Roll out of ARMS® V2 Safety & Quality Management Sub-System

Jul. 20, 2015 – Safety Management Systems (SMS) is the term that has been in civil aviation limelight since 2006. Indeed, ICAO is currently working in close collaboration with Member States and international organizations to develop a new Safety Management Annex (No 19) dedicated to safety management responsibilities and processes. The new Annex will include provisions on SMS as well as the collection, analysis, protection and exchange of safety data. The requirement to have an SMS in place is being mandated by all civil aviation regulators and it is likely that by 2014, all operators would have to have an SMS in place to continue their operations.

An SMS moves away from the reactive character of flight safety as practiced for decades, and is primarily proactive and predictive in its approach towards hazards and risks that impact an organization as a whole. As an SMS cannot be effective without the application of Quality Management principles, the Quality attribute was considered by us to be a complement to the Safety aspect.

The Safety & Quality Management Sub-System (SQMS) which is an integral part of the ARMS® V2 Suite has been developed as the ideal tool to implement and monitor SMS dispensations in aviation operators. The ARMS® V2 SQMS builds upon your existing processes and integrates your company with the relevant regulatory framework.

ARMS® SQMS modules include;

• Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA)
• Occurrence Reporting and Management (OCRM)
• Audit Management (AUDM)
• Meetings Manager (METM)
• Investigation Management (INVM)
• Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA)
• Maintenance & Engineering Quality Assurance (MEQA) and
• Integrated Data and Document Management System. (DDMS)
• eSQMS – a dedicated Web Portal extension accessible through a browser

In addition, there is a dashboard to help top management grasp essential safety trends at one glance. While conforming to ICAO philosophy, ARMS® V2 SQMS permits adaption to local conditions and regulations through customization features requiring minimal training time. The modular structure of ARMS® V2 permits the data required for SQMS to be obtained from a unified database; thus the FOQA and MOQA inputs can be pulled out from the various Sub-Systems of ARMS® V2 Suite, viz., Flight Data Monitoring & Analysis Sub-System (FDMA), Flight Operations Sub-System (FOSS), Crew Management Sub-System (CMSS) and the Engineering and Maintenance Sub-System (EMSS), if deployed. Alternatively, the inputs can be obtained through appropriate interfaces with existing systems (other than ARMS® ).

ARMS® V2 SQMS can be hosted centrally and accessed by users over the Internet. Optimized for aircraft operators, it has the built in flexibility to be adapted for airport operators, MROs, and small operators in the general and business categories. In short, ARMS® V2 SQMS presents a software tool that comprehensively addresses the regulatory and organizational requirements of safety.

The aviation industry is replete with examples of companies decrying the opportunity costs of safety investments. Hence the oft repeated adage, “If you think safety is expensive, try an accident!”. ARMS® V2 SQMS presents the quintessential investment for companies that value preventive and predictive management of their own safety. Our representatives will be happy to demonstrate how ARMS® V2 SQMS is devised to achieve that. This intangible return on investment (i.e. enhanced safety levels) brings with it complementary operational advantages in terms of assuring the Quality aspects of Flight and Maintenance Operations. The electronic and dispassionate nature of the assurance process offered by ARMS® V2 SQMS implies that the management can monitor operations (and areas of vulnerability and risk) impersonally and without intra and inter departmental agendas obscuring company objectives. All this happens in parallel with the pursuit of regulatory requirements and goals. And all this happens with just a couple of clicks on the ARMS® V2 SQMS users’ PCs.

As ARMS® V2 SQMS is deployed with previous, public domain knowledge on Safety and Quality aspects, its use and application has tremendous learning value for the user company. With ICAO’s push for SMS, the deployment of software to monitor and keep record of SMS activities is inevitable. All indications are that, by 2014, SMS would have become a mandatory qualifying requirement for continued operations in nearly all parts of the world. Deploying ARMS® V2 SQMS now, instead of waiting for the last minute, has the advantage of smooth, unhurried migration from manual processes to efficient, regulator-compliant ones. Needless to say, incisive customers would be able to differentiate between a company that is proactive on the safety front, and one that has to be prodded by the regulator to act ´safely .

The ARMS® V2 SQMS is offered to you with the USP of being able to support Safety and Quality facets of operations with a single application. For existing ARMS® users, the advantage is the ability of ARMS® V2 SQMS to interact with a unified database for all sub-systems of ARMS®, while for those companies who have not yet benefitted from ARMS® V2, ARMS® V2 SQMS comes with the capability to draw its required inputs manually or through third party software. Either way, ARMS® V2 SQMS is a winner!

ARMS® V2 SQMS is already deployed with an Offshore Helicopter Operator, and is undergoing User Acceptance Trials. For online or onsite demonstrations, please call Mr. Prashant Kavi on (+91) 8494950340 or email prashant.kavi@sds.co.in.