MRO IT/IS Myth-Busters

“Everything you wanted to know about

aviation M&E Systems and were afraid to ask”

MRO/IT Bangkok – Oct 13, 14, 2009

Thanos Kaponeridis, President and CEO,
AeroSoft Systems Inc.

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 Preface
• If you believe that your Airframe / Engine OEM ‘will donate your
‘M&E / Digital Documentation’ Systems for ‘Free’ as part of your
‘iron’ acquisition/loyalty strategy….

– Please do not listen to the rest of this presentation!

– You are already getting what you paid for…with all the risks and
benefits that pertains!

• We believe M&E Systems must work for All Aircraft types from 30
seat “Regional” to 550 seat super-Jumbos and everything in
between including rotary wing

– An implementation must support such a mixed fleet

– Different price points, major integration modules and on going in-house
support demands lead to different solution combinations

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 IT Myths perpetuated in our Industry
• “Tier 2&3 Carriers have simpler M&E IT requirements than Tier 1”
• “One software package ‘fits all sizes/needs’ of airlines’ MRO operation”
• “Airline M&E and 3rd party MRO ‘IT’ needs are the same”
• “We can build it better / cheaper ‘in-house’”
• “We don’t need to do / commit to Data Conversion
• We’ll build it for you real cheap – we have low labour rates
• “One vendor can develop ‘all integrated elements’ of a MRO IS”
• “A single IT Platform meets requirements of Global Market Place”
• “You don’t need a separate Document Management System”
• “You need a ‘Large Single Supplier’ to obtain the best MRO IT solution”
• “All IT/System suppliers have the same cost basis/structure, therefore
they all can offer similar pricing”
• “Airframe / Engine OEM’s will give us ‘free systems’”
• “Airframe / Engine OEM’s and ERP’s will dominate MRO IS Market”

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 Commercial and Regulatory Requirements

• Regulations demand the same level of M&E diligence and

Airworthiness Compliance from a 3 Aircraft “Startup” operator as
they do from a 300 A/C “National Carrier” for FAA Part 121 / EASA
145

• The M&E System for both requires the same functionality – or do

they?!
– Regional Operations, high cycles/landings, multiple-stage routes and
low utilization coupled with “overnight availability” of aircraft for
maintenance provide challenges and opportunities that large carriers do
not have!

• The “cost / affordability” issue is certainly a different matter!

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 More Commercial realities

• IT/IS spending in Airlines and MRO’s should be around 2.5% - 3% of

Revenues

• A $5 Billion operation leaves 150Million / yr. total

– Of this 10% could be for M&E aka $15million…
– Adequate to implement “fully integrated systems”

• For a $500 million operator this is $15Million still enough for large
systems at $1.5M for M&E

• For a $50-100Million ‘Startup’ – not enough funds to run an RFP

process – never mind procuring and implementing a system!

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…Major vs. Regional….
• Yet M&E can be more complex at Regional / Tier 2&3:

– 1500 Flight Logs / day vs.100-200 Flight logs for the ‘major’
– 300 ‘a/c’ to schedule/reschedule (with associated crews, maintenance …
– 15,000 rotables tracked (assuming homogeneous fleet!) vs. 3000-4000 for the
‘major – this ‘explodes’ with different OEM/fleet types…
– 20 minutes turn around at gate vs. 1-2 hours
– Landing gear / APU ‘utilization’: High cycles, ‘low utilization’!
– Essential to utilize ‘night window’ for phased maintenance!
– Real-time ACARS messaging does not yield practical results for a 1 hour stage-flight
– Cannot ferry a 1-2hour ‘stage length’ aircraft to “Low Cost MRO’s / Regions across
the world for maintenance cost reductions!

So the ‘Systems that manage the Regional’s M&E has to be at least as

‘robust’ as the one for the “Major” and has to provide real ROI!

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 One software ‘fits all sizes/needs’
• If M&E software is highly complex and (claimed-to-be all encompassing)
then it is too expensive to license and implement across the board !

– Suppliers will offer ‘a handful of modules’ to pass the Procurement Budget ‘bar’,
then as the system appears ‘non-workable’ due to missing ‘modules’ the vendor
will keep offering/adding them until the price and complexity goes again beyond
the original plan!

• “Military s/w implementation background can solve commercial/civil

aviation” (the implication is that you just have to ‘dumb-down the system’!)
– Costs/Price points, Complexity, Regulations, ‘Large project expectations’,
Business Process variance….

• Managers recommending ‘too expensive and incomplete systems which

overrun budgets and take forever to implement will never admit to it’: These
are career limiting confessions!

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 “ROI”

• Calculated ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ invested and then ROI in terms

of ‘Total Expected savings’

• Games ‘experts’ play:

– Extend the period for ROI!
– “Hide true costs” – which include ‘learning period’ after training
– Exclude the data conversion / clean up costs
– Exclude the interfaces to all other systems the legacy system was
interfaced with (Finance, Flight Ops, Logistics, other in-house systems)
– Rarely include in-house resource needs in using and supporting costs
for the application
– Never ‘baseline’ the BEFORE and AFTER picture openly

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 Airline and 3rd party MRO ‘IT/IS’ are the same

• …well ‘not exactly’….in fact not at all!

• MRO are not responsible to ‘calculate due lists from real time
utilization’….or Airworthiness Compliance…or ‘least cost’!
• MRO’s do not need ‘real-time’ ACARS messages to Mx. Control to organize
the troubleshooting process in time for landing at the next airport!
• Unscheduled Maintenance is more an airline challenge
• MRO’s must have full ‘resource planning and ‘adjusting capabilities
(hangars, bays/lines, tools, mechanics-skills) to reflect changing workloads
and optimize capacity utilization – and reflect that to the ‘controlling M&E
System at the airline
• MRO’s must be able to ‘generate’ work-packages based on Airlines’ data
and feed into their workflow…
• …unless the MRO offers ‘one stop shopping’ and Saas/ASP based
M&E software for their customers!

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 We can build it better / cheaper ‘in-house’

• License, implementation and maintenance fees vs. In-house

resources and their risks
• $1B ‘in-house’ IT/IS shops do need justification….!
• Would you buy an Airframe or Engine from any of the ‘TOP IS
SUPPLIERS to the MRO business’?
• Would you buy the “new PC” operating system if it was built by
American Airlines?
• Why then does a single airline or MRO believe they possess the
centre of competence to build world-class software on their own?
• How do you reflect the ‘business process, QA diligence of a ‘50-100
customer base’ with the ‘in-house knowledge’ of one internal IT/IS
and end-user group?
• What do you do when “Joe, the programmer that developed the in-
house solution wins the lottery…?

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 Application Design Choices
• Data (Product Data Management or Financial) Driven?
– Parts, Configuration, “As Maintained Effectivity”, Reliability, Scheduling,
Planning, “Dollars”….Flight-Ops ‘in’…..Financial ‘out’…
• Digital Content / Document Driven?
– “Eliminate Paper”
– “CD/DVD” (= .pdf? ….SGML/CGM? …XML/SVG?.iSPEC2200 or
S1000D..
– “Publish on demand” on Intranet / Internet
– “Automatic Generation of Work Cards”
– Change Management at “MRU” level
• Real time Fault Event Driven?
– CMS to FIM/FRM or TSM via ACARS links
– Standards anyone? Boeing vs. Airbus (they formed a working group at
ATA!)
– What if stage length less than 1 hour and a/c less than $20M?
• AI / “Symptom vs. Experience vs. Cause” driven?
– Building Database of Symptoms and Root Cause
– Keeping it Current and “Omni-available”
– OEM’s ‘proprietary hold’ there!
– Integration with FIM/FRM and real-time ACARS messaging?
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……more Design Choices
• REGULATORY CONSTRAINTS:
– Digital Signature Approval / Standards
– “Non Revisable Digital Document” Standards (.PDF vs XML)
– “Prove OEM data is same as data in ‘your system’
– How ‘real time’ is ‘as maintained status of a/c vs. what is in system?
• e-Business:
– Procurement
– Repair
• All subject to MSG3 compliant aircraft / maintenance programs?
– If “A” and “C” check and ‘Hard-times’ programs are the basis of
Regulatory Compliance and OEM MPD/MRM/MPM, we can’t get ROI
on contemporary solutions and Proactive Health
Monitoring/Maintenance Systems….!

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 …and additional technical issues…

• How do you ‘print’ correctly / anywhere across the WEB?

• Which security paradigm do you embrace?

• Portable / Mobile technology devices?

• How do you interface an “SaaS / ASP Based M&E” with another

ASP Based “Flight Ops” and an “In-house Based Financial
Accounting” system (3 different applications, three different physical
environments and different IT and s/w architectures…)?

• How do you do ‘all of the above and remain compliant with “Open
Standards” and with “Bill Gates”!

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 The “one-size-fits-all” Paradox
• So how do you build and market a ‘one size fits all’ M&E software solution?
– That interfaces to popular Flight Ops Systems / Data Transfer
– That interfaces to popular ‘ERP-level’ Financial Systems
• You simply don’t! Instead:
– Different products and prices for different market sectors
– A major cost element is implementation! (Typically a multiplier of licensing costs
due to customization of business process, data conversion, training, infant
mortality/support phase and integration with complex existing ERP / Financial,
Flight Ops systems)
– Implementation certainly does not mean: “Develop for this customer”!
– Can’t build it from ‘bottom up’ (i.e. ‘carte blanche with specifications) and have
viable functional and cost effective solutions in a reasonable timeframe – Not
even with “Java in Outsourced environments”….!
– Basic M&E Systems typically have 2000-3000 ‘function points’ and require a
minimum of 3-5 years in Production to stabilize…before they face a ‘technology
wave upgrade challenge!
– INTEGRATION and Partnership WITH BEST OF BREED SECTORS is key
Domains: E-Business, Logistics Analysis, Content Management

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 Data Conversion: who’s job is it?

• The one point we (the IS suppliers) agree: Data Conversion is the

costliest / riskiest part of an implementation

• Yet, many suppliers don’t ‘price it’ or ‘assume it’ …..

• The only way to have a ‘new system’ accepted in Production is to

prove that it manages ‘clean / correct data’ (even if you have to fix
the previous-legacy system’s errors!)

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 One s/w supplier can produce ‘all integrated elements’

• ….. of a complete / complex MRO IT/IS infrastructure

• Conservatively a complete set can represent 1000 man-years of

original development

• How can ‘one supplier’ FUND and then ‘RECOVER’ the investments
of such an effort in a reasonable timeframe and still remain
‘contemporary’ in their solutions

• They would have to sell 100 licenses at $1M each over 5 years!
(and combine with billing rates with 100-200% margins on cost)

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 A single IT Platform meets Global Market Place

• Microsoft .NET is embraced…..(but not everywhere!)

• Linux is here to stay (and grow)

• J2EE

• Oracle is a good platform – but there are alternatives that are

‘simple, clean, and lower cost like MySQL!

• Legacy hardware platforms still have a long life and in many cases
offer much more robust and reliable solutions especially for ‘SaaS /
Browser implementations which are ‘data-center’ oriented.

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 “No need for separate Document Management System”

• Content Management at MRU of digital data is not ‘Document

Management’
• Document Management
– 20,000 page, 5000 illustration “MSWord document” vs. “Digital Content /
Minimum Revisable Unit” management!
• Oh yes... ‘those darn graphics’…(CGM, SVG,…?)
• “Lets convert everything into PDF”!
• “Let’s scan all your paper and keep the images ‘indexed’”
• “SGML iSPEC2200 DTD’s are simple to convert to schema based
XML”
• “Boeing and Airbus digital data (and Bombardier and Embraer!) are all
the same”
• “We can ‘do it all’ with a couple of developers”
• Even Oracle and SAP bring digital content / document
management partners to the table – and it’s not SharePoint!

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 Giant Single Supplier for the best MRO IT/IS

• “Prime Contractor” / “Large Banker” …insurance?

• So why more than 30 competitors?

• Core competencies – (See ‘Design Decisions….)

• Key customer concern: Implementation Resources

• Access to specialized integration s/w existing skills

• Outsourcing and Capacity adjustments are much easier with an integration

platform than within a single supplier…..because

• There is risk sharing/spreading amongst multiple suppliers that must survive

economic waves

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 All System suppliers have same cost basis

• … therefore can offer similar pricing

• 100 man-years development of ‘one system’ has a cost base of

$10Million – this must be recovered in a reasonably short period to
meet investor demands and liquidity

• You can ‘beg-borrow-steal IP’ and copy / re-implement with newer

tools…’!
• You can ‘promise to write the software/solution at real cheap
(outsourced) rates specific for that airline
• OR
• You can legitimately purchase and license IP / technology (at
opportune times) and continue improving, integrating and
advancing

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 OEM’s will give you ‘free systems’

• Of course they will…

– You only have to buy $1-2Billion of aircraft/engines and the license fees
of $500K will be the ‘error’ in the calculation!

– Implementation and maintenance will always be extra…

– You will also be dependent absolutely and totally to that OEM ‘for ever’
….(how well do their systems work with the ‘other OEM’s ‘data’…?)

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OEM’s and SAP, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft will win…

• Rationalization will happen amongst our market – and it is already

happening

• Large ERP’s keep ‘re-implementing’ enormous systems ($100M plus at the

expense of a single airline client!)

– One of these days they will get it right…!

– Some key management staff involved in their unquestioned approval (at the
airlines) will be inevitably get fired!

– Will “They” provide the direct attention, price point and functional excellence to
the levels our niche M&E system suppliers are offering?

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 AeroSoft Maintains your Leading Edge
• How does a ‘small’ company do it for 12 years –profitable for the past
6 consecutive years?
• We price products and solutions well below competitive products because
our value add has been through combined organic and inorganic based
growth plus partnerships / integration– we don’t have to amortized all the
years of developing and maturing the systems from scratch
• We were first in showing Digital Document Content delivery and automatic
Job Card generation over the WEB in 1997
• We were 1st in 2001 with Internet / WEB based M&E system delivery in
production
• We have produced “Real Time Maintenance Event Monitoring” prototype in
2005: DigiSMART ‘listens’ to ACARS and assists M&E troubleshooting
• Our 30+ Customers are worldwide and their 1300+ a/c depend on our
software and Customer Support infrastructure exploiting WEB technologies
such as VoIP, VPN, “Webex”, RDT etc
• Three owned Systems with functionality, technology and price points for
different market sectors – yet both used for 121/145 compliance!

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 THIS IS HOW…

• 4Sight Technologies – Advanced Logistics Support for MRO’s interfaced with our
M&E Systems
• Aeroxchange – ATA SPEC2000 compliant e-Business for Procurement and Repair
• Bombardier – “EDSE” – SPEC2000 Chapter 11 compliant Reliability Data Export to
OEM
• CaseBank – integration with “Symptoms/Cause” troubleshooting and the ‘Advanced
Diagnostics System” of Bombardier
• Corena – Digital Content Management solutions compliant to ATA iSPEC2200,
integrated with our M&E and with our competitors
• IBM Partner– platform diversity
• LogiXML – XML based reporting, application development and
‘extract/transform/load’ for linking diverse system databases and associated reporting
• pKS, MicroFocus – middleware tools for cross platform development, multi-platform
delivery / conversion of systems
• JustSystems – XML digital document / Minimum Revisable Unit content authoring
• SITA – Sales Agency and technical cooperation for ACARS data streams and
wireless mobile workforce solutions
• Microsoft, Oracle, Linux – Platform support.

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Aerosoft’s Integrated Solution
Onboard devices
linking to data
bus and
transmitting to
ground
Financial
System

AeroBUY

Flight
Operation
System

DigiPLAN

Line Maintenance

DigiMAINT
or
DigiDOC
WinPMI /
WebPMI

Data DJM

Data

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Scope of DigiMAINT™

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Scope of DigiMAINT™
• DigiMAINT™ is a WEB-/Intranet-enabled integrated commercial
aviation maintenance management system, designed for and in use
by all types of aircraft operators, business flight providers,
maintenance facilities, stock distributors and regulatory agencies.

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Scope of WebPMI™ / DJM ™

•WebPMI and WinPMI are solutions designed for medium and large operators
/ MRO’s with full interfaces with Finance and Flight Operations.

•The solutions are geared to provide full regulatory compliance, the

implementation of aviation maintenance best practices, and a proven quick
ROI.

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Scope of WebPMI™ / DJM ™

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DigiDOC™
Engineering Services Line Maintenance
Engineering Services
Production
Data loaded Customers
from OEM

Authors Browser
IE GUI
Data loaded CD ROM Synchronization
from customers Scan Module Module

Web Browser

Data loaded
-other

DigiDOC Server

M&E System
Online IETM and paper

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DigiDOC™ Document Flow
View Official documents - Only

Boeing, Airbus,
Bombardier, etc
Official
Job Cards and documents for
AMM, IPC, MPD, SB, TR’s
Production / Line / Workshop
Publish for distribution
Airline In-house
Documents

Supplements

Airline In-house
Library

Information

Manage,
Review
Authored M&E System
Documents Link to M&E System

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DigiDOC™ Customer Originated Changes

Click Button
to start Local
Edit

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DigiDOC™ Operator Maintenance Requirements
MR Revision Maintenance
Management Requirements
MS Load Create # Gen Maintenance Programs

Update View
Collision
Analysis
Validate Approve

Validation Archive Export Regulators…

OEM Rev
OEM n
<XML>
MPD
MPD
OEM Rev
OEM OEM
OEM 2
MPD
MPD MPD
MPD MS Excel
Rev 1

Planning / Job Card

Applications

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DigiDOC™ Review, workflow of MPD changes
Authoring Area: MPD classification
Folders below are virtual folders, which gather MPD items based upon different cirterias. The user has in this
example clicked the ”REV – unclassified” folder, which then is presented in the right frame.

This button shows a

This MPD is a newly loaded ITEM from preview of all data
the OEM. The changes are high lighted within the ITEM, see
so it becomes easier for the user to next page..
classify the ITEM. The classifications in
this case are named APPL (Major and
N/A (minor). The ”pink” bar in the official
version indicated that the previous
version was classified as APPL.

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DigiDOC™ Mod Status integration with M&E

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DigiDOC™ API Link from M&E System
• Integrating with the Mod Status in
M&E System

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DigiDOC™ Interactive Viewer

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DigiDOC™ Multimedia support
• We have plug-ins supporting formats that cannot be natively rendered by a
browser – like “IsoView “

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DigiREPORTS™
• An interactive, robust pure WEB-based (XML) Business Intelligence
platform that allows developers to quickly create and publish WEB-based
executive and management reports for the entire organization over the
company’s intranet and the Internet.
• The DigiREPORTS™ set of tools separate data handling, report
development, and presentation.
• Build complete reporting applications in a matter of hours instead of the
weeks and months.
Report Engine

Report
Definitions WEB Browser
and Rules

Data Source

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DigiREPORTS™ - Reports

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DigiPLAN™

Master Scheduling System

• Provides contingency plans to address any unexpected interruptions in

production
• Generates business resource requirements for the production process.
• Applies production requirements to the Work Order upon fulfillment of
deadlines.
• Allocates all production variables within the process to Work Centers
previously defined.

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DigiPLAN™
DigiPLAN absorbs the Work Package and the parameters of the constraints
are entered for each maintenance event, taking into account the time, cost
and scope constraints.

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AeroSoft

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AeroSoft

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AeroBUY / AeroREPAIR
PMI AeroBuy – Purchase Order Management
• Real time XML interface with
Native PMI PMI-AeroBuy AeroXchange
Aeroxchange Processing Module Processing

• SPEC 2000 Compliant

Buyer Selection

Procurement
• Quote Management
PO Creation
• Purchase and repair Order Quantity
Price

Management Purchase Order

Transmit
Currency
VPN
Unit of Measure
Shipping Dates

• Invoice Management
• Full audit trail PO Change Suggested
Management PO Changes

Internet

PO Processing
Shipping

Web / WinPMI Parts Portal

Shipping
Notification

GATEWAY
In DMZ

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Thank you very much!

• WWW.AEROSOFT.AERO
• WWW.AEROSOFTSYS.COM

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