Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS)

Monday, June 8, 2015

Magic Question: Does Performance Satisfy Intent?

Evaluating Whether CPA Performance Satisfy Original Intent

After accepting corrective/preventive actions in safety management systems, airline or airport managers simply close the issue and review the issue sometime in the future, such as at a six or twelve month interval. If corrective/preventive actions (CPAs) aggravate the issue, these issues may be reopened and dealt with accordingly. Most airlines and airports are missing out on an opportunity to evaluate whether the CPA continued to prove effective and to document this continued effectiveness.

Documenting CPA effectiveness ensures that other airline and airport managers continue to assign effective CPAs to employees and avoid CPAs that have proven to cause problems or were a complete waste of time. How often have each of us performed a task only to learn later that it was the "wrong thing to do?"

Evaluating Corrective Preventive Actions for Effectiveness

In SMS Pro (a leading aviation safety management software suite), managers either accept or reject the performance of tasks. These tasks may be called "Work Orders," tasks, CPAs, CAPAs, "corrective actions," or something else at your airline or airport. To simplify matters, let's simply call them CPAs for this discussion, for "corrective/preventive actions."

While accepting the performance of a CPA in SMS Pro, managers simply evaluate whether the CPA satisfied the intent of the originator, whose objective was to mitigate or transfer risk, or to recover from an event. The easiest way to achieve this is to use tools we are all familiar with, as in this next image:

How much easier can this be? This simple rating communicates to other airline or airport managers whether this CPA should be used in the future, or whether this was NOT a good idea.

Review Effectiveness of Airline/Airport Corrective Preventive Actions

In a simple scenario, let's assume the department head thought that a particular CPA proved very effective in addressing a reported hazard. Upon a future review, the safety committee may decide this particular CPA caused more harm as time went by, or that the CPA quickly lost effectiveness. Safety committees can easily re-evaluate the effectiveness and update CPA effectiveness in SMS Pro's CPA Manager.

Updating the effectiveness of CPAs alerts managers that this particular CPA is GREAT, or is "BAD NEWS" should they wish to try to reuse the same approach on future issues.

Evaluating Effectiveness of Corrective Preventive Actions is GREAT Idea

Best practices in aviation safety management systems or aviation risk management systems dictate that CPAs should be evaluated and reviewed for effectiveness. Evaluating effectiveness is the first step. Communicating effectiveness is the next step. If your airline or airport fails to communicate CPA effectiveness, you are doomed to repeat past mistakes and miss the opportunity to save your organization time and money.

Using Automated Tools to Evaluate & Communicate CPA Effectiveness

Without automated software tools, evaluating and communicating CPA effectiveness is not possible to sustain. Too much effort is required to use either MS Excel or cheaply built aviation SMS software tools. Quality aviation SMS software should be easily configurable and adapt to how your airline or airport operates. If you need quality aviation SMS software, consider SMS Pro. Even SMS Pro's basic aviation SMS tools have these capabilities.

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your
Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

About NWDS - founded in 2003 by six software engineers, NorthWest Data Solutions (NWDS) provides custom computer programming and systems design services. NWDS creates many types of software, including e-commerce, financial, defense, engineering, logistics, aviation and more. In 2007, NWDS developed SMS Pro™ a web based SMS application that supports an organization's overall SMS through safety reporting, safety documentation, safety risk management and safety assurance. SMS Pro™ is currently used by aviation organizations in the U.S., Canada, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East to help manage their SMS programs. NWDS continues to support SMS Pro™ and add new functionality. NWDS offers custom contract programming services in the U.S. and Canada and is managed by Chris Howell, one of the founders. Their headquarters is in Anchorage, Alaska. For information on NWDS visit their website at www.nwds-ak.com and www.asms-pro.com to learn more about SMS Pro™.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Doing the Right Thing...Repeating Safety Tasks That Work

If it Works, Do it Again!
In a airline or airport with hundreds or thousands of workers, company knowledge and experience is difficult to disseminate, especially when one considers:

Language barriers;
Tight knit groups or organizational silos;
High turnover in management (every three to five years);
Conflicts between management groups;
Security, politics, organizational management structure;
Little or no documentation on corrective/preventive actions; and
Information ownership (not willing to share information).

How does a new manager know what worked in the past when confronted with a safety issue?

Effectively managing airline airport corrective preventive actions

How can airline and airport managers avoid repeating the same mistakes when dealing with issues, whether they are:

Safety;
Security;
Quality;
Compliance; or
Environmental?

SMS Pro can help. SMS Pro is a premier aviation safety management software suite designed for professional safety managers. SMS Pro allows airlines and airports to leverage their most valuable asset - the collective expertise of its employees and contractors.

Show Me What Works For My Safety Hazard

Imagine the perfect world where manager are confronted with problems and manager have instant access to corrective/preventive actions that have worked in the past. Imagine the time, energy and money saved by repeating corrective or preventive behavior that works! How can this information be beneficial?

Corrective preventive actions at airlines airports

Training Time for New Managers is Reduced

When new managers come to an airline or airport, they have little organizational knowledge of what has been tried in the past and whether these corrective/preventive strategies have been effective. When confronted with challenges, managers are helped resolve issues by using SMS Pro. SMS Pro shows them what has worked in the past and the level of effectiveness for proposed corrective/preventive actions.

Managers Not Relying on Memory to Deal With Safety Hazards

Airline and airport managers with plenty of experience often need to access to information relating to past experiences from dealing with corrective/preventive strategies. Our memories are imperfect. I have a hard time remembering what I ate for lunch yesterday, much less remembering how I dealt with a safety hazard last year, or two years ago. SMS Pro can help. SMS Pro offers immediate, real time information to airline and airport corrective/preventive actions.

Managers Reacting Consistently & Accurately & Promptly

With a list of corrective/preventive actions that have worked in the past for particular types of issues, airline and airport managers can be more consistent when dealing with similar types of issues. This list allows managers to quickly choose what has historically proven effective and apply the same strategies to new issues. Instant access to past information allows managers to delegate tasks quickly and to justify their corrective/preventive strategies to top management.

How Do SMS Pro Corrective/Preventive Actions Work?

Corrective/preventive actions are simply tasks. Some airlines and airports call them "Work Orders," CPAs or CAPAs. When creating a new CPA, SMS Pro offers managers the option to apply previous CPAs to address similar issues. CPAs are rated as to whether their performance satisfies intent. Most SMS Pro safety managers and department heads understand this feature because they see it whenever they accept or reject the performance of a corrective action.

adding airline airport corrective preventive actions relying on past performance

Show Me What DOES NOT Work For My Safety Hazard

If you are following along with the above logic, you will immediate recognize that with accurate, real time information regarding corrective/preventive actions, you can avoid making the same mistake over and over applying corrective/preventive actions at your airline or airport.

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your
Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

Saturday, May 30, 2015

New Offline Hazard Reporting Software Released

New Offline Hazard Reporting For Airlines & Airports

Many airlines & airports in northern Canada, Africa and Southeast Asia have unreliable Internet connectivity. SMS Pro's new Hazard Reporting application was designed to for these types of operations. To see a quick video of the new offline hazard reporting app, see http://screencast.com/t/C6zFFbieG

How is This Aviation Hazard Reporting Software Different?

offline hazard reporting software for airlines airports aviation maintenance

For starters, this is a stand-alone application or "app." You don't need to connect to an Apple store or another device-specific store to get this app. It is available to SMS Pro users to download from their "online account."

This app works on ALL modern devices. IPhones, IPads, Androids, laptops, desktop computers. There is also a responsive design, such that the forms will automatically change based on the screen size. These are the major differences that separate the 2015 offline hazard reporting software from the offline hazard reporting tool that SMS Pro released in 2008. The previous version only worked on laptops or desktops.

Special Offline Hazard Reporting Features

offline hazard reporting app for airlines airports aviation maintenance

Besides the main architectural features just described (one app for all modern devices and the responsive design), the new offline aviation hazard reporting tool has several cool features worth noting:

Start and stop your hazard report and resume later when you are ready;
Indicator alerting you are not online;
Captains' Trip Report embedded;
Personal & Public Offline Hazard Reporting Links; and
Four Aviation-specific hazard reporting forms (Quick, General Pilot, ATC and Maintenance).

The best feature is being able to start a report and reload the report later. Or maybe the best feature is that a pilot can be flying for days away from Internet connectivity and still create reports and submit them when coming within Internet range.

Use Cases for Offline Hazard Reporting Forms

Besides being useful for direct employees at airlines, airports and aviation maintenance organizations, there are other use cases where the offline hazard reporting form comes into play:

Allowing vendors, contractors and customers to report hazards without having an account into your system.
Airports providing vendors, tenants and airlines access to report hazards without an account;
Civil aviation authorities to gather electronic hazard reports from aviation service providers operating in their theater.

Quick Demo Video of Offline Hazard Reporting

Availability of Offline Aviation Hazard Reporting Forms

As of May 2015, only 130 companies will have access to SMS Pro's Offline Hazard Reporting forms. Remaining SMS Pro customers on other servers are scheduled to have access by October 2015.

Users will instantly know whether the feature is available by going to the second step of their online hazard reporting module. Depending on their role, they will see a "Personal offline report link" and/or "Public offline report link."

The personal hazard reporting link is for SMS Pro users to add the offline hazard reporting app to their IPhones, IPads or other mobile devices. The public hazard reporting link is for managers to distribute to:

Other aviation service providers that either must report hazards to their system;
Organizational Web developers to put on your public Website; or
Customers.

Available Only in English as Of May 2015

While SMS Pro is available in Spanish, German, French and two Chinese dialects, the offline aviation hazard reporting app is currently only available in English.

More Aviation SMS Software Information

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your

Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Documenting Hazard Exposure in Safety Management Systems

Hazard Exposure in Aviation Safety Management Systems

Controlling exposure to hazards is the fundamental method of protecting airline and airport assets. A list of control measures should be established to determine whether to implement additional controls. What triggers a review of these control measures in your company? Do automated alerts notify management of developing trends, such as in best-of-breed aviation safety software programs.

SMS Pro's aviation safety management software has several mechanisms to alert management that control measures require review and possibly strengthening. These include:

Automated email alerts of developing trends;
Hazard/Risk Register showing number of events per time period and hazard; and
Trending charts (several types).

Typical Approaches to Minimizing Hazard Exposure

Engineering, training and work practice controls are the primary means used to reduce hazard exposure in the aviation industry; however, one should never overlook the potential to reduce risk by avoidance strategies. Eliminating or substituting exposure to hazards is required when risks remain at intolerable levels.

New Hazard Exposure Dimension in Aviation Risk Management Software

Since 2007, SMS Pro's configurable risk matrix focused solely on probability and severity. Most airline and airport safety managers believed the third exposure dimension introduced unnecessary complexity. In April 2015, SMS Pro added an optional exposure dimension to risk calculations. SMS Administrators can choose a configuration setting in Setup >> Customize Settings....Company Info tab to turn on the Exposure setting.

Below is a sample risk matrix using the Exposure dimension.

Airline Airport Documentation of Hazard Exposure in Safety Management Systems

Easily Document Exposure at Different Times

More Aviation SMS Software Information

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your

Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

Friday, April 24, 2015

Aviation Safety Dashboard Enhancements

Configurable Aviation SMS Software Dashboard

Airline & airport managers need tools to check the status of organizational safety progress. Dashboard charts offer quick glimpses into their aviation SMS databases.

SMS Pro has approximately 25 individual dashboard charts. SMS Admins can choose which users can view individual reports. To see SMS Pro's Executive Dashboard, see...

Configurable Safety Dashboard for Airlines & Airports

The Executive Dashboard can be configured by each user. They can drag and drop reports into positions and delete unwanted reports.

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your

Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Management of Change in Aviation SMS Programs w/ Video

Management of Change for Airlines & Airport Safety Systems

Management of Change Documentation Software for Airlines Airports

Documenting Change is Tough Work

Management of change for aviation service providers has become an increasingly important topic with the enforcement of required aviation safety management systems (SMS). Management of change (MOC) offers a standard process for submitting, documenting, and reviewing changes in operations. MOC helps aviation service providers to identify what changes to make, the authority for approving changes, the support for implementing changes, and the process for evaluating implemented changes.

Change management processes provide orderly, effective time-tested procedures. Many software programs exist today to manage requests for change, including the overly complex Microsoft Project, MS Excel, MS Word, etc. SMS Pro's Simple Management of Change module (Simple MOC) was designed to reduce the complexity of documenting the change management process.

Link to Video Describing Management of Change Enhancements

Simple Management of Change Software Integrated w/ Aviation SMS Program

Simple MOC offers a template approach to documenting change, identifying hazards associated with proposed change, and managing tasks leading to the implementation of the change. Simple MOC is integrated into SMS Pro's Risk Management framework, thereby allowing automated notifications for overdue tasks and tracking and reviewing tasks. Airlines & Airports Hazard Register is also integrated into this management of change software tool.

Aviation SMS Software for Management of Change in Airlines Airports

Simple MOC has been more widely accepted then SMS Pro's original management of change software module, which proved to be too complicated for most organizations. See original MOC below: It is very complete and a nice tool.

Original Management of Change Software Module for Airlines & Airports

Limitations of Simple Management of Change

Until recently, Simple MOC was tied indirectly to a reported issue in Issue Manager. As long as the proposed change was simple and affected only one division, everybody was happy. But what happens when an airline is attempting to bring on another aircraft type, or adding routes to war-torn regions? These types of changes require the ability to easily manage and document complex operations involving many people scattered across several departments. How can this be managed using SMS Pro's Simple MOC?

Unique Challenge From European Carrier Managing Change

Adding a new aircraft type MOC was presented to us recently by a European carrier using SMS Pro. They created an Excel spreadsheet with over 200 items to address. The objective was to assign these 200 items to different managers. For this example, we want to assign 20 items to ten managers.

SMS Pro Past Limitations Managing Complex MOCs

As most know, SMS Pro only allows one manager for each issue. Each MOC was related to one issue, thereby the tasks could only be managed by one manager. For an MOC with 200 tasks, this solution would not meet the European airline's immediate needs.

New Management of Change Solution

SMS Pro has the concept of "Linked Reports," which associates issues to one another. The complex MOC issue has been solved by adding another section in MOC called "Associated Action Items." An "action item" is an issue managed in Issue Manager (SMS Pro's risk management module). All action items are conveniently listed in the MOC. Action items can be assigned to different managers, who then manage tasks (corrective/preventive actions).

At a glance, MOC managers can see the status of these MOC tasks, as well as their deadlines and priority. See below:

Management of Change Software for Airlines Airports

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your
Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Interactive Aviation SMS Dashboard Reports

Immediate Value From Interactive Aviation SMS Software Dashboard Reports

SMS Pro has added a new dashboard report in February 2015. This report is depicted below in center of the first row. Only managers can see this report.

custom aviation SMS software dashboard reports for airlines airports maintenance

Aviation SMS Software with Interactive Dashboard

What is This Interactive Dashboard Report?

The center report in the upper row is one of 18 available Executive Dashboard Reports. This particular report illustrates the number of events or issues that have been risk assessed in a particular manner, using SMS Pro's configurable risk matrix. This risk matrix is available in the Issue Manager and Proactive Hazard Analysis Tool.

As you can see from the upper part of this dashboard report, risk assessments can be performed when:

custom aviation SMS software dashboard reports

the issue is first entered into the system (initial),
upon closing the issue, and
when reviewing the issue after the issue had been closed.

How to Use Interactive Dashboard Report?

Looking at the center report, you will see a "Division" drop down. Your default division appears, and if you possess the permissions to view other divisions, you will be able to change the result set based on selected division.

If you are not familiar with SMS Pro divisions, these elements can be either functional (engineering, flight ops, ground handling, maintenance, etc.) or geographical (North America, South America, Europe, etc). Users belong to only one division and SMS Pro uses these divisions to segregate organizational users and safety related data.

Filtering by Risk Assessment Stage

By default, the report is loaded using your division's data. The risk matrix shows you how many times each particular cell has been used. By selecting a different Risk Assessment Stage (Initial, Closing, Review), the interactive grid refreshes with data from the select risk assessment stage.

Possible "sexy" enhancements to this report would be:

By hovering over a number, a popup appears showing hyperlinks with the issue number and title of the issues that were used in the data set. By selecting a hyperlink, one is taken to see the issue details.

More information about aviation SMS software can be found at:

How to best help your

Aviation Safety Management System

Become an SMS PRO