SMS Pro Provides Complete ICAO Based SMS Management System
In 2007, NorthWest Data Solutions and Aviation SMS formed a partnership to develop an aviation safety management system for small to mid-sized operations. Brendan McCormack, the owner of Aviation SMS contacted Chris Howell of NorthWest Data Solutions, an Alaska Web design and development company to transfer or migrate an MS Access database program to the Web.
Brendan and Chris were attending an Executive Leadership course for their MBA programs taught by General Tom Casey. Brendan was almost finished with his MBA. Chris never completed his MBA program due to the following story.
Brendan had some great ideas for what an aviation safety management system was supposed to look like as Brendan worked as an aviation safety manager for a large oil company. Brendan came up with the name SMS Pro, as the SMS Pro could stand for either SMS Professional or SMS Program. Brendan's earlier education earned him an MBA in aviation safety; therefore, one could say that Brendan's career revolved around aviation safety management principles.
Chris' experience revolved around developing enterprise level Web applications. These were based on Oracle, SQL Server, Java and .NET technologies interacting on various Web server platforms. Chris was also an active use of the DotNetNuke platform since the early days of DotNetNuke version 1 in 2003. DotNetNuke offers the ability to host many Web portals using the same database and .NET application files.
Short History of SMS Pro
During the spring semester at the University, Brendan approached Chris repeatedly for developing this state of the art aviation SMS management system. Chris was working on U.S. defense contracts at the time and knew that his defense contracts would not last forever. Chris was interested in other business opportunities, so a loose partnership was formed.
Brendan's reasoning for developing a Web based "professionally developed" Web application was due to the fact that there were no aviation industry specific SMS management system software packages available. Most were home grown and not stable. These small home-grown, in-house systems lacked basic email notifications and the collaborative abilities of modern Web based SMS management systems.
After school ended in May, Brendan, Chris and Roman Mikheev (an NWDS software engineer) started developing and testing the first aviation hazard reporting and risk management pieces of SMS Pro. Excitement was high and Brendan was providing demos to companies such as Ford, Yum and Fed Ex. These companies and approximately 80 others were invited to Beta test the Web based safety software. Feedback was very positive and encourage Aviation SMS (Brendan's new company) and NWDS to continue full speed ahead. In short, everyone loved the product. "Build it, and they will come" was the belief.
Throughout the first year (2007), SMS Pro was a basic hazard reporting and risk management program with a few safety management modules, including the following:
SMS Pro My Safety Modules in 2007
- Submit an Issue;
- My Dashboard (now User Dashboard);
SMS Pro Safety Policy Modules in 2007
- Policy Manager;
- Duties and Requirements of Key Safety Personnel;
- Version Controlled Document Manager;
- Organizational Chart (sophisticated with images); and
- Applicable SMS Regulations.
SMS Pro Risk Management Modules in 2007
- Issue Manager;
- Quick Charts (now Risk Analysis Charts);
- Financial Charts now (Risk Analysis Financial Charts);
- Quick Sort (now Data Analysis & Export);
- Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT)
SMS Pro Safety Assurance Modules in 2007
- Quick Table (now obsolete);
- Gap Analysis Tool (combined, FAA & Transport Canada models).
SMS Pro Safety Promotion Modules in 2007
- Safety Survey;
- Read File;
- All Employee Letter;
- Newsletters
SMS Pro Setup Modules in 2007
- Risk Admin Configuration
- User Account Managment
SMS Pro Goes Live in January 2008
On January 8th, 2008, SMS Pro went live with the first paying customer, a Canadian airline called Flair Airlines. Brendan introduced SMS Pro to Flair Airlines while Brendan attended an SMS training course hosted by SCSI in the fall of 2007. Brendan provided considerable phone support to Flair Airlines during the SMS implementation period. A few months later, in May of 2008, Evergreen Helicopters joined the party and adopted SMS Pro as their SMS management system.
SMS Pro Seeks Corporate Aviation Departments in the U.S.
During 2008 and 2009, the SMS Pro team attended many conferences and sought to bring on corporate aviation departments into the fold. This proved very challenging as there no SMS requirements existed yet in the United States. The Canadians and Australians were considerably further along in their SMS implementations than the United States and this fact remains today. This was a hard time for SMS Pro as the amount of effort to acquire a sale disappointed the strongest of heart. Nevertheless, SMS Pro continued to grow during 2008. By early 2009, SMS Pro acquired new modules and increasing sophistication. Several gap analysis exercises were performed against SMS Pro to compare its shortcomings to the ICAO, FAA and Transport Canada requirements.
The aviation related conferences proved to disappointing in the end. Everyone loved the SMS Pro product. Technology was great and an industry wide problem was being addressed. The challenge was that the SMS Pro team was focusing on end users, the safety managers. In order to effect sales, these safety managers had to convince management that SMS Pro was either a required tool to save time and money or that the civil aviation authority required their operations to manage their safety data to a higher standard. Safety managers knew they needed the tool, but convincing management to spend the money was the constant challenge.
Considerable Sums Spent on SMS Pro Gap Analysis
Chris Howell, CEO of NorthWest Data Solutions stopped all development of SMS Pro in the fall of 2008. Chris wanted to ensure that the functional and business requirements were being addressed and that nothing was being left out. The objective was to perform an individual gap analysis against aviation regulatory requirements and recommendations. For six weeks, software engineers and analysts compared SMS Pro with:
- ICAO Document 9859;
- FAA 120-92 and Safety Assurance Manual Draft 1;
- Transport Canada regulatory requirements; and
- CASA requirements (Civil aviation authority of Australia).
When deficiencies were noted, plans were made to design and develop new aviation safety management modules to satisfy the identified gaps.
SMS Pro First to Satisfy ICAO & FAA Requirements & Recommendations
Chris Howell believed that if SMS Pro satisfied all the ICAO requirements and facilitated compliance with regulatory requirements that the sales would increase. SMS Pro grew in complexity and very sophisticated risk management features were incorporated into the aviation SMS management system. Some modules were rewritten three times before they became accepted into the industry. There was always a fine line between keeping it simple and ensuring that the product was a complete SMS management system tool kit.
By Early 2009, SMS Pro looked like the following:
SMS Pro My Safety Modules in 2009
- Submit New Issue;
- User Dashboard with Goals & Objectives, Audit Manager and Training & Qualifications tabs;
- Flight Risk Assessment Tool;
SMS Pro Safety Policy Modules in 2009
- Policy Manager (reworked to include automated alerts);
- Duties and Requirements of Key Safety Personnel;
- Task and Audit Scheduler
- Organizational Chart (simplified); and
- Applicable SMS Regulations.
- SMS Implementation Plan Manager (with ICAO, FAA & Transport Canada models).
SMS Pro Risk Management Modules in 2009
- Issue Manager;
- Quick Charts (now Risk Analysis Charts);
- Financial Charts now (Risk Analysis Financial Charts);
- Trending Charts;
- Custom Report Viewer (for customized reporting);
- Quick Sort (now Data Analysis & Export);
- Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT)
SMS Pro Safety Assurance Modules in 2009
- Performance Monitor;
- Custom Inspection Form Creator;
- External Auditor Reports;
- Issue Validation
- Qualifications and Training
- Gap Analysis Tool
SMS Pro Safety Promotion Modules in 2009
- Safety Survey;
- SMS Induction Manager;
- Read File;
- Meeting Manager;
- Must Acknowledge
- All Employee Letter;
- Newsletters; and
- Lessons Learned Library.
SMS Pro Setup Modules in 2009
- Customize Settings;
- User Accounts
Slow, Hard Start for SMS Pro for First Three Years
For 2008 and 2009, SMS Pro had four clients. Countless hours were spent trying to sell the product to corporate aviation and airports. A few airports expressed interest and NWDS learned that some airports merely wanted extended demos (with access to the product) in order to steal the ideas and risk management work flow.
In early 2009, NorhtWest Data Solutions and Aviation SMS started seeking new strategic partners. When SMS Pro started, there was the backing of Jerry Dennis, the director of the Medallion Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska. The Medallion Foundation is funded by the FAA and is tasked with improving aviation safety within the state of Alaska. Alaska is known for the highest ratio of civilian pilots in the population and incredibly dangerous flying conditions. The Medallion Foundation is known for the five shields or levels of safety. Alaskan operators strove to acquire the five shields rating as a bragging right and an indication of their adherence and acceptance of sound safety management practices.
SMS Pro First Casualty
Jerry Dennis was to retire in February 2008 and evangelize SMS Pro. Jerry Dennis provided extensive consulting and mentoring during the first year of SMS Pro. After his scheduled retirement, Jerry Dennis unfortunately had a sudden death. This proved to be a sudden blow because Jerry Dennis was very well known in the aviation industry and would have been instrumental in promoting SMS Pro to aviation organizations world wide.
While the loss of Jerry Dennis was felt strongly, SMS Pro still had subject matter expertise within its ranks. Brendan McCormack was a practicing aviation safety manager. Brendan has great skills at salesmanship and is a very personable individual. His infectious smile has the ability to disarm the grumpiest of sorts. While Brendan attended aviation SMS training in Southern California at Southern California Safety Institute, Brendan became acquainted with Peter Gardiner. Brendan may have become acquainted with Peter Gardiner through Jerry Dennis, but this exact detail is unknown to the author.
Peter Gardiner was the president of Southern California Safety Institute (SCSI). Not only did Peter provide training to Brendan, Peter offered training to the NorthWest Data Solutions staff in order to educate them on the subject matter. NorthWest Data Solutions, Aviation SMS and SCSI formed the first strategic partnership in 2008. The vision was that:
- Jerry Dennis was to be on the road evangelizing the merits of SMS Pro;
- Peter Gardiner's team at SCSI was to develop aviation SMS training revolving around SMS Pro;
- NorthWest Data Solutions was to continue development and support of SMS Pro; and
- Aviation SMS was to provide marketing and administrative support.
The business plan and road map to success was sketched out. The future looked rosy when all were present. The sun was still shining when Jerry Dennis passed away. NWDS was confident that Peter Gardiner and John Richardson would help promote and market SMS Pro during their aviation training sessions.