A TRACK RECORD IN MRO SOFTWARE Looking back at almost 20 years of IT/MROknow-how, Swiss AviationSoftware (Swiss-AS)has become a fixture in the MRO softwaremarket and the industry-leading maintenancemanagement system in Europe and beyond.Since the late eighties the fully-integratedmaintenance and engineering system AMOShas been setting the standards in a highly-specialized market segment and has attractedmore than 70 customers from all over theworld. Its solid customer base ranges from pureoperators of all sizes, major low-cost, regionaland flag carriers to large airline groups andMRO providers.

TIGHT LINKAGE TO MRO BUSINESS Having emerged from the IT department ofSwiss International Air Lines (formerlyCrossair), and being a wholly-owned, yetindependent, subsidiary since 2004, Swiss-AShas positioned itself not as a pure softwarehouse, but as a company tightly linked toairline business. Located next door to airline maintenancefacilities at Basel airport, MRO trends arecaptured at an early stage and carefullyinvestigated. The amount of time invested inresearch and development assures thecompetitive edge that puts Swiss-AS one stepahead of its competitors. From the outset of AMOS, Swiss-AS has beenfully concentrating on its core business to

constantly enhance functionalities andmaintain a technological advantage by meansof a stable and long-lasting software product.

FUNCTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS The focus on the continuous furtherdevelopment has proved extremely worthwhile.The scope of AMOS business functionsavailable today is second to none, and the highdegree of integration that AMOS offers its usersis unsurpassed. The functional breadth as well as depth is a keyelement of AMOS and under no circumstancesare concessions made that do not serve thelong-term strategic alignment of the system.

The focus of the current development is asophisticated shift- and capacity/resourceplanning module, which is fully-integrated inthe context of the AMOS planning module. Other prominent design features are a brand-new management reporting tool with numerousKey-Performance-Indicators (KPIs), and anelaborate and complex graphical DowntimeDesigner for the complete monitoring of amaintenance event. The KPI-Analyzer can be used to quantify theperformance of the organisation, taking intoconsideration the increasing need for financialtransparency and traceability acrossdepartmental boundaries.

To keep pace with the latest development, an

in-built report designer will be released shortlythat is designed to supersede any standardreporting tool. Furthermore, a fully integratede-signing solution will be made available thatallows the generating of electronically-signeddocuments in PDF/Archive format accordingISO 19005-1:2005 standard. Besides developing new functions, a lot of careis devoted to the fine-tuning of existingfunctionalities on a supreme level.

AT THE FOREFRONT OF TECHNOLOGY In addition to functional enhancements, state-of-the-art technology is the key to success ofAMOS. The multi-tier, fully web-enabledAMOS version, written in pure JAVA is future-proof and stands for technological innovation.

Client-server applications like AMOS havelong overcome predominant prejudices incomparison to web-based applications. One ofthe biggest, unanimously agreed benefits ofAMOS is that the users profit from a windows-type graphical user interface (GUI) beingguarantee for user efficiency, productivity andcomplex user interaction. By means of the latest “Smart-Client”technology Swiss-AS takes that one step further.In its next generation, AMOS will combineinnovative deployment possibilities of Java WebStart with the advantages of zero foot print,system accessibility from anywhere with theundisputed advantage of a rich-client GUI.

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56 I SWISS AVIATION SOFTWARE - ADVERTORIAL

For the past decade Swiss Aviation Software has been setting the standard in MRO software with itsindustry-leading maintenance and engineering system AMOS. A reason for this continued success is thatSwiss-AS carefully evaluates alleged trends rather than following the latest ‘hypes’. As a forerunner in theareas of functionality and technology, the software specialist clearly focuses on longevity and not on ‘quickwins’. As a consequence, AMOS has shaped up as a mature and future-proof system that not only bearscomparison with its competitors, but reigns supreme.

AMOS - fluently speakingthe language of MRO

A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE THANKS TOA STABLE TEAM AND AN EFFICIENTCUSTOMER NETWORK The substantial know-how pool which isreflected in the product is clearly attributed tothe team of Swiss AviationSoftware. In everyrespect marked by the characteristics that aretraditionally recognised as typically Swiss, thehighest standards of quality, precision, safetyand reliability are applied. The team of Swiss-AS experts knows the needs of operators andMRO providers by heart and speaks thelanguage of the business. For steering the complexity of the MRObusiness the high degree of identification of itspersonnel with the company is a definiteadvantage. Swiss-AS is proud of the team spiritand the extremely low employee turnover,which is a guarantee for stability andcontinuity. A fact that pays off as the companyenjoys an excellent reputation amongst itsextremely loyal clientele.

A valuable external network andcomprehensive knowledge database wasfurther established through close collaborationwith the AMOS customer community thatactively contributes to the continuousdevelopment of the product.

AMOS AS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT Given that the life-cycle of MRO software suchas AMOS is about 15 years, potential

customers tend to select their future MROsystem more carefully today. Long evaluationprocesses are the rule and generally work infavour of AMOS - a system that reigns supremeamongst its competitors.

Especially in times of a global financial crisis,Swiss-AS is very likely to stand its ground. Dueto the fact that airlines are forced to reducetheir costs in the face of economic downturn, itis more important than ever that necessaryinvestments are made in the most cost-efficientmanner and generate a fast return oninvestment. And this is where a state-of-the-artMRO system like AMOS perfectly fits into thepicture.

NOT EVERY TREND IS ACTUALLY ATREND In the past so-called MRO trends have comeand gone, some substantiated and othersdisappeared as quickly as they came up.

A “real” MRO trend that could be observedduring the last few years is a reverse tendencyof airlines that latterly perform maintenanceactivities in-house rather than outsourcingthem to MRO providers, with the clearobjective of gaining more control andflexibility. By contrast, a good example of a trend thatcould not live up to its promise is the topic ofRFID, although it is not long since this seemed

like the latest hype in the industry. Today,however, it is noticeable that there is lessdemand for the functionality and that muchfewer customers make use of this feature to theextent that was originally expected. The sameapplies to “Barcode everywhere”, althoughAMOS fully provides for the respectiveconnections.

Without losing sight of the overall usability ofthe system, Swiss-AS analyzes these allegedtrends and weighs the pros and consthoroughly prior to implementing some of theminto AMOS. With its policy to focus onpersistent, long-term developments rather than“quick wins”, the company has been on theright track. True to the motto “Don't just go with theflow”, Swiss-AS evaluates what is realizablewithout having to cut back on its competitiveedge. On no account will Swiss-AS blindlyfollow make-believe “hypes”, which often turnout to be overrated. Instead, the clear goal is toset own trends that will be incorporated andenhance the product “AMOS”. The outcome isa mature and proven maintenance managementsystem that is truly “state-of-the-art”.

With the foundations Swiss-AS has laid as aforerunner in the areas of functionality andtechnology, there is no question that AMOSwill continue to set the standards for anindustry-leading MRO solution.

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ISSUE NO. 62 • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2009 AIRCRAFT COMMERCE