DI Blue seamlessly rolls out complex flight invoicing system built in low-code
The challenge
DI Blue is a Netcall partner – they are a consulting firm in Western Europe that aims to modernise IT landscapes to make systems and tools fast and friction-free. They needed to overhaul an air traffic control organisation’s system to efficiently calculate environmental charges for aircraft operations.
A self-service portal
DI Blue’s client originally asked them to upgrade an existing application to a future-proof technology platform, but the project scope quickly transformed. It expanded from redeveloping an internal accounting tool, to also include a new customer-facing aspect. This included the development of a self-service portal for airlines, allowing them to access comprehensive details on how environmental charges are calculated for every flight.
The user-friendly self-service portal had a tight timeline and no margin for error. The portal would be crucial for both the customer affairs department and the organisation’s overall image with the airlines that they dealt with. DI Blue utilised our low-code platform, Liberty Create, to build the portal.
“Liberty Create is great at simplifying the creation of complex processes, seamlessly connecting to external data sources and automating data imports and extractions. This combination allowed us to effortlessly set up a sophisticated, asynchronous nightly process to autonomously poll external servers, extract data and import it. This significantly eased our workflow.”
Thijs Van den Bosch
Software Engineer, DI Blue
The solution
DI Blue used Liberty Create to streamline workflows, integrate data sets and develop an innovative application to navigate each of these complex challenges.
The portal consolidates aircraft arrivals and departures for precise financial and operational reporting. It prepares charges for invoicing by the ERP for specific airports, and tracks departures using air traffic navigation services, so they can be charged by the air traffic control organisation.
Any discrepancies or anomalies are pinpointed and prioritised across multiple data sources within the dashboard, such as flight updates and aircraft performance data, allowing for manual operator adjustments.
Two months before the scheduled launch of the portal, the national government revised the calculation formulas for all aircraft. They now needed to include CO2 and nitrous oxide emissions – a significant change to build in to the app.
This change, along with new penalties, would drive more enquiries from airlines as they adjusted to the new fee structures. Providing the airlines pro-actively with a self-service portal meant a reduced amount of questions to the air traffic control organisation, allowing them to focus on day-to-day operations rather than ad-hoc queries.
When a case is raised, Liberty Create gracefully handles all stages and associated business rules. It allows for fully automated, asynchronous processing.
On completion, the final result is passed on to another team to perform a manual review and reconciliation, with an intuitive traffic light system for easy oversight.
A standout feature is the application’s skilful use of pivot tables. This data visualisation empowers system operators to easily access statistics at a glance for thousands of daily flight movements.
The platform generates daily, bi-monthly and monthly reports for various stakeholders inside and outside the company.
Operators can create bespoke reports and access regular reporting. The air traffic control organisation noted that the need for manual intervention on checking the accuracy and completeness of arrivals and departures was reduced to 2.85% of all movements.
“When a completely new calculation formula was included, which had the potential to overwhelm the customer affairs department with all kinds of enquiries. They did not receive a single question on the new calculation formula. This was all due to the airlines being able to see the exact calculation through the self-service portal.”
Thijs Van den Bosch
Software Engineer, DI Blue
The result
Self-service portal delivered, with comprehensive fee calculation details
Replaced an internal accounting application
No ad-hoc queries were received from aircraft carriers upon the introduction of a complex new formula – the application took care of it
Automated and bespoke reporting giving insight and visibility
Fully automated, asynchronous data processing
This app is designed to serve both internal operations and external customers. It promotes transparency in everyday operations while enabling precise management of flight-related concerns, benefiting everyone involved. DI Blue were finalists in Netcall’s 2023 App of the Year Awards for their use of Liberty Create to handle complex calculations and variations and present that data.
Hear it for yourself
Successful delivery of multiple applications
DI Blue and Netcall have been partners since 2021. In this time, DI Blue has successfully delivered multiple excellent applications built on Liberty Create and Liberty RPA to their clients. They have proven to be experts in developing well-designed and complex applications. A Carbon Offsetting tool for First Climate won DI Blue first prize at App of the Year 2021, while the Environment Management Application EMI made them a finalist in 2022.
Impact
0 Queries
received when complex new formula introduced – app took care of it
Handles
highly complex data
Automated
and bespoke reporting
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