IDEA 4.O

SMS Pro™ is Web-based aviation safety management system tool that allows operators and airports to manage their safety, security, compliance and quality issues based on ICAO,  IS-BAO, Transport Canada and FAA requirements and advisory material.

Major Modules Based on Four Pillars

-  Policy

-  Risk Management

-  Safety Assurance

-  Safety Promotion

SMS Pro™ is a Web application, thus available anywhere one has access to the Internet

International airports are using this application

mySMS has the same SMS Pro™ modules, but is hosted on client servers.

Major Modules Based on Four Pillars

• Policy

• Risk Management

• Safety Assurance

• Safety Promotion

Policy

Aviation SMS Policies & Procedures to Edit/Store SMS Policies & Procedures

SMS Pro's Policies & Procedures allows your employees to view your aviation safety policies and procedures online, instead of sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

Easily add and edit your aviation safety policies and procedures from a Web-based word processor. Copy and paste your safety policy into the editor and publish!

Keep track of "last review" dates for aviation SMS audits.

Setup automated "email review reminders" for each policy, with up to two advanced notices before the review due date.

In SMS Pro, policies appear in context. For example, the Non-punitive Reporting Policy appears in the Hazard/Issue Reporting Module, but is easily edited by authorized users.

Organizational Chart for SMS Management

Your SMS organizational chart shows the structure of your organization and the relationships and relative ranks of positions/roles. Everyone should understand this hierarchy in your organization.

Duties and Requirements of Key Safety Personnel

Communicate and document the duties, responsibilities and requirements for your organization's key safety personnel.

Applicable Aviation Regulations

Aviation service providers have regulations to guide their activities and assure quality is maintained. Each organization must remain knowledgeable of these applicable regulations.

Since regulations vary by country and industry, SMS Pro™ allows authorized personnel to edit and display applicable regulations right inside SMS Pro.

Aviation SMS Implementation Manager

Implementing an effective SMS is a time-consuming task for aviation service providers. First, one must understand what is required, determine what an organization already has implemented and then calculate a plan for implementing the shortcomings.

SMS Pro's Implementation Manager has customizable implementation templates built ready to use. These templates come from ICAO, Transport Canada and the FAA. Follow the step by step approach to implementing your aviation SMS.

• Keep track of the status of each step and easily view the status.

• Customize the SMS implementation steps. Add/edit/reorder them to suit your needs.

• Set targeted start dates and finish dates.

• Allow internal and external auditors to review and leave remarks.

• Documentation is in one central location.

Aviation SMS Document Manager

Document management is a key requirement in aviation safety management systems. SMS Pro™ allows documents to be uploaded and secured from unauthorized access and/or editing.

Version control is built into SMS Pro's document management modules. Authorized personnel can checkout/check-in documents.

Another document management module keeps track of who has downloaded the document and when it was downloaded.

Finally, another module easily documents that your readers understand and agree to comply with your aviation safety policies.

Risk Management

SMS Hazard Management

There are many online hazard reporting systems. What makes SMS Pro™ special? SMS Pro™ provides an integrated solution so all audit findings; concerns or issues are managed through the core issue management functionality. Everything is centralized.

But there is more! There is complete transparency. People who report the issues can see what actions are being implemented to solve the problem.

The issue management functionality has centralized & integrated functionality to:

• Assess reported issues

• Classify by Type of Issue, Root Causes, Type of Processes and Department

• Manage Corrective Actions

• Track Costs

• Attach images or supporting documents

• Conduct thorough investigations

• Create Lessons Learned

Of course, there is much more, but one should see the Issue Manager in action to observe all the details.

Proactive Hazard Analysis

Create a hazard registry or document your Operational Risk Profile using this incredibly comprehensive module. The Proactive Hazard Analysis tool is designed for aviation service providers who are in the proactive phase of their aviation SMS implementation. It is designed for trained safety professionals who understand the theory and application of safety and risk management systems:

• List hazards by functional category

• Manage associated risks, including initial & residual risk assessments

• List control measures and classify them by type of control

• Assign responsible managers

• Create a review schedule

Corrective Actions Manager

Managers can see at a glance where corrective actions may be falling through the cracks. See which issues require "special attention."

Aviation SMS Charting Tools

SMS Pro's complex charting tools allow managers to quickly determine which types of issues are costing them the most money. These drill-down charts get one to the heart of the matter and provide incredible amounts of information.

Charts are broken out by Financial and "Number of Occurrences." Management easily applies date ranges and quickly sees reports by:

• Types of Issues

• Type of Processes Involved

• Root Causes

• Associated Risks/Hazards

• Key Performance Indicators

• Status (open, closed, in progress...)

• Department

• Division

SMS Financial Charting Tools

Same great functionality as the Charting tools above, but designed for the "bean counters."

Ad Hoc SMS Queries

Investigate your data by performing ad hoc queries. Identify trends, see which items have been audited (and when). Search not only on issues

Aviation SMS Data Exports

Export your data to Excel, Word or PDFs to create your own custom reports.

Search functionality can be extended to perform "full text" searches on items that may not be visible, such as:

• Reported issue descriptions

• All comments

• Corrective actions

• Lessons learned

Retrieve data and apply sophisticated filters to narrow down your search results. All from the web, on your integrated and aggregated safety management database solution.

Individual Mission Risk Assessments

SMS Pro's Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) provides "proactive identification of possible hazards and the use of risk management tools to mitigate risks as aspects of a Safety Management System (SMS).

This is a greatly improved and completely customizable Mission Risk Assessment Tool allowing escalation of required actions based upon an individual mission's risk.

There are four categories to evaluate for any particular mission:

1. Manpower;

2. Operating Environment;

3. Equipment;

4. Departures / Arrivals

Each SMS Pro™ Web-based application comes pre-configured with default questions and risk values in each of the first three categories. An SMS Admin can easily modify these items by:

• Adding new questions;

• Changing the verbiage of questions;

• Changing risk value between 0 and 5;

• Changing the order the questions appear; or

• Removing them from the list.

Departures / Arrivals are landing areas, such as airports or helipads. SMS Admins or Chief Pilots can configure a risk value for the departure and arrival at each landing area. NOTE: If landing areas are not listed, they can be added. Chief Pilots can add customizable landing areas, such as heliports, river beds or snowfields in Alaska. Currently, there are over 6200 ICAO airports in our database Safety Assurance

SMS Qualifications & Training Manager

Keep track of your employee’s qualifications and training using SMS Pro's Qualification and Training Manger. Easily see who is qualified for certain tasks and when their qualifications are either expired or about to expire.

Performance Monitoring Aviation Safety Activities

Allow users to quickly see how your aviation SMS is performing. Instant, real time reports of Key Performance Indicators relating to:

• Issue Management Statistics

• Financial Information Relating to Reported Incidents

• SMS Investigations Statistics

• Safety Meeting Statistics

• Trending Charts

• View Corporate Goals and Objectives Next to Statistics

Custom Inspection Forms for Safety Audits, Inspections & Evaluations

• Easily create custom inspection form for your users to use.

• Customize your Gap Analysis template to suit your operations.

• Export inspection forms to pdf format.

Gap Analysis to Measure Progress

• Perform Gap Analysis to determine your strengths and weaknesses.

• Compare Gap Analysis history in easy to use graphs.

• Document your answers to review months or years later.

• Learn the requirements of an aviation safety management system by performing a routine Gap Analysis.

Issue Validation for Reviewing Reported Issues & Corrective Actions

Reported issues require review after they have been closed to determine whether the corrective actions remain effective and have not aggravated the situation.

Automated email reminders notify managers that an issue requires review (validation).

Document your review for others to see, such as external auditors. Remarks appear in the Issue Manager for users to see the "Validation History."

Internal Evaluation Program (IEP)

Online IEP template allows your organization to store this information in an easily accessible location.

KPI Trend Monitor

Normalize your KPIs with other operators with different sizes. View trends graphically or in a table with KPIs important to your organization.

Easy to use; See frequency data and normalized rates in a single glance.

Safety Promotion

SMS Hazard Reporting By All Stakeholders

When the feedback loop is closed, users feel as if they are a part of the organization and their input is valued. Feedback should not go into a box, leaving employees to wonder whether the issue will ever be resolved.

SMS Pro™ establishes accountability throughout the organization by allowing users to check on the status of issues in real time without disturbing administrative staff. Not only are registered users permitted to submit safety, security, quality & compliance issues into the hazard management database, but ALL stakeholders can use the "Public Reporting Module" without compromising security.

The "Public Issue Reporting feature is great for:

• Contractors

• Customers

• Board Members without SMS Pro™ access

Safety Goals & Objectives

Safety Goals and Objectives Planner™ provides a means for organizations to set and track SMS goals and objectives. SMS PRO™ automatically populates the module with data from the SMS database and the Gap Analysis Tool™. The program also automatically queries hazard, risk, audit, and financial data and compares against company-set objectives.

SMS Induction Manager to Prove/Documents Employees Understand Their SMS Roles

Auditors frequently ask whether ALL users are trained in an organization's SMS program. Auditors will say "prove it," and with the SMS Induction Manger, you are covered.

• I understand how our safety management system operates.

• I am aware of the role I play in our safety management system.

• I understand the aim of our safety management system is to improve safety – not to attribute blame.

• I have participated in either a formal or informal induction of our safety management system.  

Meeting Manager to Easily Setup & Document Safety Meetings

Meeting Manager™ is used to manage SMS meetings. The application references the SMS database, automatically populates meeting agendas and sends meeting agendas and minutes to invitees. Meetings can be managed using real-time data from the SMS database. Meeting tasks are logged in the application for follow-up.

Meeting minutes are automatically prepared and sent to participants. Participants are documented and saved for Key Performance Indicators reports.

Documentation for meetings should always be this easy.

Read Files to Prove/Document Who Reads Safety Information

Read File™ allows users to post safety information to a central location for everyone in the organization to see and read. Managers can keep track of who in the organization has read the postings.

Auditors frequently ask, "Who is reading your memos?" or "How do you know your employees are reading your notices?" The read file shows who has opened the file as well as the date. This is an auditor's favorite tool to see at an aviation service provider's business.

Message Board Assures Management Everyone Understands the Message!

When managers send out a memo or an important notice, they need to be assured that everyone has read and understands the message. Message Board module documents the message and who has acknowledged reading and willingness to comply with the message. Reminders can be sent easily to those not yet reading the message.

Safety Newsletters to Communicate SMS Issues & Progress

Safety must be easily communicated to all users. SMS Pro's newsletters function allows safety managers to create and email newsletters to all users, or to only particular groups of users.

Safety Surveys to Gauge Employee Beliefs and SMS Effectiveness

Safety Survey™ module allows operators to quickly identify the organization’s safety culture. Respondents can answer the survey and remain anonymous.

Lessons Learned Library to Share SMS Lessons with Your Organization or Others

Users need to learn from past mistakes. Lessons learned library allows users to review and search for past lessons learned.

 Desensitized Issues Reports

Users like to learn what types of issues have been reported in their organization, whether they are safety, security, quality or compliance. SMS Pro™ allows the desensitized issue title and description to be displayed to all users.

Vehicle/Aircraft Status

Display online for all users any problems with vehicles or aircraft. Visual color codes draw attention to problem vehicles. Useful for operators to review before using vehicles/aircraft.

Integrated Delay Status functionality allows tracking of vehicle delays for reports on operational efficiency and equipment integrity.

Airport/Landing Area Status

Display latest status/conditions at your airports, helipads, landing strips of interest. Useful for airports and landing areas that are not routinely maintained or are in remote areas. Color codes draw attention to problem airfields. Useful for pilots before undertaking a mission. Customizable to include landing areas not in the ICAO register.

 

UNIQUESNESS 3.0

User Interface 

Describes the user’s flexibility to change templates and to generate custom reports?

Program customization is based on the SMS Admin role.

The SMS Admin configures when emails are received, which divisions users belong to, which reporting templates are made available to users.

Based on a user's role, ad-hoc reports can be created and exported, including extensive charts, graphs and tabular reports.

Ad hoc charts and graphs can be created for:

• Type of Issue (safety, security; whatever you classify on)

• Process involved;

• Root Cause;

• Associated risks, based on the Operational Risk Profile;

• Issue status (open, closed, etc);

• By department; and

• By Division.

• Date ranges (days, weeks, months, years) and across divisions and departments

SMS Pro's Menu Template is completely customizable per Organization. Note that the menu is structured per ICAO's "Four Pillars of Safety Management" concept.

Confidential Information

Below is the default Menu Setting:

My Safety

• Submit New Issue

• My Dashboard (to manage issues, corrective actions, tasks, audits, training & qualifications)

• Flight Risk Assessment Tool - (individual flight risk assessment & escalation with alerts)

Policy

• Policy Manager (List of Policies with Editor. Set email review reminders)

• Task Review Reminder (Set email reminders for audits & tasks. Recurring tasks accepted)

• Organization Chart

• Duties & Requirements (List of Key Safety Personnel's Duties & Requirements with Editor)

• Applicable Regulations (List of regulations managed by Safety Manager)

• Implementation Manager (Customizable SMS Implementation Steps/Auditor management)

• Documentation (Repository, Libraries, Version Control, Access Security by Roles

Risk Management

• Issue Manager (Assess, Classify, Costs, Attachments, Investigation, Lessons Learned)

• Hazard Analysis Tool

• Hazard & Risk Registry

• Corrective Actions Manager

• QuickChart™ (Comprehensive Charting Tool)

• FinancialChart™ (Charts detailing where the money is going)

• Quick Sort™ (Data investigation, filter, sort, export)

Safety Assurance

• Qualifications & Training Manager

• Performance Monitor (Trends, Charts, Bottom Line Analysis, Safety Meeting Stats)

• Risk Exposure

• Custom Inspection Form (Create forms for Audits, Inspections and Evaluations)

• Gap Analysis (Transport Canada, FAA & Custom Templates, with history, reports, etc)

• Issue Validation (Audit Reports, Validate Issues on Review Dates)

Safety Promotion

• SMS Induction Manager (Manage SMS Induction Process, send emails to users not inducted)

• Company Safety Goals

• All Employee Letter (Letter advising employees of SMS Implementation)

• Meeting Manager (Manage meetings,  minutes, attendance, pdf exports, emails agenda, tasks)

• ReadFile™ (Document Repository that tracks who has read memos and documents)

• SafetySurvey™ (Easily Create Surveys for users)

• Newsletter (Module to create and send SMS newsletters to employees)

• Lessons Learned Library (Full-text search enabled Lessons Learned)

Notification

Describes the software’s notification process?

• Email notifications are based on roles.

• The SMS Admin can configure who gets emails and during which phase of the Issue Management process.

Users get email notifications/verification upon:

• Reporting issues;

• Being assigned tasks;

• Being assigned corrective actions;

• When managers reject their task/corrective actions performance;

• Emailed lessons learned;

• Sent newsletters from SMS Pro™;

• Verification that they have been inducted into SMS;

• Safety Meeting invitations and resulting meeting minutes;

• When their recommendations for corrective actions have been modified;

• They have overdue assigned issues, corrective actions and tasks;

• Items are coming due, such as issues, corrective actions and tasks;

• Managers request "Witness Statements" in the investigation

Safety managers receive notifications when:

• Issues are reported for their division;

• All corrective actions have been completed for an issue (so they can close issue);

• When issues need to be reviewed after closure (validation);

• When corrective/preventive actions need to be reviewed after closure (validation);

• Users request induction into the SMS;

• Gap analysis completion with the results;

Department Heads (managers) receive notifications when:

• They are assigned issues;

• When their issues have been re-assigned;

• Their assigned issues have been closed;

• Users signify completion of tasks or corrective action relating to their assigned issues;

• Audits have been completed.

SMS Executives receive emails when:

• Issues are classified as high risk;

• High risk issues are closed.

Third parties (auditors, dispatch, regulating authorities) receive emails when:

• They are configured to for audit findings or concerns;

• Flight risk assessments are made (optional);

• Witness statements are requested.

• Witness statement reminders when they don't respond.

 

Design

What sized firm is SMS Pro™ designed for?

• SMS Pro™ was designed to be scalable for small to medium sized aviation enterprises.

• Operators with more than 40 employees would find the program useful.

• Large organizations (over ten thousand employees) also use the application due to the enterprise level database and Web development methodologies.

• International airports are using this application

Large operators typically have access to in-house development staff, but they frequently come to us for design guidance based on our leading edge functionality.