"Some goals were even exceeded" – Airport Klagenfurt migrates to the Airport Management Software SKYport
Even though they say "Never touch a running system" in IT, after 20 years, one should at least think about an airport software system change. This is exactly what Klagenfurt Airport did and consequently migrated to the SKYport Airport Software Suite from ISO Software Systeme GmbH.
Airport Klagenfurt migrates to the Airport Management Software SKYport
At the turn of the year, the time had come for the SKY-Base old airport management software, which incidentally also originated from ISO, to go offline and its successor SKYport to seamlessly take over. In this interview, Lisa Moser, Project Manager at Klagenfurt Airport, describes how the migration progressed and what the Austrian airport experienced in the process.
After 20 years: SKY-Base has become SKYport
ISO-Gruppe: How long has Klagenfurt Airport been working with the ISO-Gruppe?
Moser: We have been working with the ISO-Gruppe for more than 20 years. I have been employed at Klagenfurt Airport since 2018. I have been working in Aviation Invoicing, and I am also the assistant to the Operations Manager. In-house, I am probably the person with the most know-how on the various software modules. Therefore, I was the logical choice as Project Manager. You know, Klagenfurt Airport is a small regional airport, and in my position, you have to be well-versed in many aspects.
ISO-Gruppe: How has the cooperation with ISO developed so far?
Moser: Very good. We are big fans of Dr. Drahota, who looked after us for more than 20 years. But we have also come to appreciate his successor, Mr. Oleksandr Kiziun. We always feel well supported by ISO. When we say we have an emergency, someone always looks after us. So we were able to do the SKYport Go Live on January 01, 2022, as planned. Before the Christmas holidays, we talked everything through with Oleksandr. If anything had come up, we could have clarified everything with each other between the holidays.
ISO-Gruppe: How did the decision to migrate from the SKY-Base Legacy system to the modern SKYport come about after around 20 years?
Moser: In a way, Dr. Drahota got the ball rolling since he will retire in the foreseeable future, and he was the expert for the ISO SKY-Base. In addition, a new fee schedule will enter into place in 2022, which was not included in the old SKY-Base. Instead of spending a lot of time and effort to update the system, together with Dr. Drahota's upcoming retirement, we decided to tackle two things at once.
Short preparation time, rapid migration
ISO-Gruppe: The migration quickly picked up speed. Klagenfurt Airport had already defined its requirements after about one and a half months. How did it come about that the framework conditions were fixed so early on?
Moser: This is due to our structure as a small airport. Since I am well acquainted with many of our departments and their processes, I was able to quickly summarize the requirements.
ISO-Gruppe: Did the migration have to overcome technical, structural, or procedural obstacles?
Moser: We were looking forward to the "Activities" feature, which would allow us to connect agents to the AODB via mobile devices. However, we then realized that it would not be quite so easy. To use Activities, we had to change internal processes and use a new interface. However, we had not ordered the interface right away, but had already booked Activities. The interface will then follow in Q1 2022. In addition, the interface requires that we process "flight" and "activity" in that order. So far, however, the process has been the other way around for us, so we will adjust this. For the firewall, it was also necessary to set up different constellations. Klagenfurt continues to take care of the hosting. Additional resources like more memory were needed, but we took care of that on our own.
ISO-Gruppe: ISO could have taken over hosting for Klagenfurt Airport. Why did you decide on an internal solution?
Moser: This has grown historically. We have always relied on on-premises solutions. This has worked very well for us over the last 20 years, which is why we see no reason for a change.
ISO-Gruppe: How did the migration go from Airport Klagenfurt's point of view? What was good, what was not?
Moser: Overall, the migration went very well. I can hardly name anything negative. However, our master data had grown considerably over the years, so it had to be cleaned up before moving. This was not initially included in the project scope. However, Dr. Drahota, an ISO employee, found a solution to clean up the data in the interface between SKYport and SKY-Base.
Master data in Airport Management Software
ISO-Gruppe: Have you achieved all the goals you set with the migration?
Moser: Some points were even surpassed, for example, the airport billing. However, it remains to be seen whether everything will work. For instance, if the Austria specifications, the interface to Austro Control that determines when which aircraft has landed and how often, go into operation. After such a short time, it is difficult to make a final assessment of the migration as a whole.
ISO-Gruppe: Are there any tasks still open?
Moser: In addition to the interface mentioned above, the following tasks are also pending: activities feature and the export to Austro Control, exports to Statistics Austria, and the Austrian Ministry of Finance.
ISO-Gruppe: Would you recommend ISO and SKYport to others?
Moser: Yes, I would. As I said, we have been a customer for over 20 years and are very satisfied with both your software and your service.
