White Paper: Aircraft Data Systems (ADS), Air Works Case Study: Delta Airlines, Jet Airways Vendor Job Card: TRAXColumn: ‘How I see IT’, what can we learn from ACG v Olympic Airlines plus… News, Webinars, MRO Software Directorys

V2.1 • FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

RFID FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENTDelta knows where everything is FROM PAPER TO PURPOSEFULScanning records helps match data to jobs

EVERYONE’S A WINNEROrganising and sharing data means we all gain

INPUT ANYWHERE READ EVERYWHERE

Living in a world of information

Editor’s commentAircraft IT MRO: Doing the things we have always done but doing them better

Well, here we are: it’s 2013 and Aircraft IT MRO is onto its second volume. So let me open by wishing all readers a prosperous and successful 2013 with, perhaps, the chance that you might corner some of those intractable problems which have been kicking around the hangar for the last year, and finally sort them out. Because, such is the pace of change that last year’s intractable problem might, in the light of the latest technology and software developments, now look a doable challenge.

That is the thing about the world we inhabit, it keeps getting better in terms of what we can do, where and when we can do it and how we can capture and store whatever we learn from it in order to make the next task even less work but with a better outcome. That’s the ideal: but today we have to live and work in the world with which we are familiar (legacy) alongside the Brave New World that

new ‘smart’ aircraft, technology and better software solutions are delivering.In this issue, you’ll find high quality writing on all of that. Bringing technical records up to date and

integrating even the old ones into your latest systems. There’s also something on the application of RFID to dramatically improve the time and people needed for many routine tasks plus significantly improve the reliability of the maintenance schedule. You’ll also read both sides of the story with reference to fast MRO Software implementations and see how aviation can learn from others about how to harness the power of disruption and convergence. You’ll gain insight into what makes a key software vendor tick. Plus, of course, How Michael Denis sees IT. As well as lots more news and information from your sector.

It’s all of a piece with the Aircraft IT MRO mission to source, commission and publish applicable knowledge and shared experience for people whose business is keeping some of the world’s most expensive assets flying safely and maintaining the flying public’s faith in the quality and safety of air travel.

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

Aircraft IT MRO: useful information and knowledge building on your experience.

Ed Haskey

04 NewsThis is where you’ll find news that matters in MRO IT and who’s in the News. In a fast moving world, professionals who need to know what is happening, check regularly on www.aircraftit.com/MRO and here in the AircraftIT MRO e-journal.

12 CASE STUDY: LeadiNg the way with iNveNtory MaNageMeNtRick Lewis, Business Analyst, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta TechOps When Delta determined to transfer inventory to RFID technology, there were two challenges: finding a suitable system for a large airline and integrating legacy inventory with new RFID tagged (by OEM) items into one system.

16 CASE STUDY: orgaNisiNg data for More usefuL outcoMesAmol Salaskar. Manager Engineering IT, Jet AirwaysWhen Jet Airways decided to participate in Boeing’s ISDP they were influenced by several factors including the availability of SPEC2000 to facilitate the necessary data exchange. Here is how the implementation program went.

19 COLUMN: how i see itACG v Olympic Airlines – is the definition of ‘airworthy’ changing? Michael DenisSometimes, an external event and outsider’s eyes help clarify understanding. That, Mike Denis believes, is the case with airworthiness where a legal case in a British court has set precedence and refined a definition for an elusive state of operability.

20 WHITE PAPER: techNicaL records – MakiNg theM workJulien Albrecht, General Manager, Aircraft Data SystemsGood records are vital in the safe operation and maintenance of aircraft and a requirement when an aircraft has to be returned to the lessor. Scanning is a good way to keep records but is that a job for engineers or could there be a better way?

24 PAST WEbINARS: kNowLedge traNsfer aNd access for iNdustry experts View Video Recordings of our Past Live MRO Software Demonstration Webinars. See full information and view video recordings of past Live MRO Software Demos, including: TRAX, Lufthansa Technik, Commsoft and IFRSKEYES.

26 WHITE PAPER: what shouLd a cio thiNk about?Ravinder Pal Singh, Global Chief Information and Technology Officer at Air WorksThere are many experiences beyond the Aviation sector from which CIOs in Aviation Businesses (Airlines and MROs) could gain real business value. The problem is, understanding them and understanding the differences they could achieve.

30 veNdor Job cardWhat makes TRAX work? Chris Reed shares the story of their success with Aircraft ITIn this issue’s Q&A piece, Chris Reed, Managing Director at Trax, puts the information on a ‘Vendor Job Card’ for Aircraft IT.

32 upcoMiNg Live Mro software deMoNstratioN webiNarsA preview of Live MRO software demonstration webinars with Swiss-AS covering AMOS maintenance, engineering and logistics software on 7th of February 2013 and AD Software demonstrating their AIRPACK maintenance software solution on the 21st of February 2013.

37 Mro software directoryA detailed look at the world’s leading MRO IT systems.

CLICK HERE: Send your feedback andsuggestions to AircraftIT MRO

CLICK HERE: Subscribe for freeAircraftIT 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.

AircraftIT MRO Publisher/Editor: Ed Haskey E-mail: ed.haskey@aircraftit.com Telephone: +44 1403 230 700 or +44 1273 700 555 Website: www.aircraftIT.com Copy Editor/Contributor: John Hancock E-mail: john@aircraftit.com Magazine Production: Dean Cook E-mail: deancook@magazineproduction.com

SURPRISES CAN bE commonplace for airlines and rarely are they inexpensive. There is

tremendous cost awareness in the industry and, because so many expenses are beyond their influence, managing inventory to the right levels can be a key element in airlines’ profitability. Inventory is usually classified as

either Repairable or Expendable. Repairable components are normally managed by time in service or cycles, so they have a relatively predictable repair schedule managed by an enterprise asset tracking solution. Beyond the obvious throw-away stuff, the expendable category can include single use items that are life limited by the

manufacturer and must be replaced after a certain amount of time — whether in service or sitting on a shelf. These are not generally tracked as well as Repairable inventory and require time consuming inspections to confirm serviceability. They can also be quite expensive.

Knowing when to purchase or replace life limited parts to minimize under-utilization or expiration may seem like a small thing, but there are several installed on any one aircraft and just one that is missing or expired can ground or delay that multi-million dollar working asset. Items like passenger oxygen generators (that supply oxygen to the masks that lie above passengers’ heads), life vests, first aid kits, protective breathing equipment, specialized emergency equipment batteries, portable oxygen bottles and emergency defibrillator devices are all considered life limited parts.

It may not be difficult to keep track of life limited parts on one aircraft, but for Delta’s fleet of more than 700 aircraft, that equates to about 140,000 life vests, over 40,000 oxygen generators and more when you add in the items mentioned above. The dynamics of aircraft

flying all over the world add further to the challenge of tracking life limited parts.

To be safe and remain in compliance, life limited parts are checked regularly to ensure that no items remain in service beyond their expiration date. Depending on the type of maintenance program, items like oxygen generators are checked while the aircraft is in for the equivalent of a C-Check, or about every 18-24 months. The overhead passenger service units (PSUs) are opened so dates on the oxygen generators can be visually checked. At that time, mechanics read the date of manufacture, which may involve loosening a bracket, rotating the generator so the data placard is visible, reading the date and then reinstalling the bracket. Life vests are managed in a similar manner, with lots of time spent crawling around the floor looking under a seat cushion to check a date. A calculation to determine the remaining service life is done to make sure the item will not expire before the next check, allowing for an appropriate safety margin. If it is determined that the part will still be serviceable until the next scheduled visit date, the mechanic tightens everything up and moves on to the next location. For comparison, there can be approximately 60 oxygen generators on a typical B737 to 200 or more on a B777 — depending on the configuration and there can be hundreds of life vests that require inspection. It can be very time-consuming to check each part, taking from a few hours to a whole shift or more.

Not only is the inspection process tedious, but the chance of collateral damage to other parts is significant — standing on seats to be able to read the small text on data placards, pinching wires or tubes when latching the PSUs, accidentally activating the generator (which heats to about 350F), etc. Multiply that by a fleet of 40,000 generators or 140,000 life vests and you have a significant workload. Without the data being captured in a record keeping system, this same cycle of work will be repeated each time the inspection is due — visually checking each part, no matter how new, to ensure serviceability until the next visit.

Cost and timing for replacement inventory adds to the challenge. Buy too many and parts sit on the shelf unused with the calendar running: order too few and AOG (aircraft on ground) shipping expenses pile up for overnight shipping from all over the world.

“It may not be difficult to keep track of life limited parts on one aircraft, but for Delta’s fleet of more than 700 aircraft, that equates to about 140,000 life vests, over 40,000 oxygen generators and more.”

Leading the Way with Inventory ManagementRick Lewis, Business Analyst, Delta Air Lines, Atlanta TechOps explains how RFID was implemented at Delta Air Lines.

12 | CASE STuDy: DELTA AIRLINES | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

THE TARGETA few years ago, Delta Air Lines started evaluating a new paradigm to address these business challenges. We needed something that would improve the process not by a few percentage points, but by orders of magnitude. We also wanted to minimize any business process changes. We wanted to be able to use data to replace inventory — data is better, faster and much cheaper than inventory. Our past approach was ‘we don’t know we need it until we look’ but with data (knowledge) the future process will be ‘we don’t have to look until we know we need it’. This saves in three significant ways: 1) Avoids purchasing life limited parts before they are

needed (reducing shelf-loss); 2) Minimizes AOG shipping expenses related to these

items;3) Avoids repeated date checks on items that are still

serviceable.Delta was also committed to getting results quickly, no airline can afford a multi-year return on investment (ROI); we are also committed to a learn-as-you-go scenario. We knew we couldn’t figure out all the benefits or all the costs, ahead of time but we were pleasantly surprised at what we found.

A fast, accurate way to collect and store data for selected life limited parts was needed, and Delta settled on using RFID (Radio Frequency ID) technology. RFID technology is truly amazing — it’s like bar code technology that doesn’t need line of sight. The radio

waves from a handheld reader can go through, over, under and around obstacles to provide the RFID tag with RF energy. This allows the tag to answer back to the reader. If the portable reader sends out one watt of power to query any RFID tags in the vicinity, each RFID tag answers back at about one millionth of that power to say ‘I’m over here and here’s who I am.’

The reader can find hundreds of tags per second which is pretty amazing considering that the RFID tags have no power of their own (passive RFID) and the RFID chip itself is no bigger than a grain of pepper.

Delta started pursuing this technology solution in 2009, at about the same time the partnership of Aerospace Software Developments (ASD, Dublin, Ireland) and Technology Solutions (Oakland, CA) began making RFID commercial off-the-shelf solutions available for airlines. They are leaders in aviation RFID, having helped develop the ATA Spec2000 RFID standards and demonstrated the first industry solution in 2007. They also have solutions for OEM suppliers. Their software solutions are the only ones in the industry that have been certified by the GS1/EPCGlobal organization.

The initial goal for Delta is to make parts visible to those who manage and replace them. With this visibility comes an element of predictability for inventory, scheduling and workflow — helping, as discussed earlier, to avoid costly surprises and expensive AOG shipping expenses.

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STuDy: DELTA AIRLINES | 13

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14 | CASE STuDy: DELTA AIRLINES | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

THE SOLUTIONThe first demonstration of the RFIDAeroCheck solution to Delta management occurred over two years ago with Directors and Managers in the First Class section of a Boeing 757 and more people standing in the back aisle. The Oxygen Generators in the PSUs had been previously tagged with RFID tags. A brief explanation of the system was provided by Dave Browne from ASD in the front of the First Class section, then the trigger was pulled on the handheld reader and a series of beeps — too quick to count — was heard from the reader. It had read the entire First Class section without taking a step.

Dave then demonstrated how easy it was to induct the individual oxygen generators into the software. The reader was handed to each person to enter the necessary data just like a mechanic would at each generator location. There was initial hesitation, followed by an, ‘Is that all there is to it?’ response.

After a brief discussion of the potential uses for RFID on our aircraft, we got the thumbs-up approval to proceed with the project, and we were off and running.

Delta did not wait for OEMs to begin tagging their oxygen generators to be able to leverage the technology. It didn’t make business sense to wait for existing O2 generators to age out of the system, nor to replace all the generators with new ones — that would lose a significant amount of useful life on those assets and would take us in the wrong direction. A solution was developed for tagging these legacy parts according to the ATA Spec2000 standard, giving each legacy part a unique number to identify it. In the future, OEMs will be delivering RFID tagged parts containing the actual manufacturer’s CAGE Code, Serial Number, Part Number, and Date of Manufacture. At that time, the transition will be transparent and the mix of both new

and legacy parts will coexist seamlessly.The oxygen generator RFID tags designed for this

particular use work extremely well, providing 15 foot read ranges and quick read times using a portable RFID reader. Tags are also available for application to life vests, life vest boxes/pouches, passenger oxygen masks, medical kits and many other emergency equipment items. All are available from William Frick & Company and are AS5678 certified, as required by the FAA.

The software chosen, RFIDAeroCheck, presents a small footprint, is server based and web accessible. It provides many user assignable switches to allow configuration for a variety of terminologies, date

formats and expiration schemas (i.e. first of month, last of month). The portable RFID scanners connect via Wi-Fi at hangar and line station locations. Mechanic training for the wireless handheld scanner application was easy and only took about 30 minutes on the aircraft.

Training for the server side application is slightly more involved. That’s where the LOPA (LayOut of Passenger Accommodations — essentially the floor plan of the airplane) is created for each fleet configuration and populated with the desired emergency equipment. The process is assisted by a GUI (Graphic User Interface) design tool and some basic configuration menu selections — such as, Economy is 3x3 seating starting at row number 11 and continuing for 28 rows; and immediately you’ve generated a picture of the Economy section seating. Adding lavatories, galleys, closets, exit rows, extra aisles, etc. is easy. The locations are click-and-drag positioned and can be named according to the appropriate nomenclature. The layout is easily created and looks like the actual aircraft so all equipment will be located where it is expected on each aircraft. The design tool accommodates single aisle, double aisle and double decker, also allowing for custom named classes and extra sections. The server software also holds the software configuration options, reference part data and reporting functions.

Once the LOPA is configured in the software, each location (seat, PSU, closet, etc.) is populated with a life vest, oxygen generator, etc. until there is a complete map (and database) of every piece of equipment for each aircraft.

THE PROCESSWhen the aircraft arrives for a visit, each item is inducted into the software, assigning each uniquely identified part to its specific location. Drop down menus or 2D barcodes are used to harvest the part number and date information. This initial induction can be done on a B757 in about 40 minutes by two technicians and about two hours on a B777. After the induction is complete, the part information exists on the server and can also be checked with a 45 second walk down the aisle with the handheld scanner, quickly confirming the presence and expiration status of any tagged items — to the specific location. Any items that appear on the Exception Report, generated on the handheld software following the RFID scan, are visually checked for serviceability and replaced, tagged and inducted back into the software if required.

This RFIDAeroCheck solution is a complete, standalone solution from data collection to automated reporting. It can even automatically email data for notification of items that are approaching an expiration date. The database reporting function also allows maintenance to plan what their life limited part workload will be on any given tail number, and allows

“A solution was developed for tagging these legacy parts according to the ATA Spec2000 standard, giving each legacy part a unique number to identify it. In the future, OEMs will be delivering RFID tagged parts.”

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STuDy: DELTA AIRLINES | 15

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RICK LEWISbuSINESS ANALyST, DELTA AIR LINES

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RFID program. Rick holds an AMT license and a degree in Aviation Management.

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inventory analysts to better predict both short and longer-term inventory requirements. OEMs also benefit, minimizing last minute AOG orders and scrambling to accommodate customers. It’s a win-win for everyone and, when appropriate, this solution can be integrated with existing enterprise systems for inventory planning and scheduling of aircraft maintenance, to generate even greater ROI opportunities. Delta has not integrated the RFIDAeroCheck software with the enterprise systems yet. Our approach is ‘learn first, and then grow’.

The ROI to Delta can be measured in terms of months, not years. Implementation is not at all complete and we are still exploring the scope of equipment that should be tagged. We are also investigating ways of performing item level security checks using RFID solutions. And we are also working with select vendors to include RFID tags on new purchase inventory. This will begin the process of switching to OEM tagged inventory. Until then, we have a solution to best manage our legacy tagged, already paid for, flying inventory.

Delta has been studying this opportunity for many years. Using aviation-specific RFID standards, inexpensive tag options, and user accepted and friendly software, we are moving forward using RFID technology to reduce our costs and explore ways to positively impact our operations as industry leaders in this arena. n

16 | CASE STuDy: jET AIRWAyS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

SPEC 2000[1] IS a set of e-Business specifications, products and services which have evolved over more than 40 years and are

designed to address challenges in the supply chain processes of the airline industry, incorporating the latest technological advances in information exchange. It aims to streamline business processes and reduce administrative costs. As more trading partners embrace it, the system will become increasingly efficient and effective.

Created by the airline industry under the auspices of A4A (Airlines for America – previously ATA), SPEC 2000 is divided into four major areas of e-Business: Aviation Marketplace, e-Commerce Standards, File Standards, and Bar Coding Standards. These are further developed into 17 chapters for data exchange of which Chapter 11 deals with the collection and exchange of fleet and component reliability data [2].

Boeing introduced the In-Service Data Program (ISDP), which created a platform for airlines and suppliers to share fleet-wide reliability data. This service allows participating airlines and Boeing to perform reliability analyses on fleet performance which, in turn, supports improvements to current in-service aircraft as well as new aircraft development. The maintenance and reliability data exchanged through ISDP has been an enabler for analyses to determine whether aircraft performance problems are unique, assess if the mean time between failures are normal, identify the No Fault Found (NFF) rates, determine returns on modifications, develop contingencies for future failures, efficiently review performance data from various entities on a common platform, and develop benchmarks [3].

With the introduction of the SPEC 2000 data exchange formats, it is possible to collect data from both airlines and suppliers. From airlines, it is possible to collect material on ten data subjects: hours and landings, component removals, schedule interruptions, logbooks, scheduled

maintenance, service bulletin, shop findings, piece parts, status change and summary. From suppliers it is possible to collect data on airline returned components, Boeing (factory and receiving) rejected components, and components returned for modifications [2].

Fleet data shared by airline customers is critical to Boeing’s commitment to provide cost-effective fleet support. When customers provide ongoing operational information, Boeing is better equipped to make cost-effective safety, performance, maintenance, and modification recommendations. Participants in this flexible, confidential program compile data on as many as nine primary service reliability areas (as defined in SPEC 2000, Chapter 11) and send it to Boeing through MyBoeingFleet.com. In addition to providing a broad-based source of fleet data, it gives operators an opportunity to focus attention on issues that address their individual needs [3].

Furthermore, ISDP allows participants to view data compiled by individual, participating airlines, some of which have fleets and operating environments comparable to their own. However, use of this data is restricted to improving operating performance.

THE MOTIVATION AT jET AIRWAYSJet Airways Technical Services would send fleet and component reliability statistics to Boeing every month: Boeing would then compile and analyze this data received from all the operators. The airline operators would have to contact Boeing in order get specific information, e.g. trends or industry performance of certain aircraft systems or components. The airline operators did not have ready access to all the data from which they could perform any customized analysis. In order to benefit from the vast repository of this data (from other airlines), an airline would have to enroll in the ISDP (In-Service Data Program).

Organising data for more useful outcomesAmol Salaskar. Manager Engineering IT at Jet Airways describes integrating IT systems

using standard data exchange formats for technical reliability.

Jet Airways is a member of the ISDP, and was also sending across data. Therefore, by simplifying and automating the process of transmitting the data in xml standardized format for data exchange, the manual efforts (for both Jet Airways and Boeing) will be reduced, and the implementation of the greater advantage from this project would allow Jet Airways to perform any data analysis on the vast information repository held by Boeing on reliability of aircraft and components. This would aim towards improving the technical dispatch reliability.

The opportunity to leverage technology arose with the availability of the data exchange standard, SPEC 2000 Chapter 11, which deals with Reliability Data Collection/Exchange specifically for airlines, and airframe, engine and component manufacturers.

Several of the data subjects were included as features in the E&M (Engineering and Maintenance) IT system at Jet Airways and Boeing actively wanted to support with SPEC 2000, that being the standard format for data exchange. This lead to Boeing wanting to setup a joint implementation team that would ensure that Jet Airways is fully capable of deriving the benefits of ISDP with the SPEC 2000 chapter 11 data exchange formats.

In the original implementation efforts Jet Airways planned to go live in 18-24 months, but with the active participation from Boeing, this project time-line is now less than 12 months.

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STuDy: jET AIRWAyS | 17

LEVEL OF ACTIVITIES IN THE PROjECTThe project plan was drafted with the aim to have all nine data subjects (see below) of SPEC 2000 Chapter 11 reported by Jet Airways to Boeing. The following key stages were considered as working towards a successful completion of the project: a) Identifying the project team on both sides — Boeing and Jet

Airways.b) Mapping data from Jet Airways’ IT system (AMOS) with the

SPEC 2000 xml data formats for Chap 11. c) Identification of hardware and implementation setup. d) Evaluation of the data quality. e) Testing of the existing SPEC 2000 xml standards within

AMOS for meeting data quality requirements. f) Changing internal processes so that they would align with

the standard processes.

SETTING UP THE TEAMThe project team was drawn from Boeing and Jet Airways. On the Boeing side there was a Business Analyst, an IT programmer and a SPEC 2000 specialist (on standby). The Jet Airways team consisted of the Engineering/Reliability expert, IT focal, and a data subject expert (as needed). The working protocol consisted of an on-site meeting to establish the project activities and timelines, and perform the data mapping. Thereafter all stakeholders were to work on individual project activities and report status in the weekly project report-out teleconference. The weekly teleconference and the weekly status reports were released by Boeing’s Business Analyst.

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MAPPING DATASPEC 2000 Chapter 11 consists of the following nine data subjects:• Hours/Landings;• Aircraft Events; • Aircraft Logbook; • LRU Removals; • Scheduled Maintenance;• Service Bulletin; • Shop Findings;• Shop Findings – Piece Parts; and • Aircraft Status Change.The team met on-site to perform a data sanity check consisting of two parts: a) To know whether the data was available within Jet

Airways (either in the IT system or in any other format).

b) If the data was available, then to develop a process for collating and organizing it in the SPEC 2000 format required for reporting. This consists of…i. Data extracts that are available as a standard

within the IT system (AMOS). ii. Data within the IT system but that need to

be extracted and organized in the SPEC 2000 format required for reporting.

iii. Data outside of the IT system in other formats, e.g. MS Excel: special software processes needed to be developed to collect that data and organize it in the SPEC 2000 format

“The opportunity to leverage technology arose with the availability of the data exchange standard, SPEC 2000 Chapter 11, which deals with Reliability Data Collection/Exchange specifically for airlines, and airframe, engine and component manufacturers.”

18 | CASE STuDy: jET AIRWAyS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

AMOL SALASKARMANAGER ENGINEERING IT, jET AIRWAyS

Amol Salaskar has been a manager Engineering IT with Jet Airways for over seven years. In this role, he manages the administration and integration of solutions (technology and process) into the business areas of Engineering

and Maintenance. Prior to that he worked as a Business Analyst for Fleet Management Operations, with General Electric where he certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Auburn University, USA, and followed by a diploma in Management Studies.

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Based on this assessment there were several actions initiated. The project plan was developed into three specific stages.

Stage 1 was to implement the SPEC 2000 data subjects that were already available from the IT System (AMOS).

Stage 2 consisted of developing the data extracts that would support towards developing the xml outputs that are not available. This would be done using an externally developed IT tool; in this case, MS Access.

Stage 3 was to augment use of the IT System (AMOS), by converting the present manual processes into an electronic process. It was further proposed to utilize the SPEC 2000 interface capability available in the IT system.

IDENTIFICATION OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREIn order to map the data the SPEC 2000 schemas were procured from A4A. Due to various versions of the schema being available, there was a need to agree on the SPEC 2000 version that would be used in the implementation, and one that it is compatible with the IT systems at both Jet Airways and Boeing.

During the data mapping process there were three observations:a) Some of the data subjects produced from the IT

system could be directly transmitted to the Boeing system;

b) A few data subjects required data cleansing before they could be transmitted to Boeing;

c) A few data subjects were not a standard part of the IT system, hence suitable data extracts routines were created that would then be organized in SPEC 2000 xml format before transmitting to Boeing.

Since b) and c) were concerns to be addressed, the team decided to have a custom developed system as a staging application system. The Jet Airways IT system would send the data to a staging system using FTP (File Transfer Protocol); the staging system would then process the data into the required format before it could be transferred using FTPS (File Transfer Protocol Secure) to the Boeing data upload service. The staging system was decided based on the data load and the processing requirements.

It was agreed that the Jet Airways IT system (AMOS) would send data to the staging application (within Jet Airways domain), that would process the information and perform a data sanity check. Once the files were scrutinized the data would be prepared in the SPEC 2000 xml format, and transmitted to Boeing’s data upload service. At the check-points there were people identified who would receive email alerts in-case there was a failure with the process of data transmission.

AbOUT jET AIRWAYSJet Airways currently operates a fleet of 99 aircraft, which include 10 Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, 11 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 2 Airbus A330-300 aircraft 59 next generation Boeing 737-700/800/900 aircraft, 16 ATR 72-500 and 1 ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft. With an average fleet age of 5.66 years, the airline has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world. Flights to 73 destinations span the length and breadth of India, and beyond to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.

RefeRenCeS[1]http://www.spec2000.org/. [2] Using SPEC 2000 to streamline your business. Jon Andresen – President Technology Solutions. ATA eBusiness Program. Oct 2008. [3]. In-Service Data Program. John Kneuer – Team Leader, In-Service Data Program. Boeing. Aero Magazine. Q1 2008.

EVALUATION OF DATA QUALITYDuring the data mapping process, the team evaluated the quality of the data for each of the data subjects. The sample file from the test (sandbox) environment (IT system) was setup to generate the SPEC 2000 xml files. A sampling of some of the data points was performed to check for inconsistency or whether the reported information was not in accordance with the definition of the SPEC 2000 definition. These were carefully analyzed for any repetition or duplication, and then measures were taken to correct the data and educate the users, who generated the data so that it would be correct right from the start.

Procedures were designed and implemented along with Engineering Quality so that compliances were faster. Also, training and write-ups were separately issued to give step-by-step instructions on how the information was to be input in the IT system.

PECULIAR DATA CHALLENGESDue to a long legacy of using the IT system (AMOS), there were a few data gaps in the information captured. These were addressed by the following methods:a) For inconsistencies, it was decided to make certain

data fields mandatory so that errors are eliminated at source.

b) Education of the users, and preparing work-procedures for user reference.

c) Issuing quality circulars that allowed us to enforce certain discipline in the way information is captured.

The bigger challenge arose when the process did not fully adhere to the requirements of the IT system, which in-turn influenced the quality of data produced by the xml file. This was addressed as follows:d) For data stored in the IT system but not part of

the standard SPEC 2000 out-puts, separate software routines were developed so that AMOS data could be extracted and produced into the required xml formats.

e) For at least one data subject, the IT system was not being fully used for managing the entire business process. Hence, software routines were developed (application) so that the data could be drawn from alternate systems (e.g. MS Excel files) and joined with data from the IT system, to prepare the required data format.

ADVANTAGESThe primary advantage derived from implementation of the ISDP requirements using SPEC 2000 Chapter 11 data standards was that Jet Airways would now have access to the vast repository of reliability information available within Boeing. Also, certain processes were re-designed and re-implemented; hence business processes now conformed with global standards. And, pre-existing manual business processes would get converted into electronic form. n

“The primary advantage derived from implementation of the ISDP requirements using SPEC 2000 Chapter 11 data standards was that Jet Airways would now have access to the vast repository of reliability information available within Boeing.”

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your comments or questions to Michael by clicking here.

How I see ITACG v Olympic Airlines – is the definition of ‘airworthy’ changing? Michael Denis

The recent ACG v Olympic Airlines civil lawsuit in the UK reviewed the definition which was in debate and established some important precedence.“Whether a particular defect renders an aircraft unfit or unsafe for flight will depend upon the function of the part in question and the severity of the defect. It will not depend upon whether the operator of the aircraft knows of the defect or not. An aircraft with a defective part which renders the aircraft unfit or unsafe for flight is not rendered fit or safe for flight on account of the operator of the aircraft being unaware of the defect. Airworthiness depends upon the condition of the aircraft at the material time. It does not depend upon whether or not a defect is known to the operator. I do not consider that any prudent lessor or lessee of commercial aircraft intended for the carriage of passengers would regard an aircraft as airworthy if the aircraft carried a hidden defect which, if the lessor and lessee had known about it, would have to be corrected before the next flight.”I conducted a survey on several industry blog sites and the common definition given was, ‘airworthy meant an aircraft was compliant to its type certificate, supplemental type certificates and airworthiness directives AND [was] safe to operate.’While the first is easily proved or disproved by accurate and precise documentation and physical inspections, the second requirement, ‘safe to operate’, is a bit more difficult. The ‘safe to operate’ element of the determination of airworthy is enabled via a Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Program (CAMP) and pre-flight inspection by a pilot. The judge found “a poor standard of inspection by AirAsia…”The civil lawsuit also found deficient maintenance governance practices by Air Asia and on their behalf by ST Aerospace. Air Asia was in the process of redelivering a large number of aircraft and “ST Aerospace were under pressure to complete the 1C check with as little delay as possible”. “Reference was made, i) to the practice of ‘pencil-whipping’, that is, signing off on a job even though it was not carried out…”In the end, ACG prevailed on the technicality of estoppels – that regardless of the airworthiness of the aircraft, when Olympic signed the certificate of acceptance; it gave up its rights to sue.So what does this have to do with an eJournal on MRO technology?Standardized electronic records and the paperless aviation ecosystem is here and is going to accelerate, not because it makes labor more productive, not because it decreases excess inventory, and not because it improves regulatory compliance – we are going to change because lawyers, insurers and CFOs are seeing the cost of paper and non-standardization.At least that’s how I see IT.

What is the definition of airworthy? It seems like a silly question to

be discussing in an aviation trade magazine since it should be universal and fundamental, but it’s amazing

the number of answers you get depending upon who you ask. My

favorite is, ‘Airworthiness is like what the Supreme Court once said about pornography – we can’t define it but

we know it when we see it.’

20 | WhITE PAPER: ADS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

Technical records – making them workJulien Albrecht, General Manager, Aircraft Data Systems considers how to transform paper into useful information?

WHY DO WE talk about technical records scanning? Anybody can scan paperwork

today because everybody has a big photocopier that can print, fax, copy, scan… in fact, everything but make the coffee! However, all too often the user, whether MRO or airline, ends up with a lot of PDF files holding black and white images. Even with rigorous naming of and architecture for file storage, it will often take as long to dig into PDF files as into paperwork, in which case it might be quicker to refer back to the paper work in the first place. Introducing the expense of an OCR (optical character recognition) engine such as ADOBE ACROBAT Pro, will at least assist in using the windows search engine, if enabled on your computer, or the search engine from ACROBAT, but only on clearly printed characters. Using ACROBAT INDEX/SEARCH engine will make it possible to have all files combined into one, thus, say, having a 20Gb PDF file for one year of records on an A320.

Some MRO software allows users to link individual PDF or TIF files to task cards or a parts history. However, this can be time consuming, most often the time of engineers whose job should be more about monitoring maintenance operations than scanning and linking files to corresponding electronic records in the MRO system. This is still prevalent in many airlines and sometimes when, in these times of cost reduction, the cost of sitting an engineer behind a scanner becomes prohibitive, the linking of scanned records behind electronic records is simply abandoned. So, when a lease ends and the time for repossession arrives, large numbers of engineers have to revert to the records and make copies of certain documents to suit the lessor’s redelivery conditions. Added to which, most lessors have their own way of requiring the records.

These days, we hear increasingly about eSignatures for maintenance operations and electronic record keeping. Without doubt, this is the future but there are still some issues. Firstly, aircraft compliant with full eMaintenance, such as the A350 or B787, are new and currently represent less than 1% of the global fleet: against that, many aircraft between five to 40 years old remain in service. These old birds still have their delivery documents and maintenance records only in paper format or sometimes even on microfilms. Secondly, as no global standards have yet been established and accepted for aircraft electronic records, local aviation authorities will not certify an aircraft with only scanned copies of records. Some airlines simply do not look at aircraft that don’t have full paperwork traceability.

Aircraft Maintenance Records, it seems, will still be around for at least another 30 years.

“…aircraft compliant with full eMaintenance, such as the A350 or B787, are new and currently represent less than 1% of the global fleet: against that, many aircraft between five to 40 years old remain in service.”

HIGH SPEED, HIGH DEFINITION COLOR SCANNINGIn recent years, professional scanners have become much more accessible. Production scanners like the CANON DR-6040C are capable of scanning, in one day, a full year of records for a B747, including Line Maintenance, Work Orders, Jaa/FAA ‘form ones’, Base maintenance, Cabin log book, Maintenance log books… This particular scanner has an ultrasonic double feed sensor and can scan from Business card up to A3 with full duplex (one pass) capability. It can be transported in a standard armored case, can easily fit on a desk and, best of all, this wonder can be purchased for less than 4000€.

The value of scanning in color is most apparent when it is necessary to demonstrate that you have scanned an original document. It helps to show blue JAR/FAR (Joint Airworthiness Regulations / Federal Aviation Regulation) mechanic stamps or a ‘CERTIFIED COPY’ stamp in blue or red. Also, when there are only carbon copies of Log Books available from which to make searches, scanning in black and white or in ‘Grayscale’ levels will result in an almost unreadable copy: whereas, scanning in color will allow for adjustment of contrast or even suppression of background color to make readability as good as or better than from the original page.

The high definition of scanned images is also very useful when reading on-screen paperwork with small fonts such as AMM (Aircraft Maintenance Manual) or MPD (Maintenance Planning Document) pages. We recommend to scan in color and at 300dpi (dots per inch) definition for Non-Routine task Cards (NRC) and logbooks and in color and 240dpi for all other documents. Just imagine if you had to read a scanned

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WhITE PAPER: ADS | 21

page from a phone book in 100dpi and black and white; you would never manage to phone your dentist and your wife might never get her favorite flowers: or, in our context, you would not be able to find traceability for a Life Limited Part (LLP) changed five years ago on a line maintenance operation.

The other great advantage of high resolution scanning is that the results of OCR engines are improved by 25% for scanned pages in 240dpi and at least 30% for 300dpi: and there are ways to further improve the results from text recognition. Every OCR engine has good and bad points; but something they share in common is to provide a recognition trust rate. For our purposes, we have selected seven OCR engines, Microsoft Office Document Imaging (MODI), ACROBAT PRO, TESSERACT, KOFAX VRS, ABBYY FINE READER, READIRIS. If the first OCR run gives a trust rate below 90%, then the page is run through the next one until the rate gets to our minimum requirements of 90%.

We have also developed a seventh OCR engine in house to meet aviation requirements. Every OCR engine uses a dictionary to make comparisons and for generating the trust rate. The aviation industry, like every business, has its own vocabulary and lexicon of abbreviations, acronyms and other expressions. The seventh engine is tailored to check scanned records against an aviation related dictionary to increase the recognition rate up to 95%.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SOFTWARE DETAILS AND FOR A DEMO

Digital Aircraft Technical Records

FROM THIS…

…TO THIS.

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Aircraft Data SystemsTel: +33 (0) 466 230 316, email: contact@adsfrance.netVisit: www.adsfrance.net

ADS HP 0213.indd 1 28/01/2013 14:05

Even so, the OCR software can still confuse a ‘0’ (nought/zero) and an ‘O’ (capital letter ‘O’), an ‘l’ (lower case letter ‘l’) and a ‘1’ (number one) or ‘S’ (capital letter ‘S’) and ‘5’ (number five)… For common words this is corrected using the standard dictionaries but, for part and serial numbers it can quickly become such a huge headache that engineers will give up on scanning and using scanned copies and revert to paperwork.

These days, the cost of computer storage is so cheap, except for Cloud based systems, that it would be easy to dramatically reduce document quality in order to save a relatively small amount of money. But, reducing the quality of scanning reduces the value of scanning. And talking about Cloud based applications; how would a user, with no or limited Internet access, connect to the Cloud to consult scanned technical records while working in the field? We use USB sticks to fill that gap with software designed to run on any platform (except IOS Mac).

22 | WhITE PAPER: ADS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

INDExING IS THE KEYEven after having recognized the printed content of the pages there is still a good chance that users will miss the records they are looking for. Since 2005, we have found that 95% of searches are related to non-routine information which is handwritten in most cases and hand written information still cannot be properly read with software: that is one of the reasons why it is called ‘Dirty Finger Prints’ (DFP). But what this means is that 95% of searches will concentrate around the 5% of information that is not recognized even with seven OCR engines… and there is still a chance that the OCR will have messed-up in recognizing the part and serial numbers.

To finally achieve a 99% search capability rate, every single page needs to be presented to operators for a quality check and eventual correction. This also allows operators to input handwritten information into indexes so that the final user can search even on ‘dirty finger prints’.

In most cases, users should find a cartouche on every page that indicates information about the detailed maintenance operation.

We have added what we called Optical Zonal Recognition or OZR which allows users to define layouts of task cards for specific MROs or Airlines and apply a layout reading capability, indicating which area should be stored in which index. Like, but not limited to, Registration, MPD (maintenance planning document) task reference, Work Pack reference, related parts, AD / SB (airworthiness directive / service bulletin), Modifications EO (engineering order). This allows all the records to be scanned by work packs with only one reference – PO (purchase order) or WO (work order) reference. The software does the rest. All indexing is done virtually and, as the records are the responsibility of the operators, nobody should alter their content. Once the work packs have been scanned, they can be stored to a remote safe location exactly as they were produced by the operator or the MRO. It becomes pointless to revert to the paperwork again.

Thus, instead of having many files with names such as task 001, task 002, task 003 we set out to present information linked to as much related information as possible.

Documents have to be presented as what they are, with indexes and title related to the maintenance operation. Who cares about the file number or its location? But who does not care about having access to all airworthiness directives and service bulletins related to a specific landing gear? Indexing could be achieved by putting printed barcodes on A4 pages in front of specific sets of paperwork or by scanning them into specifically named files, but this would be more time consuming and would ultimately represent a prohibitive increase in the cost of the solution.

“Indexing could be achieved by putting printed barcodes on A4 pages in front of specific sets of paperwork or by scanning them into specifically named files, but this would be more time consuming and would ultimately represent a prohibitive increase in the cost of the solution.”

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WhITE PAPER: ADS | 23

Having in-depth indexing capability helps to create statuses: these statuses are not the actual statuses of the aircraft but from the technical records filing system. It then becomes easy to cross check the statuses coming out from the MRO IT software and the digital records system, thus dramatically reducing the time to identify and fix discrepancies between the two reference systems and/or the paperwork.

SYSTEM INTEGRATION, MRO SYSTEM LINKINGThese indexes, stored in an open relational database can help build bridges between MRO systems and scanned technical records. Storing the indexes directly into the files can mean having to open every file to look for a specific page. Storing the indexes into a database will house the result of your searches and the software will only load the page that you require when you have displayed the correct indexes.

WHETHER OR NOT TO OUTSOURCE TECHNICAL RECORDS SCANNING AND MANAGEMENTThe first step has to be to compare the cost of an engineer offering material to a scanner against a low cost external company undertaking that task. As we have seen above, engineers have other jobs to do and might be quite a costly resource to use to scan and maintain records. But it’s also useful to consider the time needed by the MRO, the operator, engineers and the lessor to reconstitute sets of records at repossession time – this can also represent using a costly engineer resource for a task which is not really in the job description.

A study, published in 2004 by EASA, gives a cost of 19 euro per page for the storage of technical records so it might be useful for Airlines to consider using a low cost certified storage company to handle technical records. Also, fire is a real risk in light of the destruction of hangars in Athens or in Brussels. Most importantly, the aviation business is about flying aircraft, not document storage. It would always be better to give the responsibility to someone specialized in that business. The same study from EASA gives a cost of 3 euros for a scanned, indexed and remotely stored page. Outsourcing also allows trained personal to handle corrections of the OCR engine and retyping of dirty finger prints, freeing engineers to do what they are hired for, engineering.

A final advantage is that, in case of bankruptcy, the records are not held on retention. We had a case when an airline went into bankruptcy in 2010. The lessor managed to get the aircraft out of the airline, but an aircraft without its documentation means nothing. Fortunately for this lessor, there was a complete set of scanned records to help put the aircraft on the market because the airline was storing the records in a

jULIEN ALbRECHTGENERAL MANAGER, AIRCRAfT DATA SySTEMS

Graduate IT engineer. After his degree and his military period in the French Air Force, he was engaged by Alain Perroteau to be the Network Manager and team leader in project management for LOGITAIR integration processes.

LOGITAIR, was specialzed in airlines revenue accounting and financial back office processing.

As he has been in aviation since he was two years old pushed by his father François, also well known in aviation industry, he confounded ADS with his father and Alain Perroteau. He is now the general manger of ADS.

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Digitally signing of scanned recordsSome aviation authorities recognize scanned records as originals only if they are digitally signed at the time of digitizing. This, at a cost of approximately 0.04€ per page, can lead to the right to destroy 80% of the paper records held. That said, it would still be sensible to keep as much as possible of the paper like SIGNED TALLY SHEETS, Certificates, NRC, work orders, engineering orders etc. as an aircraft will pass from one operator to another every five years on average and the next operator may not be under an authority that recognizes the digitally signed documents or digitized documents.

The signature has to be given by an outside company as the owner of the scanned copies cannot be judge and advocate. Verysign has already acquired knowledge about the specifics or our aviation world and is recognized in many but not all European and North American aviation authorities.

AbOUT AIRCRAFT DATA SYSTEMS (ADS)

ADS is a specialist in moving aircraft maintenance records and associated documentation from paper to digital format, creating single records from multiple formats (electronic and paper). It has created a scanning methodology to ensure the highest degree of accuracy in records scanned from even hand written ‘dirty finger print’ originals. The firm will also create and maintain a database from which data can be extracted in a variety of formats to suit different requirements; particularly those of the airline, the regulatory regime under which it operates and the aircraft lessor – useful at repossession time.

The service can be tailored to suit customer requirements; either the customer can scan in the information from the paper records or ADS will undertake the whole record scanning and maintenance task as an outsource operation.

ADS have now scanned more than 2.5 billion pages for more than 650 aircraft.

specialized company. As the records were property of the lessor, under the responsibility of the bankrupted airline, it proved easy to get this aircraft back into the sky in no time.

MEET THE LESSOR REQUIREMENTSEvery lessor has its own requirements for redelivery of aircraft technical records. The information is exactly the same but presented in the lessor’s preferred fashion. At airline level, a user can institute a way of presenting scanned technical records, but if the airline operates 80 aircraft from 10 lessors, then it would have to implement and maintain 10 ways of scanning, storing and indexing records. Most of the time, if scanned records do not meet the requirements of the lessor then the scanned records may be rejected, which puts paperwork back on the table. And, of course, none of

the 10 ways of storing records to meet the requirements of lessors might meet the airline’s own requirements.

That’s why having good sets of indexes associated to a customizable architecture is very useful, associating an aircraft to its lessor and then creating a redelivery layout to that lessor’s standards. Records can then be scanned to meet the airline’s requirements. The indexing and virtual sorting of records will help to present the records whether in the airline’s fashion or in the lessor’s redelivery fashion. This removes the need to dig into boxes of paper files to create a set of DFP for AD statuses. The records generated by the scanning software will meet the requirements of whoever uses them. Daily scanning enables a day-by-day update of the record keeping system, helps to identify discrepancies as they arise and saves significant time come repossession. n

“Today we are standing at a crossroad wherein, on the one hand there is a serious threat to legacy but also, on the other hand, a tremendous opportunity to create a simple, beautiful (and low cost) but practical IT which can be a potent business differentiator and confer huge competitive advantage.”

What should a CIO think about?Ravinder Pal Singh, Global Chief Information and Technology Officer at Air Works, identifies the IT dilemmas and opportunities that faces airlines today and suggests how a business might use them

26 | CASE STuDy: AIR WORkS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

IT IS A wonderful thing: I mean… none of us would be doing the jobs we do in quite the way

we do them if it wasn’t for IT. In fact, a lot of what makes the modern world go round and, importantly for us, helps airlines to fly around and over it can be credited to IT with its power to marshal information and help get things done. But, like any strong force, IT can be a power for good or for bad and needs to be handled carefully, not only to leverage the best value from its capabilities but also because, like any power, mishandled it can bite. That’s a lot of responsibility for those involved. So, it matters what goes on inside the head of a Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Architect, Enterprise Architect or anyone who is trying to take IT strategy decisions in today’s world of volatility (business and political) and technology disruption (especially with the two ‘Cs’ – Consumerisation and Cloud – getting into the enterprise zone).

Today we are standing at a crossroad wherein, on the one hand there is a serious threat to legacy but also, on the other hand, a tremendous opportunity to create a simple, beautiful (and low cost) but practical IT which can be a potent business differentiator and confer huge competitive advantage. It’s all down to managing information, as Bill Gates put it: “Virtually everything in business today is an undifferentiated commodity, except how a company manages its information. How you manage information determines whether you win or lose.”

TECHNOLOGY CHANGES THE WORLDMuch of what technology achieves is at the behest of its creators but it could be argued that there are two near-natural forces that technology brings to business: disruption and convergence. Disruption occurs where a technology development doesn’t simply replace its legacy predecessor but actually changes the environment in which it operates by changing the way people interact with the function. To use a consumer analogy, when MP3 files arrived they didn’t just do what vinyl, tape and CDs had done before, they changed how, where and through which platforms people accessed music which meant that artists and distributors had to find new ways to attract the public’s attention and sell their products. In a similar way, convergence isn’t simply the coming together of technologies but often the converged result creates a new reality of its own. Again from the consumer world, when mobile phone technology, email capability and digital cameras converged, they gave birth not only to a multi-capability device but also to a whole new paradigm of ‘people’s journalism’ with anybody holding a mobile device able to record any incident at the touch of a button or screen. Bring disruption and convergence together and you can put into a child’s hands a device that would once have been regarded as ‘Star Trek’ science fiction.

These forces also work on wider scale, using technology design to bridge the gap between desire and need for consumers and technology function to turn business needs into operational realities in the workplace for businesses.

These, at first sight, natural forces can be harnessed, can be made to work with the business through a process of ‘business and IT alignment’; they are also the source of dilemmas which I and my peers and chiefs face. To run, procure, create, simplify and continuously improve the legacy… these were typical IT goals in past and they have changed now. I now apply a strategy for convergence of design, technology and business to ensure that the right systems are built, for the right business needs, in the right time; but also for the right people to bring about quick and true successful adoption. The trick is to recognise early and then to manage the business advantage that disruption and convergence can generate.

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STuDy: AIR WORkS | 27

TIME AND TRUSTTime is also an issue here. In the past, programs to realize values from IT have often been lengthy affairs so that, in extreme cases, benefits have arrived only after the reasons for which they were developed have already been superseded by events. By importing some of the attitudes, priorities and characteristics that govern the fast-paced consumer technology space, businesses can move away from past sins of IT ecosystems: undertaking multi-year implementations (under the incorrect pretext of IT being complex) and forced adoption of systems to business users (under the veil of process improvement). Programs to realize IT value need to be fast and, with technologies like the Cloud, they need to be on the business’s own terms for purposes that the business has identified will serve it (rather than getting caught in the artificial enigma of cloud interpretations by various technology providers acting in their selfish interest). A focus such as this can, in turn, lead to a considerable reduction in IT spend and reduced implementation cycle times to build or improve an IT portfolio.

And, for all of its potency and seemingly miraculous capability, IT needs to be trustworthy. A practical interpretation of trustworthy IT would focus on some basic elements such as a balance of need versus desire, the value of a consistent user experience, customization (making what we have manage what we need) versus configuration (aligning IT with the business) and the superficial security of predictability versus the longer term value of innovation.

Image © Air Works

Image © Air Works

28 | CASE STuDy: AIR WORkS | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013

A WORLD OF DATAInvestment in IT cannot be a cost in isolation but must be aligned with the global, world-class ambitions of the business. In order for this to be managed in the business, it is important to ensure IT clarity at all levels: clear architecture and design guideless, especially related to system performance and user experience; applying simple technologies like search, application marketplace, auto identification, maps etc. When applied in the aviation domain, such clarity of purpose, execution and user experience can increase efficiency by multiples. A lesson learnt from the consumer environment is that, for users, IT should help them not challenge them.

This is true of most environments but we need to be wary of the very smart technology providers with their respective (and often self-serving) definitions and vocabulary about the Cloud and User Centric computing. My vision is of a ‘World of Data’ in which data is stored wherever that is best achieved, made available to whatever systems might be able to use it and the resulting output presented as a seamless and immersive user experience on whatever platform suits the user’s needs or circumstances at the time.

“A lesson learnt from the consumer environment is that, for users, IT should help them not challenge them.”

I see this as three elements (see diagram above) to manage business information (corporate, customer and operation data), considering globalization, growth, high quality experience and connected value chain. By adopting these elements we can create:• Mission critical confidence;• True breakthrough insights.

These, in turn, will generate a true differentiator and support continuous business success.

bUSINESS INTELLIGENCEWith change being the new constant in today’s world of volatility and constraint, a smart IT is the only channel which can provide business intelligence. I would differentiate today’s equating of business intelligence to C-level dashboards as an immature view which invariably ends up with

poor ROI (return on investment) for IT investment. I would instead put the stress on insights through coverage of all business critical paths (see diagram above): for me, business intelligence is IT.

Image © Air Works

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FEBRUARY-MARCH 2013 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | CASE STuDy: AIR WORkS | 29

RAVINDER PAL SINGHGLObAL ChIEf INfORMATION AND TEChNOLOGy OffICER Ravi is transforming current IT and creating its future avatar which is aligned to Air Work’s Vision and its various business goals. He has lived and worked on three continents

and his global experience covers broad disciplines ranging from strategy to execution. In the recent past he has been associated with a leader in technology and a ‘big 4’ management consulting firm to help their Fortune 100 customers and government institutions in IT transformation. He is a child rights activist, practices yoga, runs marathons and does mountaineering. Ravi is also a holder, in his personal capacity, of several technology patents.

AbOUT AIR WORKSAir Works is India’s largest independent aviation MRO and India’s first EASA certified MRO. The company is certified to maintain 50 different types of aircraft – ranging from small, single engine machines to turboprops plus B737s and A320s. Air Works includes Air Livery, UK which is Europe’s leading independent aircraft painting and re-finishing company and Empire Aviation Group, Dubai which is the Middle East’s largest aircraft management services company.

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TAKING THE bEST FROM THE RESTNone of this requires those of us working in aviation IT to reinvent the wheel. There are plenty of mature and proven adoptions of technology which we can take away from other domains, including cases wherein, to help their overall value chain, even fierce business competitors, global brands, have come together to share staple information, hence reigniting the growth of their shared market and increasing by many factors the efficiency of their industry at large. At the same time, such collaborative efforts have given birth to new paradigms and innovation which have, in

turn, improved the whole industry within which the businesses operate.

Of course, working collaboratively and sharing information across the value chain, especially working with Cloud based solutions, can cause some people to worry about security and privacy. Loss of competitive advantage is an often expressed concern in this context but also, depending on where the business is located, concerns can extend to issues such as intrusion into human rights with an attendant fear of unions, legislation and restrictive regulatory agencies, customs and corruption in emerging markets, a fundamental

reluctance to contemplate anything that smacks of outsourcing (the individual manager’s personal interest in managing a large number of employees to create his/her empire as opposed to passing parts of the job over to managing vendors) and so on and so forth. But, in the end, users have to believe that what has worked and generated across-the-board business success in other sectors stands a very good chance of achieving as good an outcome in the aviation IT sector.

That really is something positive for CIOs and everybody involved in taking IT strategy decisions to be thinking about today. n

Image © Air Works

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