BAA Selects Pegasystems to Enable Airport-Collaborative Decision Making Initiative at Heathrow

The first phase of the multi-stage project at Heathrow was delivered in just nine weeks. "This extraordinary achievement is a testament to both the unrivalled flexibility of SmartBPM's rules-based approach and the first-class collaborative support of the Pegasystems and BAA project teams," stated David Wells, VP and Managing Director, EMEA, Pegasystems.

Visibility and control

The A-CDM program, a concept developed by Eurocontrol -- the European Air Traffic Control agency -- is designed to improve the overall efficiency of operations at an airport and create a co-ordinated Europe-wide air traffic management system, encompassing both en route and airport operations.

"As the world's busiest international airport, we chose to implement our A-CDM solution at Heathrow first," confirms BAA Enterprise Architect, Eamonn Cheverton. "This fully-integrated and collaborative approach to decision-making will provide a consistent view of flight status to all parties within the Airport and so deliver rapid and substantial benefits, both in operational efficiency and, equally importantly, making every journey better for passengers."

"In looking to achieve maximum return from this investment," he confirms, "we chose Pegasystems SmartBPM as the underlying platform to deliver these benefits because its agile process-centric BPM methodology offered unmatched flexibility to rapidly deliver functionality that monitors operational activity and proactively resolves issues and exceptions."

Early arrivals

At Heathrow, the initial phase of the A-CDM program, already operational, is focused on the aircraft turnaround process. As part of this, Pegasystems' BPM solution is helping track and monitor aircraft through the air-to-air process and managing related airfield performance, including punctuality, taxi times and baggage delivery. By seamlessly integrating with BAA's existing systems in receiving data and automatically acting on it in real time, Pegasystems SmartBPM is significantly enhancing BAA's decision-making process.

Further phases will provide parallel functionality around 'kerb to gate' and transfer processes. "This solution has had an immediate positive impact," says Tim Hardy, Group Airside Operations Director, "by providing a consistent consolidated view of operational status and will significantly improve both the customer experience and reduce the environmental impact of our operation."

For Cheverton, the success of the project to-date has been underpinned by Pegasystems' ability to directly capture business objectives and rapidly configure functionality in line with BAA's demanding requirements. "In addition, SmartBPM's rules-based approach aligns perfectly with our iterative SCRUM project methodology," he says. "The Pegasystems team has fully understood our business in delivering what we need."

The result has been a rapid and successful implementation. For Wells, "SmartBPM's agile Build for Change