National Academies Press: OpenBook

Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques (2010)

Chapter: Chapter Five - Terminal Activation Governance

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Five - Terminal Activation Governance." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14394.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Five - Terminal Activation Governance." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14394.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Five - Terminal Activation Governance." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14394.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter Five - Terminal Activation Governance." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2010. Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14394.
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Discussions with synthesis participants indicated that the appropriate formality and complexity of terminal activa- tion governance and the involvement of senior management is influenced by the size and complexity of the project— activations of small repetitive projects require less formal gov- ernance and little involvement of senior management; activa- tion of larger more complex and unique projects requires a more formal and structured governance. This chapter reviews the governance used to activate relatively large and complex projects. Simpler more streamlined governance is appropriate for smaller, simpler projects. It is not uncommon for airport operators to successfully plan, design, construct, and open new terminal facilities with- out surprises. The common characteristics of these projects are that they are generally small; planning, design, and con- struction have short durations; stakeholders and end users remain closely involved throughout the entire delivery pro- cess; and all project participants are familiar with each other and regularly work together as a team with a common culture and goals. This fosters accurate, timely, transparent commu- nications and a team spirit. Therefore, there is less need for formal activation governance—the policies, processes, and procedures used to operate the airport on a day-to-day basis are generally adequate. When projects are larger and more complex, more formal and more structured activation governance is appropriate, because large projects generally include multiple organizations with different cultures, goals, objectives, and governance. Unfortunately, this typically results in design, construction, operations, and other stakeholders operating in silos—as a league of competitive teams with different interests as opposed to a single team with a common goal. Information flows are sometimes controlled to avoid detection of problems resulting in decisions being made with less than perfect or even ade- quate information. The objective of activation governance is to encourage (and where necessary force) all of these diverse project partici- pants to operate as one team with common goals, as opposed to a league of teams (organizations) with different competing goals. To achieve this, an activation team, including represen- tatives of all stakeholders and project participants, is gen- erally established. Often, the first task of this committee is to adopt an Activation Mission Statement. The Activation 16 Mission Statements adopted by the airports included in this synthesis include: • No surprises on opening day. • Ensure the activation team works through, not in place of, the existing organizational structure. • The activation team coordinates—existing organizations must continue to carry out their assigned responsibilities. • Provide direct support to authority, airport users, and air- port service providers. • Act to resolve disputes, anticipate problems. • Provide excellent customer service on opening day that is seamless with no surprises. • Intent was to meet or exceed expectations of stakeholders. This remains the charter/mission for future projects and we have done a much better job of managing expecta- tions and achieving this goal. • Strive to ensure all facilities and systems were tested and ready for operation by the established deadline. All prob- lems were to be elevated for resolution immediately. • Achieve a safe and timely opening as perceived by the passengers, media, and the airport community and be pre- pared to cope with any contingencies. • The mission is to ensure that all people, processes, tech- nologies, and tools are aligned and prepared for operat- ing at the new facility. • Beyond commissioning, activation is the process of moving from the construction phase to full operation of a facility. The process requires the engagement and participation of the airport operations, business and facilities management, and staff (all the members of the organization that are accountable for the execution and continuation of facility management programs to new or expanded works). Activation is ultimately the responsi- bility of the owner–operator of the facility and is carried out by the existing organization. This includes complete familiarity with all elements of the construction project deliverables and electronic systems that will be added or introduced into a facility. Activation includes: – Implementing comprehensive orientation and techni- cal familiarity training with the project. This effort extends to all users of the facility including airlines, tenants, government agencies, and airport. – Completing staffing requirements and job training for new positions and enhancing skills of existing staff to operate and maintain new or upgraded equipment and systems. CHAPTER FIVE TERMINAL ACTIVATION GOVERNANCE

17 – Concluding business arrangements with tenants, par- ticularly defining and implementing those contrac- tual responsibilities delegated between the tenant and airport. – Revising and conducting simulations on operations and emergency plans. – Preparing and conducting trials and simulations, which include actual loading of systems and equipment as would be experienced in full operations. The activation team is led and directed by an activation steering committee or other group that includes senior rep- resentatives of all operational departments, the construction/ capital project team, and sometimes one or more airlines. The group is chaired by the airport director or another individual who has the authority to make and enforce decisions. Typi- cal structure of an activation executive steering committee is shown in Figure 7. The first activity of the activation steering committee is to adopt an activation mission statement. An appropriate airport activation mission statement is: open when ready without sur- prises and operate in a manner that makes it appear AOD is just another day. The reason this is a good activation mission statement is that it encompasses the focus of the activation team, but is limited to the scope of what can be controlled by the activation team and processes. In addition to the executive steering committee, the activa- tion team may be further structured into a multi-tiered gover- nance structure, as shown in Figure 8, consisting of: • Activation steering committee—this is the senior man- agement and policy making body for the activation proj- ect and includes senior representation from all of the major stakeholders. Key issues are discussed and agreed on and the steering committee has the ability to enforce agreements. This includes making decisions on changes to project time scales or deliverables to meet the overall objective of successful and timely opening. • The activation core team facilitates communications and issue resolution and includes single points of contact (SPOCS) from all stakeholders, end users, and the design and construction team. The objective of this core team is to carry out the policies set by the activation steering committee and resolve any issues that have not been addressed by lower levels of management. • Activation working group—The activation working group consists of the activation core team and end-user activation SPOCs. Each end user has their own repre- sentatives in the activation working group. The activa- tion core team acts as an interface between the activation working group and the construction team. It is the last vehicle to resolve issues before escalation to the activa- tion steering committee. • Focus groups—Sub-groups of operational staff who review specific aspects of the activation. These focus groups generally include staff from the activation work- streams and stakeholder groups focused on issues such as familiarization with the new facility, review of design and construction submissions, witnessing of commis- sioning, training, recruitment, and operating procedure FIGURE 7 Typical activation executive steering committee organization structure (Source: Arup 2009).

development. Ideally, when issues are identified, they can be communicated to the construction team and resolved without escalation. During the life of the activation project the focus groups will likely evolve, with additional groups being necessary to man- age and monitor specific elements of the project and resolve issues closer to opening and transition times. As indicated by the activation mission statements those surveyed provided, a key objective of the activation steer- ing committee is to mitigate surprises on opening day. This is achieved by identifying and resolving issues before opening day. Ideally, most issues are resolved by the various airport authority departments, agencies, stakeholders, and the design/ construction team before reaching the activation steering committee. One effective way of achieving this is to develop an issue resolution ladder (IRL) that defines the levels at which issues can be resolved and when escalation is appropriate. Ideally, issues are resolved between the various departments at an operational level and do not need to be escalated to the steering committee. Figure 9 shows a typical issue resolu- tion ladder structure (refer to chapter six for information regarding airport terminal activation policies, processes, and procedures): Level 1—When issues arise at the field or operational level it may be possible to resolve and close the issue at this time. An example of this could be a minor field change that does not involve time or money or a minor adjust- 18 ment to operational procedures that has no impact on passengers, airlines, or other stakeholders. Any party identified at the field or operational level can raise an issue and seek their counterparts to obtain resolution. If this is not possible in the prescribed timescale, or if issues are determined to need input from the next level of the IRL, the issues are escalated. Level 2—Where issues raised involve contract interpre- tation, issuing of instructions or change orders, more significant operational changes, or intervention by the Level 2 personnel to resolve an issue not resolved at the field level, they are escalated to Level 2 for resolution. Level 3—Where issues involve resolution between par- ties that cannot be addressed at Level 2 and involve input by the SPOCs, they are escalated to Level 3 for resolution. Level 4—Only issues that involve the intervention of senior managers are escalated to Level 4. Typically, these involve major impasses between parties or sub- ject matter that involves a higher level of approval to implement. This is the highest level of resolution, reserved for issues that cannot be resolved at Level 3 or involve executive decisions to implement. To achieve the goal of opening without surprises, trans- parent accurate information about the real-time status of con- Contractors Architects & Engineers CM SPOC Design/Construction Team Operational Department SPOCs Air (Airline) SPOC(s) Ground Handling SPOC Other Tenant SPOCs Police & other Agencies SPOCs Customs & Immigration SPOC Activation Working Group (Stakeholders / End Users) Activation Steering Committee Activation SPOC Meeting All Stakeholders represented at SPOC Meeting. Activation Core Team (Chair) Focus Groups (Various) Committees (Various) Focus Groups (Various) Design and Construction Team appoint Activation SPOCs to participate in Activation SPOC Meetings Committees and Focus Groups address Safety & Security, Developing Operational Procedures, Trials Requirements and other tasks Manages day to day activities and reports progress and issues to the Steering Committee Makes key decisions and recommendations on issues. Highest point of escalation on the project FIGURE 8 Typical activation governance structure (Source: Arup 2009).

19 struction and preparedness of all stakeholders is necessary. Issues that are raised need to be acknowledged and dealt with in an objective manner. If issues are ignored or resolutions not explained, constituents lose confidence in the process and suspect that the systems, processes, procedures, and opening will go as planned. Depending on the size and complexity of the project, it may be appropriate to use EDMS, web-based collaboration tools, and other automated services to facilitate sharing of accurate transparent information and managing timely resolution of issues. See chapter seven for an overview of some of the tools that are used to support airport terminal facility activation. FIGURE 9 Typical issue resolution ladder structure (Source: Arup 2009).

Next: Chapter Six - Terminal Activation Policies, Processes, and Procedures »
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TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Synthesis 20: Airport Terminal Facility Activation Techniques explores lessons learned during terminal activations at 13 domestic and international airport facilities. The report is designed to help identify effective airport terminal facility activation practices.

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