SACAA news
The South African Civil
Aviation Authority is
gradually moving to a
paperless era as part of its
automated oversight
capability, by replacing
old legacy systems with
an electronic solution,
module by module.CAA has invested in software
known as the Enterprise Business
System (EBS), which aims to improve
efficiency in the medical certification
processes. The integrated software,
introduced to the organisation in
December 2014, comprises different
modules for the processing of the
aviation personnel licences, medical
certification of pilots, air traffic
controllers and cabin crew, of which
aircraft certification, aerodromes,
licensing, air traffic navigation, and
aviation medicine have gone live.
The system was demonstrated at
the quarterly Industry Liaison Forum
meeting to showcase the efficiencies
of the new system to industry.
As the EBS is being implemented,
the system enables clients to
receive speedy customer service
as the organisation’s efficiency
and effectiveness improves. The
system ensures integration of all the
organisation’s electronic platforms,
and once completed, the EBS will be
integrated with the enterprise records
and document management system.
One of these EBS modules has to
do with Aviation Medicine, which has
come a long way since the days when
the civilian aviation medical certification
processes were decentralised and
resided with the Institute of Aviation
Medicine. This unit falls under theThe SACAA Business Enterprise
System – Aviation Medicine Module
South African Military Health Services
and it assisted with managing the
designated aviation medical examiners
(DAMEs) and the medical assessors
of the CAA. The Medical Certification
department then used both manual
paper and the IT System, which were
previously not integrated, resulting
in multiple disparate systems
and numerous redundancies.
Perhaps the process of automation
has been long overdue, but thanks to
the introduction of EBS, DAMEs have
recently been able to document all
examinations electronically, including
supporting specialists’ reports. The
days when medical documents were
posted by examiners, with all the
possible delays and backlogs in the
verification process, are in the past.
Furthermore, the system is encrypted
and saves all medical data on a central
data base and by central data storage
only, ensuring medical confidentiality.
The EBS will eventually ease
the work of all participating parties
including DAMES, assessors, applicants
and administrators; and it performs
automatic calculations such as periods
of validity and required period medical
reports as well as the reuse of alreadyavailable data. Built-in rules ensure
the proper documentation of aero-
medical examinations, as required by
the regulations and technical standards,
for those applicants not meeting the
requirements. When there is approval
of technical standards or promulgation
of a regulation, the system will not
allow the examiner to continue with the
work until they have confirmed that
they have read the new legislation.
The system allows a wide range
of functions, such as the multi-
user application, and also has a
multi-licence approach, where one
applicant can be examined for several
different kinds of medical certificates
in parallel; and gives access to the
historical data of aviation personnel.
The EBS system will improve
direct communication between the
examiners and the CAA Medical
Assessors, ensuring that the examiners
are aware of the Aero-medical
Committee’s decisions. Examiners are
able to consult the CAA directly, when
not sure about a medical decision.
The system is able to pick up
anomalies such as when the applicant
changes examiners on a regular basis,
moving from one medical doctor
to the next. This will ensure that
examiners give informed approval
and will minimise non-compliance,
as the system automatically blocks
applicants who register with a particular
examiner, unless a final decision is
made (medically “fit” or “unfit”).
Numerous checks for completeness and
dependency of the medical forms will
minimise previous errors. The system
is also able to pick up erroneous data
by detecting abnormal value ranges, as
in the case of blood pressure readings,
thus ensuring that examiners do not
issue medical certificates to applicants
who do not qualify. A high standard
is therefore maintained with respect
to the quality of the medical data.
The three-year project of
implementing the EBS is due for
completion late in the current
year. As the implementation of
this system is being refined, the
difference that it will make to medical
certification processes is likely to be
felt throughout civil aviation. •Tel/WhatsApp: +27 65 970 4591 / E-mail: [email protected] Web: flitesynoptix.co.za
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From R4 750pm \ No Set-up Fees / No ContractsAbove: Ms Poppy Khosa, director of SACAA,
presenting the EBS.