system) and from forwarders
eager to monitor a shipment’s
progress through the
warehouse.
The beauty of the process
lies in the fact that it
effectively does away with
laborious manual, paperbased
transactions. Swissport
freely admits that its paperbased
checking process was
heavy on administration,
involving as it did much
data duplication as well as
scanning, copy making and
e-mails. With Check-it, the
company has an all-in-one
solution: the completed
checklist is automatically
converted to the airline’s
template and real-time alerts
(in case of non-acceptance)
are sent automatically to
notify customers. Images can
also be taken on a mobile
device and attached. All this
is achievable at the press of
a button and transmission
is instantaneous; hitherto,
ten minutes or so per logged
transaction was the norm.
At the heart of the
system is the Web platform
that makes all this speedy
processing a reality. In the
Web platform the handler sets
up the checklists according
to its process. Scanning an air
waybill barcode or manually
entering a reference number
presents the operators with
the relevant checklists.
Through the mobile
application that runs on a
tablet, handling staff can then
complete the checklist: the
rubric here can include Yes
or No questions, open text
questions, specific tasks (such
as taking a picture), and so on.
Every check is linked with a
time stamp and geolocation.
All this information is then
automatically converted to
SET-UP AND ROLL-OUT
Implementation time depends on the number of checklists needed, but this can be done fairly quickly. Set-up of the system can be achieved in
a week; after that, Nallian reckons that a couple of hours’ user training is required. The company adds that it typically sees in the weeks after
implementation a further requirement for some fine tuning, but that is all.
the customer’s template. In
the case of a consignment’s
non-acceptance, real-time
alerts are released to the
customers to notify them
about the issue and its cause.
The Web portal retains the
overview of all actions,
shipments and their status.
Raised expectations
As stated earlier, for Nallian
development goes on.
Aerts takes up the thread:
“We are currently working on
integrating it with other apps.
The goal is, as with all the
other apps, to be able to use
the captured data to further
enrich other milestones. The
application also integrates with
customers’ existing systems.
“The app runs, as the
other applications of
BRUcloud, on Nallian’s data
sharing platform. Data that
is injected here can be easily
shared and re-used in other
apps via the sharing engine
of the platform.” It is perhaps
important to note that the
data owner always stays in
control of his data; he can
define who gets to see which
parts of his data and in which
context, on a granular level.
This could be likened to a
big Excel sheet, in which one
could unlock certain cells for
specific users.
By doing so, information
that is captured via Checkit
can be made available in
other apps for which this
information is valuable for the
execution of the next steps.
For example, when a shipment
is controlled and validated
(perhaps in a dangerous goods
or a perishables check), this
status update can then be
made automatically available
in the Freight Management
app, which communicates
the digital release rights to
the freight forwarder (with an
indication of which shipments
are ready to be picked up) and
(optionally) the Slot Booking
app (if slots are booked to pick
up such shipments).
“IT has raised the bar
for customer service and
expectation,” Aerts continues.
“Swissport has reported to us
that the benefits they have
achieved since they’ve used
Check-it to digitise their
checking process have been
that much appreciated by
their customers that they are
now considered as a given.
Funnily enough, this has been
recently confirmed in the
conversations we’re having
with one of the other handlers
at BRUcargo: it has created a
sort of “me too” factor.”
Could the application
be further developed to
offer benefits besides those
mentioned?
“Certainly,” says Aerts.
“Integrated with other landside
management apps (for
example, slot booking or freight
management), it will enable
an even smoother execution of
processes. Also, the objective is
for it to capture data for other
milestones that go beyond the
ones mentioned in the standard
checklists. As said, that’s the
way the technology will be
integrated with other processes.
At this point I can reveal that
one of our new customers will
be using the technology to
create full visibility in its cargo
processing.”
All of which brings us
back to the question posed
at the start of the article. If
the application has worked
for companies like Swissport,
Menzies and WFS, then its
merits would seem to speak
for themselves.
REPORTING MADE
SIMPLE
Each month Swissport pulls
various reports out of the system;
these can embrace the number of
shipments handled, the number
of refused shipments and similar
information. Validation of this data
engenders the faster execution
of the consecutive steps in the
process. This used to be a purely
manual process, involving Excel
sheets, and typically would take
up to half an hour a day. At the end
of the month, this information was
then consolidated.
With Check-it, all this data is
accessible on the platform at the
click of a button. And because
the information is stored digitally,
space constraints and safeguarding
the paperwork become
redundant considerations.
STATISTICALLY
SPEAKING
• Ease of execution with an all-inone
application saves more than
30 hours a month
• More than ten hours a month
is saved thanks to readily
available data
www.airlogisticsinternational.com December 2019 37
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