Airport IT Management (AIT)

Managing Airport IT - daily operations to strategic value partner

Airports are increasingly at the centre of aviation, passenger and technological change. Managing airport information technology effectively is critical to the efficiency, security and economic success of modern airports. Competition and policies drive the need for change and this change frequently depends on delivery and operation of enhanced information and technology solutions.

Airport IT operational delivery and new projects can be expensive undertakings that carry a lot of risk. Fortunately there are excellent practices and proven management techniques that can ensure that IT is capable of meeting the challenges of modern airport environments while preparing them for future trends as well.

This airport-centric IT management course is designed to provide airport professionals (mid-level to senior managers and technical staff) with instruction that will help them understand, implement and use proven techniques to create and manage a dependable value based airport technology function. Attendees will be guided through topics that deal with delivering new IT based solutions, managing IT in the airport, valuable policies and standards, technology trends, vendors and good governance practices. The material is designed to form a “tool box” of best practices for the student. Upon completion the attendee will have an understanding of the components of airport IT, differences to construction projects and how to utilize the coarse material to deliver effective solutions to meet their airport business goals.

Participants will be encouraged to look at IT from the many facets of an airport. The material will examine IT in the roles of enabler, service provider, innovator and airport partner while focusing on the primary goal of delivering dependable, value based solutions. Project work is a significant part of all IT departments and topics will include; preparing a business case, procurement process, project documentation, project delivery, scheduling, budgeting, managing issues, project governance, managing stakeholders, working with engineering teams, project communications and how to close-out a project.

The course is designed and presented by Gary Long and Scott MacNeil. Gary has over 30 years managing IT and is certified in the governance of enterprise IT (CGEIT). He was the past VP and CIO at Toronto Pearson Airport during the 4.2B$ airport development project. Scott is the former IT operations lead and General Manager of the Strategic PMO at Toronto Pearson Airport and is a certified project management professional (PMP) with 20 years of airport experience and 15 years’ experience managing airport IT centric projects.

The course material draws on industry best practices from the Project Management Institutes (PMI.org) project management guidelines (PMBoK), IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), ISACA and others.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage and deliver strong outcomes based IT capabilities for modern airport services. The course is conducted as a series of presentations with real life examples and encourages student participation with Q & A time for further learning. This course will be valuable to non-IT managers that desire to learn more about the IT function, IT professionals responsible for managing the department function, daily operations or project delivery. In addition it will provide a strong grounding in IT management principles for intermediate airport managers with significant IT dependencies or large technology based programs.

Course participants will gain important management context and valuable tools for a strong outcomes- based IT function. Applying the material learned will improve communications with peers, drive efficiency and allow the business and IT to focus on measurable airport goals.

COURSE OBJECTIVE

 

The primary objective of this course is to introduce a set of proven processes and knowledge that will simplify the management of IT, introduce industry best practices for improved results, drive dependability, effectiveness and investments to enable airport resources to grow business / air carrier economic benefits.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will:

• Have a roadmap of best practices and standards for operating an effective IT unit
  
  
• Understand the role of technology management at an airport
  
  
• Be able to identify value versus cost to align with airport goals
  
  
• Identify key tools to manage projects, demand, operational reliability
  
  
• Recognize agency, Nav Canada, CATSA points of interface
  
  
• Be aware of safety and labour issues
  
  
• Be familiar with industry and social trends that will impact airport services
  
  
• Be able to effectively manage small to medium size airport projects
  
  
• Understand IT risk and recovery in the context of airport goals
  
  
• Know how to effectively source unique IT components and services
  
  
• Understand the cost structure of an IT department to aid budgeting and operational expense management
  
  
• Understand IT outsourcing and the typical trade-offs associated with outsourcing services