Congress mandated the FAA to provide an annual update on the progress of the NextGen program. The FAA’s NextGen Performance and Outreach Office is tasked with working with subject matter experts, including internal FAA offices and external stakeholders, to provide a concise and in-depth plain-language report that explains highly technical avionics to a broad audience, including the general public. Creating a document of this magnitude required coordinating a group of technical experts, air traffic controllers, environmental policy professionals, project managers, and agency leaders. The geographical dispersal of the team and knowledge contributors increased the complexity of the task.

TIME Systems consultants were tasked with designing, developing, and distributing the NextGen Implementation Plan along with corresponding strategic communications. While the challenge presented itself as a mandated deliverable, the solutions provided focused on leveraging technology to transform business operations and enhance efficiencies in program execution.

Working with program managers, team leads, air traffic management experts, graphic artists, and technical writers, TIME Systems led the coordination and collaboration efforts across a spectrum of tasks, ranging from high-level strategic messaging and positioning, to the distribution of over 30,000 hard copies of the final NextGen Implementation Plan.

To facilitate coordination, TIME Systems designed a customized Microsoft SharePoint workspace and intranet portal. The NextGen Performance and Outreach Office relied on the SharePoint solution as the primary tool for collaboration and record-keeping.

As a result, workflow amongst diverse offices and agencies became more efficient, with most files and data centralized in one location. Email traffic and the risk of version control issues were significantly reduced, as all team members had centralized and remote access to information in real-time.

The custom-designed SharePoint solution effectively managed document libraries, schedules, task lists, and various forms of data management. Team members no longer had to search through hundreds of documents across multiple locations. To enhance team engagement, critical meeting information, such as agendas, action items, and team members involved, was stored on the SharePoint solution. The integrated project schedules and fluid task lists were essential features of the SharePoint solution.

As word spread about the development of the implementation plan using the custom SharePoint collaboration solution, several other FAA program offices expressed interest in tailored SharePoint solutions aligned with their specific business requirements. TIME Systems takes pride in our collaboration with the FAA on multiple SharePoint sites. Our SharePoint solutions-based approach and implementation have enabled other FAA lines of business to work more intelligently and efficiently.