AM: Tell us about yourself and AviIT.

Vince Doherty: AviIT focuses on the aviation sector, where we have been providing advanced solutions to a number of leading airline and aviation companies. We have an in-depth understanding of the cost pressure issues facing the aviation sector in recent years. I’ve been with the company two years. Before that, I was with ATP.

AM: What is eMan?

Doherty: eMan enables any format of documentation to be accessed and viewed from any location, on any device, over any type of communications network via a simple-to-use and consistent user interface. It helps remove the need for manually tracking and distributing physical copies of aircraft manuals, updates and bulletins, which improves the safety and efficiency of the whole documentation process. eMan is all maintenance libraries, all documented in one place, hosted at your location and served to any device at any location. It allows all electronic files to be joined and grouped together from one place, accessible anywhere in the world.

AM: What is unique about eMan?

Doherty: Others have tried to accomplish what AviIT has with eMan. People would get their IT guys together now and again to try to develop something like this. But it requires time and resources. We have done it for them. One of the most important factors is revision control. Since you are working off one set of manuals, you know that all locations will be working with the most current and same revision level.

AM: AviIT recently sold Jet Direct on this product. How did you convince them that eMan was the way to go?

Doherty: We showed them the business case for the product. They have multiple locations where they have multiple manual subscriptions. We were able to say to them: ‘We can save you $400,000 – $500,000 in duplicate maintenance library expenses.’ They will save $400,000 the first year and potentially $300,000 each year after that.

AM: Couldn’t a company just create what eMan has?

Doherty: It’s possible but complicated and there are costs associated like labor, research and development, and IT support. It could run upwards of $750,000 to do so. eMan costs much less than that and it’s ready to go now.

AM: Describe how the system works.

Doherty: A user can access the eMan web page portal and have access to all data applications and electronic file publications. It has a clean, organized and easy-to-use browser. Everything is managed by a centrally located and self-hosted by a designated technical librarian at the client’s company. When revisions come in, they are uploaded and available immediately. It completely eliminates duplicate manuals and revision problems. This gives huge efficiencies, effectiveness and cost savings.

AM: Are there hardware investments needed to implement eMan?

Doherty: No, most operators will have the infrastructure needed. A few might need some additional hardware. eMan is web-based. We host the site and you send your data; for most users there would be no hardware investments.

AM: How customizable is the site?

Doherty: It is very customizable. We designed the portal to be clean and easily modified to the end user’s need. We designed it to have as few clicks as possible. You can put anything on the site index. All the tail numbers for every aircraft you have, for example, and have all publications come up. The admin tool took a long time to develop how to work it out.

AM: What if you are in a remote location, say Butte, Montana, with an aircraft that is AOG and no company mechanic there. Can a third party user gain access to your manuals?

Doherty: Yes. With your permission, the third party user can be permitted access on a temporary basis. You can create a new user and assign a password allowing them to have access to your manuals. No one else can download your manuals unless you allow them to. But in a case like this, you could allow someone to download what is needed, say 20 – 30 pages, and print it out and take it to the aircraft.

AM: How many concurrent users can utilize the manuals at one time?

Doherty: We sell a license fee for up to 25 users at a time. The license fee goes up in increments of 25 from there. We estimate there will be a 4 to 1 ratio of users. For example, for a shop with 100 potential users, the 25-user site license will suffice. Also, the system is set up to automatically sign off if left idle for 2 minutes.

AM: Who are some of the companies on your current customer list?

Doherty: Monarch Aircraft Engineering, Virgin Atlantic, bmi and Etihad.

AM: Why should an MRO operator consider eMan?

Doherty: In this particular environment, tech pubs is the last place you want to spend money. eMan can save a company money and we have a business case to support that claim.