V2.5 • WINTER 2013
AN IT JOURNEY
Finnair selected and implemented a new MRO system LIVING WITH GREAT DOCUMENTATION
Supporting top-end information management... what does it take?
NOT JUST DATA
Air Tahiti Nui uses its new system to turn data into useful information
MOVE IT
Getting data from legacy to new systems White Paper: Team SAI Consulting, Flatirons Solutions Case Study: Finnair, Air Tahiti Nui Vendor Job Card: Ramco Systems PLUS… News and who’s in the News, Upcoming and Past Webinars, MRO Software Directory
04 NEWS MRO includes aircraft life, maintenance and repair, directives from authorities, and records. MRO IT managers can keep up with developments by checking regularly on www.aircraftit.com/MRO and here in the Aircraft IT MRO e-journal.
Editor’s comment
Aircraft IT MRO: The world of MRO IT will not stand still, so not keeping up to date will be same as moving backwards Although the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the only next generation airliner currently in service, both the Airbus A350XWB and Bombardier C Series are at advanced stages of development and are already in production. It’s going to pose quite a challenge for airlines and operators; and not only because the new aircraft will generate more data than whole fleets from past generations. Airlines and operators will have to operate these advanced machines alongside legacy fleets of very good but past generation aircraft. And to add a little more to the challenge, there will also be a fleet of essentially interim aircraft, the new engine option (NEO) versions of Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 series with old style airframes and wings, upgraded avionics and IT and state-of-the-art engines. It’s a good job that MRO IT professionals are used to multi-tasking! That’s just as well because not only are airlines and operators buying new fleets but many are taking advantage of the necessary IT upgrade to improve their whole process. In this issue you’ll read how one airline achieved an MRO IT upgrade; from selection to today when the new system is up and running. There’s also an article on an airline that chose to up its game on data: not just the numbers but how they could be used to manage the aircraft. We have the third article from, now, Flatirons Solutions on how great and well-structured documentation can support sophisticated management systems and you can read about the pitfalls and possibilities when migrating data from legacy to new generation systems. As in every issue, you’ll learn what makes a key software vendor tick and, as always, lots more news and information from your sector. And, as always, the Aircraft IT live demonstration webinars allow readers to research the software package most appropriate for their needs and access past webinars with more focus than ever while, of course, future webinars are open for every reader who registers. For some, the future is already here and for the rest it is only around the corner. Aircraft IT MRO is essential reading for those who want to know what is here now, what is coming and how to leverage it to their advantage. Aircraft IT MRO: The IT information you’ll need tomorrow available today. Ed Haskey 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 2013 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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Publisher/Editor: E-mail: Telephone: Website: Copy Editor/Contributor: E-mail: Magazine Production: E-mail:
Ed Haskey ed.haskey@aircraftit.com +44 1273 454 235 www.aircraftIT.com John Hancock john@aircraftit.com Dean Cook deancook@magazineproduction.com
16 CASE STUDY: NEW GENERATION REPORTING TOOLS Caroline Deba, Reliability Manager, Air Tahiti Nui Data is essential for the management of any operation but is more useful if reported as information, something that new generation software is designed to manage.
21 VENDOR JOB CARD: RAMCO Ranganathan Jagannathan reveals the philosophy and development approach on which Ramco has built its success In this Job Card, Ranganathan Jagannathan, Vice President – Head Aviation, Ramco Systems, Ramco Systems Ltd explains the thinking behind Ramco’s success.
22 CASE STUDY: ENHANCED BUSINESS OPERATIONS Jorma Ryske, Director Finnair IT Aircraft Maintenance This case study of a recent MRO IT development at Finnair / Finnair Technical shows an MRO software system implementation from selection process to today’s usage.
26 WHITE PAPER: CHARTING AN OPTIMAL COURSE JD Sillion, Chief Solutions Officer, Flatirons Solutions The requirements necessary to support a high performing multi-specification (multi-spec) technical information management system and options for getting there.
30 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 MRO Software Demonstrations, including: Boeing, TRAX and Commsoft.
32 WHITE PAPER: MOVING DAY, GETTING READY AND AFTERWARDS David A. Marcontell President & COO, TeamSAI Inc and John F. Smiley III, Aviation Analyst, TeamSAI Consulting As older systems are replaced and MRO IT moves to new generation capability, IT departments must migrate data from legacy to new systems; but how to do it?
39 MRO SOFTWARE DIRECTORY A detailed look at the world’s leading MRO IT systems.
4 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
New software solutions provider join AircraftIT vendor group WHEN you need to know, it’s often best to go to the experts, the people who work every day in the sector from which you need information. That’s how AircraftIT works: we offer you the collective expertise of our growing panel of vendors so that the knowledge you access on the Aircraft IT MRO website or in this eJournal is always up-to-date from the people who are creating and developing the ideas and solutions to make your work more efficient and to prepare for a fast-changing digital future. In that vein, it is with great pleasure that we announce the inclusion of another solution provider to the panel. Ultramain Systems, Inc. develops M&E / MRO and EFB software for the aviation industry and is the only aviation software provider with customers running full, end-to-end paperless operations from the cockpit to the ground. ULTRAMAIN® v9™, featuring Mobile Mechanic™ and Mobile Inventory™, enables real-time paperless data collection for the full maintenance and inventory process. Combine ULTRAMAIN v9 with efbTechLogs™, the easy-to-use electronic logbook, and the entire maintenance process becomes paperless. AircraftIT MRO editor and publisher, Ed Haskey, welcomed the new vendor to the panel, commenting, “Our aim is always for Aircraft IT to be the first place where MRO IT professionals look to grow their own knowledge and keep up with what is happening in their world. Ultramain Systems will be a tremendous addition to the range of expertise already available to our users and readers and we are very pleased to welcome them.” CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
ADSOFTWARE handles the first aircraft fitted with the Electric Green Taxiing System
AD Software and REGIO LEASE are proud contributors to the ‘Electric Green Taxiing System’ (EGTS) display, the most ground breaking presentation at the recent 50th International Paris Air Show. Le Bourget Air Show 2013 was dominated by yet more airliner orders, plus breakthroughs in new aircraft coming to market, significant deliveries and some amazing innovation launches. The most anticipated one was the first public demonstration of ‘Electric Green Taxiing System’ technology installed on an Airbus A320. The modified aircraft showed off its moves on the runway, powered by its environmentally-friendly electric motoring mounted on the main gear. REGIO LEASE and AD Software worked hard to bring the demonstration to the show. REGIO LEASE provided the consulting and technical backbone of the operations together with ensuring the complete airworthiness management of the aircraft, and AD Software gave the supporting tools to allow REGIOLEASE to do so. The Safran A320-212 used for testing the EGTS has had a unique life that required the flexibility of a software solution that AIRPACK is able to provide. To comply with the authority’s requirements, all the parts of the EGTS had to be followed up inside a Kardex model (the theoretical structure of the aircraft which defines the positions of the equipment installed, the breakdown of these positions, and the maintenance limitations) as if the aircraft was being operated within normal conditions. This first required all the parts to be created within the system as they didn’t exist before. “We have been working with AD Software since we got into business in 2005, and all tasks associated with the continuing airworthiness of the aircraft we handle are managed via AIRPACK. We knew the system would allow us to support the EGTS project,” said Laurent Le Minh Loc, CEO of REGIO LEASE. The demonstration was a complete success and the parties involved celebrated the achievement on the AD Software stand during the show. “It is a first for an aircraft equipment manufacturer to be able to handle such a project. This is a chance for AD Software and REGIO LEASE to be associated with such a technology exploit,” said Fred Ulrich, CEO of AD Software, during the celebration.
TURKISH HABOM selects WINGS MRO software
APPLIED Database Tech (ADT) was proud to announce, in late October 2013, TURKISH HABOM as its newest MRO customer in Europe. TURKISH HABOM, the subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, is the stand out Aviation and MRO services provider in Europe, the Middle East and western part of Asia. ADT’s web-centric suite of WINGS MRO software will be implemented in a record time with a projected going live date in November 2013 in the newly constructed facilities at the Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul, TURKEY.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 5 2moroAnnoncePresse1112.pdf
ACS LAUNCHES NEW ERP FOR MRO: CAMO TO FOLLOW SHORTLY
IN late October 2013, Airline Control Systems (ACS) announced the launch of its Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning software for Aviation. This new solution from the young Polish IT software developer includes at least ten modules suitable for implementation in airlines’ MRO and Operations departments.
ACS is a young brand to the Aviation IT market but has already worked with several satisfied customers to develop the new product. It is planned to introduce the next versions of the solution later this year; versions 1.10 and 1.20 will deal mainly with CAMO and MRO requirements.
2MORO was very pleased to announce in late October 2013 that LAS CARGO has decided in favor of Aero One® to manage its airworthiness and MRO processes, and, very soon, its flight operations. Lineas Aereas Suramericanas S.A (LAS Cargo) is an air cargo company with over 40-years experiences. The Colombian carrier offers charter flights for domestic and international routes, to destinations in Central and South America, Caribbean and USA. They currently operate a modern fleet of Boeing 727 aircraft and are about to extend their catalog of services. To support significant growth and the resulting challenges, the company has decided to adopt the ERP solutions SAP® Business One, completed by Aero One®, the certified vertical that is dedicated to aerospace-industry small and medium size enterprises. The twinning of Aero One® and SAP® Business One will allow LAS CARGO to benefit from a crossfunctional and fully integrated system that will give a global real-time view of its core business processes (such as inventory management, order processing, etc.) and that will cover all the activities of an air cargo carrier, always within the framework of required airworthiness standards and regulatory compliance. The carrier was looking for a reliable global solution, easy to use and implement and that does not require a large IT team and expensive cost to
be maintained, to replace its legacy system based on locally-developed software that was no longer compliant with LAS CARGO corporate strategy. The successful single solution Aero One® and SAP® Business One won over the competition being particularly convincing with regard to integrating dispersed organizational systems to enable flawless transactions. Along with its local and expert SAP® Partner Consensus SA in Colombia, 2MoRO is very pleased to take up this challenge and help LAS Cargo to fulfill its objectives of business quality and efficiency improvement, as soon as possible.
2MORO ANNOUNCES AERO ONE® NEW RELEASE
Also in late October, 2MoRO announced a new release for Aero One®. In addition to a number of improvements, this new release includes two main changes: one from a technical point of view, and the other from a functional point of view. First, Aero One is now compatible with SBO 9.0 which includes new features of interest for MRO businesses such as bin management and more accurate account determination. These new features will reflect in Aero One, setting once again a higher standard when it comes to ERP systems for small to medium size MROs. Second, Aero One is now even more powerful in terms of maintenance execution (part 145). In addition to its state-of-the-art features for
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CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
2MoRO continues to grow its customer base and enhance Aero One® 2MORO WELCOMES LAS CARGO
11/01/12
maintenance management and controlling, advanced functionalities have been to simplify the jobs of sales and logistics departments. This translates into advanced cockpits. The Sales cockpit allows the easy creation of sales documents (quotation, invoice) from technical C information inputted by the technical M staff. Whether creating a quotation from the results of the inspection J process (which is also covered in Aero One) or a ‘Time & Material’ invoice, CM Aero One does it all, and it does it MJ flawlessly. Inspection cockpit provides a group of features to easily get theCJ sales inputs and finally create the CMJ document in a few clicks. Of course, this is done in a perfect integrationN with Business One features and standards. Meanwhile, the Logistic Cockpit provides enormous help for the logistic team. It summarizes in an easy-to-handle way all logistic information and stock movements to perform or to be performed in relation to a project. No need for complex searches to retrieve what has to be done; it is all there. Quick access to standard stock transactions is of course part of the cockpit. Whether you are from the logistics or sales team, your life will be simplified with the use of Aero One cockpits, thus giving you a simple overview, in one screen, of information and transactions that you need, saving you a lot of time and efforts and giving the accuracy you’re expecting from a world class ERP.
6 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013 AeroxchangeAircraftIT0613.pdf 1 5/22/2013 3:32:52 PM
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
Contact us at: sales@aeroxchange.com or call 1 (972) 556-8548
Newest members of Aeroxchange’s growing community AEROXCHANGE is continuing to expand its community with more Airlines, MROs, OEMs, Distributors, Surplus Providers and Repair Shops joining the leading provider of supply chain solutions. The firm’s solutions increase efficiency, reduce cost and provide full transparency to 100% of trading partners and go beyond offering basic search and list services to drive value with solutions that support the entire purchase and repair order lifecycle, from RFQs and RFEs to invoicing. Aeroxchange also offers solutions for: • Managing purchase and repair orders through hosted, branded or customized customer portals; • Locating critical parts for AOG recovery; • Managing loans/borrowing/exchanges; • Supporting process management of component contracts;
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CM
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CMY
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The answer for managing all pooling agreements. Aeroxchange’s AeroComponent is a comprehensive application that combines functionality with flexibility for the ultimate solution in managing pooling agreements. With AeroComponent, you get • Full visibility to the entire transaction process from part request to serviceable replacement and return of unserviceable part • Tracking of actual performance levels against targeted service levels • Direct links to major freight forwarders for real-time shipment updates • Flexibility to work out of your backend system or use our simple browser interface
• Constructing comprehensive sourcing events that can be completed internally or with the assistance of their team of supply chain service experts; • Creating a collaborative environment to share information across locations or organizations.
NEWEST SUBSCRIBERS TO AEROXCHANGE’S BUYER SOLUTIONS
Fokker Services BV now utilizes Aeroxchange for search and quote with AeroBuy Search and Quote solution. AeroBuy Search and Quote allows buyers to search for parts and send RFQs through a single, neutral platform. Added features such as comprehensive quoting and ability to search up to 500 parts at a time, improves market transparency.
BOEING LAUNCHES NEW MAINTENANCE APPS FOR IPAD BOEING has made performing routine maintenance and diagnosing aircraft issues faster and easier for airline technicians with a suite of new mobile applications for iPad announced in late September 2013. With the apps, technicians will have immediate access to manuals, part numbers and other critical information to resolve maintenance issues plane-side and collaborate with co-workers located elsewhere. As a result, airlines can enhance real-time regulatory compliance, reduce flight delays and reduce operational costs. Boeing worked with several airlines for more than a year on the prototype, incorporating their input to optimize the user interface and maximize utility for line mechanics. Technicians will have instant access to critical information, including the maintenance history of an aircraft, when they need it most. The application suite includes Toolbox Mobile Library, Toolbox Mobile Parts and Maintenance Turn Time. “Mobile technology is an important aspect of our digital airline strategy, which is to harness the power of information, technology and analytics to create insights that give our customers the Boeing Edge: a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said John Maggiore, director of Fleet and Maintenance Solutions, Boeing Digital Aviation. “Data-driven optimization across flight operations, airspace and maintenance operations is saving aircraft operators millions of dollars in operating costs today. This is an exciting new chapter of that journey.” Features of the new maintenance apps include: • A Toolbox Mobile Library, which will provide
technicians access to maintenance documents for instant reference and use, wherever and whenever needed; • Hyperlinks between multiple manuals and airlinecreated content that will expedite access to critical documents so that users can easily search for documents and information about parts and fault histories; • A Toolbox Mobile Parts app which enables technicians to instantly retrieve information about part availability, including the airline’s most current inventory information; • Maintenance Turn Time, which gives technicians a secure connection to collaborate with their colleagues when troubleshooting a maintenance issue. A technician can take a photo of a damaged part, upload it for others to see and annotate and then share information about maintenance issues with their peers in real time. Maintenance Turn Time is available for the iPad, iPhone and a web browser; • The ability to update reference manuals with one tap on the iPad screen. Alaska Airlines technicians estimate that using the apps on a 0.69-pound iPad mini to access critical information will save 4,000 pieces of paper a day. “We are very excited about the launch of these new products,” said Maggiore. “They are a great addition to the Boeing portfolio and will deliver even more value to our customers when used in conjunction with capabilities such as Electronic Logbook, Airplane Health Management and Maintenance Performance Toolbox.”
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 7
FleetCycle® users extend and upgrade their use of the system Euravia Engineering and DELTA AIR LINES, INC. EXPANDS ITS USE OF Greenwich Aerogroup create EMPOWERMX FLEETCYCLE® MRO SOLUTION United States based partnership
IN late August 2013, EmpowerMX announced the expansion of its license agreement with Delta TechOps to Delta Air Lines, the largest airline (by passengers carried) in the world. With this agreement, Delta will expand its use of our FleetCycle® Execution Suite - MRO Manager (FCXM) product from its MRO facilties to all their maintenance bays located at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. EmpowerMX focuses on equipping customers with the ability to decrease their costs of making air travel safer by equipping their decision makers with reliable, globally available intelligence for minimizing maintenance turn times/OpEX while maximizing airworthiness and profits.
UNITED AIRLINES (UAL) EXPANDS ITS USE OF FLEETCYCLE® PRODUCTION MANAGER SYSTEM WIDE
EmpowerMX has expanded its license agreement with United Airlines, the world’s largest airline. Under the terms of this agreement, announced in late August 2013, UAL will expand its use of our FleetCycle® Production Manager (FCXP) maintenance-execution ERP solution beyond its Houston and Orlando facilities into all of its heavy and modification check lines located at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). UAL will also employ EmpowerMX’s business process improvement (BPI) consulting services to ensure software-supported
best practices are implemented across the depth and breadth of their aircraft-maintenance system. EmpowerMX software/consulting solutions are helping the world’s airlines keep pace with the increasingly competitive aircraft maintenance marketplace by providing the innovative solutions that optimize their production efficiencies, minimize operating costs, and widen profit margins by increasing the on-time reliability of their diverse fleets of aircraft.
AMERICAN EAGLE MOVES TO THE FLEETCYCLE® CLOUD
EmpowerMX announced a long-term subscription agreement with American Eagle, the world’s largest regional airline system. With this early September 2013 agreement, American Eagle will move to the FleetCycle® Cloud to leverage its powerful compute, storage and database capabilities. American Eagle will also employ EmpowerMX ‘s BPI consulting services to ensure software-supported best practices are fully implemented across the depth and breadth of its Abilene, Texas and Marquette, Michigan aircraft-maintenance operations. EmpowerMX software/consulting solutions are helping the world’s airlines keep pace with the increasingly competitive aircraft maintenance marketplace by providing customers with solutions to optimize production efficiencies, minimize operating costs, and widen profit margins through increased on-time reliability for their increasingly diverse aircraft fleets.
EURAVIA Engineering and Greenwich AeroGroup announced at the beginning of October 2013 that they had entered into a partnership agreement to provide Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services for Pratt & Whitney’s PT6A and PT6T engines on fixed and rotor wing aircraft in the United States. According to the agreement, Greenwich AeroGroup will provide through its MRO’s (Atlantic Aero in Greensboro N.C., Summit Aviation in Middletown, Del., and Western Aircraft in Boise, Idaho) engine inventory and component storage, logistics and distribution services across the U.S. as well as logistical facilities for shipments between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. “Euravia has an outstanding international reputation for delivering cost-effective, high quality gas turbine engine services with exceptional performance and reliability,” said Senior Vice President for Greenwich AeroGroup Jeff Mihalic. “This relationship will provide our customers with improved pricing and shorter cycle times driven by innovative repair schemes and exchange engine strategies, backed by an industry leading guarantee.” “We are very excited to partner with Greenwich AeroGroup to expand our services into the United States,” said Euravia’s Managing Director Dennis Mendoros. “Our commitment to quality engineering, cost effective MRO services and personal service aligns extremely well with Greenwich AeroGroup’s pledge to providing customers with optimal aviation solutions and first class customer service.” Greenwich AeroGroup and Euravia are now offering the new service to Beechcraft King Air and 1900, Cessna Caravan and Conquest, Piaggio Avanti, Pilatus PC-6, PC-7, PC-9 and PC-12, Piper Meridian and Cheyenne, Quest Kodiak, Socata TBM and other fixed wing aircraft operators as well as AgustaWestland AW-119 and AW-139, Bell/Agusta BA-609 and Bell 212 and 412 rotorcraft. CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
Keeping your aircraft where they belong… …in the air…generating revenue www.empowermx.com • info@empowermx.com • +1.866.498.3702 Empower MX 1013 HP.indd 1
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CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
The only supplier of 2 MRO ‘best of breed’ plus CMS software
www.aerosoftsys.com Offering DigiPLAN, DigiREPORTS and AeroBUY– common Logistics, Analytics and B2B tools for DigiMAINT and WebPMI MRO systems. Our DigiDOC CMS is agnostic of MRO with proven integration with any competitors’ system, in addition to our own. iSPEC2200, S1000D, DITA, SPEC2000, SPEC2300
Hexaware Technologies and AeroSoft Systems partner to launch DigiDOC on iOS 7
HEXAWARE Technologies announced that it has partnered with AeroSoft Systems Inc. to provide access to real-time updates to documents through DigiDOC for aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) teams via iOS 7. By extending the mobile platform beyond Android and Windows 8, more MRO teams will have access to the Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETP) platform for AeroSoft’s DigiDOC content management solutions on iPads and iPhones. The early October 2013 announcement confirmed that Digital data will be available via a custom Web interface for the replication of changes across documents, revisions to content, and to provide a proven solution for the maintenance of modern commercial aircraft. DigiDOC is a flexible interface that enables the airline or MRO team to assemble a customized package geared toward any specific need, and to provide advanced content management solutions, which are being used for a new generation of aircraft like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. “We are excited to partner with Hexaware, one of our preferred development and implementation partners, to bring this best-of-breed solution to MRO teams everywhere,” said Thanos Kaponeridis, AeroSoft CEO. “Through this strategic partnership, AeroSoft Systems can continue to address the challenges and meet the needs of even more aviation MRO teams. By offering more options to access real-time updates and remotely manage enterprise-wide digital content through a single process, Hexaware has helped us increase product features and remain competitive.” “We chose to partner with AeroSoft to bring mission-critical data to those who need it most for the maintenance and engineering of commercial aircraft,” said Madhu Kumar, Executive Vice President & Global Head of Travel & Transportation for Hexaware. “We are committed to helping our partners add lifetime value to their products through software solutions. We are excited to help AeroSoft evolve the DigiDOC suite of solutions on iOS 7 to offer technicians and field support staff an opportunity for increased productivity and mobility, especially given the popularity of iPads and iOS devices.” Hexaware’s suite of software solutions feature several unique advantages that ensure high quality expertise and cost efficiency and the firm continues to provide companies with focused strategies, leadership in niche areas, effective delivery and outsourcing models. Hexaware was recently awarded the Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance, and received the prestigious UK Oracle User Group PeopleSoft Partner of the Year Award in 2012.
ifrSKEYES launches AMASIS eLearning service IFRSKEYES was delighted to announce in late October 2013 that AMASIS eLearning service is now available. This web-based solution is designed to respond to AMASIS customers’ needs in training either for newcomers, job shifting, knowledge refresh, or skill improvement on unknown topics of the application (available in English and French languages). For now, AMASIS eLearning offers two main categories of course: one by functional area and one by business process. The project started in 2012 and has been continuously improved since then, arousing the interest of numerous AMASIS customers.
THE eLEARNING APPROACH OF IFRSKEYES
Seen as an ideal complement to traditional training, this tool was designed to fit exactly with any kind of operators’ constraints: being permanently accessible, every user can run the training programs at its own pace and availability, subjects are calibrated depending on the organization’s needs, and administration is by the proper operator administrator. The progress on individual or group trainings can be easily followed and training topics can even be customized. • AMASIS (Aircraft Maintenance And Spares Information System) is an integrated solution to manage aircraft maintenance and related logistics. It is fed with each department’s specific information: Technical records, MCC, Engineering & Planning, Procurement, Stores.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 9
Regular manage/m® training ensures high quality usage WITH its globe-spanning network of subsidiaries, Lufthansa Technik is able to provide MRO services to customers worldwide. Thus, the Technical Operations WebSuite manage/m® is used by Lufthansa Technik staff as well as by subcontractors all over the world to manage a customer’s fleet anywhere and anytime. Always in service for users, the manage/m® product management team is concerned to keep up the high quality of the Technical Operations Web Services. In this respect, regular training sessions ensure that new staff members are well informed of the different functions within manage/m®. In this vein, training was held at the Lufthansa Technik stations in Budapest and Sofia this (2013) summer, where staff members from Line Maintenance, Quality Management, Engineering and Base Maintenance were trained in use of the module m/techlog. The product managers taught data entry and outlined new functions of the technical logbook. They also synchronized the system with the procedures of each Lufthansa Technik subsidiary so manage/m® can be used in the best way possible. ”It is a pleasure to help our colleagues with the usage of different manage/m® modules and thereby assuring the high quality standard Lufthansa Technik offers its customers worldwide”, underlines product manager Peter Grulich, who has been with the company for over 38 years. “I enjoy sharing my experience with my international co-workers and customers and give my best to provide everyone with the finest knowledge of the MRO processes that are reflected in our MRO IT system.”
New and upgraded clients for Mxi Technologies’ Maintenix software
Swiss GIMOTA Group decides for PSIpenta ERP system with multi-site installation for five plants
AIR MAURITIUS GOES LIVE WITH UPGRADE TO MAINTENIX VERSION 8
MXI Technologies announced in early September 2013 that Air Mauritius had gone live with an upgrade to Maintenix version 8 (v8) in support of the organization’s objectives for real-time access to information, superior customer service, and streamlined internal processes. Mxi’s Maintenix v8 software is facilitating the ongoing adoption of industry best practices at Air Mauritius in the areas of materials management, engineering, planning and maintenance services, and financial management, which has been a key step in allowing the organization to eliminate system redundancy and standardize on out-of-the-box functionality. Ashok Keerodhur, Executive Vice President, Technical Services, Air Mauritius summed it up: “There is no doubt that Maintenix v8 will sustain the ongoing advances and change process at Air Mauritius. As a long-standing Mxi customer and user of the Maintenix software, we have long seen a significant benefit across our maintenance organization and we expect this trend to extend as we continue to fully leverage the significant potential of this latest version.”
LINK AIRS SELECTS MAINTENIX AS MRO STANDARD
MXI Technologies announced at the beginning of October 2013 that Link Airs, a start-up low-cost regional carrier based in Japan, has selected Maintenix® software to provide comprehensive fleet maintenance management. As a start-up with plans to begin operations in early 2014, Link Airs wanted an MRO system that could provide the functional scope and flexibility to meet its immediate needs, then scale in lockstep with the company’s growth. Link Airs will also be the first to operate ATR aircraft in Japan, so the software had to come with a proven track record in inducting and maintaining modern aircraft. Mr. Akira Tosaya, President, Link Airs, explained… “It is very important to the long-term success of our company that we start off on the right foundation, and that includes choosing the right software solutions to support our operations. For the MRO function, it quickly became apparent to us that Maintenix was the best solution capable of meeting our demands for flexible, user-friendly maintenance management and compliance control.”
IT was announced at the beginning of October 2013 that PSI AG Schweiz, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Berlin production specialist PSIPENTA Software Systems GmbH, has been contracted by the Swiss GIMOTA Group for the implementation of the ERP solution PSIpenta. GIMOTA Group will implement PSIpenta/ERP as a multi-site installation in five plants. Furthermore, the partner products PiSA sales will be used as the CRM system and Sage200 as the finance system. The decision in favor of the PSI solution was made after a nearly eight-month selection process. The high functionality coverage in the PSIpenta standard, the possibility of including all the organizations in the overall process via multi-site with only one installation and the expertise of the PSI team were decisive in selecting PSI for the contract.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
growing success... The flexible, professional MRO system
Commsoft’s OASES MRO system offers comprehensive professional functionality together with a flexible, affordable approach that understands your business’ scaleable growth needs in today’s turbulent market. Each OASES module can be offered individually or can be integrated at the engineering centre of your business systems. Over 50 current aviation users, including airlines and MROs, spares suppliers, CAMO, corporate and bureau operators have grown their success with us.
info@commsoft.aero +44(0)1621 817425 www.commsoft.aero
10 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
OASES wins new contracts and renewals from satisfied users
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
COMMSOFT SIGNS NEW OASES CONTRACT WITH MARSHALL AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE GROUP
ULTRAMAIN
COMMSOFT, was delighted to announce early September 2013 that Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group has signed a new contract with the company for the continued use of the OASES MRO IT system. The 12-month, 5 concurrent user contract will allow Marshall to explore new business opportunities for its CAMO services. Designed to combine ease of use with a technical sophistication that allows for the full integration of all maintenance and engineering functions, Commsoft’s OASES is structured in a modular format. Marshall, already an OASES user since opting for the system to support its CAMO application, has selected the Core, Airworthiness and Planning modules. Nick Godwin, Managing Director of Commsoft, commented: “Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is a highly regarded aviation engineering company with strong UK MoD links, so we’re particularly pleased that they have decided to continue with their use of OASES. It is also highly gratifying that Marshall considers OASES to be a real advantage in its drive for new CAMO business opportunities.”
ULTRAMAIN v9™, featuring Mobile Mechanic™ and Mobile Inventory™,
COMMSOFT SIGNS ALL-NEW OASES CONTRACT WITH EUROPEAN SKYBUS
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enables real-time paperless data collection for the full maintenance and inventory process. Combine ULTRAMAIN v9 with efbTechLogs™, the easyto-use electronic logbook, and the entire maintenance process becomes paperless. Contact Ultramain Systems today.
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A littler later in September 2013, Commsoft announced that it had signed an all-new contract with existing OASES users, European Skybus. The 5-year, five concurrent users deal will enable European Skybus to manage a significantly increased level of CAMO activity. Designed to combine ease of use with a technical sophistication that allows for the full integration of all maintenance and engineering functions. European Skybus has selected the Core, Airworthiness and Planning modules. The contract also upgrades the company to an Oracle environment offering the latest AMP and AD/SB management facilities. The signing of this contract comes at an important time for European Skybus. A Boeing 737-300 is being immediately implemented for a third party corporate customer in the hosted OASES system and the company is also actively marketing its services to airlines and corporate operators alike. With further CAMO activities anticipated, European Skybus has already recruited two experienced technical staff with extensive OASES experience. Nick Godwin, MD of Commsoft, commented: “This is an
exciting time for European Skybus as it prepares to handle a significant increase in its CAMO operations. We’re delighted that their previous successful experience has led them to continue using OASES and the new contract is further evidence of the success of our hosted OASES offering, which now has 12 customers.” Shaun Penton Director of European Skybus added: “We see this as an exciting development as we expand and enhance our CAMO services for additional customers. We consistently strive to improve our service to our customers and see the upgraded OASES system as a tool in helping us achieve this.”
COMMSOFT SIGNS NEW 5 YEAR OASES CONTRACT WITH BLUE AIR
In early October 2013, Commsoft announced that it has signed a new five-year contract with Blue Air AMS, the Romanian low-cost airline, for the continued use of Commsoft’s OASES MRO IT system. Originally founded in 2004, Blue Air was the first Romanian airline to be launched with 100% Romanian private equity and its business was acquired recently by Airline Management Solutions. The business assets of the old company have now been formally transferred to the new owners and the newly-named airline has been awarded an Air Operations Certificate by the Romanian CAA. An OASES user since 2006, Blue Air AMS plans to migrate to the latest AMP and AD/SB software early in 2014 for the on-going maintenance of its current fleet of Boeing 737s, including one 737-300, one 737-500 and four 737-400s. The airline will be supported in its upgrade by Commsoft’s own Bucharest-based implementation team. In addition, Blue Air plans to leverage its OASES capability to win third party CAMO business from other air fleet operators. Blue Air has selected seven module options – Core, Airworthiness, Planning, Production, Materials, Line Maintenance Control and Warranty. Nick Godwin, MD of Commsoft, commented: “We’re delighted that Blue Air, under new ownership, has demonstrated its continued faith in OASES by signing this new contract. And the fact that they also view OASES as a real selling point for attracting new CAMO business is further evidence that we really do have a ‘best of breed’ system.” Aurelian Bobei, CAMO Director of Blue Air AMS, noted: “Blue Air Airline Management Solutions and its predecessor company have worked closely with
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 11
Commsoft over the last 6 years to improve the functionality in OASES. We are pleased that powerful new AMP and AD/SB management capabilities have been added together with new warranty and line maintenance modules. We have been pleased to have contributed to developing these extensive enhancements”.
PENTASTAR AVIATION LLC OF THE USA LAUNCHES HOSTED VERSION OF COMMSOFT’S OASES
Pentastar Aviation became the launch customer for the hosted version of Commsoft’s OASES maintenance management software in early October 2013, having utilized the system for several months, in a previouslyunannounced deal. Pontiac, Michigan-based Pentastar Aviation, has been able to access a version of OASES hosted by a data centre on behalf of Commsoft itself, meaning that it avoided initial set-up costs related to hardware and licensing. The operator operates a single Boeing MD-83 in a 64-seat luxury business shuttle configuration on behalf of a local professional sports team. Pentastar Aviation, which is Commsoft’s second USA-based customer, has access to OASES for two to three concurrent users via remote desktop protocols. The hosted OASES implementation includes the following modules: • Airworthiness; • Planning; • Core. Nick Godwin, Managing Director for Commsoft said: “We are delighted that Pentastar Aviation has chosen OASES, following a recommendation from an existing US customer. We expect a strong market from corporate aviation and airline operators with very small aircraft fleets for our hosted version of OASES. The combination of powerful functionality and a lower initial investment will open the doors to new markets for OASES. Any hosted OASES customers will be able to later switch to a standalone version of the OASES system should their engineering demands or their fleet size grow significantly. Following on from Pentastar Aviation, another unannounced US-based business shuttle customer has since signed for OASES. We have a very encouraging level of interest in the hosted solution and we expect to secure other customers soon.” Pentastar Aviation Director of Maintenance 125 operations, Dennis Heinze said: “The hosted adaptation of OASES will let us bring a whole new level of sophistication to our maintenance planning needs at Pentastar for an affordable price. For a small operator it has the potential to transform its maintenance management.”.
Swiss-AS retains an established client and gains a new user for AMOS VANILLA AIR GOES FOR AMOS
SWISS-AS was very pleased to announce in late September 2013 that Vanilla Air, although now separated from the AirAsia Group, had decided that it will continue to manage its maintenance with AMOS.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
WinAir
LATEST AMOS DEVELOPMENTS TO BE ROLLED OUT AT LOT AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE SERVICES (LOTAMS)
AVIATION MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE Also in late September 2013, Swiss-AS was pleased to announce that LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services (LOTAMS) has chosen AMOS from Swiss Aviation Software to fully track and control its maintenance operations and to gain a competitive edge by implementing this proven MRO system. Shortly after the spin-off from the Polish national carrier, LOTAMS started its search for a modern M&E system with advanced MRO functions. During the pre-sales phase LOTAMS realized that AMOS’ user-friendliness and extensive functionality would improve the company’s efficiency and accordingly cut costs. Implementation of the AMOS system is considered by the MRO provider as a major step in the process of restructuring the company’s internal maintenance procedures. “During the past months we have had major investments in the functional area for pure MRO providers. LOTAMS’ engagement with Swiss-AS clearly indicates that we are moving in the right direction. Our efforts are already paying off in terms of a broader and deeper functionality for customers who are MRO providers,” stated Ronald Schaeuffele, CEO of Swiss-AS. Pawel Gontarczyk, LOTAMS Board Member, said: “The most important role of Swiss-AS in AMOS system implementation project is guiding and assisting LOTAMS in streamlining and changing current maintenance and engineering procedures in order to develop and implement future state-of-the-art business processes. AMOS is an enabler to achieve the company’s goal.” Swiss-AS is confident of being able to guide LOTAMS smoothly towards the go-live due for the highly standardized implementation process which is optimized and fine-tuned with each AMOS project.
Why WinAir? PROCESS DRIVEN MAXIMIZES EFFICIENCY EASY TO USE PROVEN IN THE REAL WORLD SEAMLESS MIGRATION
www.avbasesystems.com
12 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
Flatirons Solutions (formerly InfoTrust Group) continues to enhance TechSight/X FLATIRONS Solutions (formerly InfoTrust Group) launches www. techsightx.com: tightens Focus on TechSight/X® brand and reinforces expertise in manufacturer-independent technical information management solutions for the aerospace industry. InfoTrust Group (now Flatirons Solutions – see below) announced near the end of August 2013 the launch of www.techsightx.com to tighten the focus of its TechSight/X suite of products for the aerospace industry and reinforce awareness of the TechSight/X brand in the aerospace community. For more than two decades, InfoTrust Group had developed technical information management solutions for the aerospace industry. The introduction of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the upcoming A350 release, and the introduction of other new-generation aircraft make it more critical than ever for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers, airline operators, and MROs to identify solutions for handling all of their technical information, whether for existing or new-generation fleets, in a costeffective way. “The TechSight/X suite of products is the only manufacturer-independent option on the market today that offers OEMs, component suppliers, operators, and MROs a complete solution for their specific technical information needs,” said JD Sillion, vice president of Products and Solutions for InfoTrust Group. “By providing a website dedicated to the TechSight/X suite and elevating the CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
brand, we can better articulate the needs of the aerospace community and how the TechSight/X suite of products responds to them and the aerospace community’s evolving requirements.” The TechSight/X suite of products helps OEMs reduce the complexity of their technical information management systems and increase the quality, market-ability, and value of their manufactured goods to their end-users and partners. For airline operators, it provides a tailored solution to ensure technical information readiness for both existing and new-generation fleets.
INFOTRUST GROUP TAKES FLATIRONS SOLUTIONS NAME TO PURSUE GROWTH STRATEGY ACROSS MULTIPLE MARKETS AS A SINGLE BRAND
Right at the end of August 2013, InfoTrust Group announced that the company is entering a new phase of growth with recently acquired Flatirons Solutions and is taking the name Flatirons Solutions, Inc. The decision to adopt a single corporate brand under Flatirons Solutions reflects the synergies of both organizations’ cultures and their complementary missions to help customers identify and implement content management solutions to support their business goals. It also is based on Flatirons Solutions’ strong name recognition among its ecosystems of partners. Moving forward, the combined companies will continue to grow these partnerships and expand their
solutions set leveraging partners’ technologies, including Alfresco, EMC, Mark Logic, SDL, and others. “Joining forces with Flatirons Solutions a couple of months ago reflected InfoTrust Group’s continued pursuit of the best and brightest experts in XML and content management with a proven track record of helping leaders in their markets and government agencies address the way they manage information as a strategic business asset and the underlying technology that supports it,” said Geoffrey Godet, president and CEO of the new Flatirons Solutions. “After only a couple of months working together, we immediately recognized that we can broaden the benefits both organizations offer our customers and that our paths for growth across multiple markets are more easily pursued under a single corporate brand.” While Flatirons Solutions is serving several industries and has a growing set of expertise, as demonstrated on the new company’s corporate website at www.flatironssolutions.com, it also remains dedicated to serving the unique requirements of the aerospace and airlines industry more than ever. To that intent, just before the adoption of the single name, the company announced the launch of www.techsightx.com, a website dedicated to the aerospace community where specific information on how the TechSight/X® suite of products and its newest releases respond to new-generation aircraft, mobility, and evolving compliance requirements.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 13
RUSADA CLIENT UPGRADES SOFTWARE WHILE RUSADA UPGRADES ACCOMMODATION SPICE JET UPGRADES TO LATEST VERSION OF ENVISION WITH RUSADA
RUSADA were delighted to announce in midSeptember 2013 that with the help of their local support team, one of the software business’s highly-valued customers, SpiceJet, had successfully upgraded to a new version of Envision. SpiceJet are migrating from a 16 gig RAM Intel Server to a more powerful 32 gig RAM Intel Xeon server and, at the same time, are taking the opportunity to upgrade the Envision client software to gain benefit from a number of new features and enhancements. This new version of Envision will enable SpiceJet to access the following features: • Forecasting based on audited Technical logs – this allows the company to forecast maintenance based only on the verified flight logs in case there is a local anomaly under investigation. • Forecasting repetitive MIs based on planned date – this allows the company to have multiple repetitive scenarios whereby an inspection can
• •
• • • •
•
be planned for a specific date and its repeat calculated from that date rather than the original repeat estimated due date (of course this depends on local approval allowances). Improved task card printing functions. New and improved work card and inspection importing functions – new drag and drop, and field mapping functions allow quicker and accurate import of external data together with logic checking and the option to reverse the import prior to commitment. Multiple base enhancements allow users to move operating bases in the application and have functions react to their new location. The ability to select and mark multiple records within work-orders to do bulk changes. Vendor Procurement Approval. New Warranty Module – for information on this module, please contact Rusada and they will be delighted to supply more details than can be expressed here. New Occurrence Reporting - for information on this module, please contact Rusada and they will be delighted to give you more details than can be expressed here.
RUSADA UK MOVES TO NEW LARGER OFFICE WITH BETTER FACILITIES FOR STAFF AND CLIENTS
THEIR new office in Bloxham, Oxfordshire provides Rusada with better connections to both clients and to major airports. It also benefits from a conference / training room that will allow the firm to provide on-site meetings for clients with members of the team as well as training facilities. On site catering and local accommodation at preferential rates is available for those visiting the office. Only 10 minutes by taxi from the UK mainline station at Banbury and equidistant from both London Heathrow and Birmingham airports it is easy to get to, and, being outside of the Oxford conurbation, both staff and clients will no longer have to fight the traffic to get there. The full office address is: Bloxham Mill Business Centre, Barford Road, Bloxham, Oxfordshire, OX15 4FF, UK
ALOHA AIR CARGO CHOOSES TRAX
TRAX was proud to announce the newest addition to user family in late September 2013. Aloha Air Cargo has chosen to sign with Trax and move forward with the firm’s MRO ERP Software which help the carrier with their daily ground, flight, and maintenance operations across numerous locations within Hawaii, and as they expand to the West Coast. Trax MRO ERP software will ensure their maintenance and engineering work and records are kept in impeccable shape. This will help Aloha develop further efficiencies to organize purchasing, inventory control and procurement, and project management among IT functions within the company, providing much needed scalability as they grow in the coming years. Jose Almeida, President and CEO of TRAX USA Corp., stated, “We are excited to be part of the growth of Aloha Air Cargo, and it is with great pleasure that we welcome them to the TRAX Family.” Aloha Air Cargo will be implementing X1, the latest version of TRAX Maintenance. This version includes over 20 modules to cater to virtually every aspect of aircraft maintenance. TRAX Maintenance will be able to assist Aloha Air Cargo in various ways – from material management and finance to technical records and reliability, Aloha Air Cargo will now have aircraft, inventory, and maintenance activity information integrated into a single system. CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
14 | NEWS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
Ramco enables aviation solution on the Cloud for Astra Airlines Group ASTRA AIRLINES SELECTS RAMCO
IN early September 2013, Ramco Systems, the global Aviation Software provider on Cloud, Mobile and Tablets announced a new order win from Astra Airlines Group, one of the emerging passenger airlines operating from Greece. The win further fortifies Ramco’s position in the global MRO segment. Under the agreement, Ramco will provide its Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) solution, including Maintenance & Engineering (M&E), Aviation Finance, Technical Records & Engineering, Inventory & Supply Chain, and Maintenance Planning & Execution. Mr. Kostas Drizis, CAMO Manager, Astra Airlines, said, “We had been on the lookout for an efficient solution that would manage our Aviation operations. After extensively screening multiple products, we chose Ramco for their comprehensive aviation suite, sound business process mapping and efficient management of the entire spectrum of M&E Activity. Moreover, the solution’s friendly userinterface, ease of learning, structured implementation strategy and cloud configuration promise to make this project successful from the very beginning. We are confident that we will be realizing concrete improvements on our M&E KPIs by the end of the current year.
ASTRA AIRLINES GOES LIVE WITH RAMCO AVIATION ON THE CLOUD IN RECORD TIME OF 45 DAYS
FROM project kick-off to go-live, the complete implementation at Astra was handled off-shore through video conferencing
without compromising on efficiency. With virtual blueprinting, pre-built business process documents, and pre-loaded industry standard codes, the lean model of implementation further ensured reduction in deployment cost by 40%. Astra has been able to reap the benefits of a functionally rich Maintenance & Engineering (M&E) solution with industry best practices and standards in record time, within budgets. Commenting on the Go-Live, Mr. Kostas Drizis – CAMO Manager, Astra Airlines, said “Within a short timeframe and limited resources from our end, we have transitioned to a modern and sophisticated Maintenance & Engineering IT system provided by Ramco. This has been possible because of the strong domain knowledge, professional approach and lean methodology adopted by Ramco. The Ramco team exhibited excellent domain knowledge and systematic approach which ensured every member at Astra understands and appreciates the interdependencies within units and contribute towards an efficient and coherent value-adding system.” Mr. Virender Aggarwal, CEO, Ramco Systems, said “This is a proud moment for all of us as we have created yet another revolution in the aviation industry by adopting a lean method of implementation to go live in record time of 45 days at Astra Airlines. This implementation will set a trend for many other airlines which have not embarked on modernization of their IT systems because of the cost and time involved.”
Cathay Pacific Airways selects ULTRAMAIN efbTechLogs™ for industry-first cross-fleet ELB Implementation IN late August 2013, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways began an implementation of efbTechLogs™ Electronic Logbook (ELB) software developed by Ultramain Systems. ELB software is new technology that replaces the long-standing paper-based aircraft technical log. Cathay Pacific will implement the Ultramain ELB on its Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) installation to a common standard across all its aircraft types comprising 170 aircraft. The ELB software operates on Electronic Flight Bag hardware, which itself constitutes new technology, and is classified by aviation authorities from least to most integrated with the aircraft: Class 1, 2, or 3 EFB respectively. “The majority of airlines are still using paper-based aircraft technical logs, so the use of ELB software is in its infancy,” says Tim Spears, Vice President of Ultramain and head of Ultramain’s Onboard Systems division. “When you look at airlines actually operating Electronic Logbooks, the majority are flying with efbTechLogs provided by Ultramain Systems. Cathay Pacific Airways is set to be the first industry operator with a common Electronic Logbook across all fleet types.” “Replacement of paper with the real-time capture of structured maintenance information through an Electronic Logbook will
dramatically improve the efficiency of processes in line maintenance operations,” said Rob Saunders, Cathay’s Head of Engineering Cost Management and Business Improvement. “Working closely with HAECO, our MRO partner, we have looked much further than just replacing the paper. To realize the benefits, we needed a proven ELB solution integrated with our M&E system.” Mark McCausland, President of Ultramain Systems, added, “efbTechLogs operates on Class 1 (mobile devices), as well as Class 2 and 3 EFB, and has been in continuous approved use on Class 3 EFB since 2008. efbTechLogs has a great deal of experience incorporated into the software and has been installed by more operators than all other ELB offerings combined. No other ELB has the cross-fleet and cross-manufacturer capabilities.” Christopher Gibbs, Director of Engineering for Cathay Pacific, said, “Similar ELB software that spans all of our fleet types is essential in managing an e-enabled fleet. Commonality of software makes sense on many levels, from training to ground systems integration. e-Operations can provide incremental benefits for individual aircraft, but we see a significantly stronger business case for full fleet enablement.
Who’s in the news: Vendors 2MORO SOLUTIONS
2MoRO Solutions is a software development company for Aerospace operating in over 17 countries and across multiple Airlines or Aircraft Operators with their own MRO center. The firm is also a SAP® Partner for Airlines, Aircraft Operators, MRO centers and OEMs.
HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES
Hexaware’s MRO practice leverages its experience to create tools and services which help its customers in efficient migration to newer M&E Systems, implementing industry specific Data Warehouses and Analytics as well as Independent Application Testing Suites
IFRSKEYES
ADSOFTWARE
IFRSKEYES, an AIRBUS company, is a full-service IT provider specialized in aviation software managing aircraft maintenance and flight operations with more than 80 customers worldwide.
ADT AND WINGS SOFTWARE
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.
ADSOFTWARE has developed a fleet management system and logistics package called AIRPACK to meet the needs of middle-sized airlines, as well as Maintenance and Repair Organisations (MRO), and Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisations (CAMO). ADT (Applied Database Tech) specializes in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) software solutions for more than 50 organizations, and growing, which operate or maintain aircraft. WINGS is a webbased MRO software solution.
AEROSOFT
AeroSoft was founded in 1997 to develop systems for maintenance and engineering applications for commercial aviation. The firm’s current active customers’ cumulative fleet of 1000 aircraft has been managed using AeroSoft solutions from four to 23 years.
THE BOEING EDGE
Boeing offers a portfolio of commercial aviation services, collectively known as the Boeing Edge, delivered by Boeing Digital Aviation. Boeing provides a competitive edge by creating intelligent information solutions across the aviation ecosystem.
COMMSOFT AND OASES
Commsoft 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 day-to-day help desk, maintenance support and
INFOTRUST GROUP
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK
Lufthansa Technik is a manufacturer-independent 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.
MXI TECHNOLOGIES
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.
PSI AG
PSI AG develops and integrates complete solutions for energy management (electricity, gas, oil, heat), production management (metals, automotive, mechanical engineering, mining, logistics) and infrastructure management for transport and safety. PSI was founded in 1969 and employs 1,500 persons worldwide.
RAMCO SYSTEMS
EMPOWERMX
Ramco Systems provides next generation, end-to-end enterprise solutions built on the firm’s proprietary platform—Ramco VirtualWorks®. All Ramco products are cloud architected by design and address the entire business cycle from transaction to analytics.
FLATIRONS SOLUTIONS
Rusada is a provider of MRO, CAMO and Operational software to the aviation industry with a global presence in all aviation markets from civil to military, corporate to cargo and is appreciated by clients for fast implementation strategies and flexibility of solutions.
EmpowerMX software products equip airline operators, MROs, OEMs and military users with real-time and globally available business intelligence through Leanbased solutions and technical oversight to support MRO personnel to optimize maintenance programs. Flatirons Solutions, Inc. provides information management consulting services and solutions. Its TechSight/X suite of products is dedicated to the aerospace community and is used by many of the world’s largest original equipment manufacturers and airline operators.
GREENWICH AEROGROUP
Greenwich AeroGroup, Inc., owns and operates providers across the full gamut of general, commercial, government and military aviation services.
RUSADA
SWISS AVIATIONSOFTWARE AND AMOS
Swiss-AS boasts more almost 120 customers worldwide. AMOS is a comprehensive, fully-integrated software package that manages the maintenance, engineering and logistics requirements of modern airlines and MRO providers.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | NEWS | 15
TRAX
TRAX USA Corp. is the number one seller of aircraft maintenance software globally. TRAX Maintenance solution has been developed – with Airlines and for Airlines – to provide the most comprehensive and advanced MRO ERP software solution.
ULTRAMAIN SYSTEMS, INC.
Ultramain Systems, Inc.’s flagship product, ULTRAMAIN®, is a maintenance and logistics solution. Their new product, efbTechLogs™, replaces aircraft paper flight logs and enables faster turnaround times, so aircraft spend more time in the air and less time on the ground.
Who’s in the news: Airlines, Operators, OEMs and MROs AIR MAURITIUS
Air Mauritius Limited, operating as Air Mauritius, is the flag carrier of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered at the Air Mauritius Centre in Port Louis, Mauritius. Its main base is Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport.
ALOHA AIR CARGO
Headquartered in Honolulu, Aloha Air Cargo became an independent cargo operator after the closure of Aloha Airlines passenger services in 2008. Aloha Tech Ops is a division of Aloha Air Cargo, providing maintenance and engineering services to airlines in Hawaii.
AMERICAN EAGLE
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, American Eagle operates a modern, fuel-efficient fleet of Bombardier and Embraer regional aircraft. With 1700 daily flights, their network services more than 150 cities throughout the US, Canada, Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico.
ASTRA AIRLINES:
Located in the expanding Greek International Airport of Thessaloniki ‘Makedonia’, Astra Airlines operates a network of domestic and international routes, mainly in Eastern Europe. Solid growth in passenger traffic and capacity utilization is anticipated in the coming years.
BLUE AIR AMS
Based in Bucharest, Blue Air has a fleet of Boeing 737s, including 1 x 737-300, 1 x737-500 and 4 x 737-400s, flying to 25 destinations across Europe from three Romanian airports – Bucharest, Bacau and Sibiu. Blue Air also offers third party CAMO services.
CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS
Cathay Pacific together with The Cathay Pacific Group, including Dragonair and Air Hong Kong, operate more than 150 aircraft from Hong Kong International Airport to some 130 destinations across Asia, the Pacific, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa.
DELTA TECHOPS
With more than seven decades of aviation expertise, Delta TechOps provides full-service aviation maintenance to Delta and service to its fleet of more than 750 aircraft plus complete aircraft maintenance services for more than 150 other operators.
EURAVIA ENGINEERING
Euravia is an established, independent aviation company offering maintenance, repair and overhaul services for a wide range of gas turbines for over 100 different Civil and Defense Customers in 50 different countries.
EUROPEAN SKYBUS
European Skybus, based at Bournemouth in the UK, is an EASA Part-145 approved maintenance and repair organization for Boeing 737 aircraft, providing base maintenance and line maintenance engineering plus ad-hoc engineering support for other operators.
GIMOTA GROUP
The Gimota AG, headquartered near Zurich, specializes in the production and delivery of circular and data connectors for use in railroad vehicles and today supplies almost all the leading railway vehicle producers and companies.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
Digital Aircraft Technical Records
FROM THIS…
LAS CARGO
Lineas Aereas Suramericanas (LAS), operates Boeing 727-100, 727-200 and 727-Super 27 on charter flights for domestic and international routes, to Central and South America, Caribbean and USA. The Colombian carrier is about to extend their catalog of services
LINK AIRS
Link Inc. is a regional airline start-up headquartered in Fukuoka, Japan. It plans to begin operations in 2014 as a low-cost carrier that will offer beverages and other services at no additional charge.
LOT AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE SERVICES (LOTAMS)
LOTAMS used to be the Technical Base of LOT Polish Airlines but now acts as an individual MRO entity. The firm offers maintenance for the most popular aircraft types also other advanced services including CAM and engineering consulting services.
MARSHALL AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE GROUP
…TO THIS.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group specializes in the conversion, modification, maintenance and support of military, civil and business aircraft and is authorized to provide many type approvals.
PENTASTAR AVIATION
Pentastar Aviation provides aircraft maintenance, aircraft management services, aviation advisors, avionics, and custom aircraft interiors plus aircraft charter services and direct air carrier services for helicopter emergency medical services and air ambulance operations.
REGIO LEASE
REGIO LEASE develops creative and innovative solutions for airlines, MRO’s and aircraft leasing companies on a wide range of projects, including airworthiness management and certification, delivery and redelivery, aircraft registration, repossession of leased aircraft and MRO management, as well as aviation asset management and aircraft leasing consulting.
SPICE JET
SpiceJet is an Indian low-cost airline owned by the Sun Group of India with hubs in Chennai Delhi and Hyderabad. The SpiceJet fleet currently consists of 31 Boeing 737-800, 6 Boeing 737-900ER and 15 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400
TURKISH HABOM AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE
Turkish Airlines’ airframe and component maintenance centre (HABOM) at Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul can handle 11 narrow and three wide body aircraft at the same time. Turkish Airlines aims to increase its fleet size from 225 to 300+ aircrafts by 2015.
UNITED AIRLINES (UAL)
UAL operates a modern and fuel-efficient fleet of 569 regional aircraft and 698 narrow- and wide-body aircraft on the world’s most comprehensive route network serving 62 countries, and 373 international destinations, with 5,431 daily departures for 140 million passengers (2012).
VANILLA AIR
Vanilla Air, previously called AirAsia Japan, is a Japanese low cost carrier, operating from Narita Airport in Tokyo. The airline is wholly owned by ANA.
Talk to the experts…
Aircraft Data Systems Tel: +33 (0) 466 230 316, email: contact@adsfrance.net Visit: www.adsfrance.net ADS HP 0213.indd 1
28/01/2013 14:05
16 | CASE STUDY: AIR TAHITI NUI | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
New generation reporting tools The daily use of AirStat enables Air Tahiti Nui to edit multiple indicators in a minimum amount of time, explains Caroline Deba, Reliability Manager at Air Tahiti Nui
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STUDY: AIR TAHITI NUI | 17
A
LL REPORTING TOOLS help to turn numbers into meaningful information and there are a multitude of options and programs available for analyzing and reporting on data. Deciding on and then implementing an optimal solution can be challenging for many airlines. And as companies and datasets get larger, the importance and impact of these decisions on data analysis also increases. Traditionally these reporting systems monitor, convert and deploy data. After observing data trends for a set period, the data gathered are converted into more understandable and precise presentation formats, such as charts, files or graphs. Data reporting is the part of a system that reports key elements relating to an airline’s performance in order to improve its operations and share these elements within the airline and/or with the civil aviation authorities and aircraft manufacturers. New generation reporting systems now go beyond simply reporting to provide a foundation for implementing a more efficient and interactive management model.
“Every airline collects data, however not all airlines have enough data, or are able to allocate the time needed to look at the collected data. The reporting system should be a time saver and not a time waster…”
BEYOND REPORTING
What major benefits can be expected from a new generation data reporting tool? In the aviation industry, maintenance is considered a key factor in helping airlines succeed. It aims to provide the maximum performance at a low cost, within the parameters of safety, operational and environmental requirements. As a result, to maximize the airline’s profitability it is desirable to operate some components near to their failure point. This goal can be achieved through extremely strict and constant monitoring of the airline’s data and maintenance activity. A new generation reporting tool should improve monitoring and analysis practices. Every airline collects data, however not all airlines have enough data, or are able to allocate the time needed to look at the collected data. The reporting system should be a time saver and not a time waster, allowing automation of data collection and their monitoring. Convenience is what every operator seeks as they do not want to make things hard for themselves: that might only let them down in the end. With the use of an appropriate data reporting tool, an airline can succeed in planning and knowing what’s going on. Row after row and column after column of numbers are pretty much meaningless to those who can’t make sense of the data contained in them. By translating data into a report, this information becomes more accessible, allowing the airline’s staff members to better understand the information and communicate with relevant colleagues and organizations. During the reporting process, data becomes easier to share and understand. Additionally, these reporting tools must include features with the ability to produce graphics that illustrate the meaning of data, making
the reports even more accessible and the results more readily understandable and, importantly, not boring. The once complex task of comparing airline’s data and manufacturer’s data suddenly becomes effortless. And lastly, it is important to enhance the accuracy of data. It can be hard to determine if data are actually accurate. But with the use of advanced data reporting tools, it becomes easier to identify mistakes. Inaccurate data and so-called ‘outliers’ are able to be changed by the user through tracking down data collection activities and changing them.
A NEXT-GENERATION REPORTING TOOL
ADSoftware, the French aviation IT vendor, developed AirStat in 2007 as a ‘reliability and statistics’ reporting facility for all the data stored into AirPack the company’s maintenance software solution. AirPack is a new generation software solution which improves safety and operational efficiency, meeting all requirements in terms of functionality, traceability, performance, aviation legislation and regulations. It is user-friendly, Web accessible, fully compatible with Microsoft Office products, and works on a standard PC (100% Windows© Technology). The software package includes six modules, linked together to achieve maximum efficiency: Airtime (fleet management- CAMO),
AirStock (inventory control – logistic), AirDoc (documentation management), AirUser (security management), AirStat (reliability and statistic reports) and AirWork (time-tracking). AirStat is the company’s new generation reporting tool which uses descriptive and predictive models to gain valuable knowledge from data analysis and uses these
insights to recommend action or to guide decisionmaking processes. Its principle is simple it quantifies performances in complex statistical reports and allows users to choose a type of data visualization from a specialized library to communicate insights in a very straightforward way. Users select a template from the library and can
18 | CASE STUDY: AIR TAHITI NUI | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
CASE 1: REGIO LEASE
As an approved EASA CAMO Part M/G organization and an experienced consultancy company, Regio Lease provides a range of tailored solutions to airlines, leasing companies and institutions covering aircraft continuous airworthiness management, airline consultancy / set up and aircraft asset management services and airworthiness review certification for EU import/export or renewal. Regarding its CAMO activities, Regio Lease is in charge of coordinating the compliance of its clients’ aircraft with maintenance programs, airworthiness directives, service bulletins, repairs and modifications. Regio Lease has used the AirPack fleet management system to this end, from the time they went into business and AirStat since it was launched by ADSoftware. “For us AirPack feeds our methodology”, Says Laurent Le Minh Loc CEO of Regio Lease, “pushing for a direct communication between mechanics and engineers to ensure data integrity; and establishing procedures for filling out the task cards and other documents before the reliability department, obtains them. To assure data quality, it is necessary to have the correct information (such as aircraft events, flight hours and landings, LRU removals, and scheduled maintenance) related to the event, in order to perform statistical analyses. We focus on monitoring the performance of the fleet and associated equipment to identify possible correctives actions which could lead to immediate measures or could also impact on maintenance program efficiency.” Regio Lease also handled the Safran A320-212 used for testing the Electric Green Taxiing System (EGTS) supported by AirPack and AirStat. To comply with the authority’s requirements, all the parts of the EGTS had to be followed up inside a Kardex model as if the aircraft was being operated within normal conditions. Reports incorporating all the new elements had to be produced to allow the aircraft to operate on the runway with the new system on.
customize reports based on the recipients (customers, internal reports, authorities, manufacturers, etc.). AirStat generates dynamic reports (reusable) using scripts and preregistered filters. The distribution of these reports can be completely automated (i.e. PDF sent by email), as well as prepared and stored online. Reports might include weekly statistics on flight hours automatically sent to the shareholders of the airline. Furthermore a monthly reliability report for the local regulatrory authorities or a weekly statistics report on the availability of aircraft can be generated.
TAKING ON MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
Air Tahiti Nui, the main carrier of French Polynesia, operates one of the newest fleets of Airbus A340-300 aircraft in the world with five aircraft flying up to 15 times a week from Los Angeles to Tahiti, up to seven times a week from Paris-CDG to Tahiti, as well as twice a week out of Tokyo-Narita and Auckland-NZ. Since its foundation in 1996, Air Tahiti Nui has had to address the constraints of remoteness combined with regulatory requirements. This has meant managing inventory levels as closely as possible by reducing turnaround time and operating costs, and optimizing performance. In 2006, the technical department of Air Tahiti Nui decided to take over the management of our previously outsourced maintenance program and implement a reliability program. The tasks of the reliability program
are to monitor the health of aircraft by analyzing recurring failures reported by our crew, unscheduled removals of equipment, defects discovered during maintenance visits (corrosion etc.) and any operational impacts associated. In case of deviation of one of these parameters, measures are in place to return to an acceptable level of performance (adjustment of the maintenance program, standard equipment, staff training, and adjustment of the level of stock). We have been using AirStock and AirTime since 2002 and decided in 2009 to acquire AirStat as a support tool in the reliability program; participating actively in its development. Daily use of AirStat enables Air Tahiti Nui to edit multiple indicators in a minimum amount of time, to monitor threshold exceedances on the pilot reports rated by ATA, to view findings rates by item and, recently, to track the reliability of the equipment with MTBUR (mean time between unscheduled removal) calculations, operating times, alert equipment removals thresholds, and inventory optimization. These indicators are used by Air Tahiti Nui for both analytical reasons and for communication with AIRBUS, OEMs, management and various departments within the airline. I have taken some cases from the files of our software supplier, AD Software, to further illustrate the application of new generation reporting tools in a variety of airlines and operators.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
NEW GENERATION COST-SAVING SOFTWARE AND SERVICES Reduce costs in Fleet Management and Logistics, Increase efficiency and safety. Our MRO and CAMO software package provides solutions for : airlines / airframe manufacturers engine and component manufacturers / servicing and overhaul centres aviation consultants / regulatory authorities / aviation training specialists
www.adsoftware.fr
99.6%
of customers are satisfied or very satisfied with our products and technical support
> Logical screen display > Windows© ready
5.4
> Multilingual > Web enabled
IRUSER
> 24/7 technical support
IRSTOCK
IRSTAT
IRDOC
IRTIME
IRWORK
days training, on average, to become fully operational in our complete maintenance package AIRTIME and inventory control package AIRSTOCK
52
clients worldwide
F R A N C E
l
S O U T H
A F R I C A
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T H A I L A N D
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B R A Z I L
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STUDY: AIR TAHITI NUI | 19
DATA FOR RELIABILITY-CENTERED MAINTENANCE
Next-generation analytics are leading to broader perspectives in terms of aircraft maintenance, emphasizing the use of predictive maintenance techniques in addition to traditional preventive measures. Preventative maintenance is based on routine measures to avert failure. It is a safe but costly way to maintain a fleet. Predictive maintenance is based on the monitoring of information/data and usage of trends and behavior patterns to carry out maintenance. It is an enhanced way to maintain a fleet and rationalize costs which requires a strict reliability program and therefore an advanced data reporting system. The term ‘reliable’, as used by the aviation industry, applies to the dependability or stability of an aircraft
CASE 2: WESTSTAR AVIATION SERVICES
Weststar Aviation Services Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the Weststar Group, is a company formed in April 2003 with an approved Air Operating Certificate from the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation. The company operates 16 helicopters, including AW139, AW189 and EC225 to facilitate future expansion in on-shore and off-shore operations. Weststar selected AirPack in 2011 to manage its maintenance, planning and integrated logistics. Michel Eymard, Chief Type Engineer AW139 at Weststar, uses AirStat to extract and filter all data in order to produce statistics and reliability studies and also to provide the reports requested by Weststar customers. Michel Eymard says: “Some key reports generated for management are purely informative and summarize our operations over a given period. They are necessary for the billing of flight hours and the monitoring of our fleet. Others allow us to identify abnormal usage, high turnover of specific parts (reliability study), recurrent failures, etc. These anomalies are very easily identified by the system [which] is a real time saver for Weststar with a positive impact on productivity.”
system or a part thereof under evaluation. A system or component is considered reliable if it follows an expected law of behavior and is regarded as unreliable if it departs from this expectation. These expectations differ greatly, depending upon how the equipment is designed and operated. An airline reliability program is a set of procedures aimed at collecting data related to the failure of the aircraft, its systems, sub-systems, components and parts. Further analysis of the data thus collected and making meaningful inferences using engineering judgment also forms part of the program. The actions based on those inferences, to improve the maintenance program, are what make a reliability program beneficial. These are the corrective actions enabled by a next generation reporting tool. The purpose of the reliability analysis is to measure the effectiveness of the tasks within the maintenance
CASE 3: HÉLI-UNION
Héli-Union, a key international offshore helicopter company, just moved to an integrated airworthiness management software solution developed by ADSoftware. Héli-Union’s fleet is composed of eight types of helicopters (Cabri G2, 300CBi, EC145, SA365N, AS365N3, AS332L1, S76C++ and EC225LP) and will soon include EC175 helicopters, which will be the first European helicopter certified with a maintenance program based on MSG-3 process. For its Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization (CAMO), Héli-Union needed efficient reporting software to help the engineering team draft reliability reports for its fleet and selected AirStat to analyze data stored in AirStock and AirTime. Jonathan Cosson, Technical Director at Héli-Union comments: “Héli-Union engineering needs a tool to help them with the analysis of the PIREPS (pilot reports), MAREPS (maintenance reports) and corrective items found during a periodic check. It is very important
program by alerting operators to the systems, components and structures whose performances digress from their expected levels. Reliability programs now form an integral part of an operator’s maintenance program, and are designed to supplement the operator’s overall program for maintaining aircraft in a continuous state of airworthiness. Collecting data with the aim of having a reliability centered maintenance program is the way forward for operators and something that manufacturers are really trying to develop. It would be ideal for the manufacturer to have a system in place that allows for the collection of data obtained during the operator’s task accomplishment and then to enter them in a standardized format into its data collection system. The idea would be to exchange operators’ data against valuable technical data from the manufacturer. As yet, for Héli-Union to establish dashboards to follow up the performance of main equipment – MTBF (mean time between failures), MTBUR, and NFF (no fault found) – as well as the accomplishment of trend monitoring”. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been suggested by Héli-Union’s logistics department to optimize stock management, sourcing, suppliers’ performance monitoring and to define actions to be carried out to avoid AOGs (aircraft on ground) or lack of spares (by identifying the minimum quantity required in stock per PN (part number) and the consumption of parts per helicopter type and/or operations location, for example). “AirStat is a reliability/statistics computerized system which will be mainly used by the engineering department to define new maintenance policies based on data analysis and feedback. Héli-Union is also expecting the system to significantly improve the supply chain management of the company,” says Vincent Lefranc, manager at Héli-Union‘s technical department.
this remains very difficult to achieve due to external factors such as different networks, platforms, hardware, software compatibility, etc. Software developers such as ourselves are busy working on the automation of raw data export files to manufacturers and by extension the importing of technical data from manufacturers. Today, the essential feature of any new generation IT tool is its exchange capacity. From social networks to mobile devices, the sharing of information is the key and software developers such as ADSoftware are working on this to establish new standards of connectivity in support of new generation reporting tools. n
AIR TAHITI NUI Air Tahiti Nui operates five A340-300 aircraft from its Tahiti base to Auckland, Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles and code shares to 37 additional destinations. The carrier was selected as one of the ‘World’s Best’ international airlines by readers of Travel+Leisure in 2008, 2010 and 2011 and as Best Airline in the South Pacific, 2011 by readers of Global Traveler. The airline has headquarters in Papeete and operates from Faa’a International Airport on the island of Tahiti.
CAROLINE DEBA
Prior to working with Air Tahiti Nui, Caroline was employed with Airbus Industry working towards the A380 certification within the flight testing department. She joined Air Tahiti Nui (ATN) in 2006 as a Reliability Program Manager assigned to engineering and continuing airworthiness department where she now works. One of her achievements with Air Tahiti Nui is the implementation and development of the reliability program enabling the airline to manage its own maintenance program (previously outsourced to subcontractors).
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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | VENDOR JOB CARD | 21
The philosophy and development approach on which Ramco has built its success. Ltd. Ranganathan Jagannathan, Vice President, Head Aviation, Ramco Systems, India. in Ramco, operating out of Chennai Ranganathan Jagannathan currently heads Global Aviation Solution which first nine years were in different Ranga is a senior IT professional with 25+ years of experience, of ol. He joined Ramco in 1997 and since functional roles in companies such as Ashok Leyland and Whirlpo Business Consulting, Product Validation, then, has contributed in various capacities in Product Development, Level 5 Certification and Program Implementation, Solution Delivery, Support, Resource Management, CMMI Management.
AIRCRAFT IT: Your name, your job title and the name of the business? RANGANATHAN JAGANNATHAN: Ranganathan Jagannathan, Vice President – Head Aviation, Ramco Systems, Ramco Systems Ltd AIRCRAFT IT: How did Ramco get started? RJ: Ramco Systems (part of the USD 1 Billion Ramco Group) is the 1st company in the Asia Pacific region to have built enterpriseclass software products on the cloud to cater to the needs of diverse industries. Our Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr P R Venketrama Raja (PRV) established Ramco Systems in 1999 with a mission to create a world-class information technology company focused on enterprise applications and emerging technologies. Since then, Ramco Systems has proved to be one of the top 100 enterprise solution providers in the world, developing a revolutionary enterprise application assembly and delivery platform – Ramco VirtualWorks®. The company’s basic philosophy has been. ‘Technology keeps you ahead’ and, with a true passion for technology, it has been making rapid progress in the global market. AIRCRAFT IT: What is the attraction of aircraft related IT? RJ: Ramco’s Aircraft related IT solution (Ramco Aviation Series 5) provides mission-critical maintenance and engineering software that meets the business needs of the aviation industry, gauges the airworthiness and ensures Regulatory Compliance. Ramco has developed this software to address the niche aviation market, globally. The attraction? Or unique offering of a ‘comprehensive’ aviation suite (includes integrated finance and human capital management modules) beats every ‘best of breed’ solution available in the market. Why? One IT partner handles all your requirements and crafts solutions with a holistic picture in mind as compared to the alternative. MRO Aviation IT is a niche segment and our philosophy is to be the best there in addressing critical Aviation pain points.
AIRCRAFT IT: What is the guiding business principle that drives Ramco? RJ: Driven by the underlying theme of ‘Customer Centricity’, we believe that technology should simplify businesses, not complicate them; it should free you, not tie you down. It is this philosophy that has been the driving force behind all our innovations and product developments. The year 2012-13 paved the way for a product philosophy aimed at developing an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system that can address the needs of the next generation of users, across the globe. Built around the five pillars of Mobility, User interface, Social, Inmemory and Context aware solutions, Ramco’s product philosophy of MUSIC (an abbreviation for the five pillars) has been well received and appreciated by the market. AIRCRAFT IT: What has been Ramco’s greatest IT achievement to date, and why? RJ: We take pride in covering the entire gamut of the aviation industry (Airlines, Heli Operators and MRO organizations). Our latest achievement as part of solution enhancement is Role-Based WorkSpaces. Being an industry first, Role-Based WorkSpaces reduced training time on MRO IT systems from a few weeks to a few days around the globe. AIRCRAFT IT: What has been Ramco’s greatest business achievement to date, and why? RJ: It was 2012, when under the guiding beacon of the new CEO, Mr Virender Aggarwal, we won over 10 new customers in 12 months. Such an accomplishment was even more special when among the 10 was one of the biggest airlines in the world. AIRCRAFT IT: What have been Ramco’s disappointments and what have you learned from them? RJ: It took us a considerable time to create a strong global partner eco-system to fully reap the benefits of a great product like Ramco Aviation suite.
“…we believe that technology should simplify businesses, not complicate them; it should free you, not tie you down. It is this philosophy that has been the driving force behind all our innovations…” AIRCRAFT IT: In a sentence, how would you summarize what Ramco does for aviation customers? RJ: Ramco in your hangars equals aircraft in the air. AIRCRAFT IT: What is new on Ramco’s development horizon? RJ: We expand our horizon right from the roots. Our product philosophy revolving around MUSIC has been expanded to MUSICAL. This indicates that with features like Mobility, User interface, Social, In-memory and Context-aware; we have also included Analytics and Location-aware, wherein data visualization and Google Maps play a vital role. AIRCRAFT IT: What will be the next big thing in Aviation IT? RJ: Presently it’s Mobility that is making waves to cater to industry needs such as remote maintenance. With increased emphasis, connected flights and real-time Aircraft Health Manufacturing by Boeing and Airbus, predictive analytics and big data intervention will soon come into play in the aviation industry. AIRCRAFT IT: What do you want your customers to say about Ramco? RJ: Ramco’s solutions are as simple to use as present day smart phones yet potent with functionality. Ramco Aviation Suite has proven to be the easiest IT system to train our resources on. AIRCRAFT IT: Ranganathan Jagannathan, thank you for your time.
22 | CASE STUDY: FINNAIR | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
Enhanced business operations Implementing state-of-the-art MRO software, says Jorma Ryske, Director Finnair IT Aircraft Maintenance, will support greater efficiency, visibility and a competitive edge
Finnair uses badges with RFID-readers connected to AMOS. Transactions used are electronic user authentication to update work orders and time and attendance bookings.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STUDY: FINNAIR | 23
“Finnair strictly adhered to a zero-customization policy during the definition phase, which meant that the company organization had to undergo several business process changes.”
T
HE STRATEGIC DECISION to implement new MRO software is most often triggered by the continuing stresses and strains of operating the legacy system. Switching from a currently working system to a new one is, on the one hand, a financial and operational risk but, on the other hand, offers the opportunity of increasing one’s competitive edge. Finnair and Finnair Technical Operations have for some time been searching the market for an off-the-shelf MRO software solution. This case study will focus on the various stages of the implementation of the solution that we settled on, its impact on day-to-day maintenance operations, the key factors for a successful switch over and some of the issues we discovered during the process.
INITIAL SITUATION AND OBJECTIVE
As its in-house built, almost 30 years old, mainframe based MRO software was outdated, expensive and resource wasting to maintain, Finnair was looking for a new MRO system. After an extensive market search, AMOS came into Finnair’s frame for consideration in light of its integrated approach, modern architecture and user friendliness. The large AMOS customer base (especially in northern Europe) was a further encouraging factor and Finnair / Finnair Technical Operations expected to gain additional efficiency in subcontracted maintenance operations.
CHALLENGES FACED DURING IMPLEMENTATION
Firstly, Finnair strictly adhered to a zero-customization policy during the definition phase, which meant that the company organization had to undergo several business process changes. And, as in almost every project, data transfer was the biggest challenge during the introduction of the new software. The quality of data from the legacy system made it complex for the data transfer team to extract and to transfer the data. CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
AMOS
A Story of Success “We assess AMOS as a top line product which is endeared and accepted as a fine tool by our users,” states Air Asia Read more about the world-class M&E software system at SWISS-AS.COM
24 | CASE STUDY: FINNAIR | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
“Process changes required as part of the internal enhancement project were fully supported by the MRO software’s functionality and AMOS, including the new processes, was effectively adopted during and after the implementation project without affecting the original project schedule or budget.”
AMOS 10 Main Screen
During the implementation period between 2011 and 2012 and after the Go-Live, Finnair Technical Operations underwent significant structural changes as part of the corporate strategic project to enhance the competitiveness of Finnair Group. Services like heavy maintenance, component maintenance and warehouse operations were almost fully outsourced. These changes affected many internal processes and caused a significant reduction of employees in Technical Operations between 2011 and 2013.
SOLUTION, REALIZATION AND BENEFIT
AMOS 10 Various Modules
In order to cope with the legacy system data, the data migration team followed a clear methodical approach. Finnair gave this task significant priority and so assigned a very skilled data transfer team. Several full data uploads were carried out during the project to test, analyze, and measure the data transfer process. This approach turned out to be a success since the ultimate data migration was performed on time and with high levels of accuracy. Process changes required as part of the internal enhancement project were fully supported by the MRO software’s functionality and AMOS, including the new processes, was effectively adopted during and after the implementation project without affecting the original project schedule or budget. The project time line was divided into the project definition phase (six months) and the implementation
phase (twelve months). The first phase was dedicated to reviewing and defining the usage of the new MRO software in the context of Finnair. The implementation phase was started after approving the go-ahead project plan. The overall project was finished on time and within budget. Finnair’s implementation strategy was to use the maintenance system without any non-standard, customer specific change requests. Nevertheless, some enhancements to the product were developed based on business requirements that were in line with best practice. In addition, Finnair was able to solve its own customer specific requirements by using the readily available tools in the new software solution, such as interface configurations, web-services, report-designer, etc. Finnair, being open to new technology and with a tech-savvy reputation, has become an AMOS benchmark customer while being one of the most extensive users across the gamut of AMOS business functions including the most recent enhancements. The M&E software system supports continuing airworthiness, maintenance and other technical services for the Finnair fleet and is used for the management of component repair cycle using almost fully outsourced component repair services. Furthermore, Finnair makes full use of the software modules Shift Planning, Time and Attendance, OEM document management and all engineering related programs such as Weight&Balance. A core key-user team of 15 personnel from Finnair Technical Operations departments was maintained throughout the duration of the project. Additionally, each Key-User was supported by subject matter experts. From the IT point of view, Swiss-AS was and still is supporting Finnair’s internal IT department with the ‘AMOS Operational Service’ (AOS) package and thereby helping Finnair to administer the application and its database.
AMOS USAGE TODAY
As an outcome of the switch-over from the legacy system, many business processes have been optimized in order to adhere to the maintenance software’s industry best practice approach. The feedback within Finnair (600 users in total) in this regard was very positive. The users value the new software as an integrated, user friendly MRO system. “AMOS provides excellent visibility about fleet maintenance demand that enables effective alignment of aircraft operation and maintenance. The maintenance management system has enabled Finnair Technical Operations to make a huge step towards transparency for required resources (consumables, rotables, special tools special requirements, etc.) related to forecast and planned maintenance. Now we have a spare part forecast about needed parts, based on scheduled future maintenance. Also we plan our labor capacity within the new system which allows us to create an overview from one system for aircraft maintenance production, planned workload and labor capacity.” says Mikko Timlin, Director of Maintenance Planning. One of the most remarkable enhancements was the new process in
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FINNAIR | 25
which the complete airworthiness related data must be updated in the M&E system prior to releasing the aircraft back to service. Essentially, this means that checks, workorders, taskcards, and rotable labels must be updated by the mechanics before they certify the release of the aircraft. The MRO software itself is not prescriptive in this context, but due to the userfriendliness and visibility of data across departmental boundaries, Finnair decided to adopt this process to reap the benefits of up-to-date data made quickly available to all related operations departments. Furthermore, maintenance production staff processes are all managed in the newly deployed software solution from badge-in/badge-out for time and attendance bookings, to direct data entry and electronic user authentication to update work orders while performing aircraft work based on software generated paper work including AMM (Aircraft Maintenance Manual) tasks, all while using hand-held barcode devices to track working times. Another highlight is the integrated Spec2000 ordering process (Chapters 2, 3 and 4) which is fully supported
by the MRO software system. Further interfaces were established between the M&E software and the existing SAP / Finance and HR. Finally, the rollout at Finnair included integration between the existing aircraft e-TechLog system and the new maintenance software to archive ‘dirty finger prints’. The documents are integrated and linked to AMOS on taskcard level. This real-time integration ensures an efficient defect control and planning process. Although AMOS has a lot of reports built in, many reports still have to be created to fulfill special needs in any organization. Special reports at Finnair Technical Operations are typically created for logistics, manpower handling, defect and reliability reporting areas. The internal Service IT team is creating these new reports with the AMOS Report Designer tool or an external reporting tool. In terms of cost reduction the decision to go for a new M&E software package was also a success since the implementation of the new software has reduced the costs for hosting and license fees for the legacy system by about 75%.
SUMMARY AND LESSONS LEARNED
The implementation is considered a success by Finnair and Finnair Technical Operations as the risk taken and effort of changing to a newer MRO software system have paid off and the phrase ‘Never touch a running system’ has been proven wrong in this context. The project review identified several lessons learned from which three major factors contributing to success are explained below: • Having sufficient and skilled project resources, especially for the data transfer: the amount of time the key users spend on the project should not be underestimated and easily amounts to 80-100% during peak phases. As data transfer is one of the main reasons for project delays, this task was taken very seriously, which was reflected in the selection and number of data transfer experts. • Having a committed software provider who is also a strong implementation partner: it is of great help if one can fall back on the provider’s experience in introducing the software and its expertise in view of state-of-the-art processes. • Deployment of the MRO software as-is: in order to reduce the complexity of an IT project it is advisable to avoid customer specific software adjustments (at least prior to the go-live). Experience has shown that early defined customizations often become obsolete or former requirements have shifted once the software is in daily use. In case of AMOS, the needs and requirements of more than 100 customers are covered and Finnair was in the comfortable position of being able to implement a proven off-the-shelf system without the need for major customizations.
SWISS AVIATIONSOFTWARE AND AMOS
AMOS 10 Structural Damage
AMOS - developed and distributed by Swiss AviationSoftware - is a comprehensive, fullyintegrated software package that manages the maintenance, engineering and logistics requirements of modern airlines and MRO providers by fulfilling all airworthiness standards. Swiss-AS has more than 120 customers worldwide, including pure operators of all sizes, major low-cost, regional and flag carriers, large airline groups and MRO providers. The fact that none have ever replaced AMOS with an alternate system speaks for itself. Swiss-AS has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland and is also represented in Miami, USA and Singapore.
In conclusion and summing up the selection, implementation, go-live and subsequent use of the new system, Päivi Mononen, Manager, Resource Planning at Finnair explained that, “The most important improvements when working with the new MRO software system are the additional functions, data reliability and enhanced data availability compared to the old way of doing resource planning with MS Excel. Also for planning purposes, it is a big benefit to be able to monitor workload and capacity with competencies in the same system. The real time visibility for shift changes and absences is available for all users, and amongst other things, it helps us to keep the working hour calculation up to date.” n
FINNAIR AND FINNAIR TECHNICAL OPERATIONS
Finnair (one of the world’s oldest operating airlines) and its maintenance organisation were established in 1923. The Finnish national carrier offers passengers flights to more than 70 destinations worldwide. Today approximately 600 experienced Finnair Technical Services professionals perform aircraft maintenance at Helsinki Airport. The 70 aircraft fleet comprises of the following aircraft types: Airbus A340/330, A320 family and Embraer E170/190.
JORMA RYSKE
Jorma Ryske has been in Finnair Technical Operations and in Finnair IT since 2008 as IT Director. The main task in FTO in addition to normal IT management has been to replace the old legacy mainframe and ERP based MRO system to modern one by leading the new MRO system selection and implementation project. Before 2008 Jorma Ryske has been working 20 years in electronic component manufacturing industry at Aspocomp Group Plc responsible of company’s global ERP, Supply Chain, multi plant production control and IT Infrastructure systems.
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26 | WHITE PAPER: FLATIRONS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
• Versioning, access control, and rollback features for compliance traceability and responsive audit times; • OEM revision management tightly coupled with the authoring environment to speed up revision times and improve author productivity; • Powerful publishing capabilities, such as effectivity and applicability-driven fleet, tail, or serial number-specific publishing; both full and incremental publishing; the ability to publish to both online and offline, interactive electronic technical publications (IETPs) and mobile devices; and the ability to publish to external systems such as electronic flight bags.
Part 3: Charting an Optimal Course JD Sillion, Chief Solutions Officer, Flatirons Solutions reviews technology requirements and process approaches
T
HIS SERIES IS dedicated to the changing landscape of technical information management in civil aviation that is impacting OEMs and their suppliers, airlines, and MROs in the 21st century. One of the most significant forces has been the gradual adoption of the S1000D information exchange standard and enforcement of its usage among large OEMs and suppliers, airline operators and repair organizations, brought on by the introduction of the Airbus A350, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and other new-generation aircraft. In the last article we discussed how adapting to S1000D requirements while maintaining support for iSpec 2200, as required for existing fleets, impacts the civil aviation ecosystem. This article identifies the requirements necessary to support a high performing multi-specification (multi-spec) technical information management system and options for getting there.
REQUIREMENTS FOR A MULTI-SPEC TECHNICAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Whether an OEM, an airline or an MRO, at the most basic level every organization uses its technical information management system to create or bring in data and provide a way for end users (supply chain partners, technical operations and engineering staff, aircraft technicians, crew members, and others) to
access it. At a minimum the system must provide content editing, storing, and viewing capabilities. However, the reality of managing technical information throughout its lifecycle to meet specifications for existing and new-generation aircraft is much more complex than just addressing these basic concepts in a simplified fashion. To operate successfully in today’s multi-spec environment, organizations must meet these requirements:
CREATE AND SUPPORT A VARIETY OF CONTENT AND DATA TYPES
This includes both structured and unstructured data, including SGML or XML for iSpec 2200 programs and XML-based S1000D data modules for new-generation programs. It also includes the ability to support a broad variety of media types, from 3D models, vector-based and raster graphics, video, audio, multimedia and other file types that are now available and can improve the precision of technicians’ work as well as reduce the time they spend performing it. To meet XML requirements, more successful approaches include adoption of XML editors that reduce the learning curve for authors who are new to XML and that are tightly integrated with other components of the larger system, such as TechSight/ X® Editor based on Serna XML Editor from Flatirons Solutions (formerly InfoTrust Group). It offers a word
processor-like interface, instant XML validation, and other user-friendly features that make the adoption of XML easier while providing capabilities that experienced XML authors expect. Its integration with the TechSight/X CMS (content management system), also facilitates content authoring and editing to increase authors’ productivity and speed up the delivery of upto-date information to end users. One of the greatest benefits of adopting XML is the opportunity it affords organizations to reuse content across functional domains, such as engineering, technical publications, training, support organizations, and other groups. Reusing technical information — rather than recreating it in multiple departments for other purposes — is the best way to ensure information consistency, drive greater content accuracy and reduce the cost of technical information even further. MANAGE CONTENT FOR ATA ISPEC 2200 AND S1000D FORMATS THROUGHOUT ITS LIFECYCLE Organizations also must have a CMS (content management system) capable of: • Capturing, managing, and publishing content securely in multiple formats (print/PDF, SGML/ XML, and HTML); • Supporting automated import and processing for all common document types to reduce data processing time and costs;
SUPPORT PRINT, WEB, AND MOBILE DELIVERY CHANNELS WITH AN EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZED FOR EACH ONE A multi-spec system also must be able to display content to end users coming from both iSpec 2200 and S1000D formats, dictated by the aircraft program but of little importance to technicians and other end users whose concern is not with the underlying information standard but rather the timeliness, accuracy, discoverability, search relevance, and usability of the information itself. This means organizations must be able to deliver information to the IETP (interactive electronic technical publication), Web viewer, or tablet devices with intuitive navigation and search (which reduces repair times and optimizes technical data for technicians’ consumption); with effectivity and applicability filtering (which aids the technician in compliance with regulations); with integrations to parts platforms and OEM ERP (enterprise resource planning), MRO, and records management systems (which streamlines repairs and accountability by giving access to external applications from within the viewer); and through stand-alone IETP deployment modes to allow for controlled access from remote sites. To support growing demands for mobile access to content, the CMS and IETP system also should be able to deliver aircraft maintenance content and manuals to tablet devices. This provides technicians quick and easy access to all maintenance documentation at the point of performance, reducing the number of trips technicians make to computer stations and significantly improving time to completion. The most effective mobile solutions will provide touch screen search and navigation to minimize user clicks for finding information; and they will provide navigation of complex wiring diagrams so technicians can perform tasks at the aircraft itself with all of the information they require. For a complete mobile solution, organizations need to look for features that support technicians’ ability to view and order from illustrated parts catalogs, allowing them to complete tasks faster and giving them both on- and offline access to maintenance manuals so technicians can access information whenever and wherever they need it.
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INTEGRATE WITH WORK CARD SYSTEMS A multi-spec system that supports the authoring and editing of reusable iSpec 2200 and S1000D content also can afford airlines the ability to reuse information from maintenance manuals (AMMs, EMMs, and CMMs) directly in work cards. This speeds up the creation of work cards, improves work card accuracy and consistency, and can lower the costs of ongoing work card creation and revision management for both existing and new-generation aircraft. Requirements for integrating maintenance manuals with work card systems that airlines should look for include capabilities to create, revise, and manage work cards and group work tasks into logical packages. The system should be able to publish work cards and other data for use by end users and external systems. Furthermore, the system should manage maintenance visits through the import of maintenance visit requirements from existing scheduling systems with capabilities that include the automatic assembly of required job cards based on visit requirements; batch printing of maintenance visits to system printers; auto-populating access panel cards during visit creation so that access panels are tightly managed in the visit, reducing duplicate access open and closes; and integration with existing materials management systems to include real-time part and stock information in displayed work card content.
OPTIMIZE PROCESSES THROUGHOUT THE TECHNICAL INFORMATION LIFECYCLE One critical function for a technical information management system in an industry as heavily regulated as civil aviation is to the ability to provide visibility into the overall information management process itself — for both productivity and regulatory compliance purposes. This becomes even more challenging as
airlines begin taking delivery of the 787 Dreamliner and anticipate how they will fold the A350 into their existing processes. Business process management (BPM) tools help organizations execute efficient creation, management, and delivery of technical information in a highly regulated environment through granular workflow and review capabilities, process visibility, integration with
CMSs, and real-time reporting. They help organizations establish and execute efficient, repeatable processes to ensure the most optimal outcome. In technical information management for civil aviation, this means providing tools that make an organization’s decisions about changes in information both traceable and auditable as well as providing support for regulatory compliance. BPM tools support changing business needs through support for flexible business rules, advanced routing prioritization, and team assignment features. In addition, BPM tools can automate parts of the process to speed critical content reviews and approvals, provide detailed audit tracking of OEM, internal, and regulatory change drivers to improve an organization’s ability to respond to regulatory requirements, and remove process bottlenecks through dashboard and detailed report visibility into work processes. INTEGRATE WITH EXTERNAL SYSTEMS Technical information — such as that used to maintain or operate existing and new-generation aircraft — should never be isolated from the operational systems that invoke it. Providing streamlined end-user access to external data or applications that can contextualize technical information and make it more actionable for content consumers is key to driving productivity improvements. CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO
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LEGACY DATA MIGRATION / CONVERSION
The access a new technical information management platform has to historical data greatly impacts an organization’s data continuity. Organizations should work with content end users and IT to identify the content that has value and relevance to the enterprise and select a migration approach that captures that value at the lowest possible cost. As operators and OEMs evaluate the wealth of often unstructured content that underlies their businesses, selecting an optimal approach to get the benefits of this content without the cost or delay can be accomplished through examining legacy application server logs, polling end users, or reviewing contract commits to determine which content needs to be augmented for continued use versus simply archiving it for periodic reference.
“…every organization in the civil aviation ecosystem will need to support some combination of these capabilities to fulfill its existing and new-generation aircraft program requirements Typical integrations aerospace operators should include in their system are: • CMS integration with a maintenance enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to assemble work packages for visits; • Viewer integration with aircraft health maintenance (AHM) or other fault code generating systems to allow pre-emptive assembly of work packages; • Viewer integration to parts lookup or ordering systems to allow for replacement ordering at the worksite; • Record management integration to keep track of maintenance work that has been performed on aircraft. Aerospace OEMs may also benefit from CMS-based integrations to back-end infrastructure such as engineering product lifecycle management (PLM) applications that supply reusable text and imagery assets for use in the assembly of technical publications or related training materials.
THE HEART OF A MULTI-SPEC SYSTEM: ONDEMAND DATA TRANSFORMATION The requirements for a multi-spec technical information management system discussed above assume that a system can support multiple information standards, the fundamental capability underlying a multi-spec system itself. In order to take in, store, and publish out information (as well as perform the other functions described above) regardless of its format, the most efficient system will allow an organization to support content for both legacy and next-generation fleets as well as take in, store, and publish out data — without requiring an organization to alter or abandon legacy document type definitions (DTDs). The key to this system is normalizing the content through on-demand data transformation. Choosing how to normalize the data is the function of the system design. With the global aerospace industry moving to the S1000D standard, it becomes a natural standard by which to normalize your data. The system then that uses S1000D for normalizing the data will take advantage of a common source database (CSDB) for content management. It must also natively support multiple S1000D issues and the transformation of source content from other formats (iSpec 2200, MiL standards) to S1000D as part of the content import process. When delivered to users, data can be presented in S1000D or iSpec 2200, PDF and HTML publishing options to provide the required level of flexibility needed to support a wide array of spec-defined programs and contractual commitments from within a single publishing environment.
GETTING THERE: OPTIONS AVAILABLE
As more airlines take delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners — and as Airbus ramps up production of the Airbus A350 — every organization in the civil aviation ecosystem will need to support some combination of these capabilities to fulfill its existing and new-generation aircraft program requirements. Let’s take a look at the options for acquiring a multispec technical information management system. EVALUATING PRODUCT AND SOLUTION-BASED APPROACHES A perennial question for organizations assessing their options to meet evolving technical information management requirements is ‘build or buy?’ Or, put another way, does my organization get the best long-term ROI (return on investment) from a content solution that is uniquely crafted to suit my needs (the ‘build’ approach in which a tailored solution is deployed) or one that uses commercial off the shelf (COTS) products that are configured rather than customized to meet the business’s information management needs?
The answer depends on the demands of the marketplace and the needs of the organization operating within it. There are both pros and cons that are worth discussing to understand the implications of this decision for aerospace companies as they consider how to meet their needs in the evolving landscape for technical information management. ‘BUILD IT’ - THE CUSTOM SOLUTION APPROACH The lure of a custom solution is an easy one to understand. After all, what organization wouldn’t want an application designed from the ground up to meet its business’s unique needs? A tailored approach to meeting an organization’s business and technology requirements carries strong benefits, from improving business processes, facilitating regulatory requirements, helping technicians perform tasks faster and completely matching the operations needs and processes, lowering the cost of publications, and more. However, to meet the requirements outlined above, the functional scale is daunting even for the largest organizations. This approach typically involves a blend of commercial packages, open source offers, and heavy systems integration and custom development components to create a solution tailored to the needs of the organization. The consequences of such a pieced-together solution are multifold, including higher costs and more complexity to meet custom requirements, the lack of proven reliability in a live production environment, little to no industry-specific functionality, costs for on-going support, longer time from funding to implementation, and long-term flexibility of the solution. By building custom features and functionality without the benefit of a broad user base, a manufacturer or operator seeking to implement their own technical information management solution is in effect building a product for a market of one. While this may sound like a cozy arrangement, what it means long-term for most organizations is an underfunded infrastructure that lacks the broad investment needed to grow features or functionality in response to or in anticipation of market needs. In essence, the ‘build it’ approach to meeting technical information management and delivery requirements is a valid one, but only for organizations whose scale of operations is sufficiently large to ensure continued, ongoing investment in system capabilities in the absence of a broader community of like-minded adopters. ‘BUY IT’ - LEVERAGING A COTS PRODUCT In light of the drawbacks of the ‘build it’ approach, the traditional ‘safer’ option in many application procurement situations is to buy a fully productized solution. This option may be suitable for many organizations, including small or mid-sized ones
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willing to change their current business practices to adhere more closely to broadly defined industry best practices as modeled in COTS products. For some airlines a COTS solution, such as those provided by airframe OEMs or entry-level commercial software publishers, may meet their basic content capture, revision management, and distribution needs. Particularly for carriers with small or homogenous fleets, the COTS option may represent an optimal approach in which the organization adopts both a fullfledged authoring and revision capability, but without the cost of complexity that comes from a customdeveloped solution mentioned above. For OEMs the more complex requirements around the authoring and distribution of multi-spec content to a wide array of manufacturing and end-customer content consumers is a more difficult challenge, one that is not well-met with a highly specialized offer due to both the complexity of the data being authored as well as the program-specific transformation and packaging delivery requirements. For those considering the COTS route to adopting a new technical information delivery capability, there are a number of considerations including: • Willingness of the organization to change its existing practices: since the software is being adopted in a more or less ‘as is’ form, the organization will typically need to change its business processes to better align to the tool. • Vendor viability: since adopting a comprehensive technical information management system will be a commitment of 10 years or more for most airlines and OEMs, ensuring the financial and technology viability of the vendor being considered is key to avoiding the trap of relying on an unsupported, legacy tool. Organizations should evaluate the vendor’s track record in production environments as well as their domain knowledge and active participation in organizations that address evolving technology challenges in civil aviation. • Roadmap and vision: since a COTS purchase represents a long-term commitment to a set of vendor-driven features and functionality over which the adopter will have little direct control, ensuring that the roadmap and product vision are complete and consistent with the organization’s identified needs is a critical step. A product lacking a coherent long-term roadmap with clear R&D support — signaling ongoing investment in the solution, or rather lack thereof — is probably a poor choice. ‘BLENDED’ APPROACH — BEST OF BOTH WORLDS? As is often the case, a middle approach to addressing the technology acquisition question is sometimes the most advisable for risk mitigation and outcome optimization. In the case of selecting a core technology upon which to build a multi-spec technical
information management system, this middle approach involves selecting a best-of-breed (BoB) COTS product as the basis for a solution, then extending it judiciously to meet an organization’s specific needs. In this model, extensions to the core product are done in partnership with the software provider to ensure to the greatest degree possible that extensions are made in a way that will be compatible with future updates to the core platform, and that they are architected in a manner that is compatible with the underlying COTS application. For example, most COTS solutions should provide some level of support for the core functionality outlined in the requirements section namely: • Content capture / revision management to process inbound content from the source; • Authoring to allow new content creation and edits; • Content and process management to drive change management process and implementation; • Publishing to deliver content where, when, and how it is required; • Viewing where content is needed most; • Support for regulatory compliance, including reporting; • Feedback capture to continually improve content, process, and product. Some of the areas where you can expect to customize a COTS technical information management solution most effectively are listed below. FOR AIRLINES… • Workflows and business rules for content creation and revision management to ensure continuity of internal and OEM change histories for use in compliance reporting and rapid, defensible change management. • Viewer integrations to back-office ERP, maintenance, illustrated parts catalogs (IPC), and other platforms to improve productivity of maintenance staff using technical information by linking directly to ‘adjacent’ systems to make technical information more relevant. • Back-office integrations between the technical information management infrastructure and ‘systems of record’ (ERP, CRM, etc.) to allow changes to source systems such as parts databases to flow seamlessly to technical publications. • Style customizations for manuals and task cards to match an airline’s brand and naming conventions. FOR OEMS… • Content pipelines to manage program-driven receipt and delivery of structured content between partner suppliers and end-customer users. These pipelines typically provide processing features like validating to a specific schema or DTD, transforming within or across specifications, or filtering of data based on a
particular set of conditions or effectivities. Pipelines can allow the same content to support multiple program commitments spanning manual types and specifications with minimal manual rework. • Taxonomy management for managing industry, product, and region specific terminology needed to facilitate content usability. Taxonomy and terminology management allow authors to create content that is compliant, then to maintain it dynamically as business and regional needs dictate with minimal manual re-work. • Supplier / customer portals to automate the capture and delivery of content in ways that are compliant with contract terms and maximize content reusability across the supplier ecosystem while ensuring protection of intellectual property and tracking of outbound technical information assets (watermarking where appropriate, etc.). • System integrations to source content systems such as PLM (product lifecycle management), engineering and materials management with a goal to increase reuse of content whenever it is available.
A FINAL NOTE
Whether an organization opts for a build, buy, or a blended approach to establishing a multi-spec system for managing technical information, the considerations do not end with those discussed here. Airline operators and OEMs also will need to evaluate their application hosting and service delivery model. For example, they should determine if they will opt for an on-premise solution or for a hosted solution. If they select the latter, then they will need to evaluate if they will use a private or a cloud-based model. Another consideration is using a traditional software licensing model or a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Finally, whereas this article has discussed the technology considerations in supporting a multi-spec environment, one cannot under-estimate the level of effort required to support user adoption of a new system and the related change management support required to make a new system successful. Both topics merit further discussion within an organization to lay the foundation for success.
FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: LESSONS FROM EARLY ADOPTERS
Charting a course to meet technical information management requirements in a multi-spec world presents a wealth of questions and options to participants in the civil aviation ecosystem. In the final article of this series, we’ll move from theory to practice to see how early adopters are addressing OEM and airline requirements to support new-generation aircraft programs in parallel with existing aircraft programs. n
FLATIRONS SOLUTIONS
Flatirons Solutions provides information management consulting services and solutions for Fortune 500 and other companies in the aviation and aerospace, enterprise, government, high-tech, and publishing and media industries — helping customers deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right people. The TechSight/X suite of products is an independent solution for technical information management developed specifically for the aerospace industry to create, manage, and deliver large volumes technical information in support of the production, operation, and maintenance of aircraft throughout their lifecycle.
JD SILLION
As Vice President of Products and Solutions, Flatirons Solutions, JD Sillion has held senior leadership roles in professional services, program management, and product management and served as a consultant/change agent for numerous high-growth technology companies. Among his responsibilities, Sillion ensures that Flatirons Solutions’ solutions are responsive to the current and evolving needs of its customers. In addition to solution lifecycle management, his areas of expertise include investment strategy, service delivery, customer management, sales support, and marketing.
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30 | WEBINARS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
PAST WEBINARS: View Video Recordings of our Live Software Demonstration Webinars at Aircraft IT Build your own MRO Software Demonstration Webinar Library. Search through and sign up to view the convenient video recordings of all previous Live MRO Software Demonstration & Masterclass Webinars at the following link: http://www.aircraftit.com/MRO/Webinars/Past.aspx. This exceptional video library contains recordings of Live Software Demonstrations and Masterclasses from the following major IT Vendors: Boeing, Commsoft, TRAX, Swiss-AS (AMOS), Enigma, Rusada, Mxi Technologies, Gen2Systems, Ramco Systems, Aerosoft Systems, 2MoRO Solutions, Lufthansa Technik (manage-m), AV-BASE Systems, plus more. An outline of three of the recent Webinar Recordings can be seen below:
Live Boeing Mobile Maintenance iPad Application Demonstration Webinar
TRAX Mobile Maintenance iPad Demonstration (TraxM) & TRAX MRO/M&E System Overview Webinar
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19th September 2013
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Register to view this Webinar Recording and join Boeing for an as live demonstration of their exciting new Mobile Maintenance Applications for iPad and iPhone. The Webinar video will show you how these new applications give mechanics access to the information they need to resolve maintenance issues planeside or on the go, in close collaboration with maintenance and engineering teams based elsewhere. You will see how they boost maintenance efficiency, improve aircraft utilization, and reduce operational costs.
Register to view this Webinar recording and join Trax for an overview of their industry leading maintenance software solution for airlines and third party MROs.
During the Webinar, the Boeing experts will walk you through an as live iPad demonstrations of their three new products: Toolbox Mobile Library, Toolbox Mobile Parts and Maintenance Turn Time.
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You will also see an as live iPad demonstration of the New TraxM mobile maintenance solution. Firstly a high-level tour of the different modules and the rich functionality the Trax Maintenance software providesand an as live demo of Trax’s new mobile solution for iPads, Smartphones and Tablets: TraxM. The iPad demo will show you the different modules available on TraxM and a high-level review of this industry leading software solution to see why the TRAX M&E Software solution is used by over 110 companies worldwide.
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About the Live Software Demonstration Webinar Recordings
How it works:
Whether you missed them the first time around, need to refresh your understanding of available systems before making a key decision or if you are building a reference portfolio of relevant knowledge, these past webinar recordings will add vital market intelligence to your established professional skills. They’ll improve and sharpen your awareness of available solutions and add to your knowledge store. You’ll gain an overview of the major MRO software systems on the market today, from the world’s leading IT Vendors, and all at a time and a place compatible with your busy schedule. Each demonstration lasts 1 hour, providing airlines, aircraft operators and MROs with the perfect introduction to each MRO software solution demonstrated.
• Visit: http://www.aircraftit.com/MRO/Webinars/Past.aspx • Use the scroll option or view the details of the latest recorded sessions on the right and select a Webinar recording you would like to view. • Next click ‘Register for Recording’ and enter your details. • Once approved the video file will appear in your Member’s Area at the Aircraft IT website. • You can then view the Webinar recording as many times as you wish, share it with your colleagues and retain it as part of your own market intelligence reference library.
Live M&E / MRO Software Demonstration of OASES Webinar 31st October 2013
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Register to view this Webinar recording and join Commsoft for an excellent chance to view an as live demonstration of one of the industry’s leading and most cost effective M&E/MRO IT Solutions: OASES. You will see a high level tour of OASES and the rich functionality the software provides plus how the different modules seamlessly integrate with each other and with other IT solutions such as eTechLog.
Success comes at a price. Aircraft IT Webinars have proved popular for vendors and readers alike with more than 100 past webinars on leading aircraft IT solutions now available, and more to come. That’s the success. But with so many webinars to choose from, finding the ones that address any reader’s specific brief is becoming a challenge in itself. That’s the price.
This will provide the chance to see: how a modern, cost-effective, end-to-end M&E/MRO software system operates and the potential benefits it can bring your operation; also, why 88 customers worldwide use OASES and the benefits they have discovered.
So we’ve greatly enhanced your webinar search experience with the new ‘past webinar’ search facility. Whether it’s MRO or Operations, you can search by ‘Webinar Name’, by ‘Vendor’ or by category. iFinding the right information for you just got easier.
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32 | WHITE PAPER: TEAM SAI | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
Moving day, getting ready and afterwards Migrating Data from legacy MRO IT systems to modern systems David A. Marcontell President & COO, TeamSAI Inc and John F. Smiley III, Aviation Analyst, TeamSAI Consulting explain how it should be done
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“The business case for making a change from a dated legacy MRO system has never been stronger with continued rapid advances in technology both on the ground and in the air, as well as a robust and competitive environment among MRO IT providers”
T
HE WAVE OF technological advances and progress in software and computing platforms that our society has seen over the past 35 years has resulted in remarkable advances in productivity, efficiency and capabilities. Airline MRO IT systems have been no exception to this trend and indeed, in the late 1980’s and 1990’s many airline’s maintenance and engineering organizations transitioned from manual or near-manual maintenance control and record keeping systems into their first mainframe ‘green screen’ environments, using both home grown and enterprise applications like Scepter, Maxi Merlin, and PMI. The unrelenting advance of technology, however, has now rendered many of these applications both expensive to operate, inefficient to use and, at best, functionally limited. The business case for making a change from a dated legacy MRO system has never been stronger with continued rapid advances in technology both on the ground and in the air, as well as a robust and competitive environment among MRO IT providers. The real, often underestimated, challenge is the difficult and complex process of migrating key operations, configuration and compliance history data from a legacy system to the new system; and all while the fleet is continuing to fly. Not only is the data dynamic, but the information contained in the legacy data may be limited and not immediately suitable for transfer to the new system. Effective project management, data validation, and error correction need to be planned for and handled through, and beyond, the new system go-live point to avoid an extended dual entry period or even a non-compliance condition.
CREATING A MIGRATION PATH
Much like when buying a new car, a new MRO IT system will have considerably greater functionality and capabilities than the legacy system it is intended to replace. Indeed, this enhanced functionality and capability was likely a big part of the business case to make the purchase in the first place. However, do not let these shiny new features and capabilities obscure the primary objective of the data migration effort; moving current data to the new system in the most efficient, expeditious and error free way possible.
Migration teams can spend considerable time and energy migrating data, or even driving the organization to create new data that previously did not exist, just to support the new functionality. The best way to avoid this common pitfall is to clearly define what data is needed for the new system to go-live, at the same time understanding what system modules or features are required to deliver functionality equivalent to the existing system. Remaining modules and features should then be characterized as optional and prioritized accordingly. Interestingly, a good example of this rationalization and prioritization are Airworthiness Directives (AD). There is no doubt that the new MRO IT system will need to be able to track currently open and repetitive ADs, but are historical closed and non-applicable ADs also required to be in the system at go-live? Especially if a report of these historical and static (i.e. they are not changing) items can be delivered upon demand? For a variety of reasons, this historical information might not reside in the current system, meaning that there is no data to migrate; only new data entry efforts would populate the desired information. Working with Maintenance and Engineering leadership, the migration team will have to balance the resources required to create the new data against the benefit derived from the new features and functionality. Returning to the example above, some airlines have chosen to migrate only open and active ADs prior to go-live, leaving historical data population efforts for post go-live activities. Very similar discussions should be held regarding historical parts transactions, historical logbook activity, and airframe check non-routine histories. Once minimum system features and functionalities have been identified and prioritized, the data required for each module, feature or functionality can then be documented and assigned to specific migration team sub-groups who are best equipped or most knowledgeable about the data. This latter step is particularly important for quality control as data familiarity – seeing the data as meaningful information and not just a series of number or text characters – is critical to identifying potential data migration errors or garbage data. Lastly, a dedicated test environment should be created
within the new system to permit the experimentation and multiple migration attempts that will ultimately be necessary for success. This test environment should have all of the features and functionality that are expected at go-live fully activated and available for use. Most importantly, the test environment should be completely independent from the final production environment as the migration team will want to test its migrations thoroughly before moving data to the production environment. As discussed later, deleting erroneous data from the production environment can be risky and have unintended consequences. With a clear understanding of the data to be migrated, and an environment to migrate the data to, we can now simplify the migration process into three distinct steps: data mapping, moving the data and data validation.
MAPPING THE DATA
The first step of data mapping is analysis of both the old system and the new system to understand how the systems work and what information they will accept and output. If available, the original specification and design documentation for each of the systems will be critical to helping the migration team understand how each system functions, what data the old system will output, and what data the new system requires for golive. This step may sound quick and easy but it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to accurately understand what data the new system is looking for and what the old system gives you. For example, the new system may want the time when the next maintenance check is due and the old system may output what time the last maintenance check was completed. While somewhat intuitive if you know the check interval,
these are not programmatically the same of course and a conversion is necessary. Working through this step slowly and cautiously will save time and headaches in the long run. One aspect that needs to be looked at carefully when analyzing the new system is required data fields. Again, if available, the documentation for the new system should make it relatively easy to see what data is required for each module and what data is optional; however, there can easily be exceptions that will be revealed by the data checks in the new system during migration testing. An exception may occur for a number of reasons ranging from the type of part being transferred into the new system (e.g. rotable LRU with subassembly build), or the migration team choosing to fill in an optional data field which, unwittingly, makes three more data fields switch from ‘optional’ to ‘required’. The majority of these exceptions should be indicated in the documentation for the new system; undoubtedly however, there will be a few that will go unnoticed until surfacing during data validation or final production. Once analysis of the two systems is complete, the team can move on to the second step and create a detailed document that maps the data output from the old system to the data fields for the new system. This document should be easily editable and show all required and optional data fields for each module in the new system; the data source being used to fill each field; and the specific location of the data in the source file to be used to populate the field. When the data map is complete, the team may move on from the planning stages and start the process of moving data into the new system test environment.
34 | WHITE PAPER: TEAM SAI | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
“Did we correctly understand what the new system wanted and did we get the desired result?’ MOVING THE DATA
At first glance, moving data from one system to another sounds very simple. However, in fact this can be the riskiest, most complex, and often underestimated element of the entire project and one that can quickly lead to non-compliance conditions if not executed correctly. Further, data from the old system will most likely be in a format unsuitable for immediate transfer into the new system, so format manipulation with an intermediary system such as Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel is often necessary. Both of these intermediary system options have their advantages and disadvantages and both can be transformed into very powerful tools when supplemented with regular expressions or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) coding. As with designing – or even flying – an airplane, choosing an appropriate level of automation for data migration is critical. Automation can heavily reduce, if not wholly eliminate, human error in the migration process. However, just as an inappropriate level of automation can quickly lead to a very dangerous situation in the air (e.g. staying on autopilot while traversing significant turbulence), it can also lead to an excessive project delays if overused or used incorrectly. Anecdotal stories abound of how data migration problems were overcome with just a couple hours of work after the migration team stopped trying to fully automate the process
and resorted to simpler methods such as Excel formulas, changing a computer’s regional settings, or even selected key-stroking. These anecdotes represent cautionary tales, so be sure to choose the appropriate level of automation for each step of the data migration process. Once data for the new system has been appropriately reformatted in the intermediary system, the manipulated data will need to be converted into a form that the new system will accept. This most likely will be a text or comma separated value document depending on what system you are migrating to. This final conversion process is typically fairly straightforward; however, some of the converted files may need to be cleaned up with a powerful 3rd party text editor, such as Notepad++, as the text editor that comes with Microsoft Windows may hide formatting errors that can occur when converting from one file type to another. To mitigate risk involved in moving the data, it is important to create – and religiously follow – detailed and documented procedures describing how each migrated data set will be pulled out of the old system, manipulated, and then input into the new system. These procedures will reduce human error to a large extent and allow the data migration team to quickly and accurately replicate a successful data load; an immensely important ability that will be required in the hours and days just prior to the new system go-live point. Remember, the aircraft are not going to stop flying while you are migrating data so it will be critical to document the process in detail in order that it can be quickly and repetitively performed. Once detailed procedures have been established and automation for data migration has been developed and tested, the team can begin pulling data out of the old systems for migration testing, and later, data validation; all prior to go-live.
VALIDATING THE DATA
After the team has migrated a data set into the new system, the transferred data should be validated against the original data set to verify an accurate migration. The question that must constantly be asked during this process is, ‘Did we correctly understand what the new system wanted and did we get the desired result?’ For most of the data, the answer will be ‘yes’, but inevitably there will be data that falls into one of two categories: incorrectly transferred data; or simply garbage data. Correcting data that was transferred incorrectly, whether through programming errors or simply misunderstanding what the new system wanted in a particular field, is fairly easy. The team simply goes back to their data map as well as the system documentation and, with a better understanding of what the system wants, correctly remaps or reformats the field(s) or migration procedure to the new system. On the other hand, correcting garbage data, which is data that was programmatically transferred correctly but ultimately was not acceptable to the new system or simply inaccurate, can be significantly more difficult as it often reveals deeper, more systemic issues with the underlying data. This is also often where non-compliant condition can emerge. When garbage data is found it is important for the migration team to act quickly to notify the owners of the source data so that actions can be taken to correct the source data and, if necessary, mitigate a noncompliance condition that was previously unknown. All migration teams should expect to find some amount of garbage data, even if a client insists that all of the source data is good and ready for migration. It is important to note, that in some cases it may appear quicker to rectify incorrectly transferred or garbage data directly within the new system instead of reprogramming or correcting the source files. The migration team should carefully consider this valid option, but understand that with most new systems some of the data fields are highly complex and tied to background calculations and other fields. If manually corrected in the new system, these complex fields may break and require an entire system wipe and reset to correctly fix. Once the migration team has completed the validation process for a migration data set, the team should repeat the process until a perfect, or near perfect, migration occurs. With each test migration the team will not only gain a better understanding of how the new system works, but equally importantly, identify and rectify garbage data.
GO-LIVE DATA MIGRATION
Once all of the data migration sets have been successfully migrated in the test environment, and migrated data validated against the original source data or expected results to confirm migration programming and procedures are error free, the team will be ready for the final go-live migration. Remember, the many months of activity and hard work to map, program, migrate, and validate results in a test environment prior to go-live was for the purpose of facilitating a comprehensive, but rapid and high quality, migration over a period of just a few hours in order to minimize the number and risk of potential non-migrated transactions (i.e. transactions that occur during the go-live migration period). The final go-live migration should be planned and executed during a period of historically low MRO IT system transaction volume. This optimal period will vary depending upon the airline and its operation and may not be intuitively obvious, so clear guidance should come from the Maintenance & Engineering leadership team as to the best time to schedule this important milestone.
WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WHITE PAPER: TEAM SAI | 35
“The final go-live migration should be planned and executed during a period of historically low MRO IT system transaction volume.” POST GO-LIVE ACTIVITIES
After months of planning, preparation, and testing, the new system is finally live but there is still much to be done before the project can be considered closed. Post migration activities can make or break a successful data migration but fortunately it is fairly easy to avoid a post migration disaster by immediately beginning the data validation process and continuing to maintain the legacy system while data in the new system is being validated. This period of dual entry and system management will likely be a requirement from the airline’s regulator to assure the necessary control systems are operating correctly before the legacy system is shut down. The migration team and system end users can expect to find issues with the data as time begins accruing against the assets in the new system. Just a couple of examples would include tasks with multiple requirements that are missing a requirement, incomplete or missing reference document numbers or incomplete task instructions. While it is true that a dual data entry period in both the legacy system and the new system is an inconvenience and labor intensive, the benefits and protections it provides as these issues
TEAM SAI
TeamSAI is recognized as a versatile consulting and technical services firms in the aviation industry. Known for an innovative yet pragmatic approach to the industry, they specialize in strategic management, tactical expertise and operations support. The firm’s executives and consultants each bring more than twenty-five years of aviation experience from different airlines, airports and MROs to each unique engagement. TeamSAI offers three distinct product lines, each tailored to fit the needs of targeted markets and customers. • betterstrategy™ Consulting & Advisory Services • betteraction™, Technical Support Services • betterinsight™, MRO & Operations Forecasting
arise greatly outweigh the time and effort needed to maintain both systems. Migration teams should plan to have a dual entry period of at least one to two months after the new system is live. Once the data validation process is well underway and the data issues being found occur less frequently and are of lesser significance, the migration team can begin work on follow-on priorities such as building historical data that was not available for migration… closed and non-applicable ADs, aircraft oil consumption histories, etc. The satisfactory completion of these follow-on priorities will finally mark the end of the project and a successful MRO data migration effort. n
DAVID A. MARCONTELL
PRESIDENT – CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER & PRINCIPAL As one of the original partners, David was instrumental in the successful growth of TeamSAI with expansion into new areas providing strategic and tactical support to clients around the world and in project management roles. He launched TeamSAI M&E Solutions and now serves as TeamSAI’s President and COO. Previously, David served in challenging technical, executive and leadership roles. He is a licensed pilot and mechanic and certified Six Sigma Black Belt with an M.S. Engineering degree and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering.
JOHN F. SMILEY III
AVIATION ANALYST, TEAMSAI CONSULTING Having served in various analytical and project management rolls, as well as developing a business plan and financial model for a small airline, John has been involved in all phases of analysis for a range of subjects. Upon joining TeamSAI, he was soon providing support for an AMOS migration and implementation, and in designing, developing, and maintaining TeamSAI’s betterinsight™ products. John earned a dual Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management and Supply Chain Management and holds a commercial pilot certificate, and multi-engine and instrument ratings.
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What’s in your next issue of Aircraft IT MRO? In our next issue, readers will be able to learn about key issues. Given the complex life of an aircraft and the myriad directives, reports and records that need to be implemented and to accompany it at all times, documentation remains a major issue. Also, given that most aircraft will fly with several operators while usually remaining in one ownership, we’ll also look at how leasing, return and remarketing can be improved using a paperless process. Data mining is a growing method to gain better understanding and run equipment better and, with aircraft being part of a much wider IT universe, realigning two key systems is going to be useful. And it will all be there for you in our next issue (Volume 3, Issue 1) .…
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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | TENDERS | 37
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TARGETED OPPORTUNITIES
…your next step Aircraft IT MRO ‘Vacancies’ on the website highlights real opportunities with great businesses looking for the best professionals
Considering your next career move? At Aircraft IT MRO ‘Vacancies’ great businesses flag up opportunities that need experience and skills like yours: or you can simply use us for overview of the market. Aircraft IT MRO is the specialist website and publication for your sector so you won’t have to trawl through a host of general vacancies to find the aviation MRO IT ones that need your skills and will advance your career.
JOB ALERTS FOR FIRST SIGHT
As well as listing current career opportunities, Aircraft IT MRO ‘Vacancies’ also lets you sign up for ‘Job Alerts’, to receive email alerts, making you among the first to learn about the latest opportunities and in pole position to put yourself forward.
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SWISS AVIATION SOFTWARE BUSINESS CONSULTANT, MIAMI, FL, USA • Manage AMOS software implementations and provide business consulting support for the AMOS Americas business unit • Primary contact and responsible person in AMOS implementation projects. Oversee the planning, implementation and tracking of multiple simultaneous client projects. Plan, schedule, monitor and report on activities related to the projects; including financial health and status of the project; all risks, issues, changes; deliverables • Understand our customer’s requirements and suggest how best these requirements can be met by our product AMOS. Produce business requirements specifications including analysis & reengineering of existing business processes • Support the AMOS Customer acquisition process, incl. product presentations, workshops, exhibitions and general support Assist with the building of a complete profile of the Americas MRO market and general market research. CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS
IDMR’s Technical Documentation Management System, InForm, has been designed to play a central role in the long-term survival and proliferation of technical documentation. InForm, written from the ground up as an airline document management system, will allow you to author and maintain virtually any document. Technical Documentation Management is now on aviation executives agenda’s worldwide. Technical documents are the primary source of aircraft, engine, and component reference InFormation which are constantly changing. On-going revision’s and updates by manufacturers, vendors and airline personnel add more complexity in controlling these documents. Failing to follow manufactures, vendors, and regulatory agencies approved maintenance repair and overhaul procedures can result in poor quality control or worse noncompliance fines. Without a centralized approach to Technical Documentation Management, these important documents are usually stored in multiple places, version control is lacking and in many cases different automated tools are used to create and maintain record keeping, perpetuating a process that is extremely time consuming and in most cases inaccurate. InForm offers a Technical Document Management Solution that provides a single repository for storing electronic documents received from outside sources such as manufactures, vendors, and internal personal. IDMR offers airlines, manufactures and thirdparty maintenance providers the industry’s most technically advanced, web centric, fully customizable, easy-to-use, all encompassing, mission critical and affordable suite of Technical Documentation Management solutions.
DOCUMENTS…MANAGED.
www.idmr-solutions.com sales@idmr-solutions.com Tel: +1 888 675 4527
38 | TENDERS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
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MRO Software Tender Upload Aircraft IT website MRO Software Tender Upload function puts your requirements in front of all the leading MRO IT Vendors.
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HE AIRCRAFT IT Tender Upload function allows Airlines, Aircraft Operators and MROs the opportunity to send their software requirements to 30+ of the world’s leading MRO IT Vendors at the click of a mouse. It’s all of a piece with Aircraft IT’s mission to put readers in front of as many opportunities as possible to maximise their professional effectiveness; this time by linking to other professionals with a proven track record of matching complex requirements with effective software solutions. Whether you are looking for full end-to-end Modular Maintenance & Engineering Management Software, ERP, Fully Integrated MRO software, Digital Documentation Management solutions, Supply Chain Management Software, Document Scanning Solutions, or something more, this Tender upload feature will allow you to send your requirements to all the major IT Vendors at the same time... and it’s not rocket science! In fact, it couldn’t be easier.
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• Visit the Tender Upload page at the Aircraft IT MRO Website by clicking here. • Login below with your Aircraft IT Membership details. If you are not a member click on sign up and enter your details — it is free to join. If you are already logged in click on ‘Upload Tender’ below. • Fill in the Tender Upload form and upload a PDF document of your requirements. Under the ‘Software Type’ section, which ever box you tick sends your Tender to all the IT Vendors in that section of the Aircraft IT website. • Click ‘Upload Tender’ and your information will be sent to the key contacts at the IT Vendors. Once the Tender has been uploaded the IT Vendors will very soon send you details about their software and product solutions that would be suitable to address your requirements.
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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 39
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 and 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 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.
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ADSOFTWARE
W: www.adsoftware.fr T: +33 (0)4.50.89.48.50 E: contact@adsoftware.fr
Company formed: 1998, Office Location: France, Thailand, South Africa, Brazil Name of Product Marketed • AIRPACK Number of Modules.........6 Key Business/Software Areas • AIRTIME - Fleet management & CAMO • AIRSTOCK - Inventory control & Logistic • AIRDOC - Documentation management • AIRSTAT - Reliability and statistic reports • AIRWORK - Time Tracking Software ADSoftware has developed an integrated fleet management system and logistic package called AIRPACK. This 6 modules system replies to the needs of aircraft and helicopters operators, as well as MRO and CAMO centres. It meets all requirements in terms of functionality, traceability, performance, aviation legislation and regulations. Today, ADSoftware counts more than 45 clients worldwide. The strength of ADSoftware is the simplicity of its products; they are Microsoft Windows® ready, Web-enabled, available in various languages and a complete training can be done in just five days. The company also provides a 24/7 online technical support and extremely competitive pricing conditions.
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40 | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
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 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.
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AEROSOFT SYSTEMS INC.
AV BASE SYSTEMS
W: www.aerosoftsys.com T: +1 905.678.9564 E: sales@aerosoftsys.com
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
Company formed: 1997, Office Location: Mississauga,Ontario, Canada; Miami,FL,USA; Austria
Name of Product Marketed • DigiMAINT, DigiDOC, WebPMI/DJM Number of Modules.........5
Name of Product Marketed • WinAir Essentials; WinAir Express; WinAir Pro-SQL; and WinAir Enterprise Number of Modules.........5
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.
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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.
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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 41
AVIATION INTERTEC SERVICES
W: www.aviationintertec.com T: +1 807-625-9260 E: info@aviationintertec.com
Company formed: 1997, Office Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Name of Product Marketed • RAAS & RAAS Express Number of Modules.........7 Key Business/Software Areas • Production Planning and Management • CAMO Solutions • Inspection Document Management • Inventory and Procurement • Reliabiliity and Performance Analysisl AIS’s RAAS system is a best-of-breed M&E solution for mid-size operators. Our solution is 100% browserbased and tablet friendly, compatible with all major browsers including Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. RAAS includes industry-leading functionality such as task-step level signature, parallel inspection program management per type, digital part certification handling, iPAD/Android tablet-based EFB , electronic maintenance status board, centralized document library, wireless barcode scanning, and much more. RAAS offers flexible pricing and system hosting options making it suitable for a wide range of customer types and sizes.
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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 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.
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IFR SKEYES
W: www.ifrskeyes.com T: +33 (0) 562 74 75 00 E: commercial@ifrskeyes.com
Office location: HQ: Colomiers / France. Offices in Moscow ; Singapore ; Quito (Ecuador) Name of Product Marketed • AMASIS –> 7 core modules + 6 add-ons • KEOPS –> 8 core modules + 11 add-ons • IBIS –> 6 core modules Number of Modules.........13 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).
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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 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.
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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 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 mid-sized 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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RAMCO SYSTEMS
W: www.ramcoaviation.com T: +91 89 3986 3986 E: Amrith.g@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 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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42 | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
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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) 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.
Click Here for Software Details Click Here to Request Private Demo
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 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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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 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 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 industry for their MRO ERP software. TRAX is the most advanced maintenance software solution available and has been selected by over one hundred and twenty airlines and MRO’s worldwide with fleets consisting of all types of aircraft. 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, world class support and strong customer relationships.
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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 43
ULTRAMAIN
W: www.ultramain.com T: +1.505.828.9000 E: sales@ultramain.com
Company formed: 1980, Office Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Name of Product Marketed ULTRAMAIN® M&E / MRO • ULTRAMAIN Mobile Mechanics™ • ULTRAMAIN Mobile Inventory™ • efbTechLogs™ • eCabin™ • ULTRAMAIN for M&E / MRO: 28 Modules • ULTRAMAIN Onboard Systems Software: 5 Modules Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance & Engineering • MRO • Maintenance Planning & Scheduling • Paperless Customer Care on Tablets • Electronic Aircraft Logbook Ultramain Systems, Inc. develops M&E / MRO and EFB software for the aviation industry and is the only aviation software provider with customers running full, end-to-end paperless operations from the cockpit to the ground. ULTRAMAIN® v9™, featuring Mobile Mechanic™ and Mobile Inventory™, enables real-time paperless data collection for the full maintenance and inventory process. Combine ULTRAMAIN v9 with efbTechLogs™, the easy-to-use electronic logbook, and the entire maintenance process becomes paperless. Contact us to learn what you need to equip your organization with consumer mobile devices and see why elite aviation customers around the world are choosing ULTRAMAIN to reduce costs and increase aircraft up time.
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VOLARTEC
W: www.volartec.aero T: +353 617 49010 E: marketing@volartec.aero
Company formed: 2004, Office Location: Ireland; Argentina
Specialist Point Solutions W: www.aerdata.com T: +44 (0)1293 817 685 E: sharon.heaton@aerdata.com
Name of Product Marketed • CMS, Financials, EFPAC, STREAM, AtlasData Number of Modules.........5
Name of Product Marketed • ADS TRM (Technical Records Management), ADS TPA (Technical Publication Authoring) Number of Modules.........5
AERDATA
Company formed: 2002, Office Location: Amsterdam, Crawley, Dublin, Americas
Key Business/Software Areas • CMS: Lease and Asset Management Software • Financials: Ledger and Financial Software • EFPAC: Engine Fleet Planning and Costing Software • STREAM: Digital Records Scanning Software • AtlasData: Global Fleet Database Tool AerData provides integrated software solutions for lease management, engine fleet planning, records scanning as well as technical and backoffice services for aircraft and engine operators, lessors and MROs. With a strong customer focus AerData delivers reliable and secure services to its clients using latest technologies and state of the art IT infrastructure. AerData has an experienced team of 125 professionals across four offices in The Netherlands, UK, Ireland and the USA. Within AerData, software developers and aviation experts work together seamlessly in order to deliver exceptional software, product support and reliable back office services to the aviation industry.
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AEROXCHANGE
W: www.aeroexhange.com T: 1 (972) 556-8548 E: sales@aeroexhange.com
Company formed: 200, Office Location: Irving, Texas
Name of Product Marketed • Alkym ® Management & Control System for Aircraft Maintenance Number of Modules.........15
Name of Product Marketed • AeroBuy, AeroRepair, AeroComponent, AeroAOG, Smart Source, and Strategic Tendering Solutions Number of Modules.........6
Key Business/Software Areas • Maintenance & Engineering • Logistics • Quality Assurance / Human Resources • Planning & Reliability • Document Management / Technical Library
Key Business/Software Areas • Purchase and Repair Order Management • AOG Recovery and Loan/Borrow/Exchange Management • Supporting Process Management of Component Contracts • Constructing Comprehensive Supporting Events
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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AIRCRAFT DATA SYSTEMS (ADS)
W: www.technicalrecords.net W: www.adsfrance.net T: +33 (0) 975 333 675 E: jalbrecht@technicalrecords.net
Aeroxchange delivers total supply chain collaboration solutions through a single, neutral platform. Founded in 2000 by 13 airlines, Aeroxchange has grown to become the industry leader of eCommerce solutions for airlines, OEMs, MROs, distributors, surplus providers, repair vendors and partners within the aviation community. Aeroxchange’s solutions increase efficiency, reduce cost, and provides full transparency to trading partners. Aeroxchange goes beyond offering basic search and list services to drive value with solutions that support the entire purchase and repair order lifecycle. Aeroxchange also offers solutions for locating parts for AOG recovery, managing loans/borrows/exchanges, and supporting process management of component support contracts.
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Company formed: 2005, Office Location: Nîmes, France
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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AIRLINE CONTROL SOFTWARE
W: www.airlinecontrol.com T: +48 22 2095035 E: contact@airlinecontrol.com
Company formed: 2005, Office Location: Poland (Warsaw), UK (London), Marocco (Casablanca), USA (New York), Argentina (Buenos Aires) Name of Product Marketed • ACS System Number of Modules.........16 Key Business/Software Areas • Flight Operations, OCC Flight Dispatch, Crew Support with Duties autoplanner • CAMO (Part-M) and Maintenance (Part-145) • Safety Management System (SMS) & QMS • Handling, Fueling, Training (CBT Platform) • Tickets & Booking (Revenue Management, Tarrif Engine)0 A specialized IT company engaged in software development for the airline. The main product is the ACS System, consists of 16 modules. There are optional modules: OPS (including OCC Flight Dispatch, NTO, FLIGHT INFO PAX OPS, MCC), CREW, CAMO (Part-M), LINE MAINTENANCE (Part-145), FLEET MANAGEMENT, HANDLING, FUELING MANAGEMENT QMS, SMS, TRAINING, TICKETS & BOOKING and built-in modules: DOCUMENTS MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS, COMMERCIAL, FINANCE SUPPORT, SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR. System is designed for small and medium-sized airlines cover in full all aspects of managing and supporting the airline. YOM 2012. Uses the latest technology – mainly Mictosoft and Apple. Three platform for user: PC, WWW, iPad/iPhone. Scalable and open integration with other systems existing in the airline. For data security, each client can use an online database replication.
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44 | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WINTER 2013
AVIIT
W: www.aviit.com T: +44 (0) 1383 620922 E: info@aviit.com
EMPOWERMX
W: www.empowermx.com T: +1 866-498-3702 E: info@empowermx.com
Company formed: 2004, Office Location: Fife, Scotland
Company formed: 1999, Office Location: Frisco TX, USA
Name of Product Marketed • eMan & Archimedes Number of Modules.........2
Name of Product Marketed • FleetCycle® Execution Suite – MRO Manager (FCXM) Number of Modules.........9
Key Business/Software Areas • Technical publications Distribution - eMan • Document Acknowledment - eMan Read & Sign • ACARS data management - Archimedes • ACARS Technical Consultancy • IT systems management & support
Key Business/Software Areas • FleetCycle® Execution Suite: Production Manger (FXPM), MRO Manager (FCXM) and Line Manager (FCXL) • Maintenance Program Manager (FCMPM), Planning Manager (FCPM), Reliability Manager (FCRM), Material Manager (FCMM), and Maintenance Intelligence (FCMI), Electronic LogBook (FCELB) • Coming Soon: FleetCycle® Executive Suite – Shop Manager (FCXS))
AviiT is exclusively focused on the provision of software solutions to the aviation sector. eMan provides an efficient capability for the distribution of technical publications across the maintenance and repair estate. Used by aircraft operators and 3rd party MROs alike, eMan unlocks the benefits of smooth and efficient distribution of engineering and process documentation. eMan is available as an on-premise or hosted offering for complete deployment flexibility. Drawing upon data sources such as ACARS, Archimedes provides a powerful capability to capture, analyse and present valuable, real time data in a clear and flexible format to Operation and Engineering teams.
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EmpowerMX if an aviation industry-recognized software development/consulting-services business. We are purely focused on empowering our customers with the ability to decrease its costs of making air travel safer by equipping their decision makers with reliable, real-time/globally available intelligence for minimizing maintenance turn times/OpEx while maximizing airworthiness/profits. FCXM allows MROs, airlines, and lessors to effectively control the entire maintenance lifecycle or only the portions for which they are responsible. Airlines can jointly manage their outsourced and insourced activites like engineering reliability, QA and maintenance programs at the line, heavy and shop levels with an expected reduction in cycle times and increase in labor productivity on the magnitude of 16-30 percent. Third-party MROs can run their entire operation fro bidding through contracting to invoicing.
THE BOEING COMPANY
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Company formed: 1916 Name of Product Marketed • Maintenance Performance Toolbox • Airplane Health Management • RFID Integrated Solutions
W: www.enigma.com T: +1 781-273-3600 E: infous@enigma.com
E: TheBoeingEdge@boeing.com W: www.boeing.com/boeingedge/informationservices
Boeing offers the industry’s broadest range of aviation services to provide our customers the ultimate competitive advantage. We call this the Boeing Edge. In the information services field, we are keenly focused on addressing our customers’ continuous need for integration and optimization of information. Using data, software, analytics and IT infrastructure, we connect airplanes, operators and data. We strive to enable smart and informed decision-making to take operational efficiency of their aircraft fleet and operations to the next level.
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ENIGMA
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 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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FLATIRONS SOLUTIONS
(Formerly InfoTrust Group) W: www.flatironssolutions.com, www.techsightx.com T: +1.303.627.6535 E: Julie.Fouque@flatironssolutions.com Company formed: 1994, Office Locations: Irvine, CA, Boulder, CO, Superior, CO, Phoenix, AZ, Austin, TX, Arlington, VA, Shanghai, China, London, UK Name of Product Marketed TechSight/X® Suite of Products Number of Modules.........10+ Key Business/Software Areas • Content Management System (CMS) • Interactive Electronic Technical Publisher (IETP) • Maintenance & Engineering • Flight Operations • Tablet Solutions & Mobility
Flatirons Solutions provides information management consulting services and solutions, including transformational outsourcing services for technical and training information for Fortune 500 and other companies in the aviation and aerospace, enterprise, government, high-tech, and publishing and media industries — helping our customers deliver the right information, at the right time, to the right people. The TechSight/X suite of products is the leading independent solution for technical information management developed specifically for the aerospace industry. For more than 25 years, the world’s largest airlines and aerospace manufacturers have relied on the TechSight/X suite of products to create, manage, and deliver large volumes of technical information in support of the production, operation, and maintenance of aircraft throughout their lifecycle. .
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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 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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WINTER 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SOFTWARE DIRECTORY | 45
HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES
W: T: T: E:
www.hexaware.com/travel-transport-hospitality-solution.htm India: +91 22-67919595 Americas: +1 609-409-6950 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 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’s MRO practice leverages industry specific tools and services to fulfill its customers’ need for efficient migration to newer M&E Systems, implementing industry specific Data Warehouses and Analytics and Independent Application Testing Suites. HMro Suite of Offerings include: HMro Analytics including more than 50+ Industry specific KPIs with prebuilt Dashboards and Reports HMro Data Migration Suite to ease your challenges in migrating to newer systems with specific Accelerators for ETL and mapping; HMro Test Suite for functional Testing of your M & E Applications; and HMro BPO Services for Technical Records Digitisation and Management.
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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+ 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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NVABLE LTD
HOLOCENTRIC
W: www.nvable.com T: +44 141 280 0050 E: contact@nvable.com
Company formed: 2003. Office Location: Sydney, Canberra, Hong Kong
Name of Product Marketed • Appixo, Appixo ETL Number of Modules.........4
W: www.holocentric.com T: +1 612 9957 3169 E: info@holocentric.com
Name of Product Marketed • Modeler, Modelpedia Key Business/Software Areas • MRO and Major Systems Implementations • Organizational Transformation • Continuous Improvement • Compliance Improvement • Business Management Systems Holocentric provides software and services for Airlines to build Operational Frameworks and Business Management Systems to support the business. This includes successfully completing the Transformation Programs, including implementing the MRO software, training material and publishing of the portal for Business, including both legacy and new applications. We do this by creating an OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK AND PORTAL, useable by all personnel. Holocentric customers’ MRO projects are successfully completed within budge t. Importantly, compmpliance is increased acrossthe organisation as a result.
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Company formed: 2005. Office Location: Glasgow, UK
Key Business/Software Areas • Electronic Technical Log • Alternative Training & Qualification Programme (ATQP) • Station Operational Compliance (SOC) • Management Dashboards & Analysis NVable (pronounced “enviable”) was founded as a specialist software development consultancy creating bespoke solutions that allow customers to exploit the full value of their operational data. NVable now also offers its own software products. NVable recently launched Appixo – a platform that combines large scale data handling with a framework to support multiple mobile data acquisition applications. The Appixo ETL is one such application, first launched in May 2012 with BA CityFlyer. NVable is now expanding its suite of aviation focussed applications. The growing list now includes ATQP and SOC Management. The data gathered from each application is fed into the Appixo analysis platform to feed the Management Dashboard & Analytics. This allows for real-time analysis of aircraft status, fuel burn/ uplift, defects, Out of Phase Maintenance etc.
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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 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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PSIPENTA SOFTWARE SYSTEMS GMBH.
W: www.psipenta.com T: +49 (0)800 377 4968 E: info@psipenta.com
Company formed: 1997. Office Location: Germany (Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Essen) Name of Product Marketed • PSIpenta Project Management; PSIpenta Materials Management; PSIpenta Maintenance, PSIpenta Purchasing, PSIpenta Order Management, Psipenta Sequencing, PSIpenta Warehouse Management, PSIpenta Adaptive Planning, PSIpenta Mobile Processes, PSIpenta Data Collection, PSIpenta Control System, PSIpenta Finite Capacity Scheduling, PSIpenta Cost Accounting Number of Modules.........15 Key Business/Software Areas • MRO • Materials Management • Planning & Scheduling • Production & Planning • Mobile Solutions PSIPENTA Software Systems GmbH offers a complete solution for managing and maintaining complex technical systems. Our philosophy of Perfection in Aerospace is reflected in all aspects of our software. Successful customer connections give a reference for our highly customer-oriented software solutions. PSIpenta suite supports the planning and control of maintenance and servicing processes. The scope covers the whole MRO process ranging from slot planning to mobile processes. PSIpenta Planning, Execution & Control refers to a solution-oriented approach based on standardized software modules. It enables the optimization of value-adding processes and increases logistic planning in existing system landscapes with commercial focus.
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