ARC Safety Management, a provider of SMS software and the sister company of AviationManuals, has seen a significant increase of 130 per cent in SMS forms related to risk analysis, operational change and training.

Overall, there was a six per cent increase in form submissions through its ARCreport module from January through October, compared to the same time period last year, despite a COVID-19 related decrease in flying. Operators were employing their SMS and digital management systems at higher levels even while not flying.

“Although we saw a decrease of almost 70 per cent in form submissions directly related to flight from its peak in January to April, there was a more than 130 per cent increase in forms related to risk analysis, operational change and training,” says ARC Safety Management CEO Mark Baier. “Operators have seen how data and digital management systems can help them make faster decisions and easily communicate changes to their teams.”

ARCreport covers events including incidents and hazards, ASAP, safety and service, deviations, training, change management and custom forms. It eliminates the need for emails, spreadsheets and binders, since the system automatically organises, communicates, stores and digitally processes data.

In the most recent update to the software, notable new functionality is the ability to create custom tags, such as aircraft, operation type, weather and health. This tagging feature allows organisations to customise the data being captured by reports and forms so they can analyse what makes sense for their specific operation.

Additional upcoming ARC updates will take full advantage of this new feature by allowing organisations to create custom metrics based on the tags created. The tagging system was developed out of ARC Safety Management's belief that SMS should be specific to each operator.

This kind of customisation makes the reporting system unique to an operator and allows them to get true value out of their SMS. ARCreport is available on the ARC app so subscribers can work on reports on the go, even when Wi-Fi is not available.