There are many SMS / CMS software packages available on the Market; several with additional functions available as paid add-ons. Not just the functionality but, also, the costs and the pricing models (per fleet size, per flights per months etc) vary enormously.
This brief is based upon the author’s practical experience as both a vastly-experienced user & having completed this exercise on numerous occasions.
‘Compliance Monitoring’ is a misleading term; misleading in that it gives the impression that ‘compliance’ is about nothing more than auditing. There is far, far more to the field of compliance than mere auditing (although, that is a considerable skill in itself). The oft-forgotten element is exploiting the specialist knowledge of the compliance post-holder, in the resolution of regulatory problems.
This article is intended to address, albeit briefly, some of the issues regarding the cost of compliance.
This is the first of what is intended to be a series of short guides, based on many years of practical experience in the use of SMS360. Of the many different systems I have used, SMS360 enjoys a clear lead in terms of ease of use and of configuration. In these articles, I will stay clear of the more advanced features (e.g. data analysis, dashboards). As such, I recommend that these articles be used only as a complement to the training offered by Flight Data People.
A massive amount has been written about ‘Just Culture’. As valuable as the theory behind it is, the application of just culture is far from simple at times. We are instinctive creatures, prone to making assumptions and to exerting bias in our relationships with others. We all work under time pressure and – therefore – at times that pressure encourages us to seek the speediest response to an event. What the practitioner needs is absolute simplicity; not just for the sake of ease of application but also for ease of understanding on the part of all personnel.
In no way is this article intended to be a step-by-step guide to the design and implementation of a just culture. Instead, I am – very briefly – sharing some of my own thoughts on what I have observed during my career to date; in both military and civilian service and across numerous cultures.
The value of compliance monitoring lies less in the number of audits completed, or in the number of non-compliances raised, and much more in the standard of the responses to those non-compliances. Therein lies the most common deficiency in compliance monitoring systems: lack of rigour in responding to non-compliances.
Lack of rigour in responding to non-compliances increases the probability that the same non-compliances will happen again. As organisations become busier and more complex, the effect of non-compliances becomes progressively greater and maintaining compliance becomes more difficult.
This article is intended, albeit briefly, to address the above.