Arconics have created a comprehensive, patented, web-based information management system developed specifically to address airline industry needs. It helps airlines achieve significant process efficiencies, simplify regulatory compliance and record keeping, while improving productivity of key (and expensive) staff such as fleet captains, pilots, flight crew, and maintenance personnel.

Arconics - Manual Manager
Arconics Manual Manager provides fleet captains and technical publishers with a single tool to centrally manage all operational manuals (FCOMs, MEL, Part A-D etc.) Manual Manager replaces the risky and inefficient "stare and compare" process traditionally used for paper manual revision with an easy-to-use graphical interface similar to a typical word processing application. It facilitates the reliable production of the latest revisions in HTML and PDF format for distribution to EFB, print, CD and Intranet and ensures concurrency between the different formats, and provides full audit features to ensure regulatory compliance.

Arconics - Flight Ops Edition
Arconics Flight Ops is a set of web-based applications that automates and streamlines airline processes for producing, capturing, managing and publishing information to pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. It enables relevant information such as NOTAMs, bulletins, FCIs, manuals, training and safety information to be shared across the company, quickly and efficiently.

Arconics - Engineering Edition
Arconics Engineering enables rapid access to the most up-to-date document versions by engineering staff, whether located at head-office, out-station or outsource MRO. It provides a single web based repository that allows engineering staff personalized access to a diverse range of vendor documentation and information systems. Version control, alignment, and synchronization of multiple document copies in multiple formats in multiple locations can be performed easily.

Features and Benefits

Key features of the Arconics Suite include:

• unified access to the most up-to-date heterogeneous internal and external documentation systems from home, office, outstation, or outsource partner site.
• replacement of "stare and compare" aircraft manual revision process with an easy-to-use graphical tool requiring little technical documentation skills;
• multi-fleet support based on ATA Spec 2200, including Airbus and Boeing
• personalised content distribution, with non-repudiable logging of must-read data such as NOTAMs and FCI;
• accessibility from airborne systems including EFBs, as well as from ground and mobile equipment;
• comprehensive version control and tracking at manual or asset level, whether electronic or paper based;
• self-sufficient - no additional software is required (most competitive offerings assume customers have already purchased Adobe Framemaker, Epic, or some other technical editing tool);
• quick to deploy - no major integration effort required to get a functional system up and running;
• robust components, "battle-hardened" in large, live deployments;
• full audit trail to ensure regulatory compliance.

Key benefits to airlines include:

• efficiencies, cost-savings and productivity improvements of moving from paper to digital processes;
• reduction of airplane downtime associated with manual information search by pilots, flight crew and engineers;
• reduction of risks associated with regulatory breaches;
• improved control of information sharing with outsource partners (MRO, catering, etc);
  contingency options in the event of  unexpected interruptions;
• reallocation of personnel from tedious manual processes to strategic activities;
• increased staff flexibility as knowledge is codified;
• reduction of administrative effort due to single unified platform for controlling ground, airborne and third party information;
• quick deployment time.

Proven technology

The effectiveness of Arconics' product set is testified to by live (and growing) deployments at Ryanair, Europe's most successful budget airline, and at GB Airways, a full scheduled service airline operating as British Airways. Ryanair has been an Arconics user since 2001.

GB Airways use Arconics software to manage the publishing of flight manuals to EFBs. GB Airways are one of the first European carriers to adopt Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) provided by Teledyne Controls.


Airline Operational and Engineering Environment

While the long-term prospects for the commercial aviation sector are positive, short-term survival means that airlines must change fast. The airline operating environment has been transformed in the last 5 years. Rocketing security and fuel costs, combined with an intense competitive environment, is forcing rationalisation and cost-cutting across all airline processes. Flight operations and maintenance & engineering have not escaped this transition. Airline managers have to cope with intensifying security and safety regulations, while maintaining productivity levels with smaller budgets and fewer staff. It is not surprising therefore that many operational and maintenance processes are going digital.

Intensifying Regulatory Compliance Requirements
Increased security concerns have given airline regulators greater powers and enforcement rights.  In addition, a spirit of corporate transparency and accountability is pervading all aspects of business activity, as typified by Sarbanes-Oxley in the US, which imposes stringent rules on the storage and retrieval of documents for corporate governance and financial reporting.

For airlines, maintaining a robust audit trail in a manual system is difficult and time-consuming.  Every change made and every amendment authorized for publication has to be manually logged and processed. Airline managers cannot afford to take short cuts or adopt ineffective systems because of the onerous sanctions regulators can apply. 

There is a worldwide precedence of regulators grounding aircraft for a document compliance failure. An average size passenger aircraft standing idle can cost an airline anything from $7,500 to $30,000 per hour. Furthermore, the cost of the damage to the airline's reputation with passengers and within the industry is inestimable.

Arconics facilitates compliance with airline authority documentation regulations.  It allows you, as an airline manager, to

• Fulfill duty of care and safety responsibilities;
• Provide a comprehensive audit trail;
• Reduce the risk of incorrect or inaccurate information being circulated;
• And so reduce the risk of aircraft being grounded for non-compliance.
  

Improving Productivity through Knowledge Management

Managing knowledge processes is an acute problem in the people-intensive airline industry, whose staff assumes life-and-death responsibility, is regionally (if not globally) diverse, and is office-less. This problem is accentuated given the economic necessity of hiring freezes, budget controls and downsizing - airlines must achieve more with fewer staff.

Knowledge management is a key tool in improving human performance. It is an enabler for improved decision-making, the efficient transfer of best practices across the organisation, and is central to airline operational safety.

Arconics allows managers to collate and distil information and distribute it to individuals or groups who need it. Arconics supports key knowledge management structures such as knowledge repositories and communities of practice (CoPs). Staff can share knowledge by providing reports on any operational issues that arise in the course of an assignment, or publishing up-to-the-minute news, tips and techniques across functions and locations.

Efficiency Improvements through Digitalisation
The most obvious signs of airline digitalisation that the general public can see are the now ubiquitous web-based reservation and electronic check-in systems. Behind the scenes, the digitalisation of airline flight operations and maintenance & engineering processes has been more gradual, given the life-and-death safety issues involved and the strict regulatory environment.

However the FAA in the US and the JAA in Europe have recently granted regulatory approval for Electronic Flight Bags and other digital systems and processes, signalling the "digital dawn" for airline flight ops and maintenance.

Needless to say, airlines are anxious to achieve the efficiencies, cost-savings and productivity improvements of moving their manual, paper-based processes to the new media. However they face a number of challenges:

• managing documentation for expanding fleets of mixed aircraft - without increasing personnel or costs;
• maintaining failsafe systems for enforcing rigorous safety standards and regulatory compliance - regulators demand a strong process for authoring, updating and managing documents;
• coping with paper and digital documentation from numerous sources (aircraft manufacturers, other suppliers, regulators), supplied in various formats (SGML, PDF, HTML, PDF), via various media (Web, CD-ROM, paper);
• linking the many heterogeneous systems that are needed - airborne systems (EFBs), ground systems (intranet, ERP etc), multiple airline manufacturer systems (AirNav, MyBoeingFleet, etc), engine and parts supplier systems, MRO systems - and the list goes on;
• all the while running paper-based systems as a contingency, at least during the changeover to digital.

Thus airline flight operations and maintenance & engineering managers are demanding tools that will enable them to gain control over the digital content they need to run their business. Many airlines have developed ad hoc systems, through the creation of web pages or PDF files with hyperlinks.  These have considerable limitations and are costly to maintain.  Increasingly, airlines see the benefits of using specialist document management solutions.

Arconics meets the requirements of cost-conscious airline executives' for short-term projects with proven cost savings that fit in with long-term digital information management strategies.

Arconics Software and Services

Arconics Suite has been developed to meet airlines' specific document management needs, including eManual management and Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) distribution. Arconics enables the electronic and paper worlds to be aligned, while maximizing the financial benefits of electronic information management. In addition, airlines are deploying Arconics as a powerful, integrated knowledge management tool to precisely and dynamically capture, distil, collate and distribute a wide range of operational information.

Figure 1 - Airline Documentation and Information Environment

Figure 1 - Airline Documentation and Information Environment above illustrates how Arconics Suite unifies information management for airline flight ops and maintenance & engineering.

The Arconics system assists airlines handle documents and information from a wide variety of sources such as aircraft manufacturers, regulatory bodies, engines and parts suppliers, provided in paper and electronic formats, using a variety of media. ATA mandates SGML as the standard for electronic aircraft documents. Regulators and suppliers maintain proprietary or web-based information systems. The airlines' own IT systems are also a source of much critical information.

Within the airline, responsibility for acting on this information lies with content managers, such as Fleet Captains, Crew Managers, Chief Engineers, Technical Publishers etc. These people have legal responsibility for updating the airlines' documents and ensuring updates are pushed out quickly to the content users (pilots, crew, engineers etc). Content managers also perform a valuable function in collating and distilling information and knowledge that is essential for individuals or groups of content users. The Arconics system provides information managers with an easy to use web based tool to control all document through their full lifecycle.

In order to work at their most productive best, pilots, crew and engineers need immediate access to the most up-to-date documents and knowledge most relevant to their individual roles. Technological advances in communications technology, together with regulatory responses to these advances, mean that this vision is fast becoming a reality. Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) and Electronic Crew Bags (ECBs) mean that the access to digital information while airborne is now possible. Mobile devices such as tablets mean engineers and ground staff can access information while on the move on the ground.

However, many airlines will continue to rely on documentation assets on paper or CD-ROM. Tracking and managing the multiple copies and versions of these assets remain a key role of the technical publisher.

Arconics Suite brings together information and documentation collection, control and distribution in one system. The Suite is designed to ensure content managers have full content control, irrespective of content format, distribution media or viewing device.


First Rate Services
In addition to high-quality software, Arconics provide first-rate customer support and service. Customers with a support contract are allocated a dedicated customer service representative to represent their interests in the company.

Arconics also provide onsite training and project delivery services to customers. As Arconics software is designed to enable users become quickly self-sufficient, service contracts are usually of relatively short duration.

Arconics Business Case
Benchmarking studies on document management systems show real benefits. A cross-sector US study revealed that that 83% of electronic document users experience a positive return on investment (source: Nucleus Research).

The returns came from higher productivity, accelerated document retrieval, faster filing, as well as lower printing, distribution and storage costs.

For airlines, unstructured manual systems, or poorly executed web-based solutions, waste the time of pilots, managers, IT and administrative staff. Arconics avoids these traps to deliver the major benefits of a digital publishing environment and a rapid payback on your investment.

Airlines that have deployed Arconics Suite have achieved savings by:

• Removing unnecessary fixed costs from airline operations
• Reducing the cost and inefficiencies caused by the need to print, store and update documents
• Maximising the time and effort of managers and crews, by reducing the considerable administrative burden of managing and updating documents
• Easing the process of regulatory compliance, through a transparent, auditable document management process
• Minimising the risk of an aircraft being grounded by regulators due to documentation errors
• Reduction of administrative costs through the automation of expensive and slow manual and paper-based processes
• Better cost management through quick dissemination of best-practices among pilots and flight crew
• Implementation and maintenance savings due to Arconics Suite fast deployment by airline's own IT staff, eliminating the need for the long and expensive consultancy projects often proposed by "full fat" airline software service providers.

Arconics is Different
The airline IT industry is characterised by the number of companies that specialise in selling custom integration projects.  The nature of these companies business model (enterprise sales forces, specialised consultancy staff) means that projects sold tend to be long and expensive.

Arconics is somewhat unusual in the world of airline software in that it is first and foremost a commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) product company. Arconics Suite is designed with rapid deployment by the airlines' own IT staff in mind. The product is based on the industry standard J2EE platform that is familiar to a large number of software technicians. Implementation costs are minimised by ensuring the product is easy to use and maximum use is made of web-based service and support delivery.