Table of Contents
Keeping a transport fleet functioning while balancing the sometimes-conflicting demands of on-time running, resource management and cost control can be difficult.
In current-day operations, things don't always follow the carefully worked-out schedule: vehicles break down, weather slows things down (or closes ports), late passengers delay departures, which leads to knock-on delays. One must be able to re-schedule on the fly, keeping track of not only what vehicles are available, but of passenger connections, crew connections, maintenance schedules, curfews, slots and other restrictions.
An Operations Control System aids in the control of the current-day operations of a transport fleet. To aid with this, it provides real-time visibility of:
where the vehicles and crew are
whether they are on time
whether they will make their connections
whether they will violate restrictions
whether vehicles are unserviceable or crew are sick
It then allows the user to take corrective action to minimize the disruption, such as:
re-scheduling or canceling sectors
reallocating vehicles and crew
TPAC Operations has been designed to handle the requirements of operations control for a transport fleet, including:
real-time fleet tracking and management
optimized and user-controlled problem solving
scenario development and modeling
network-wide information gathering, display, management and dissemination, covering problem alerts, resource constraints and commercial imperatives.
fully integrated capability with both CTI and other in-house systems, including network development, crew management and maintenance systems
interface capability with a range of other external systems
regulatory and company compliance checking and reporting
extensive reporting
Changes are made to a model, and when the operator is satisfied with the changes, they are then published. They are updated in real-time with data continually fed to the database, so changes, arrivals, departures and warnings appear on the screen as they happen. Models can also be shared with more than one operator so that simultaneous problem solving can occur.
Juggling all the factors required to make optimal re-scheduling of vehicles needs all the help it can get. The Operations Control system can be interfaced with TPAC Schedule Recovery, that advises recommended actions that can be used to recover to schedule in the minimum time with the minimum disruption. This allows the operator to use this function to support the fleet's operational management, by advising changes that reduce current and future operational problems.
TPAC Operations has many built-in reports and information windows, including:
Crew Connections
Cost and Contribution
Flying Hours/Frequency Analysis
Numeric Schedule Notices
Capacity by Flight Type
Overnight Bases
Broken Connections
Passenger Loadings
Block Hours
Block Hours Report
The Pattern Display shows a color-coded GANTT chart that enables the operator to easily see the status of the fleet: a time-positioned time-proportional display of the schedule with details such as:
Vehicle type and registration
Departure and Arrival times
On-ground times
Ports
Scheduling conflicts
Problems
Crew problems
Movement slot violations
Differing vehicle types are given different colors. Arrivals are grayed out, so that the operator can concentrate on what is important. Warnings, errors, and unserviceability are shown in attention-getting colors. The display can be extensively configured by the operator to suit the needs of individual transport networks.
Detail of the GANTT display showing arrivals, warnings, and errors
Further Information
- TPAC Operations
- See the TPAC Operations Brochure and the TPAC Operations Product Description (HTML) or TPAC Operations Product Description (PDF)
- TPAC OnLine
- A web-based product for operations control. See the TPAC OnLine Product Description (HTML) or TPAC OnLine Product Description (PDF) See also TPAC Contingency Planning Brochure, a module of TPAC OnLine.