OASES Techlog

Seize your critical data exactly when you need to: The Electronic Techlog 

by

Saidhar Pathigari, VP New Business APAC at Commsoft OASES

The ancient craft of hand-writing
Somewhere in the world, right now, an aircraft is taxiing off the runway towards the terminal, and the engineer is gathering information in the tech log maintenance book – all thoroughly completed by hand. Forms have been filled, boxes ticked, numbers inserted. Ground crew and pilots have spoken to each other to verify readings. 

Everyone has been confident that everything that could possibly be known about the aircraft’s airworthiness is known. They’ve made a record of it; and it’s all been done with paper-based systems. 

Whether any documentation relating to data, of such criticality, can actually be referred to as a ‘system’ is highly questionable. So, in this blog, I’m going to question it. For sure, there are many sectors where the recording of vitally important information all still happens in little black books. 

Maintenance engineers on production lines—producing thousands of items per minute—still ‘make a note’ of line issues (even though a few minutes downtime can trigger losses running into multiples of thousands of pounds). Architects still come on site clutching tubes of drawings on which they make a note, by hand, of problems happening mid-construction. Yet you can go to a restaurant in the quaintest of old towns nestled in amongst Roman ruins, and servers will take your order on a hand-held device that instantly relays your requirements to the kitchen. 

Somewhere there’s a dichotomy in evolutionary stages of technology adoption. Somewhere there’s a disconnect with how things are being done, and how they could be done so much better, easier, faster and with pinpoint accuracy. That ‘somewhere’ should never be anywhere near such a safety-sensitive area as a runway, an aircraft, or a hangar.

The value of the Electronic Techlog (ETL)
Confidence based on manual processes brings a variety of assumptions into play. You have to assume that details have been correctly recorded, that they are up to date, and that the training and experience of your operatives is testimony enough to the rigour and accuracy of the processes. Assuring is infinitely better than assuming; and this is what the ETL does. 

The OASES Techlog provides automatically validated data—on defects and malfunctions, block times, and fuel consumption—within seconds of the data being recorded. All that’s required, to bring such capabilities into your operations, is a rugged tablet device on-board the aircraft, and the appropriate software for receiving and giving access to the data on the ground. Our solution is powered by NVable, leading providers of database technologies that offer near real-time data analytics. 

OASES Techlog also functions whether or not a Wi-Fi connection is available, by sending the information to print, and then transmitting automatically as soon as a connection is available. In other words, it’s always connected. Given the automation of the data gathering process, an audit trail is always available, so compliance becomes far less complex than it may otherwise be.

The data from the ETL is sent to the OASES Cloud, providing access whenever required. At the core of this service is the provision of the sector data in various formats (such as PDF, XML, and JSON) for archiving and for automatic data feeds into other systems with which you operate.

Usability
The value of any digital solution increases in direct proportion to the enthusiasm of your teams to use it. It is often the case that intended users of a solution instinctively reject it both through fear of change (a natural response) and suspicions that it may make their daily tasks more complicated.

If that happens, then the efficiencies, assurance and accuracy you set out to achieve are undermined. We took such considerations into account when developing the OASES Techlog user interface, the graphical depiction of information it presents, and the intuitive simplicity of working with it. 

When teams are involved in maintenance procedures and pre-flight checks they are under pressure. It is this very fact that makes the manual approach to information gathering untenable. Our goal was to streamline ease of use to an extremely high level. Efficiency is only improved when the tools provided to achieve this goal are best-in-class efficient themselves.

The OASES solution is customisable. Everything can be configured “out of the box”; all you need is a username and password we supply. This is important because it means that adoption, as a business, is not a complex IT project, and the function of the ETL will slot right into your existing systems set-up. This helps make the transition as simple as possible for pilots and engineers. Our aim is to make the ETL easy to adopt and useful to them. They will quickly see the improvements over paper processes. Here is a summary of them:

OASES Techlog operational benefits

• Role management

Users with the correct permissions can create roles specifically for your airline to control who can see and do things on the OASES Techlog.

• Live screen sharing

Included in the standard service is the ability to view the live screen of a connected ETL, so Maintenance Operation Control can assist pilots and engineers whenever necessary.

• Notification definition

Users can create their own notification rules and content, as well remaining in control of who receives the notifications (internal or third parties).

• Integrated data feeds 
  OASES Techlog can take data feeds not only related to the ETL (e.g., planned flights; line maintenance work orders) but also for additional analysis and creating reports.

• Integrated documents

The Document Management function enables you to manage documents to groups in your business as well as to third parties.

In addition, you can onboard new devices and commission new aircraft simply and effortlessly. You can rely on our support; always. It’s time to assign paper processes to history and set about embracing your digital future. The OASES Techlog will enable you to take a significant step in that direction.

Gain the digital advantage |Book a free demo now 
If you’re thinking it may be about time that you ditched paper/manual processes across your MRO and logistics operations, compliance, safety, and financial management, from ground to air, office to hangar, and your point of need to a precise moment of clarity, get in touch. 

We can arrange a demo at a time that suits you, or simply discuss your thoughts on the topic.

Just email me at: saidhar.pathigari@oases.aero

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About Commsoft OASES

Commsoft’s OASES (Open Aviation Strategic Engineering System) is among the most successful aviation engineering and maintenance systems in the world with more than 130 aviation customers supported in some 55 countries across six continents. 

We understand aviation. Since 1975 we’ve accompanied and served the industry as its operations have evolved.  We help national carriers, third party maintainers, regional carriers, leasing companies, cargo specialists, charter operators and rotary specialists based in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australasia, in all areas of aviation maintenance support.