EPP421: Compliance with US Federal Family Assistance Plan - ERP Report

This report assesses the importance of emergency planning and preparedness, particularly in the context of airline operations expanding into the U.S. It addresses the requirements of the US Federal Family Assistance Plan and the need for compliance to secure DOT approval. The report includes an executive summary of recommendations for incorporating regulatory requirements into the airline's Emergency Response Plan (ERP), focusing on victim support tasks within the Incident Command System (ICS). It also evaluates CATSA's (Canadian Air Transport Security Authority) key factors for success, data collection activities, and the potential benefits and challenges of implementing a Business Intelligence (BI) system to improve data collection, security, and overall operational efficiency, emphasizing the importance of employee training and data validation.

IMPORTANCE OF EMERGENCY PLANNING AND PREPARDNESS
1 | P a g e

What are CATSA’s key factors for success?
(a. Introduction, b. 5 key points, c. Strategy, Structure, Systems, Conclusion)
a. Introduction: The not-for-profit organization namely Canadian Air transport
Security Authority (CATSA) was set up after the 9/11 attacks to mitigate the risk
factors related to the security of the passengers of Canada. It was a government
initiative and is responsible for screening all passengers as well as non-passengers
in the airport vicinity area.
b. Key points: CATSA maintains the 5 key points to attain the success of delivering
the strategic objectives. They are as follows:
 They keep a record of the number of passengers who have already been
screened
 They maintain the screening effectiveness
 They maintain the screening consistency
 They minimize the passengers waiting time by effective screening
 Thus, the customer satisfaction factor is also maintained
c. The company has 3 strategic objectives. They are:
 They maintain a flexible operational flow to target the resources to threat
 Financial flexibility to make the plans flow smoothly
 Maintain proper security systems
 Understand actionable information and respond to threats
 Partnership building and communication with other organizations to
facilitate the security agenda of Canada
Structure of the organization is simple. At the topmost position Brian Fleming is the chairman.
Under the chairman constitute the board of directors. Below is the President, Jacques Duchsneau,
who is the key person of the management and maintenance of the operation of CATSA. Under
him there are 4 heads – The VP and COO, Mark Duncan, the VP and CFO, Michael
McLaughlin, the VP of Law and Policy and corporate strategy, Ian MacKay and lastly VP of
corporate affairs, Randall McCauley.
System is quite manageable. CATSA collaborate with RCMP and CSIS in continuing the
process. At first the intelligence team delivers information to the team present at airport. The
2 | P a g e

total area of the airport and airport vicinity is divided into nine layers. Each layer constitutes
strict checking manually as well as through machines by the security officers. This strict the
potentially hazardous activities.
Concluding lastly, the vast system has been simplified with rectifying the loopholes of the whole
system. Thus, making Canada airport a better secured environment.
If you were the COO, where would you focus your efforts? Focus on the biggest issue for
the COO. Complete the Evaluation of CATSAs current data collecting activities in a table
format using Exhibit 4.
(headings – a. Information, Source, Pre-BI format, Frequency, new column- Evaluation)
Summary, design…
The current focus would be tackling of the business intelligence information due to the
technological and organizational obstacles. The BI tools are hard to use and training employees
also encompass a huge amount of investment. Again, organizational difficulties are lack of
understanding the importance of BI. Topping that, proper preparation for BI and definition of
business events are missing. The business information is also too transparent. Amongst all the
above, biggest issue would be lack of interest in understanding the importance of BI by
employees. Focusing on these points and trying to improve the same may increase the chances of
developing a better organization holistically.
Information Source Pre-BI format Frequency Evaluation
Describing
incidents
Screening
officers/airport
authority/local
police/RCMP/CSIS
1-page form
sent to CATSA
communication
center
Occurrence
always
Utmost
required as
this can
maintain the
standards and
unseen
hazards can
be checked
Records of
certificates
and
equipment
Screening officers Papers and
certificates
held by
officers and
filed by
CATSA and
screening
contractors
When
installed
The papers
and their
checking are
important as
this proves
authenticity
of the
personnel,
3 | P a g e

again the
papers have
an expiry
date, that
needs to be
checked and
updated
accordingly
No. of
approved &
invoiced
hours broken
out by
prescreening
hours,
enhanced
measures,
hold bag
screening,
non-
passenger
screening
Service providers Formatted
excel
spreadsheets
Monthly The system
is good but a
proper
software for
the
maintenance
of the data
would be
more
appropriate,
this would be
simplified
and
employee
friendly and
time friendly.
CCTV
camera
Automatic-airport
authority
Videotapes Kept for
seven days
OKAY but
the camera
should be
maintained
properly and
tapes should
be kept in a
data
collection
room or in a
secure place
for at least
one year.
Again, a
proper
backup
should also
be kept.
No. of
training
hours and
description
CATSA- HR Excel
spreadsheet
Monthly The
spreadsheet
must be
maintained
4 | P a g e

of training backup for
the same
should also
be kept.
Financial
expenses
CATSA-
FINANCE
Excel
spreadsheets
and general
ledger system
Posted
monthly
This is okay,
system
should be
maintained
and backup
should be
kept. Again,
a proper
checking for
match and
mismatch for
the postings
should be
audited.
Table: Evaluation of the data
Summary: Summarizing lastly, the above table states that the improvement in some factors are
necessary for the COO to focus on. If these factors are met properly then the system will improve
for sure.
How can CATSA improve the collection of their data? What does CATSA rely on and what
should they have or do.
Collecting authentic data and processing it to important information is the utmost need for the
whole organization. Collecting the true data and identifying opportunities for the betterment of
the organization is utmost necessary. After the collection of the data and the processing of it, the
information will be checked by another third party which will evaluate the authenticity and
importance of delivered information to the CATSA team ("Information Archivée Dans Le Web |
Information Archived on The Web").
Integrating the information and maintaining the correlation of the data is another key role of
improving the system. The data always comes into bulk but segregating it and connecting the
data with relevant sources is another need. Identifying the data and its importance is equally
important. Therefore, another need for CATSA is to develop employees to understand the data
and train them efficiently to input the data at the right place, at right time. This would constitute
a havoc amount of training to the employees. Again, the employees should be able enough to
5 | P a g e

understand the importance of the training as well. Again, the data collected from the various
sources should also be checked by the organization. Thus, the authenticity of the data can only be
proved. The agents colleting the data should be alert and they should maintain a standard in
doing so. The data collected should be conform too and compatible with the system. Missing out
on minor points can result in high penalty for the organization and lives can come under stake
due to this. So, checking the minor point while delivering the data are equally crucial. This
would help CATSA in tailoring the crucial piece of information to improve the security system.
What is BI and is it appropriate for CATSA?
Business intelligence, according to Sabharwal, is collecting data from various sources which may
be structure or unstructured and then processing the same as information and deliver it to the
decision makers (Sabherwal, Rajiv, and Irma Becerra-Fernandez).
As per Krauel, Business intelligence analyses the gaps in airport security which in turn improves
the checkpoint services. The guesswork is eliminated in security system. The system had initially
data which was not centralized. BI manages the data and piles of data is collected and processed
in an effective manner. The data flows smoothly and with a lesser amount of errors present.
Thus, the time and effort of the organization is reduced. Thus, the Business Intelligence helps
CATSA build an effective planning and monitor the same thus controlling operations and
making it best in the security system department.
What are the potential changes that may result from implementing a BI system, and how
might CATSA manage them?
The system will be more focused on the screening and checking the passengers. Thus, the whole
system will be customer centric. This means the security system should be effective and valuable
to the people travelling (Canadian Air Transport Security Authority — Business Intelligence
Case Analysis). Transparency is another factor that needs to be focused. No intuition work will
be permitted and only the data which is delivered by the intelligence support system only. Again,
in terms of capacity also there must be a potential change. The workforce or the employees
should be talented enough to understand the system and should be engaged in the work. The
personnel should be responsible and contribution towards the organization is the fullest. Again,
the flexibility of the workforce also matters in the system. Thus, these things can make the
system better and make CATSA much stronger than the present state.
6 | P a g e

References:
"Canadian Air Transport Security Authority — Business Intelligence Case Analysis". Medium,
2019, https://medium.com/@mounicav/canadian-air-transport-security-authority-business-
intelligence-case-analysis-d3a8d97f4a7. Accessed 19 Mar 2019.
"Information Archivée Dans Le Web | Information Archived On The Web". Publications.Gc.Ca,
2019, http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CC401-2006E.pdf.
Sabherwal, Rajiv, and Irma Becerra-Fernandez. Business Intelligence. Wiley, 2011.
7 | P a g e