overview
The Electronic Flight Operations System (EFOS) has been designed and
developed in consultation with commercial airline pilots, cabin crew, managers and
national regulatory bodies. It encompasses software aimed at the automation of
most flight operations tasks, improved communications, electronic capture of
data and tools that allow for auditing/reporting/compliance of this information.
We provide a commercial airline or other type of aircraft operator with:
- effective communications between office staff and a dispersed, highly mobile
workforce;
- a way to reduce "difficult to manage" paper work. Paper-based processes are
wasteful and often
contain valuable data that is not easily accessible;
- a training report workflow system. ATQP (alternative training qualification program)
requires the
adoption of an electronic training report system to allow trend and performance analysis.
Even if ATQP is not a priority, EFOS vastly reduces the amount of paper involved
in the recording of training events.
- validated processes that
greatly improves auditing and ensures regulator compliance;
- a simplified way to ensure version control and distribution of flight operations manuals
to flying and engineering staff;
- provision of extensive audit data for regulator compliance in many areas of
flight operations;
- a database that allows analysis of valuable information to improve flight
planning (fuel usage), "on-time" performance and emissions reporting.
EFOS draws on the founders’ experiences in commercial flight operations, development of secure networks, intelligent data analysis and software authorship.
EFOS modules are available to cater for the needs of any airline regardless of size, type of
operation or legacy infrastructure.
The system
consists of four unique and innovative applications.
- EFOS:Web - software and system architecture.
EFOS:Web is the foundation of the overall system. It can be used standalone
or integrated with other "back-office" databases and systems;
- EFOS:Efb - software as installed on a Tablet PC or compatible device.
EFOS:Efb is an optional component of EFOS;
- EFOS:Mobile - Smartphone technology to transmit vital data securely back
to the EFOS database. EFOS:Mobile is an optional component of EFOS.
- EFOS:Lite - a basic set of EFOS tools (at a
lower cost) that handles crew notices, libraries and operational reports.
EFOS:Lite runs stand-a-lone, but can easily be upgraded to a full
implementation at a later date.
Many of the existing processes that are replaced by EFOS are time consuming
and generally wasteful.
EFOS software provides a way for all applications, libraries and data to be
shared and synchronised across a global network. The application provides
managers, operations officers, flight planners, passenger service agents and
crew controllers with the tools they need to manage the day-to-day operation of
the airline and enhance customer service.
EFOS gives unprecedented access to the regulator for the purposes of
auditing. It encourages co-operation and openness in the relationship enjoyed by
the airline and the authority.
Characteristics of EFOS:
EFOS is fully outsourced with no requirement to employ additional IT
support staff, developers or engineers to maintain hardware, monitor
availability of service or house-keep networks. The system is securely
hosted by industry-leading providers on high specification servers with a
track-record of 100% security and availability. EFOS is web-based and
universally available to all staff from office, home or hotel using any
popular platform or browser.
EFOS uses industry and open standards: it captures and analyses
valuable data and can then securely share this with other systems.
All EFOS modules provide detailed audits for internal quality control,
regulatory compliance and key data analysis.
Evoke Systems Ltd owns the intellectual property and can therefore
offer additional bespoke development to EFOS if there are specific
requirements.
Cost & Operational Benefits
- Reduced number of staff who can be released from time-consuming
inefficient processes to be more productive and pro-active;
- The same number of staff can support a larger operation: there is no
realistic limit to the number of users, flight reports, training
records, library books, crew notices or other information that the
system can handle. The airline can grow without further investment in
supporting infrastructure;
- Less office space/IT support/peripheral services required;
- Fuel cost savings by better flight planning, crew education, loading
and performance monitoring. Even very small fuel savings can have a
large impact on costs;
- Improvements to fuel hedging policy due to accurate fuel consumption
predictions by base/season/city pair;
- Environmental/emissions/tax benefits through less fuel used;
- Fewer resources consumed due to less paper/printing/postage/faxing
of key data. As well as reducing the amount of costly paper-based
processes, a digital system will improve consistency, reduce errors and
eliminate extra work;
- Facilitation of qualification for ATQP: as well as improving
training value, training overheads are reduced significantly;
- No requirement to devote time to prepare regulatory audits: these
are dynamic and built-in to EFOS.
- EFOS is able to collect data in a structured way to improve business
intelligence through the use of intelligent data analysis methods;
- Compliance with EU OPS reporting and auditing requirements:
non-compliances may result in punitive action and are expensive and
time-consuming to rectify;
- Rapid distribution of safety/security information and
reporting/investigation/analysis of these aspects of the operation
which, if not adequately managed, can be the most costly of all. EFOS
will become an integral part of the client airline’s safety management
system. The report originator can remain involved and connected to the
process, a facet which improves their experience and ability to quickly
learn lessons. It also allows the crew member to add follow up
information to an existing report;
- Oversight of the operation via management dashboards ensuring the
best use of a manager’s time and thereby enhancing efficiency;
- The European Emissions Trading Scheme will require accurate and
structured data collection to enable a monitoring and reporting plan for
all flights. This is a mandatory requirement from January 2010: the
consequences of inaccurate or incomplete reporting will be, from a
financial perspective, very damaging. All that is needed to comply with
the ETS mandatory reporting and monitoring legislation is available in
the EFOS Electronic Journey Log.