The FlightSpan™ support team has worked hard to set up your instance of FlightSpan™ to get it ready for your use. In addition to the default settings, the following things have been done for you:
- Your Company Name, EFB password, and basic information set
- Financial currencies and default units of measurement set
- Your Account List imported
- Your Staff added
- All-access permission given to a few key staff members you identified
- Waypoint information imported
- Maps imported
- Each aircraft in your fleet created
This creates a good starting point, however , there’s still much to be done in the setup process as FlightSpan™ must be customized for your flight operation before you can begin to use it successfully. To avoid creating frustration for your staff, before granting additional staff access to the software, complete the following checklist.
From the Company Menu
- Review your Company Custom Settings to make sure they are complete
- Under Company Custom Settings List, make sure that “pilot_time_off_email_notification” is filled in with an administrator’s email address
- Make sure that a valid email address is entered for the following Company Custom Settings: “flight_request_user_verification_email” and “flight_request_notification_email”
- If you want to allow pilots to manage their own time off requests without getting approval, check “Pilot Time Off Request Bypass Approval” under Company Custom Settings List
- Review all of the Company EFB Preferences
- Review all your Company Custom Settings to make sure they align with your operation
- Set up your company holidays and work shifts (helps with maintenance forecasting/scheduling)
- Make sure fatigue management rules are correct
- Set fiscal years and billing periods
- Set payment and receipt types that you accept
From the Staff/Users Menu
- Assign appropriate Standard Roles to each staff member who needs access to FlightSpan™ Ops
- Assign a role that includes the Payment Via Cash Receipts Electronic permission to office staff who will issue electronic receipts
- Assign one of the Personally Identifiable Information roles to staff who need access to such information
- Assign one of the Contact Information roles to staff who need access to customer phone and email
- Create Custom Roles if needed and assign them to appropriate staff members
- Set up your Staff Currency Management system
- Create at least a Pilots Currency Group, and add all pilots to the group
- Create the Currency Events that you want to track
- Add at least one historical currency event for each pilot per event type
- If you don’t want to allow pilots to manage their own currency events, uncheck “Permit Staff Members to Edit Own Currency” under Company Custom Settings List
- If you have not already done so, Link the Rates to the Staff Roles that you wish to have access to each rate
From the Receipt Series Menu
- Issue Receipt Series to pilots who will issue manual receipts, if you use them
From the Rates Menu
- Create your rate structure as described in the Setting Rates series of documents
- Since getting your rates to function as desired can be complex, the FlightSpan™ support team will help you with setup
- You must have at least one rate in order for FlightSpan™ to function
- For Flight Requests, set a default calculated rate and default time-based rate
- Make sure any rate groups that you want to be available for public request are given a “Purpose Description”
- Link the Rates to the Staff Roles that you wish to have access to each rate
From the Accounts Menu
- Add or edit accounts as necessary
- Associate default rates with each account
- If you sometimes bill organizations (rather than individuals) create organizations and link individual accounts to the organizations
From the Requests Menu
- Set Flight Request form Custom Settings
- Add Custom Fields if necessary
- Fill out your email templates for all applicable languages
Set email notifications appropriate for your operation
From the Aircraft Menu
- Edit the Aircraft Type Detail for each aircraft type in your fleet
- Make sure that all aircraft types have been given an accurate Standard Ground Time value
- Review each of the Aircraft Type EFB Preferences
- Make sure that “Default Duty Time Before Departure” and “Default Duty Time After Arrival” are accurate values
- Set up your aircraft maintenance – follow the instructions in the Maintenance Control lessons
- Make sure all aircraft have at least one accurate Aircraft Hours History entry
- For each Aircraft Type, make sure to enter at least one historical event for each Maintenance Event Type.
- Set up your aircraft type operating costs
From the Waypoints Menu
- Set up runway charts if you plan to use them (this one can be done later, but it’s best to have them complete before flight operations begin)
- Work your way through the airport waypoints, checking your runway data to make sure they are correct, and adding any weight limitations, displaced thresholds, etc. for each aircraft type
- Set up your route list (If you have a company list of en route waypoints you use, send us the list so we can import them for you)