IT was driven by what IT could do, but nowadays, the business drives us to deliver what it needs.” More and more, IT follows marketing and sales. Cost is an increasingly important consideration. Delivering a service that requires 50 people to run it is no longer affordable. “The role of IT is to deliver the service in a cost effective manner,” said Mr Heuer. Mr Meurrens explained that large customers are
much more structured, with more formalised systems and in-house compliance requirements, so they tend to be more specific in detailing their requirements. The process begins with defining what business
areas an idea will impact. FC generally runs a workshop to help define the requirements for building the system, although at this point the result is “probably not good enough to give to a developer to build the system”, he commented. Fine-tuning the details requires a lot of back and forth communications between the cruise company and FC. “Our goal is to map requirements as well as we can. It is never perfect, because the idea is not always as it is imagined. We are not always aligned but we try to minimise the separation between us. They may have a system or paper driven process. We try to identify the gaps.” Depending on the customer, FC may deliver a
beta release of the final software program so that it can be test-run. Thereafter FC will resolve any bugs and provide enhancements on a weekly or monthly basis. “We sit down with the customer to see what approach they follow. We try to keep their approach in line with our own so that we can deliver a product with which everyone is happy. It isn’t always easy,” said the FC business analyst. Depending on the scope of the project, FC will have people overseeing the installation for a couple of weeks to months following delivery, either on site or remotely.
The company’s most recent project was the development of a crew management system (CMS) for Holland America Line’s 14,000 shipboard staff. From the initial agreement in 2008 to final roll-out, the project took four years. The system went live in October 2010 at HAL’s headquarters. The first shipboard system was installed in August 2011. The whole fleet is scheduled to have the system up and running by mid-2012. The project originated in 2008 when HAL recognised that scheduling, time and attendance rostering, payroll,
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training and other crew management functions could be improved and made more consistent by applying technology and automation.
FC carried out a scope study that confirmed scheduling of crew members was largely paper- driven, with five different methods used by eight different people. “It was clear that there were ways to streamline many processes and enhance systems and productivity,” explained Mr Meurrens. Security restrictions limited access to crew
records to a few users, placing a heavy workload on them. A couple of users had created their own database lists to administer tasks for crew within their sections.
Compliance and certification matters come into play when scheduling crew of many different nationalities onto cruise ships worldwide, as well as appropriate travel documents. Scheduling was
further complicated because the source of
ships’ sailing itineraries differed, so content was not consistent.
travelling
Flight scheduling for multi-national crew to vessels operating worldwide was
not automated, but was reactive to schedules and notifications sent via e-mail, or normal reporting methods. Aboard the ships,
similar disconnects
complicated crew management efforts and led to duplication of data entry.
Following implementation of the new software system, HAL benefits
from “a well-structured
CMS system that provides proper control of all the crew, an accurate overview of human resources
FC delivers program beta releases for cruise line customers to test
Passenger Ship Technology I Spring 2012 I 75
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