancies.

As far as the financial aspect of this is concerned, the project to introduce RFID technology to the MRO process involved an investment of €750,000 with an expected ROI of €2.52 million per annum. Additionally, we acquired new competences in this field and started creating our own RFID architecture, which will be a key point when developing new RFID based systems.

Fernando Matos joined TAP Maintenance & Engineering in 1980, to work in the Maintenance Planning Department. Later on he moved into the M&E IT Department that he has headed since 2005.

In 1991 he was Project Manager for the development and implementation of TAP M&E Information Strategy Plan.

From 1994 he coordinated the in-house development of the Integrated IT Platform COSMOS that supports the entire operation of TAP Maintenance & Engineering.

For more than two years he has also been in charge of the IT Department of TAP affiliate, TAP Maintenance & Engineering Brazil, having the responsibility for the modernization of its IT infrastructure and the integration of operational systems between Portugal and Brazil.

He is a Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering graduate of the Lisbon Technical University, Instituto Superior Técnico.

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26 | WEBINARS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Upcoming Live Software Demonstration Webinars at www.aircraftit.com this May Sign up to free live online software demonstrations for a perfect introduction to the world’s leading MRO Software vendors and to learn how they can assist and add value to your operations

InfoTrust Live Technical Publications Management Masterclass & Software Demo Webinar n n n n

Session 1: 17th May 2012 – 06:30 am GMT/UTC Session 2: 17th May 2012 – 15:00 pm GMT/UTC Duration: 1 hour plus Q&A. Session Agenda

The webinar will feature a live demonstration of the solution, which offers end-toend authoring, content management, business process automation, and publishing / transformation capabilities to support aircraft, engine, and component maintenance manuals as well as work cards.

The demonstration will highlight value areas that include: n One interface for technical documentation with fast sa access to the most up to date, applicable information through…

- Applicability filtering by product applicability; - Applicability filtering by conditional applicability; - Search across all relevant documentation. n Airlines in control of their own COC changes…

- Revision reconciliation / Side by Side comparison when the next OEM revision is imported. n Keep Work Cards up to date with OEM procedures…

- All content needed to complete the task, included on the Work Card; - Re-use of content directly from AMM procedures; - Automatic update of Work Cards when new OEM revision is imported; - Automatic update of Work Cards based on other business / trigger events. n Publish to multiple targets…

- Including incremental publish. n Robust process management and instant reporting on status and progress of current projects.

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It

is crucial for airlines, aircraft operators, MROs and OEMs to efficiently manage technical documents. Failure to keep documents updated can lead to failure to follow OEMs, Vendors and regulatory agencies approved MRO procedures which can lead to non-compliance fines and, at least, poor quality maintenance results.

During this Webinar, InfoTrust, via a demonstration of their TechSight/X S1000D software solution, will show you how to dynamically and easily manage all your Technical publications in a digital format. The Webinar will highlight some features of TechSight/X S1000D, its solution for the management of aviation maintenance content. The TechSight/X S1000D solution is targeted at companies who maintain diverse fleets, as well as OEMs who are increasingly required to support content exchange in a variety of S1000D and ATA specification standards.

Webinar Overview Join InfoTrust for this Technical Publications Management Masterclass Webinar and Software Demo. Using a live demonstration of their TechSight/X S1000D Documentation Solution InfoTrust will show you how to dynamically publish technical content.

You will find out why over 100 companies worldwide are already using the TechSight/X S1000D software suite and the company wide benefits that follow, such as ensuring compliance and reliability, control over critical technical information, increased end-user productivity and reliability and ultimately reduced costs.

How to Register for this Live Webinar? Click on the ‘Register for Webinar’ link, select your preferred Webinar Session and enter your details.

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WEBINARS | 27

May will be a particularly interesting month for Webinar users as, within just a couple of weeks, users have the opportunity to attend programs covering two of the leading Digital Documentation Management solutions on the Market today. So, if Digital Documentation Management is a subject on your agenda, you’ll save great deal of time and accumulate much of the understanding you’ll need to inform a good decision by simply attending these two excellent webinars.

Leverage the latest MRO software technologies: Discover Maintenix for efficient and seamless maintenance management n n n n

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Next generation maintenance management and the optimized enterprise with a focus on: n Advanced Aircraft; n Integrated Planning; n Mobile Technology.

- The business benefits and metrics achieved by Maintenix customers.

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This webinar is best suited for business decision makers considering MRO software replacement.

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In this webinar, presented by Mxi Technologies, attendees will learn more about the latest MRO software technologies available to the industry with a special focus on Advanced Aircraft, Integrated Planning, and Mobility complemented by a live software demonstration and customer case studies.

Sign up to view this Webinar to learn how Mxi Technologies’ Maintenix software has helped its customers: n Quickly and precisely prepare for the entry-into-service of advanced aircraft and adapt to evolving maintenance requirements for faster return on investment in next-generation fleets; n Realize operational productivity improvements through total organizational visibility, integrated planning processes, and intelligent automation; n Capture maintenance data at the point of execution and support remote access to full-fleet status dashboards by leveraging the convenience of mobile technology; n Support business objectives for reducing costs, predictability, and future growth.

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28 | SPECIAL FEATURE | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

A HACKDAY AT CONDUCE Building an App in just one day stretched minds and patience at Conduce Software, but it worked. John Hancock, Copy Editor of Aircraft IT MRO reports on a hectic day’s work.

W

e’ve always been fascinated with the notion of getting done in one day a job that would normally take considerably more time. Readers in any part of the world will be familiar with the television program format in which a property makeover that you might normally expect to take a week or more is completed, or so the presenters tell us, in one day. But there is also a serious logic behind completing a task in a day. The most obvious, perhaps, is when there is a degree of urgency or an operationally critical requirement where time equals money: the sooner the job is done, the sooner the operation can restart and the less it costs. And there are other

occasions when a one-day concentrated and intensely focused effort can bring real added benefits.

‘Concentrating the mind’ is conducive to a richer creative atmosphere with actions following ideas too fast for any of the qualities in those ideas to be lost or forgotten. There are also occasions when the task requires a team effort but the people required for the team do not have the scheduling bandwidth to be together for any prolonged period. Of course, there are all sorts of technologies that can bring geographically dispersed teams together virtually but, for some creative tasks which rely on a real-time exchange and interaction of ideas, the team sharing a location and

with a single objective will still be the best model.

In the world of software development, this type of intense activity is known as a hackday (sometimes called a hackathon, hackfest or codefest). Not to be confused with the malicious activity of breaking into IT systems in order to disrupt operations or worse, Paul Saunders, Operations Director at Conduce Software, describes a hackday as, “an event where you get developers and designers together and you build something from scratch on a single day or gathering and you have a very limited amount of time to complete your project.”

Although people have been doing this for quite a long time, the term was probably first used to describe a June 1999 event in Canada where 10 developers came together for a one day cryptographic development project. Since then there have been some remarkable successes for the model including, quite recently, the development of GroupMe as a project at a hackathon during the TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2010 conference. The following year Skype paid $85 million for GroupMe. Notwithstanding all of the above, a hackday project is a daunting challenge for any team to take on so when the team at Conduce Software decided to produce a useful iPad app for MRO use it was a great deal more than a one-day makeover: they had to design and have operating an effective app that would offer real benefits to the MRO community for whom Conduce so often produce useful applications. Of course the idea did not simply materialise out of the ether. As Paul Saunders explained, the firm had already been talking to clients about building a cabin defects app to accompany the apps for safety management and fatigue risk management that Conduce had already produced. Nevertheless, while many people expressed an interest in having a cabin defects app, nobody was commissioning it

and so the people at Conduce decided to take it on themselves.

The idea is not complicated: a member of the cabin crew has an iPad and one of the apps on that iPad is Defexx. If any cabin defects arise during service, the crewmember can use the app to immediately record the problem, that can then either be resolved immediately or following the end of the flight. In either case, once the aircraft is on the ground, recorded defects can be uploaded to a web server where somebody at base can review them and from which they can be integrated straight into the operator’s ERP, MRO or eTechlog system.

All that remained was to set the day and that, it was decided, would be Thursday 16th of February 2012 when the team at Conduce would take on the task of developing Defexx, the app for cabin defects. Oh, and provision had to be made for the troops to be fed and watered!

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPECIAL FEATURE | 29

Progress during the day was committed to a blog which can be read at http://www.conduce.net/Blog. aspx?f=HACKDAY . The day started with Paul Saunders setting out on the whiteboard the basic iPad home screen interface which then developed to the iPad defect form, also the base for designing a database.

“a couple of airlines now have the app on trial and there has also been interest from some companies in us running hackdays for them. All in all, it’s certainly something that we’d look at doing again.”

was tackled and conquered. From writing on the whiteboard at the beginning of the day, towards the end of the day recognisable iPad screens had been designed and built so that the system could be tested there and then. During the day, of course, many problems had to be faced and overcome among which Paul Saunders reckoned the most challenging was to do

with converting to UTC time in order to create a single recording time for all events. Depending on how time is configured on the iPad there are a number of ways in which the event can be converted to UTC and in the end the team decided that rather than embed an ultraclever solution they would instead let the user change the time if it isn’t right.

When completed, the app included some features to increase its applicability. For instance it can work without the web application to e-mail the defects recorded on that flight as a PDF file to whoever

The idea went through many stages of development during the day with additional layers of sophistication being incorporated as each level of development

is nominated as a recipient. This is a use case that Conduce often tries to build into its safety management applications. The final product is designed to replace paper process which, as readers will know, can be subject to a range of problems, not least human error.

The principle could be applied in a number of areas to

replace paper forms that line engineers, dispatchers or anybody would use and, who knows, may even consign the fax machine to the museum display.

Probably, the big question is, ‘clever or not, does the app provide a useful function and does anybody want that?’ Well, following Conduce’s hackday, the firm received a great deal of interest and a request from at least one airline to book a meeting at which they could discuss integrating the Defexx app with their ETL application and procedures. There were also contacts from airlines, pilots and even software vendors asking for a beta copy of the app. And the Defexx app has progressed with a feature to attach images to a defect via the device camera in the case of iPad2 and via a photo library for original iPads not equipped with a camera.

“Since then”, Paul Saunders has told AircraftIT, “a couple of airlines now have the app on trial and there has also been interest from some companies in us running hackdays for them. All in all, it’s certainly something that we’d look at doing again.”

As a firm that has often been creative and lateral in its thinking about developer development (a Gamification day last year to unearth the merits of using game mechanics in software, would be a good example) Conduce has pioneered an idea that seems certain to take flight as a way of bringing intense intellectual concentration to many challenges faced in the arena of aviation IT. We say, well done to them. n

30 | WHITE PAPER | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Project initiation It’s not, as Wesley Parfitt, CEO EnvelopeAPM Inc. explains, just a matter of pressing the ‘start’ button. Initiation is a process in its own right.

T

“When organizations try to implement a solution without understanding the actual issue in the first place, they are trying to generate a solution to problems which have never been properly established or understood.”

he article in summer 2011, ‘A discussion on Project Management — framework for successful MRO software implementation’, reviewed the basic framework of project management and how it is utilized during the implementation of an MRO software package. There are five groups of processes in project management: initiation, planning, execution, controlling and project closing: this article will focus on project initiation and related activities; not high level detailing but laying the foundation of some thoughts for you to take away and apply in your work environments.

Project conception

A project starts with the conception, where a business issue or opportunity is identified; for example, the need for a new MRO software package.

The process group covered in this article will be

initiation; the starting point for procurement of a new project. At this stage we should establish the objectives, scope, deliverables and the overall purpose for the project. Generally project initiation will encompass a select few activities including the deployment of a business case, the development and undertaking of a feasibility study, the creation of a project charter, appointment of the project team and, depending on the size of project, the creation of a project management office (PMO): then finally, the project phase review, otherwise known as the initiation closing. By this point it should be understood whether there is a project with which to proceed and whether it will be successful.

beneficial to carry out a review and establish some guidelines; a feasibility study should then take place, investigating all possible solutions. Next, the scope and the sponsor (either an individual or a committee) of the project will be selected. A full analysis of the new MRO software should be established with a description, including a detailed list of required functionality with deliverables: this is the time to establish goals and objectives for the new MRO system. Structuring of the project will take place during initiation and the project management team can be identified, either from internal resources, an internal PMO or possibly an outsourced project management firm.

Business case

Defining the problem — feasibility study

Before new MRO software can be selected, the need must be established; although many can agree on the problem, not everyone can establish the specific requirements for new M&E (Maintenance & Engineering) software. The perceived need usually overshadows the actual need. Too many times, software is selected by operators when staff move between different organizations. New operators typically ask for a new software system based on their experience working at their previous employment. Purchasing new software because someone asked for it will not necessarily solve any situation: there will simply not be enough information to generate a clear and effective appreciation of what is required from the new software and whether or not the legacy system replacement will even bring positive value to the business. In some cases it is simply changing from one lacking program to possibly another with a whole set of additional issues. When organizations try to implement a solution without understanding the actual issue in the first place, they are trying to generate a solution to problems which have never been properly established or understood.

Implementing an MRO solution is a difficult process.

First the organization must make the correct decisions when selecting MRO IT. Consideration must be given to projected growth, long term capabilities and the investigative factors when selecting the MRO IT package. This is difficult for a typical MRO or engineering department that has limited exposure and knowledge about the MRO IT environment, the selection process and benchmarking involved in the required deliverables.

Whether working with a consultant, an internal PMO or simply the engineering department heads, the more detail that is available about the situation when embarking on application selection and then implementation, the more likely it is that the best software application for the purposes will be chosen with potential to fit the business’s needs today and in the future. With this, we develop the business case.

Before commencing any real work it would be

Starting the selection process should begin with precisely defining the problem. Is the intention to systematize specific businesses processes? Is it time to adopt new best practices? Perhaps the organization is interested in reducing processing times or reducing paper output. Other considerations can include that the legacy MRO software is simply no longer supported.

Are there requirements of specific quality programs or aviation regulations which must be adhered to?

And, perhaps most importantly, how will solving these problems build a new foundation for longer term success for the operation?

In our example of a new MRO software solution, the feasibility study must be conducted with a thorough analysis and all possible project impacts must be reviewed so as to be beneficial to the current operation as well as not negatively affect the day to day operation of the current system. A thorough analysis will allow the final decisions as to whether new M&E software is required. For this to be effective, it is important to… define requirements, needs, wants and expectations; consider who will conduct the feasibility study; and ask whether there are the internal resources. If so, are these resources the best to manage such a study?

The outcome of the feasibility study is to provide management with the information needed to make the best decision possible; whether or not to go ahead with the procurement and implementation of a new MRO software package. The only way this can be achieved is with an extensive study of the current legacy systems including shortcomings of that product and future developments expected from the vendor.

Comparisons of current functionalities of other MRO software systems must also be included in the study.

The feasibility study will show present needs and wants, and will review the financial and operational impacts of implementing a new product.

Those conducting a feasibility study must have the necessary experience and should also be knowledgeable in the subject matter, in this case MRO software. They should be fair and critical, remain unbiased and ensure

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WHITE PAPER | 31

that they are not swayed by sales pitches. They need to remain emotionally unattached to any software over others and must keep an open mind. It is important that all necessary data is consistently collected, analyzed and presented so that the best decision can be made.

Identify and establish the project sponsor

The project sponsor holds accountability for the project, including keeping it on track. This means they should regularly meet with the project managers and review project time lines and key milestones. Part of the sponsor’s job is to hold project managers accountable for hitting project objectives throughout the project and to ensure that the project managers continue to produce the deliverables that were established within the project scope.

The sponsor should be available and consistently accessible to the management team. With the project manager they must establish a partnership and/or a good working relationship as well as develop an environment conducive to a successful project result.

Project sponsors should invest time to ensure that they understand the project, its scope and the complete deliverables. Should the project sponsor not understand the project, it may not be identified as a priority and without that crucial support, will lack investment of interest and capital. The project sponsor should champion the project within the organization, secure spending authority and resources, and provide support to the project manager. At this point, sponsorship of the project must be confirmed and securing approval early in the project management lifecycle helps to ensure a commitment to the project.

Development of project charter — objective

Development of the project charter is the starting point after the feasibility study is complete and project sponsors selected. The project charter is the objective of a proposal, i.e. to evaluate the possibility of replacing the current MRO software and, as such, must be established in a formal document: everything must be committed to paper. This will help establish

“Part of the sponsor’s job is to hold project managers accountable for hitting project objectives throughout the project and to ensure that the project managers continue to produce the deliverables that were established within the project scope.”

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commitment among project team members as well as between the team and the project stakeholders. It may be desirable to further define the business objectives which, in the case of MRO M&E software replacement, might include objectives such as web-based aviation management software program, the ability to integrate or transfer data from and to current systems, planning, maintenance scheduling, forecasting, tracking, reliability monitoring, electronic library management, integration with third party document management systems, etc.

It is important to consider constraints in the project charter. For any potential MRO maintenance system to be considered, the regulations set out by a specific department of transport or aviation regulator must be followed. Any potential system must be flexible enough to interface with other systems and data structures.

Develop project scope

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This is one of the most important components in project initiation. The project scope statement also serves as a launching board for the project: it can be a large document or a simple one, or a two page manifesto. So how big does this thing have to be? As a rule of thumb, the larger the project, the longer it will take to create the project scope statement, and the more information will need to be included in the document.

Obviously, comparing implementing a software solution for a small regional operator versus a large tier 1 airline, the scope statement will be different between the two.

The scope is the formal definition of the project and what needs to be accomplished. It should address and document the characteristics and limitations of the project as well as establish methods of acceptance and scope control. Information from the initiator or the project sponsor will typically be used to develop the scope which will define the parameters of the project and this can include the vision. This document will be the foundation for the forthcoming steps required to complete the project cycles and the scope must make the direction clear by focusing on the project’s final outcomes.

During devolvement of the scope, the team will be able to define a vision. Having a clear vision and scope will avoid confusion among staff and stakeholders: it will be clear where the project ends. Where the scope is under-defined there is a risk, in the case of the implementation of an MRO system, it will become a never ending implementation. The scope statement should include the description, acceptance, deliverables, exclusion, contracts and assumptions. It must represent an understanding of the project between team members, help in communication among the stakeholders, define authorities and set limits for the project manager and team.

The scope statement includes how the project is related to business objectives. It also defines the boundaries of the project in multiple dimensions

including approach, deliverables, milestones and budget. A scope statement can be a brief document or a fully-fledged document. An example of a simple scope brief may be: ‘To implement aircraft maintenance management system, MRO M&E software, for said company Maintenance & Engineering personnel by 1 November 2012 to provide users with the most efficient, ‘real time’ software program that allows visibility to the fleet status.’

Initial project team

At this stage, the initial project team should be identified. The team may be small and may include, as a minimum, the manager and a small group of individuals who can provide support in the initial stages of the project and perhaps take more leadership roles should the project be approved. Generally, the project sponsor will take the lead in selection of the team individuals within the engineering department.

In his selection, the sponsor should include people who can make decisions about the project, can ensure that the project is fully resourced to achieve its desired result, and who are most affected by the project.

The team can also include members from outside the organization and may be selected from internal resources, an internal PMO or an outsourced project management firm.

Initial project team — project manager

We have looked at the initial project team as well as the sponsor, however, a critical team member and project keeper is the project manager. The project manager must be the right person for the job. One major factor in predicting success for any project is selecting the right project manager. Project management is both a science and an art; more than planning and project execution, it involves maintenance of schedules and budgets and requires project management skills and experience.

A successful proposal — establish a thorough RFP/RFQ- procurement document for submission to software vendors

During this step, requirements will be established, i.e. what is needed for a new MRO system. Having a thorough RFP/RFQ (request for proposal/request for quotation) is of key importance to being able to effectively analyze and compare the results received from each vendor. The RFP/RFQ will help determine which product best fits the needs and will allow consistent comparison of what different products offer.

The RFP/RFQ should include: an executive summary, company background, business objectives, company organizational chart, required format for proposal, project constraints and assumptions, scope of work,

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WHITE PAPER | 33

project start, contract overview, specifications of requirements, evaluation and reward criteria, terms and rules for vendors to abide by during the procurement, schedules, closing date for receipt of proposals, awarding authority information, details of management and key personnel, schedule of costs and more.

Some organizations may have a process document for procurement: if not it might be advisable to deal with outsourced contractors with experience in the procurement of new MRO systems. Contact advisors who will have experience and are aware of techniques and skills required to create a well-developed procurement document.

In our example, a well written RFP will allow the organization maximum control in the selection and purchase of MRO software. A poorly defined RFP will lead to poor results in the search for a replacement to the legacy software. The creation of the RFP is a complex undertaking but it is very important so take the time to do it thoroughly. It will ensure that the project objectives are met.

ABOUT EnvelopeAPM Inc.

EnvelopeAPM Inc. provides Aviation Project Management advice and technical services to clients around the world, specializing in Aviation Project Management. The principal of EnvelopeAPM Inc. has worked with customers onsite in over 20 countries; from airlines to helicopter operators, regional airlines, tourist operations and governments.

Their consultants are certified project managers, with (PMP)® credentials, the world’s most important industry recognized certification for project managers. Along with aviation backgrounds, EnvelopeAPM Inc. approach every aviation software implementation from the stand point of helping companies with best business practices and meeting their critical business requirements. They have worked with MRO software implementations, continual project management and MRO systems auditing programs in Asia-Pacific, Australasia, North America and Europe.

The decision process

It’s decision time, time to analyze potential replacement MRO software solutions, to decide and document which system is best for the operation. At this stage, evaluate each solution objectively against feasibility data requirements. It will be necessary to create a quantitative base document for judging and evaluating each software alternative. A common method to formalize the decision making process is a decision matrix; a tool to calculate a number that specifies and justifies the best decision. Develop the matrix to rank, in order of importance, the desirable attributes or criteria for the MRO software solution. Include factors such as features and functionality, check sheet, cost, compliance with regulatory authority, system that best fits your requirements, etc. Other important considerations should include the proven track record of key personnel in providing required services, financial viability, technical ability, project management, quality of customer support, after sales service, and technical assistance, ability to meet project timeframes, costs, available documentation and training, maintenance and support. The matrix will help define which products best match established needs.

Keep in mind that during the decision process you may be influenced by the quality of the RFP/RFQ answers that you receive, such as the methodology the vendor included, the demonstrated understanding of the requirements, etc. Another great way to gather information for your decision process is ask for references. Talk to references, visit with existing customers and if possible, go and visit existing clients to see how the software operates in a live environment.

Also, if possible, request to visit a customer currently undertaking an implementation.

Initiation phase — wrap up

Before proceeding onto the next phase, it must be formally acknowledged that the project initiation, acceptance and review of all the deliverables have been met. Final approval should be authorized by the project sponsor before continuing. The process of acceptance and approvals is continual and will be covered at the end of each phase during the project: it shows that project milestones have been met and at the same time confirms that certain deliverables have been completed which will also streamline the overall final project acceptance. Hitting milestones is also very rewarding to project team members.

Special considerations for project initiation

Project management isn’t a simple task; it requires much work and knowledge. Without a grasp on project direction, delivery will not succeed. MRO IT systems cost a great deal to implement so you don’t want to find you have gone through the expense for nothing; be sure to clearly define the problems you are trying to solve.

For successful implementation to take place, a certain

number of investments are required, investment of financial resources, time, and staff. Other Important points are enthusiasm, determination, decision making, planning, execution and continuous improvement. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of these investments in project success.

The end result

On completion of the initiation phase, a review is undertaken and the project will either be approved or rejected. Once approved, the project will be authorized to begin and the initiation phase will become the foundation for the launch of the project. As mentioned earlier, documentation during the initiation phase will allow for detailed planning and establish the initial tasks for the project. With goals and processes already in place and details agreed, planning and execution can proceed smoothly. Generally the project manager and executive project team prepare and present a project status review for the project sponsor and project stakeholders.

The next article will review; ‘project planning for MRO software implementation.’ n

Wes Parfitt

CEO & Founder, EnvelopeAPM Inc.

Wes Parfitt, PMP® is CEO and founder of EnvelopeAPM Inc. and Global Aviation Audits. He has more than 10 years’ experience in aerospace project management, audits and MRO software implementation — having inducted over 30 MRO M&E systems in 20+ countries in the past decade. Based first in Australia and now Canada, and with broad aviation software and technical records knowledge, Wesley has worked with high profile, fixed-wing and helicopter operators and MROs across the world.

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Vendor Job Card

34 | VENDOR JOB CARD| AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

l Systems Ltd. (SDS) Mr. Vivek Sheorey (Vicky), CEO & Managing Director, Sheorey Digita

Nagpur in 1977 and with a private pilot's license, Vicky graduated After graduating with a degree in Commerce from University of 1979. During his time with the IAF, he gained invaluable from the Indian Air Force (IAF) Academy as a Fighter Pilot in Dec of the era. He was the founder and promoter of SDS and aircraft operational and planning experience on frontline Fighter-Bomber products for the business. has been the chief business analyst, architect and designer of software him onto the IT Super Highway after retirement. Since His interest in computers started in 1985 while still in the IAF, leading g, computer graphics and multimedia technologies, publishin desktop then his experience includes application software programming, spanning well over two decades. industry to understand specific issues and problems faced. His Since the late 90's, Vicky has been working with the civil aviation mission to offer the aviation industry cost-effective and focused blend of experiences (aviation and IT) has yielded a highly efficient IT solutions.

What works for Sheorey Digital Systems AircraftIT: Your name, your job title and the name of the business?

Vivek Sheorey: Vivek Sheorey, CEO & Managing Director, Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd. (SDS).

AircraftIT: How did Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd. get started?

VS: Vivek Sheorey (me) an ex-military aviator, and Dr. Uday Sheorey, an electronics engineer, joined forces to establish SDS in 1993, to address the growing service needs of the digital electronics era. Initial activities included consultancy, integration of computer systems & peripherals, application software programming, electronic data processing, multimedia services and training; a portfolio of services to propagate the proliferation of personal computing. By the turn of the millennium, SDS had decided to switch to application software development, and selected aviation as the main focus area. This was the genesis of our aviation IT product ARMS® (Aviation Resource Management System) now available in its second avatar.

AircraftIT: What is the attraction of aircraft MRO related IT? VS: During our early interactions with actual users from the industry, it emerged that there was no single vendor providing an integrated IT solution that could be customized to airlines’ and MROs’ specific needs. Standard ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning systems) were too complex to implement, difficult to customize and above all, quite expensive. Reverse engineering a generic ERP product, to suit an airline’s or MRO’s specific requirements, has often caused more frustration than satisfaction. The requirements of process reengineering and cost reduction demanded a paradigm shift in the way the problem was approached. We spotted an opportunity here, and decided to design a platform that would not only address these lacunae but also offer a solution that would concentrate on the specific needs of the aviation industry, based on best industry practices.

AircraftIT: What is the guiding business principle that drives SDS? VS: There is more than one…

• Sharp and steady focus; • Cost effective solutions and services; • Flexible system architecture; • Customer-centric, user-friendly approach; • Listen to customers and deliver what they want, at an affordable price.

further reinforcing the silos. Top management needs to take a holistic view towards IT solutions, appreciating that IT is the fabric that needs to be interwoven across the core functions of an aviation operator. IT is not a function: IT is an enabler. It automates core business processes.

Every department and function must have an IT champion and all the IT champions need to work as a team. That’s when IT proliferation will be the most effective and ensure early return on investments.

AircraftIT: What has been SDS’s greatest IT achievement to date, and why?

VS: Making operations research based optimizers available to clients on an affordable ‘cloud-computing’ model. Traditionally optimizers meant, super computing power, expensive solver software and very high associated cost of resources. We have managed to deliver cutting-edge optimization technologies to clients, on the cloud at extremely affordable rates. ARMS® V2 not only offers a flexible system architecture and user friendly interface, but is also much smarter.

AircraftIT: In a sentence, how would you summarize what SDS does for aircraft MRO customers?

VS: We deliver solutions that increase process efficiencies and bring down costs with strict statutory compliance, and uncompromising safety, being the ultimate goals.

AircraftIT: What has been SDS’s greatest business achievement to date, and why?

VS: To deliver a truly integrated and cost effective IT solution that spans across the Commercial – Operations – MRO functions.

AircraftIT: What have been SDS’s disappointments and what have you learned from them?

VS: The first is specific to SDS: that we missed out on a few large Aviation IT projects, because we were disqualified for being a small company (balance sheet wise). The vendors who were selected have failed to deliver, whereas we have zero failed or undelivered projects.

What we have learnt from this is that size of the company does not necessarily mean guaranteed delivery and satisfaction. In fact, smaller companies are more agile, flexible and efficient.

The second is more general to the sector: the airline industry operates and thinks in silos. As a result technology induction is also fragmented,

AircraftIT: What is new on SDS’s development horizon?

VS: We’re looking forward to introducing ‘ARMS® on the Tab’: not only is ARMS® V2 on the cloud, but some components will soon be optimized for Tablets. This includes our foray into EFB, ETL and EWC for the shop floor. Another significant development will be direct integration with Aircraft avionics and on-board systems.

AircraftIT: What will be the next big thing in MRO Aviation IT? VS: Integrated IT solution on the cloud. It will enable anytime, anyplace access to the system, even when on the move. This will result in more efficient planning and execution, better quality, reduced expenses, smart disruption management.

AircraftIT: What do you want your customers to say about SDS? VS: We selected ARMS® V2 but we’re not stuck with it; we’re glued to it! ARMS® V2 is the best investment decision ever! SDS delivers as per commitment; no matter what and they bend over backwards to accommodate our customization requests.

AircraftIT: Vivek Sheorey , thank you for your time.

SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 35

MRO Software Directory Key ‘at-a-glance’ information from the world’s leading MRO software providers.

There are three recognized categories of MRO software solutions: 1) Pure-play MRO solutions also known as Best of Breed (BoB) 2) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions 3) Specialist Point Solutions Software solutions assigned to categories 1 & 2 offer a complete endto-end MRO solution for airlines, MROs and aircraft operators and meet most business system requirements for MRO facilities and airlines of any size seeking a new MRO software solution or looking to replace or renew an existing one.

Pure-play systems are designed specifically for the aviation MRO industry and typically offer a complete solution to fit with the highly regulated nature of the industry. ERP MRO Solutions are part of a complete end-to-end enterprise wide software package and allow for extended capability with other systems such as Finance and Human Resources.

Specialist Point solutions are MRO systems that are particularly strong in certain niche areas and usually complement the pure-play solutions.

For ease of reference the directory below is divided into two sections: Pure-play and ERP MRO Solutions; and Specialist Point Solutions

Pureplay, BoB and ERP MRO Solutions

2MoRO Solutions

W: www.2moro.com T: +33 (0)559 013 005 (EMEA & Asia) T: +001 514 861 8686 (Americas) E: 2moro@2moro.com

Company formed: 2004, Office Location:France (HQ) and Canada Name of Product Marketed • Aero One®, Aero-Webb®, BFly® Number of Modules.........6 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Fleet Management • Technical Referential Management • Maintenance Forecasting • Inspection, Sentencing, Workbench • Configuration Control

Created in 2004, 2MoRO Solutions is an innovative company dedicated to software development for the Aerospace & Defense market (operational and R&D needs). We are located in America and in Europe. Our solutions are operated in 17 countries. We provide three high value products: Aero-One®, Aero-Webb®, BFly®. We have partnership with the world best of class ERP and PLM software providers, SAP® and PTC®. Our products are fully integrated with ERP offering cross functionalities: Accounting, Financials, Sales, Purchasing , Operations, Inventory & Distribution. We offer specific A&D functionalities: Fleet Management, Technical Referential Mgt, Maintenance Forecasting, Maintenance Execution, Inspection & Sentencing, Configuration Control, CRM & CSM.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

ADT - Applied Database Technology

W: www.adbtech.com T: +1 (425) 466-5013 +1 (614) 377-9644 E: sales@adbtech.com

Company formed: 1992, Office Location:Bellevue, Tampa USA; Istanbul, Turkey Name of Product Marketed • Wings NG Number of Modules.........14 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Fleet Management • Maintenance Engineering • Material Management • Production Planning • Labor Collection, Billing APPLIED DATABASE TECHNOLOGY (ADT) is a professional services and software development firm that provides MRO software solutions for aircraft operators as well as aircraft repair and overhaul organizations. Our commitment to this business segment is proven with our software package, WINGS, designed specifically for the aerospace companies. ADT has been in the software business since 1992 and built an excellent customer reference base. Our first priority is always customer satisfaction thus we have obtained 100% customer satisfaction since 1992. ADT has a proven record to develop reference accounts in the Aviation industry along with other high technology companies which are considered to be leaders in their fields.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

AeroSoft Systems Inc.

W: www.aerosoftsys.com T: +1 905.678.9564 E: sales@aerosoftsys.com

Company formed: 1997, Office Location:Mississauga,Ontario, Canada; Miami,FL,USA; Austria Name of Product Marketed • DigiMAINT, DigiDOC, WebPMI/DJM Number of Modules.........5 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance and Engineering Management • Digital Document Content Management • Business Intelligence Reporting • Business 2 Business transaction interface • Interface to Financials / Flight Operations AeroSoft Systems Inc. is unique in MRO/IT, born in 1997, out of aircraft OEM digital document systems and the evolution of ATA iSPEC2200 and SPEC2000 standards. AeroSoft has two distinct MRO/IT products: DigiMAINT and WebPMI sharing a common set of optional modules for BI, B2B, Finance and Flight Operations, plus DigiDOC, a state of the art digital content management system. AeroSoft has the unique expertise to integrate DigiDOC with any competitive MRO/IT system. AeroSoft’s strategic partners include Hexaware Technologies Inc. who are jointly going to market internationally offering large IT capacity at competitive rates.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

AV BASE SYSTEMS

W: www.avbasesystems.com T: +1 519-691-0919 E: info@avbasesystems.com

Company formed: 1997, Office Location:Mississauga,Ontario, Canada; Miami,FL,USA; Austria Name of Product Marketed • WinAir Essentials; WinAir Express; WinAir Pro-SQL; and WinAir Enterprise Number of Modules.........5 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Complex Maintenance Programs / Configuration Management • Aircraft and Internal Shop Production • Inventory Control & Procurement • Opertational Administration • Reliability Module AV-BASE Systems develops and supports the successful series of WinAir maintenance and inventory software solutions. With over 20 years committed to the aviation industry, WinAir is a proven solution to increase operational efficiency and harmonize departments in even the most complex operations. The WinAir Series includes 24/7 technical support, top tier help and documentation, as well as professional training and implementation options. WinAir users span the globe and include Airlines, Government Operations, MROs, Military Operations, Law Enforcement Agencies, Corporate Aviation Firms, and Aviation Services such as Medical Evacuation organizations. Visit www.avbasesystems.com for a solution that works in the real world.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

Cimber Air Data AS

W: www.amicos.com T: +45 7443 3222 E: sales@amicos.com

Company formed: 1985, Office Location:Denmark Name of Product Marketed • AMICOS Next Generation Number of Modules.........n/a Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance & Engineering / MRO • Logistics and Procurement • Reliability & Statistics • Planning • Manpower & Cost control 25 years of successful design, development and implementation makes Cimber Air Data (CAD) one of the most seasoned players in the business. Our staff averages over 15 years of experience in Aviation MRO. Close contact with our customers assure that we are constantly up to date with the latest developments and business requirements. When you talk to CAD staff, you are talking to a proficient Aviation Professional. Cimber Air Data is a profitable company, and we are constantly developing the product.

The AMICOS NG (Next Generation) MRO system is an affordable ‘Enterprise’ solution exclusively developed for Aviation. Our focus is on in-depth functionality and total process control. The diversity of our customers and their business processes ensures that AMICOS covers almost any possible variation of MRO data management.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

36 | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

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AircraftIT: All about Solutions for Airlines and Aircraft

Communications Software (Airline Systems) Ltd

W: www.commsoft.aero T: +44 (0) 1621 817 425 E: nsg@commsoft.aero

Company formed: 1971, Office Location:Tiptree, Derby, Norwich, Gatwick, UK; Brisbane, Australia; Coimbatore, India Name of Product Marketed • OASES Number of Modules.........10 Five Key Business/Software Areas • User Friendly - ease of use for all levels of expertise • Excellent Support - full support throughout the life cycle of the product • Scalability - can grow with your business • Cost - low ‘cost of ownership’ • Security - proven security Communications Software Ltd provides the Open Aviation Strategic Engineering System (OASES), covering all aspects of aircraft maintenance for airlines and third-party maintainers. Areas covered include: inventory control; rotable tracking; demand handling; requirements planning; PO and RO processing; component and aircraft technical records; maintenance forecasting; aircraft check planning and documentation, plus check accomplishment analysis; aircraft technical log recording; shop floor data collection; work in progress; time and attendance monitoring; and system and component reliability analysis, plus repetitive defects, sales order processing, full quotation management, invoice passing, advanced scheduling, line maintenance control, AD/SB evaluation and deferred defect management. The company provides electronic AMMs and IPCs linked electronically to, and accessible by, the system.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

IFR FRANCE

W: www.ifrfrance.com T: +33 (0) 562 74 75 00 E: commercial@ifrfrance.com

Company formed: 1987 Office Location: Toulouse (HQ); Moscow (Rep); Singapore (Rep); Bogota (Rep) Name of Product Marketed • AMASIS Number of Modules.........13 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Line Maintenance • Base Maintenance • Engineering • Procurement / Stores • Business Intelligence AMASIS is a robust turnkey solution to manage and optimize the aircraft maintenance. With 80+ active customers, AMASIS is a reliable solution for operators with fleets of all sizes and MRO. The new interface and the integrated Business Intelligence module (optional) brings to users the right tools to improve the maintenance processes.

Our experts propose high level services to assit users during the implementation phase and the day to day operations (customizations, data upload, training, audit).

Click Here for Software/Product Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

Lufthansa Technik AG

W: www.lufthansa-technik.com/manage-m T: +49 69 696 91628 E: info@manage-m.com Company formed: 1995, Office Location:Worldwide Name of Product Marketed • manage/m® Number of Modules.........15 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Compliance Reporting • MPD management and revision service • Task scheduling and control • Material management • Management of technical findings (PiRep & MaRep)

Lufthansa Technik’s unique Technical Operations WebSuite manage/m® allows commercial aircraft operators to manage all core functions of their fleet’s technical operations as an entirely web-based system online – anytime and anywhere. manage/m® is provided at no extra costs to every customer holding a MRO contract with Lufthansa Technik.

Rounding out Lufthansa Technik’s all-encompassing portfolio of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, the modules of manage/m® comprise a complete range of airline-proven support functions that permit operators to live up to their responsibilities towards the aviation authorities.

Reflecting Lufthansa Technik’s MRO competence in all of its facets, manage/m® provides you with the necessary information to live up to your responsibilities as an operator in full. Quality monitoring, reliability trends, status reports, documentation and tracking of shop events in real-time are just a few of the available WebServices.

Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo

Mxi Technologies

W: www.mxi.com T: +1 613-747-4698 E: info@mxi.com

Company formed: 1996, Office Location:Ottawa, Amsterdam,Detroit, Seattle, Washington, Sydney, Tampa, Saudi Arabia Name of Product Marketed • Maintenix, Maintenix CE Number of Modules.........5 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance Engineering & Information Management • Maintenance Planning • Maintenance Execution • Material management • Business Support & Analytics With solutions designed specifically for aviation maintenance, Mxi Technologies provides integrated and intelligent software, support, and services to commercial airlines, MROs, OEM aftermarket service providers, and defense operators. Mxi Technologies’ Maintenix® software uses a modern architecture and provides advanced capabilities such as a role-based Web browser interface, long range and automated line planning, automated workflow, electronic signatures, support for portable wireless devices, and a comprehensive range of integration APIs. Our customers range from emerging, small to midsized organizations to the largest global enterprises. For more information and to find out how you can join the evolution of aviation maintenance, visit www.mxi.com today.

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SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 37

Ramco Systems

W: www.ramcoaviation.com T: +1 305 538 8499 E: agatag@rsc.ramco.com

Company formed: 1996, Office Location:USA, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, India, Asia-Pacific, Singapore, Malaysia Name of Product Marketed • Ramco Aviation Enterprise Solution, Ramco Aviation M&E solution, Ramco Aviation MRO Solution, Ramco Aviation Analytics, Ramco Electronic Flight Bag(EFB), Ramco ePublications, Ramco Aviation Manufacturing OnDemand, Ramco eProcurement Number of Modules.........20 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance & Engineering • Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul • Aviation Manufacturing and Repair Stations • Human Resources • Finance

Ramco Systems is the world’s largest provider of Aviation M&E, MRO and Manufacturing software solutions designed from the ground up for Commercial Passenger and Cargo, Military, PBL, PBM, Fixed Wing & Rotor, Fleet Operators, MRO providers and OEM organizations. The solutions are offered On-premise (in-house), through an Application Service Provider, or OnDemand utilizing its solutions and automation tools in running lean, efficient and profitable operations.

Ramco’s Series 5 provides a positive impact on reducing turn times while increasing operational performance and compliance through the full integration of engineering, supply chain, maintenance planning and execution, and compliance modules in an elegant graphical interface.

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Rusada SA

W: www.rusada.com T: 03333 440730 E: sales@rusada.com

Company formed: 1987, Office Location:Europe, Middle East, Asia, Far East Name of Product Marketed • Envision Number of Modules.........10 (Single database) Five Key Business/Software Areas • Technical records and Asset Management • Asset and Stock Management • Operations • Engineering & Maintenance • Quality, Safety and Analytics Rusada is a global leader in the development of complex asset management software for the aerospace industry. With over 20 year’s heritage, Rusada, provides a range of tools and integrated IT solutions to enable the complete management of fleets of aircraft and the optimisation of the service provision around them. Headquartered in Switzerland with operations in the Far East, Middle East, Asia and Europe, Rusada serves over 60 major customers worldwide, spanning clients that include Operators, MROs and OEMs. Rusada’s Envision toolkit is an industry benchmark within aviation, managing over 1500 aircraft in 20 countries. Latest innovations include the development of an Analytical Manager for live KPI analysis and monitoring against thresholds via a web based dashboard, and a new Safety Management Module designed to assist with a company’s Safety Management Procedures.

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Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd.

W: www.sds.co.in

T: (+91-22) 2281 9198/ 2281 1086 E: rohit.jha@sds.co.in E: vicky.sheorey@sds.co.in

Company formed: 1993, Office Location:Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore Name of Product Marketed • ARMS®: Airline Resource Management System, InfoPrompt®: Integrated Document Management System Number of Modules.........4 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Engineering & Maintenance Sub-System (ARMS® - EMSS) • Heavy MRO Sub-System (ARMS® HMRO)* • Logistics & Inventory Management Sub-System (ARMS® LIMSS) • InfoPrompt®: Integrated Document Management System * Under development

Sheorey Digital Systems Ltd., (SDS), is an established, fast growing, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Software Company, focused on providing Software Solutions to the Aviation Industry. ARMS®: ‘Airline Resource Management System’ is an internet rich, current-generation, state-of-the-art Information Technology System that effectively addresses the extremely critical and cost sensitive nature of Airlines/Commercial Air Transport operations. ARMS® is one of the few cost-effective, fully integrated software solutions that seamlessly addresses – Flight Operations, Maintenance and Logistics functions of an air transport operator - designed and developed to control costs which is so very critical for Air Operators today! ARMS® is readily and easily ‘customizable’ to specific business & operational requirements.

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38 | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SPRING 2012

Swiss AviationSoftware Ltd.

W: www.swiss-as.com

T: +41 61 582 72 94 E: marketing@swiss-as.com

Company formed: 2004 (project AMOS started in 1989), Office Location:Basel, Switzerland; Miami, FL, USA Name of Product Marketed • AMOS Number of Modules.........10 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Material Management • Engineering • Planning • Production • Maintenance Control Swiss AviationSoftware unites over 20 years of IT experience with profound MRO expertise and offers its customers the functionally unsurpassed and technologically state-of-the art maintenance system AMOS. AMOS is a comprehensive, fully-integrated software package that successfully manages the maintenance, engineering and logistics requirements of modern airlines and MRO providers by fulfilling demanding airworthiness standards.

Today, almost 100 customers worldwide steer their maintenance activities with AMOS, which makes AMOS the industry-leading MRO software in Europe and one of the best-selling solutions globally.

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TRAX USA Corp.

W: www.trax.aero T: +1 305.662.7400 E: sales@trax.aero

Company formed: 1997, Office Location:Miami, Fl, USA; Horsham, West Sussex, UK Name of Product Marketed • TRAX Maintenance & Engineering Software Number of Modules.........23 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Engineering & Planning • Production & Shop • Technical Records & Reliability • TRAXDoc Document Control • Supply Chain Management TRAX is the global leader in the aviation Maintenance and Engineering software industry. Deployed at airlines with fleets of all sizes, TRAX is the most advanced maintenance software solution available today.

TRAX Maintenance has been developed with Airlines and for Airlines.

Consisting of over 20 modules, TRAX Maintenance is a completely integrated product. Organizational efficiency gains can be substantial when using TRAX and ROI is quickly realized. TRAX maintains its advantage over the competition by developing software that works for customers through modern technology and world class support.

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Volartec

W: www.volartec.aero

T: +353 617 49010 E: marketing@volartec.aero

Company formed: 2004, Office Location:Ireland; Argentina Name of Product Marketed • Alkym ® Management & Control System for Aircraft Maintenance Number of Modules.........15 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance & Engineering • Logistics • Quality Assurance / Human Resources • Planning & Reliability • Document Management / Technical Library Alkym® is the most comprehensive and cost-effective software solutions available in the market today.

It is specially designed to improve MRO Technical Operations performance by a professional team with strong aviation background. Alkym® is a completely integrated software solution to meet the demands of Aircraft operators and MRO providers.

The key difference is our proven ability to deliver the fastest ROI. This is achieved by providing all the functionality at a fraction of the cost of others on the market. We deliver the implementation project in record time with a dedicated team. Typically this is done in 4 to 5 weeks.

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Specialist Point Solutions

AIRCRAFT DATA SYSTEMS (ADS)

W: www.technicalrecords.net W: www.adsfrance.net T: +33 (0) 975 333 675 E: jalbrecht@technicalrecords.net Company formed: 2005, Office Location:Nîmes, France

Name of Product Marketed • ADS TRM (Technical Records Management), ADS TPA (Technical Publication Authoring) Number of Modules.........5 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Searchable Dirty Finger Print • 7 OCR engines • 3 seconds or less to find a 25 years old log book page with its exact content • Scan in Color, high definition • EN-9100 Our software can be tailored upon customer requirement. This allows us to input and organize records in any architecture in order to meet the exact requirements and internal rules of our customers. The records presentation shape is established just as the customer wishes.

A mechanic, a financial assessor or a leasing company representative don’t have the same needs to collect and explore records but will be interested in the same content of data. Once scanned, the records can be presented, searched and exported in any customized way.

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AVIATION 42

W: www.aviation42.com T: 0048 71 7230109 E: steve.crabb@aviation42.com

Company formed: 2009; Office Location: Poland, UK, Denmark and Switzerland Name of Product Marketed • AMOS / Envision Data Migration - Check Optimiser Software Development System Integration - Middleware - Sabre Reporting - RADIXX Interfaces FAST Fatigue Data extracts Five Key Business/Software Areas • AMOS Data Migration • Check Optimiser • Software Development • System Integration • Middleware Aviation42 is a software company focused on providing Airlines with highly skilled, cost effective solutions in: Data migration (AMOS , Envision); Custom software development; Data Migration; System Integration; and Middleware.

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EmpowerMX

W: www.empowermx.com T: +1 866-498-3702 E: info@empowermx.com

Company formed: 1999, Office Location:Minnesota, USA Name of Product Marketed • Fleetcycle MRO Suite, Fleetcycle Execution Suite Number of Modules.........8 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance Program Manager (FCMPM) • Planning Manager (FCPM) / Materials Manager (FCMM) • MRO Manager (FCXM) • Production Manager (FCXP) / Reliability Manager (FCRM) • Line Manager (FCXL) / Maintenance Intelligence (FCMI) FleetCycle® MRO ERP allows MROs, airlines, lessors and any aviation maintenance entities to effectively manage the entire maintenance lifecycle or portions of the lifecycle for which they are responsible.

Airlines can jointly manage their outsourced and all insourced activities like Engineering Reliability, QA, Maintenance Programs, at the line, heavy, and shop levels. FleetCycle® ERP can significant reduce cycle times and enhance labor productivity to the order of 16%-30% and reduced costs, as well as increased aircraft availability, and reduced delays and cancellations. Third party MROs can run their entire operation of contracting and bidding on an aircraft to invoice the customer. FleetCycle® MRO ERP is the only tool currently available in the market place that reaches down to the technician on the floor and completely automates the process.

Intelligence gathered with this system provides an accurate, timely basis for dramatic improvements in the efficiency and integrity of maintenance processes and the forecasted availability of aircraft.

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SPRING 2012 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 39

Enigma

W: www.enigma.com T: +1 781-273-3600 E: infous@enigma.com

Company formed: 1992, Office Location:Burlington, MA USA; Singapore; London, UK; Tokyo, Japan; Hertzlia, Israel; Stockholm, Sweden, Name of Product Marketed • InService MRO, InService Job Card Generator, InService Revision Manager, Enigma 3C Number of Modules.........n/a

Five Key Business/Software Areas • MRO Technical Documentation Delivery • Revision Management/Control • Job/Task Card Automation • Illustrated Parts Catalogs • Service and Parts Documentation Enigma solutions help airlines and MRO facilities reduce costs and improve service efficiency and consistency by providing maintenance technicians with the latest maintenance manuals, spare parts and service information, filtered by tail number. Enigma takes data from enterprise applications – such as MRO Planning and Engineering, ERP, etc. – and creates an interactive maintenance solution that delivers the latest service, parts, and diagnostic information. By offering dynamic, integrated parts and service information, and links to inventory, order management and other systems, Enigma enables engineers to quickly update and distribute technical publications, and technicians to swiftly perform maintenance and repairs.

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Gen2 Systems Limited

W: www.gen2systems.net

T: +44 (0) 121 351 6563 E: adrian.ryan@gen2systems.net

Company formed: 2007, Office Location:Birmingham UK, London UK Name of Product Marketed • FLYdocs Number of Modules.........9 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Aircraft Management • Engine Centre • Repair Centre • Search • Current Status / EoL Centre FLYdocs is a highly efficient system used for electronic Document Storage, Aircraft Returns, Engine Management, Repair Management, Landing Gear Management, APU Management, Thrust Reverser Management, instant online Searching and Lease Company Management….plus much more…

The system is incredibly flexible and easy to use and provides clients with integrated options to connect to internal Maintenance Planning systems to create a closed loop for record keeping. FLYdocs uses a highly advanced and exceptionally intelligent platform to perform manual tasks with ease, vastly reducing the time it takes to manage documentation as well as providing major cost savings and value for money.

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Hexaware Technologies

W: www.hexaware.com/travel-transport-hospitality-solution.htm T: India: +91 22-67919595 T: Americas: +1 609-409-6950 E: vaibhavs@hexaware.com Company formed: 1990, Office Location:Mumbai, New Jersey, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, Mexico

Name of Product Marketed • Hexaware is a Technology and Business Services Company providing end to end services to the Aviation market.

Number of Modules.........n/a Five Key Business/Software Areas • Custom MRO Software development and maintenance • System selection consulting & system integration services • Implementation, upgrades and migration of MRO products • Interface Development • Customization and Enhancement across modules Hexaware is a niche, focused IT and BPO services company providing end-to-end system integration and IT services to customers across Travel & Transportation, Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare and Manufacturing industries. With annual revenues of USD 230M for FY 2010, Hexaware has a global workforce of around 6300 consultants working across various industries and technologies. Hexaware has a strong experience working in various business functions in MRO and Technical Documentation domains and specialize in System selection, custom software development and maintenance services, Business Intelligence / analytics, Infrastructure Management Services (IMS), and Quality Assurance and Testing services.

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IDMR Solutions Inc.

W: www.IDMR-Solutions.com T: +1-347-565-4367 E: sales@IDMR-Solutions.com

Company formed: 1998 Office Location: New York/Tel Aviv Name of Product Marketed • InForm Number of Modules.........20+ Five Key Business/Software Areas • Technical Publication • Engineering Orders • Task Cards • Planning • Maintenance Programs IDMR is a global provider of easy to use and all encompassing Technical Documentation Management Solutions which have been designed exclusively for Fleet operators, MRO providers and OEM organizations. IDMR’s Technical Documentation Management Solutions have proven success in increasing operational performance and decreasing operational cost while ensuring airworthiness, safety and regulatory compliance.

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InfoTrust Group, Inc.

W: www.infotrustgroup.com T: +1 949-732-7532 E: loster@infotrustgroup.com

Company formed: 1994, Office Location:Irvine, CA, Boulder, CO, Phoenix, AZ, Austin, TX, Shanghai, China, Paris France Name of Product Marketed • TechSight/X S1000D, TechSight/X ATA Number of Modules.........10+ Five Key Business/Software Areas • Content Management System (CMS) • Interactive Electronic Technical Publisher (IETP) • Technical Operations Edition • Technical Publications Edition • Flight Operations Edition A recognized leader in the aerospace industry for more than 25 years, InfoTrust delivers solutions to hundreds of companies for their information processing, conversion, authoring, content and change management, publishing and distribution objectives. InfoTrust’s wide range of end-to-end solutions increase productivity by taking advantage of XML capabilities and content reuse, and that produce more accurate and reliabile information for compliancy. Its solutions support all flight ops, engineering, maintenance, engine, component and training manuals. InfoTrust currently services major airlines, OEMs, suppliers and MRO s worldwide. To learn more about TechSight/X and InfoTrust Group’s full range of products, services and solutions, please visit www.infotrustgroup.com.

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Omega Airine Software, Inc.

W: www.omegaair.com T: +1-972-775-3693 E: info@omegaair.com

Company formed: 1991. Office Location: Midlothian, TX Name of Product Marketed • Ames Advanced Planning and Scheduling System Number of Modules.........5 Five Key Business/Software Areas • Optimized long range planning • Short-term scheduling • Line/RON scheduling • Engine and component scheduling • Business intellegence Omega Airline Software has been supplying the aviation industry with Ames, the industry standard Advanced Planning and Scheduling software tool, since 1991. Ames currently enables the optimized planning of maintenance on over 4000 aircraft at 21 customer sites around the world. Unique in the industry, no other tool provides the planning power or information creation of Ames. Companies enjoying the benefits of Ames include mainline commercial operators, regional airlines, fractional ownership companies and MRO operations. Amesfive, the current release, combines the power of Ames with the versatility and access of the Web.

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