Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS): airline sms data

Showing posts with label airline sms data. Show all posts

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Free Aviation SMS Data Management Videos

Free Tutorial Videos on Aviation SMS Data Management

Here are some YouTube videos for best practices of managing aviation SMS data for airlines and airports. To learn more about this Web based aviation safety management software, see this link.

1) Introduction

2) Distributed Data Management

3) Centralized SMS Data Management

4) Elements of Centralized Data Management

5) Benefits of Centralized Data Management

More Aviation Safety Management Software Information

Aviation Safety Software Company
Aviation Safety Management Software by SMS Pro
Free Downloads Airline/Airport's Aviation SMS Software Resources (Checklists, Templates, Policies)

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™.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Aviation Safety SMS Data Collection

Aviation Safety SMS Data Collection Using Web Based Software

aviation sms software for data collection

Aviation Safety's SMS Data Collection is one of the most important elements of every effective aviation safety management system (SMS). Without a healthy aviation SMS data collection culture, your company will achieve the benefit enjoyed by those aviation cultures that promote active SMS data collection.
What are the benefits of a healthy aviation SMS data collection culture? Real, measurable savings. Increase your company's bottom line by championing aggressive aviation SMS data collection and measure the results. Only with these results can you convince management that SMS really contributes to the bottom line. Aviation SMS should not be a politically correct term to drop when auditors visit. It should be practiced daily.

Aviation Safety Management Process

Aviation SMS data collection begins when users start submitting reports. Don't limit your aviation SMS data collection efforts to merely hazard reports. Develop your corporate culture to strive for continuous improvement in collecting data about security, quality and compliance issues. SMS Pro's airline/airport hazard reporting system is able to enhance your company's data collection efforts by allowing user's to initially classify their reported issues by safety, security, quality & compliance. If safety managers determine a reported issue should be classified differently than what the reporter suggests, aviation safety managers can re-classify or categorize the issue to suit his whim.

aviation safety management software data collection

Every aviation SMS data collection tool should have limits on what type of issues you wish to collect. For example, effective aviation SMS data collection efforts should not focus on personnel complaints. Focus on safety, security, quality and compliance. During initial user training, users should be guided as to what type of issues to report. In SMS Pro's issue/hazard reporting database tool, a tab is devoted to "About Reporting Issues." An example of what to place there follows:

Type of Aviation Safety (SMS) Issues to Report

Please report all aviation-related issues you feel compromise safety. Even small issues, if reported and corrected, may prevent someone from getting hurt. There are four broad areas regarding aviation safety; Ground Safety, Flight Safety, Aircraft Airworthiness, and Security.

Aviation SMS Ground Safety

Please report any issue which, if left uncorrected, may lead to an injury to personnel or damage to assets.

Aviation SMS Flight Safety

Please report any issue which, if left uncorrected, may compromise the safety of flight.

Aviation SMS Aircraft Airworthiness

Please report any issue which, if left uncorrected, may compromise the airworthiness of company owned aircraft. (The company has a process in place for routine and unscheduled maintenance.) Issues reported may include maintenance technician fatigue, poor workmanship, lack of technical abilities, etc.

Aviation Security

Please report any physical or flight security related issue which may either compromise access to company owned aircraft or facilities.

What happens when you submit airline/airport accident and incident report?

When you submit a report online, several things happen:

You will receive an email thanking you for submitting the issue. There will be an hyperlink in the email that will let you see your issue.

The Aviation Leadership Team will each receive an email notifying them that an issue has been submitted.

The Safety Specialist will classify the issue which includes determination of risk and selection of Responsible Manager. The specialist will also formulate a recommendation.

The Responsible Manager will get an email with notification that the issue has been assigned to him/her. The Responsible Manager will set corrective action plans.

The issues now can be tracked and trended.

Some nice features about SMS Pro's Hazard Reporting Database Tool

SMS Pro's Anonymous Reporting

You can submit reports anonymously. Just check the "Anonymous" box at the beginning of the wizard. There are really two levels of anonymity:

When you login, the web-application recognizes you. When you check the anonymous box, the program blocks anyone else from knowing who you are. When you submit an anonymous report using the program, you can view the status of your anonymous issue when you login.

The second level is to submit an anonymous paper report. Your report will be entered into the system, but there is no way for you to monitor the status of your issue.

Track Your Aviation SMS Reported Issues

Whenever you log into the system, "My Safety", then "Dashboard". The application will show a list of all the issues you have submitted and the status of each. This is also true for anonymous reports submitted by you.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Seven Essential Guidelines For Managing SMS Data

7 Guidelines for Managing Aviation SMS Data

Aviation safety management systems, just like quality or environmental management systems depend upon the proper handling of data. Aviation safety professionals are not data management professionals, yet these folks must make decisions that will affect the entire organization for years to come. Properly structured databases and file systems allow aviation service providers to access and mine data in the most efficient manner.

Aviation SMS Data Management Challenges

This article describes some common data management challenges faced by aviation service providers around the world. Being aware of these SMS data management challenges will help safety professional choose a data management strategy that will continue to serve them well for many years.

airline airport aviation safety data management

1) Reported issues not submitted or classified properly is a problem faced most often by organizations of all sizes. This phenomenon occurs in safety management programs when issues are not reported, reported issues are not reported in accordance with accepted organizational standards, or reported issues are not classified consistently and fully. This is a very serious matter. When issues are not reported, but simply "fixed," valuable data may be forever lost. Should managers wish to conduct research to analyze trends to discover ways to improve efficiencies or safety, improper classification of issues would make any attempt to validate the assumptions questionable at best. Also, should an auditor or top management bring questions as to the validity concerning the research or aggregated reports, having the data improperly reported or classified will greatly increase the likelihood that the data's value is questionable. However, one must not go to extremes and spend inordinate amounts of time generating large amounts of data while managing "trivial" issues. What may be important to one organization may be trivial to another.

Aviation Safety Management Software helps manage airline airport aviation safety data management

2) SMS data management not supervised by trained safety managers is another common challenge seen frequently. In this situation the principal safety manager might inappropriately delegate his/her oversight responsibilities to someone else in the company that may be insufficiently trained or qualified to assess risks and classify SMS related issues. Another situation might arise if the principal safety manager simply does not dedicate the appropriate time and effort to fulfill responsibilities related to proper data management. This may occur when the "safety manager" responsibilities are sidelined in favor of other "revenue-generating" activities, like flying or seeking to fulfill "billable" hours.

3) SMS data not maintained in an accessible manner for authorized corporate users affects medium to large-sized businesses more than smaller organizations. This situation often occurs in collaborative environment in which all safety, security and compliance data is maintained by one collaborator, typically the director of safety or assigned safety manager. This situation becomes particularly problematical if each department, such as maintenance, security and flight ops, are responsible for their own data management. In these cases, data is often stored on individual work stations or on file servers where access is limited by department. In other cases, managers might maintain data in their homes or on their personal laptops, and this can also present problems of access and efficient use of data.

4) Safety, security, quality, compliance or administrative data not maintained properly by responsible personnel. This basically means that the information is not maintained in sufficient detail, is inaccurately recorded, or not maintained in identifiable files. Regulating authorities, external auditors or reviewers would find these matters to be a serious breach of exercising appropriate responsibility regarding the proper management of safety related issues.

aviation sms database software helps manage aviation safety

5) Often in small to medium sized businesses, consultants find that SMS data not stored properly. This commonly occurs with reported issues, audit findings, training and qualifications, and operational policy data. Careless storage of the data that could permit its being destroyed or made unusable is a significant matter and safety managers must ensure their organizational data is being backed up. In many cases, auditors find that aviation service providers and/or their safety managers have acted negligently, have not fulfilled their stewardship duties, and have violated contractual obligations. Best practices dictate that SMS data should be backed up regularly and stored in at least two geographically distinct locations.

6) Each regulating authority and many larger clients, such as major oil companies, have rules regarding SMS data retention requirements. Those involved with managing SMS data know how long different kinds of data must be retained to satisfy all compliance requirements as well as to offer appropriate support in the event of lawsuits or disputes over incidents.

7) Institutional SMS data must retained by the institution at all times or within its control. This is a major problem that occur when safety managers leave the employment of an aviation service provider and takes all the SMS data and does not leave a copy for the institution. In the event access is needed, it places the aviation service provider in an untenable position since it has neither fulfilled its regulatory compliance responsibility nor the duty to the stakeholders.
Safety managers today need to have an understanding of these data management principles, regardless of whether they hire outside SMS consultants or manage their SMS data in-house. The SMS Partners has a team of consultants available at all times to help aviation service providers solve their data management challenges.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Overcoming Aviation SMS Data Management Challenges

How to Overcome Aviation SMS Data Management Challenges

Aviation safety managers at airlines and airports must do an incredible amount of work to implement an effective aviation safety management system (SMS). Safety managers must:

Coordinate aviation safety policies;
Make sure that historical copies of aviation SMS policies exist (version control);
Ensure everyone knows their SMS duties and responsibilities in the organization; manage risk;
Communicate & promote safety, security, quality and compliance issues;
Manage identified and perceived risk;

Airlines & Airport Have SMS Data Management Issues

Document all risk management activities...

and the list goes on and on.

Airline and airport safety managers are hard conscientious workers. Most have the "I can do it" attitude and are very enthusiastic, energetic employees. Once safety managers start trying to comply with the aviation SMS requirements that stem from ICAO guidelines, they realize the quandary that is almost always lost on upper management.

Quandary of Effective, Well Implemented Aviation Safety Management Systems

An effective SMS generates a lot of data and can be difficult to organize coherently. When aviation SMS data are not managed properly, airlines and airports will lose monetary benefits that others with well-planned and implemented aviation safety management systems are realizing. Plain and simple. Money will be lost and service quality will not improve at an optimal rate. Not only will loss of money result from a poorly designed and implemented aviation safety management system, but also the potential competitive advantage that comes with orderly SMS data management strategies.

Expert Aviation SMS Data Systems

Safety managers are not data management experts. Therefore, safety managers need tools to perform their tasks in a timely, professional manner. Upper management must support safety managers' case for tools. After all, aircraft mechanics cannot perform aviation maintenance activities without the proper tools, so why would upper management believe that safety managers can manage complex aviation safety management systems using MS Word, paper, MS Access and spreadsheets?

How to Gain Top Management Support for Expert Aviation SMS Systems

Aviation SMS Systems Generate Lots of Data

Upper management must be educated in the momentous task given to safety managers. An aviation safety management system is not implemented overnight. Often, three to five years are required to fully implement an effective SMS program. To further safety managers' cause, safety managers need something to give to upper management to support their cause for tools that assist in more effective SMS data management strategies...such as a high-level SMS Architectural diagram. An effective technique outlines the existing operation and compares it with the optimal solution so top management can compare and draw their own conclusions.

Major Problem With Most Aviation SMS Implementations

A major problem with the majority of SMS implementations is that they are being implemented by "safety experts" who are not data management experts. We don't mean to denigrate these aviation safety professionals. Most are very good as subject matter experts, but their subject matter expertise is not aviation SMS data management principles. NorthWest Data Solutions in Anchorage, Alaska has a team of aviation safety data management experts that have become world-renown safety experts with the design, development and support of SMS Pro, a Web based aviation safety management software program. NWDS provides airlines, airports, aviation maintenance, FBOs and flight schools with tools to show management how many organizations are configuring their SMS systems. These tools will show upper management the pitfalls and make them aware of the corner they may be backing themselves into.

Three Common Approaches to Implementing Aviation SMS Data Programs

NWDS witnesses three SMS data management architectures being implemented in everyday consulting and speaking with aviation service providers:

Decentralized;
Centralized; and
Hybrid.

Small Companies Mostly Use Decentarized SMS Data Management Strategies

The decentralized SMS data management strategy is very common technological approach found in smaller organizations with fewer than 100 employees. An aviation SMS data management architectural diagram may be found at http://www.airlineairport.aviation-sms.com/AboutSMS/WhyDoWeNeedSMS.aspx

Preferred Centralized Aviation SMS Data Management

The second approach is the centralized aviation SMS data management approach. An illustration of the centralized aviation SMS data management strategy, which is the companion to the decentralized version can be downloaded at http://www.airlineairport.aviation-sms.com/AboutSMS/AviationSMSSolution.aspx. The Centralized SMS Data Management Approach is the preferred method for many reasons, which we will cover in great detail in future blog posts. For now, understand that your organization will receive REAL sustainable value after implementing a centralized system.

Benefits of Centralized Aviation SMS Data Management

Among the benefits of the centralized approach are:

Save time and money having all your data in one location for everyone with proper authority to access the data. Users don't have to hunt and ask, "Who has the last OIR?" Data are located in one location, so backing up the data is easier, more efficient and less expensive.
Enhanced security: Your data requires security to be applied at one location instead of at many. Security may be applied by roles or by individual permissions.

SMS Pro is a centralized SMS data management tool that will allow your organization to continue to realize monetary benefits year after year.

Aviation SMS Data Management Experts to Help!

SMS Pro allows for the entire organization to collaborate and communicate effectively using the same data.

Reports are available to everyone with permissions.

Auditors can easily see the information to make their tasks easier and managers can see real-time reports with the utmost ease to identify trends and manage organizational safety, security, quality and compliance issues.

SMS Pro is available for airports, airlines, helicopter operators, flight schools, air traffic control and MROs.

When you purchase SMS Pro, NWDS' friendly staff efficiently guides you step by step during the implementation phases.

If you need help with your aviation SMS implementation, an SMS Partner is always available. SMS Pro has a network of SMS Partners around the globe.