About The Client
The client is a large British airline which is one of the world's leading long-haul airlines. With a fleet size of 38, comprising 747-400s, A346 and A343 the airline currently offers regular services to 30 destinations worldwide including U.K., U.S.A., Australia, Caribbean, China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and South Africa from its main base at London Heathrow and London Gatwick.

Client Challenge
The client wanted to build a Flight Crew Training Management System which allows real time electronic reporting of the various Pilot training/checking documentation, its distribution and essential communication. The major need was to replace the labor-intensive and ineffective manual process with an automated system, thereby reducing to a large extent, the time and effort required by the Aviation authorities to conduct audits. IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audits) inspection carried on at the client site had also revealed deficiencies in paper-based training reportage and record keeping. The Airline also had a goal of attaining Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) status, for which an important pre-requisite is the electronic storage of training/check records and objective performance and trend analysis.

IBS Solution
A team of IBS business analysts visited the airline for discussions with the business users to understand the need for an automated Crew Training management solution. The team also studied the challenges faced by the Pre-flight operations team. IBS designed a scalable and innovative solution which addressed the airline’s need and mitigated the existing challenges. The solution also helped the airline achieve a major pre-requisite for attaining AQP status. The solution provides comprehensive dashboards and rich graphical reports and charts, for proactive tracking of expiries and decision making. The reports enable the Senior Management to gain an insight into the airline’s training requirements and also the individual crew’s performance. The rules-based workflow engine helps the Pre-Flight operations department to efficiently manage the certification of the crew qualifications. The JEE web forms allows the airline instructors to access the solution via the internet and capture the results for Line Check, Line Training, License Proficiency Check, etc. for each crew. The solution developed by IBS exceeded the client’s expectations on user interface design and other usability aspects. Training history for the crew maintained in the system will enable the airline auditors as well as the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) auditors to audit the records.

Technologies/Platforms Used
JEE Web, JSP, JBOSS, Hibernate, My SQL

Business Benefits
Overall cost savings

• Savings in salary paid to pilots by optimizing pilot management and reduced recovery time
• Cost savings by reducing the number of administrative staff
• Savings in effort spent on audits

Minimize disruptions to roster

• Faster recovery process in cases of failed and incomplete checks, due to instant communication of the relevant information
• Optimized training scheduling results in improved productivity of pilots and instructors-

Improvement in rostering and training administration efficiency

• No hassles in maintaining paper records
• Aids in analyzing training effectiveness, leading to improvement steps
• Quick and better decision-making

Reduction in Training scheduling errors

• Prevent unnecessary disruptions
• Avoid unnecessary (costly) crew payments
• Errors due to wrong simulator bookings

Met an important pre-requisite of AQP qualification

• Analysis of performance and trend of training and check
• Improved quality of pilot training

Cost savings by reducing the frequency of trainings/checks