Flight Schedule for Siemens

Challenge

The Mobility Division of Siemens is a leading supplier of transport and logistics solutions in the USA. For example, a baggage handling system developed by our client enjoys great popularity in the industry. The solution enables the effective planning of baggage loading and unloading depending on the flight schedule and current flight status. Over 300 of these automated systems have been installed in airports all over the world. The client believed that schedule visualization would simplify the work of operators. With this in mind, it was necessary to develop an addition to the existing web application. An internal flight schedule would be visually represented as a Gantt chart supporting schedule changes simply by changing and relocating elements on the chart.

When looking for a contractor, Siemens used two criteria: relevant experience in this field, and project cost reduction. Axmor was chosen as the best option, since our programmers have already developed similar applications. The customer were especially interested in our GanttChart solution that had received the DevDays Adopter Award from Microsoft in 2008. It is a component of a Silverlight-based user interface. The solution optimizes process planning and simplifies data management representing information on the Gantt chart.

Solution

The baggage handling system is implemented as a web application, this entails that that data be visualized and managed directly in a web browser. The Silverlight platform put forward by the Axmor programmers was the ideal solution for this task. Now baggage service operators can work with a schedule interactively, moving separate elements on the chart and changing their size. The newly developed component was integrated with the existing web application through data transfer web services. In addition, the solution is easy to use thanks to a user-friendly interface with a simple but attractive design.

• Plan baggage loading and unloading by changing the start and end times of these stages directly in the chart.
• Check flight status and check-in desk hours.
• Add and change flight status information.
• Distribute flights among terminals using the drag-and-drop function.
• Sort data by airline companies, flights, terminals, time intervals, etc.
• Collapse and expand detailed information on certain flights using the chart.
• Adjust colors and templates of conventional symbols.