"IBM's Journey Management Library will help identify  and plan timely solutions that keep us ahead in this very competitive market."

Jim Ohlson, director of Air Canada's commercial business unit I/T

The simulation models, with their animated graphical interface, provided valuable insights critical to the airline's change management and future planning. Air Canada plans to use the models to examine its operations at other airports worldwide.

Journey management modeling
Journey management - a concept IBM began developing in 1996 - is concerned with delivering a positive experience to travelers as they proceed on their journeys. IBM Research and the IBM Travel & Transportation Industry Solutions Unit began applying simulation modeling techniques to airport processes. Simulation models are useful in helping airlines and airport authorities understand what impact new technologies (such as self-service kiosks, voice-recognition, smart cards, electronic tickets and e-business) and changes in processes will have on bottlenecks, personnel needs and customer service levels.

Application	Simulation
Software	IBM Journey Management Library for workstations
Services	IBM Global Services

The journey management models employ the Arena® simulation tool, well established in operations groups at major airlines. IBM developed a set of reusable modules and templates - the IBM Journey Management Library - for use with the simulation tool to describe passenger processes and related new technologies. The software, with a fully animated interface for viewing simulations, runs under Windows 95 or Windows NT on desktop workstations.

A concern about congestion
In the pilot project, IBM and Air Canada created an "as-is" model of domestic passenger processes at Toronto airport that served as a baseline for "what-if" studies. Air Canada was concerned about increasing congestion at its worldwide facilities and the impact on customer satisfaction. "Our customers tell us they want to go through our processes as quickly as possible," says Jim Ohlsson, director of Air Canada's commercial business unit information technology. "They don't want to wait in queues." Ohlsson is heading a project to introduce self-service kiosks as a remedy to growing passenger queues at check-in. "I wanted to learn as much as I could without piloting this in real life. With simulation, we hoped to assess the impact of customers using kiosk check-in and agent-assisted check-in. While new technology is important, we also need to look at how existing processes can be improved."

An "as-is" baseline model
In 1997, the team began to develop a baseline model of Air Canada's passenger processes at Toronto airport. Scope of the baseline model consisted of ticketing, coach passenger check-in, premium passenger check-in, special assistance, special services and gate control processes.

Air Canada provided input data to the model from both current observations and historical patterns. After validating the model with actual data collected for May 2, 1997, multiple simulation runs were conducted for each day of the week of July 7-13, 1997. The runs used forecast data as input and performance measures for all major processes were collected. Performance measures included peak and average wait times, peak and average numbers of passengers waiting in line and resource utilization.

During each run the simulation model automatically took a snapshot of system conditions whenever a passenger experienced service that did not meet Air Canada's standards. Simulation results identified some areas needing improvement while in other areas initial concerns proved unfounded.

"On check-in, passengers were moving better than we anticipated," said Ohlsson. A detailed analysis of the ticketing counter process showed that about 10% of the passengers had to wait longer than the service standard, with an excessive waiting time during a one-hour period in the morning. Closer scrutiny showed that 60% waited about twice the desired standard of five minutes and 20% waited almost half an hour. Self-service kiosks
Air Canada concluded that the ticketing, check-in and baggage drop-off processes represented an opportunity to use self-service kiosks to improve throughput. The team was surprised by the results when kiosks were added to the model.

Initially, it was thought that one-stop kiosks handling both check-in and baggage drop-off would be the most effective approach. Simulation showed, however, that faster service would result with a separate, staff-assisted baggage drop. "Passengers aren't experienced at putting tags on their baggage so it is better for the customer to have help," says Ohlsson.

And this change provided another unexpected benefit. Now the first part of check-in could be done anywhere in the airport. "Suddenly the process opened up and allowed us to be creative in our future thinking," says Ohlsson. "Next step is a pilot implementation of IBM kiosks at our Ottawa airport facilities, which we modeled on our own. Now we can simulate full implementation at Ottawa or other facilities before investing in hardware. This is a powerful planning tool that will help us quickly roll out new technology worldwide."

Critical role for simulation
Air Canada is committed to customer satisfaction. The airline realizes that the appropriate application of advanced technology can improve customer service, reduce costs, and better utilize assets. Simulations, according to Ohlsson, will play an increasingly critical role in operationsand planning at Air Canada as an aid to selecting cost-effective technologies and streamlining processes.

"Our vision of journey management has been to follow the passenger. We are working with IBM now to follow the baggage as well. Next we will look at what happens around the aircraft," says Ohlsson. "We want to make sure we are equating turnaround times for aircraft to on-time departures for our customers."

For Ohlsson, journey management is a key to managing growth, keeping costs in check and planning for the future. "IBM's Journey Management Library will help identify and plan timely solutions that keep us ahead in this very competitive market."

© International Business Machines Corporation 1998

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Visit the IBM website at www.ibm.com and the IBM Travel & Transportation website at www.ibm.com/travel. For more information on journey management, e-mail thayerm@us.ibm.com.

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This brief illustrates how one customer uses IBM products. Many factors have contributed to the results and benefits described. IBM does not guarantee comparable results. All information contained herein was provided via the featured customer and IBM Business Partners. IBM does not attest to its accuracy.

References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates.

IBM and the IBM Journey Management Library are registered trademarks and IBM Journey Management Simulation Services and the e-business logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Arena is a registered trademark of Systems Modeling Corporation. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.