National airline South African Airways specialist division South African Airways Cargo (SAAC) has implemented the first phase of a new-generation integrated Web-based system, i-Cargo, which will bring SAAC up to date with technological 
developments within the cargo environment.

Preparatory work for the 
migration from the legacy systems, Safron and Zebra, to a new, integrated Web system started in December 2008 and the first phase of the new system was implemented on April 1, 2010.

SAAC acting head Justice Luthuli explains that the Fit and Gap analysis workshops were held to provide an understanding of the existing legacy systems to map their functionalities with that of i-Cargo. 
Additional activities included intensive training, data migration and testing, and product reviews and test case scenarios. 
The system will be accessible by all SAAC stations, general sales agents and ground handling agents.

Phase one of the implementation entails the migration of cargo revenue accounting, mail revenue accounting, unit load 
devices (ULD) handling and mail operations. 
Phase two will be implemented in August 2010 and include airline core functions, cargo terminal 
operations and cargo revenue management. Once this is completed, there will be complete data migration from the legacy system.

“As aviation has developed into an electronically advanced business and, with the advancements towards a paperless environment, we are proud to have this new system in place,” says Luthuli.

He adds that it has been a smooth transition and he considers it to be successful; however, there are minor problems, which SAAC is busy addressing, in the area of mail and ULD handling.

The new system is eFreight compliant, which is the Inter-national Air Transport Associa-tion’s project that intends to move air cargo to a paperless system. Benefits provided by i-Cargo 
include enabling the division to achieve its business aims, saving costs on a community 
development level and providing system support as a basis for the potential adherence to Cargo 2000, a quality management system that aims at improving the process for managing shipments.

The integrated Web-based 
application enables ease of operation and provides for wider reach, particularly to SAAC’s African markets, where the legacy system had limitations.

To subscribe to Engineering News's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.