26 | WHITE PAPER: AVIATION42 | AIRCRAFT IT OPERATIONS | AUTUMN 2012
Integrated systems or integrate your systems They sound similar, says Ingunn Ingimars, IT Consultant at Aviation42, but which you choose will have significant consequences for IT management and users
What‘s in a word?
W
e all know that no one in their right mind would market a product as a fragmented, isolated software system. ‘Integration’ is the key word but what does integration tell you and is your interpretation of the term the same as the vendor‘s understanding? Integration means uniting and bringing together, creating a whole from two or more separate entities. In IT terms this means sharing and making information in one system accessible to other systems. The more you integrate the less risk you should run of duplicating the same piece of information across your systems, which can make updates or corrections quite a challenge. Carefully planned integration may also be time saving as users are not shuffling information back and forth between systems and data quality and integrity is strengthened. Aviation requires quite a number of specialised, sophisticated software systems to run a smooth, safe and reliable operation. It is possible to start out small,
buying a few software systems, none of which is too sophisticated nor too expensive. You then couple your systems with manual processes and employees who can still maintain a good overview of your operation. However, as the organisation grows larger, levels of complexity also grow; soon there are increasing numbers of employees who need to maintain the same overview and you probably find yourself in a dilemma.
How do we interpret the word ‘integrated‘?
The first interpretation is of a software system with one database and multiple sub-systems or modules which all read and write from the same database. This is also referred to as a software suite. This way, the modules for, say, maintenance planning, crew planning and yield management all refer to the same instances of sectors as does the flight scheduling module. If a sector is delayed or cancelled, all modules involved are notified because they all work from the exact same data.
“The more you integrate the less risk you should run of duplicating the same piece of information across your systems, which can make updates or corrections quite a challenge. Carefully planned integration may also be time saving…”