Comairs Crew Scheduling System - Case Study Example

Information Systems System Development Analysis Report Comair's Crew Scheduling System Module BB215005S Module Leader: Lynn Snape Semester 2, 2008-2009 Table of contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 3 Business Strategy 3 Comair IS/IT Strategy 4 Comair IS/IT Strategy development motives 4 SWOT Analysis 6 PESTLE Analysis 7 Value Chain Analysis 9 Primary Activities 9 Support Activities 10 Industry strategic analysis price 11 Development of new system 12 System developers 13 Technical 13 Non-technical 14 Technology issues 14 Conclusion 14 References 15 Executive summary With the passage of time and technological advancements the demand for business management systems has also emerged. Airline business is on the rise. To make air travel more attractive latest technology is being used. Since air travel has become more safer, inexpensive and comfortable this business is increasing and drawing in a large number of customers. The percentage of people using this mode of transportation is also on the rise. In reality the overall management of all the scenarios in this field is not very easy. But if a better organizational management system is made available then things could be managed in a more better way. This research, planning and analysis report aims to analyze the development of the available system of Comair which is a well established airline company in the US. This report will make a deep study and analyze Comair' AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling system. Introduction This report is based on a detailed analysis of the new system implementations at the Comair's AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling. Comair already has a working system for the AirCrews Operations Management and scheduling, but because of different developments in technology as well as the emerging requirement for improved business management a better system is now needed for the airways to manage its crews. The main objective for this analysis is to determine the main factors with regard to the adoption of a new system. The various tools like SWOT, PESTLE, and Value Chain Analysis are being used. Business strategy Comair's business strategy is based on customer satisfaction. Comair is a well accomplished air line of the US and now has almost 7000 airline professionals. These employees are very cooperative in their dealings with the passengers. The airline operates more than 1100 flights everyday and carries about 30000 passengers. Comair due to its best performance has won an award and is the leader in the regional air transport carrier industry (Case Study). Thus the developments in the business of Conair has made it imperative to establish a better organizational policy to meet its enhanced customer management requirements. Therefore Comair has resolved to effectively establish some policy with regard to its overall management process. Not to mention this management process include personal management, staff management, flight schedule and other areas of air crew operation. This will aid the management to provide customers with more quality services thereby earning customer loyalty. Comair IS/IT Strategy Comair has well-known IS/IT Strategy. The IS/IT Strategy aims to develop a new system which will aid in better functioning and performance of the crew when compared to the already existing crew scheduling and management system. This new IS/IT Strategy has been developed to over come the problems which exists with the old system making it harder for the overall management and the proper functioning of the crew. The present system of was actually implemented about 20 years ago and was developed by the SBS legacy system developers. Comair IS/IT Strategy development motives The existing SBS legacy system of the airline is not effective with regard to the handling of the ever increasing schedules. The system was developed in a very old programming language - FORTRAN. The outcome is that the system is not every effective to the present day functioning as the language does not have good user interface. The system also has problems in handling the day-to-day scheduling and transactions. The system was developed only to handle monthly pilot schedule changes and flight attendant schedule changes with a limit. But the business of Comair is increasing every day which has resulted in the increase of pilot schedule changes and flight attendant schedule changes rapidly. In order to handle this increase a system which can cover more pilot schedule changes and flight attendant schedule changes is required. A few technical problems are also being faced by the airlines. The system crashes at crucial stages of operation and because of this the company has had to face heavy loss. The flights were also running late because of the crash in the system. For instance on 25th December, 2004 the system crashed to such an extent that the company was forced to stop all its flights thus leading to grounding its complete schedule of 1100 flights. This resulted in many problems to the passengers who either had to put off their holiday schedules or even their business travel. The outcome of 25th December was that Comair faced a loss of $20 million. The system was also affected with the Y2K problem. Later on, this problem was solved by dividing the whole operation into two modules so that pilot schedule changes and flight attendant schedule changes could now accommodate a monthly limit of 32,000. Comair is also in the process of monitoring the volume of transactions more carefully (Case Study). Comair's IS and IT strategy main initiatives Comair IS and IT strategy basically aims at making the entire working system more efficient. IS and IT strategy of the company have now plans to establish a new AirCrews operations and scheduling management system. The installation of the new system has come off after several consultations and meetings conducted by the senior managers and system developer firms. These firms presented the features of the main system and their cost. After detailed analyses of several developer firms and their capacity the organization has decided to give the opportunity to SABRE Corporation for development and implementation of the new system. This implementation of the new system is part of the Comair IS and IT strategy which aims to modernize the whole working methods and performance of the Comair. This will augment the capability of the transaction processing system and will aid the overall performance of the crew of comair airline. This new system is being developed in a 4th generation language which guarantees increased interface between the user and the system so that the working environment of the crew can be increased. It will also provide for effective communication facilities. This will increase the overall scheduling of the Aircrews operations. SWOT Analysis This section presents the SWOT analysis of the Comair's IS and IT strategy. The purpose of this analysis is to figure out the main factors regarding different organizational outlooks. In this way we will be able to visualize the different aspects of Comair's IS and IT strategy for its effective implementation. Strengths Comair's latest IS and IT strategy for implementation of the new crew schedule management system is very effective for better organizational and management functions. This system implementation will save the organization from lot of potential system failures which are the main factors for the decreased level of annual profits. Weaknesses When a system shifts from old system to a new system, we need a mechanism for the transformation of all old data to the new system. Since these old data is very essential and useful for the organization. This data comprises of historical trends, employees' payroll and lots of other factors. Thus the old system has to be entirely transformed and taken up in the new system. Opportunities This system will offer better technology and effective user interface. The system has a great opportunity for deployment of more improved working system which will be more better and easier to use for the company employees. In this way they will be able to perform their tasks in a more enhanced way. Threats Only a few threats regarding the implementation of new system can be spotted. These threats are linked to effective adoptability of the system. The present employees who are used to the old system may feel it a bit difficult to adopt to the new system but as they get used to it they will have no difficulty. The reason being that the new system will be developed with the workers in mind so that it becomes easier for them to adopt. PESTLE analysis PESTLE analysis of Comair's new IS and IT strategy aims at presenting the analysis of the different factors of implementation of the new system. Since the new system is an attempt to transform the overall organizational structure. This PESTLE analysis will figure out the different points regarding the implementation of the new system. Political: Each organization comprises of an internal political environment. The implementation of the new system can effect that environment. If the system is easy to use and effective in its performance then the employees will be at ease with the system and its workings. In this way political environment becomes stable for the organization, but a system which does not offer better system functionalities can disturb the whole organizational working. Economy: The overall economic situation of the organization will be better through the implementation of this new system. A lot of system crashes resulted in a loss of millions of dollars to the organization but with the implementation of this new system this can be avoided. Sociological: This factor is related to organizational personnel satisfaction. This system will enhance the user satisfaction and workers reliance on the system. Technological: This system is expected to be implemented in 2006. The latest technology available in the markets will offer a better user interface and effective tools for organizational working. This technology will be implemented on a new hardware platform which will be faster. Legal: The new system implementation is according to law and ordinances established by the US Aviation department. Also incorporation of the ISO standards for system development and implementation is being adhered. All these standards add to the better performance of the organization. Environmental: Comair's new system will be very effective for their working environment and performance. The overall performance will be improve leading to a better organizational environment which is more suitable for the present working situations. Value Chain Analysis This section presents value chain analysis to access the main factors concerning the organizational working and performance. VCA or value chain analysis for the Comair's new system provides a deep insight into the organizational working and elaborates main procedures for competitive benefits. Value Chain Analysis Factors Explanation Primary Activities Inbound Logistics This factor of the Value chain analysis the main system will be implemented for the organization. SABRE technology solution will provide the main system for the overall handling of the infrastructure. Operations The implementation of the new system will provide better services and performance with regard to better organizational working conditions and factors. The required infrastructure has to be established. Outbound Logistics This concerns with the organizational system implementation support. For the implementation of new system the job pool has to be processed. This process involves recruiting new workforce for the new system. Also a check will be kept on the effective scheduling and management of the crew working with the help of the new system. Marketing and Sales The marketing factors are linked to the marketing of new services and facilities of the newly developed system. The customers and workers will gain a better insight into the organization and its new technology. The most important goal is to check the needs of the target clients. Service This system implementation also involves the training of the workers that need to interact with the new system. This process involves the proper establishment of the organizational training program. Support Activities. Procurement The process and procurement of the activities which involves the overall procedures to be used in the establishment of the new system will be done through the purchase of new hardware and software. Human Resource Management (HRM) Workers are costly and fundamental resources of any organization. This project will help to establish a standard for direct recruitment, training, selection and development, rewards, and payment of the personnel. The task and objectives of the association would be a powerful authority for a good HRM policy. Industry strategic analysis Price The investment for the new system will present a new horizon for gaining a better marketing edge and make the entire organization functioning more successful. The aim of this investment is to deploy a system that is more-better in working and successful in handling the performance of the organization. By analyzing the investment with regard to the cost benefit this project will help add value to the organizational performance. This project is intended to renovate the overall organizational working environment. Several problems have been discussed with regard to the existing technology. The old system and its technology has resulted in a huge loss to the organization and on its overall profit due to breakdown. The new system of course will result in huge investment but at the same time it will result in a system which is more dependable. Customer satisfaction is the main purpose of any business. Due to the different problems in the old SBS legacy system lots of delays in flights resulted in causing inconvenience to the passengers. For this reason the level of customer satisfaction is went down. This new technology implementation will manage the overall organizational working structure in a better way. The cost of this system can also be recovered through better customer support and error free working. The system will work effectively with out any delay in the schedules; if no flight will be late then we more customers will be satisfied resulting in better customer loyalty. This system will offer lot of advantage against our potential investment; a few of them are as below; Better competitive edge Effective organizational performance No system breakdown Customer loyalty Less flight cancellations Better user interface More capacity Market share elevation Customer and worker satisfaction Development of new system The new system will provide a better organizational working scenario that will enhance the potential performance. Although this system is very huge but still the development and working of this system will be easier as it is being adopted from a reputed firm. The contract of the system development was given to SABRE technology system. This firm will develop the system and will base on new technology which has better crew management solution. The development of the system involves the following steps; Requirement assessment System design Development Hardware implementations Testing Quality assurance and performance analysis System developers This system will involve the following personnel in the development: Technical: Project manager Planner Analyst Assistant System designers System coder System tester Quality assurance IT operatives Network management staff Non-Technical: Operators Managers Employees for the new system handling Technology issues In this system implementation a lot of technological issues were sighted. The issue is that of the infrastructure which has to be linked to the new software which is being developed. This will add to the overall organizational budget for the system implementation. Conclusion This analysis report has provided a deep insight into the development of a new system for the organizational management and handling. This report has provided different analysis techniques for the assessment of the new system for the Aircrews Operations Management scheduling system. This report is a complete overview of the main project tasks and their execution details. References 1. Alavi 1984, 'An Assessment of the Prototyping Approach to Information System Development', Communications of the ACM. 2. Allen, R 1997, 'A Formal Approach to Software Architecture', PhD thesis thesis, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. 3. Andriole, S 1992, 'Rapid Application Prototyping', QED. 4. Baskerville & Stage 1996, 'Controlling Prototype Development through Risk Analysis', MIS Quarterly. 5. Cerveny, P, R, J, E, Garrity & Sanders, L 1990, 'A Problem-Solving Perspective on Systems Development', Journal of Management Information Systems, p. 4. 6. 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