This year, Web Manuals is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, but to picture the digital landscape a decade ago can be quite a challenge. With continuous updates and product developments being generated faster than ever, our perception of how people and businesses operated prior to the digital domination we see today can be blurred. Our mind focuses on the now and what’s to come, not necessarily what has been. For us, it’s strange to imagine a time where companies were still manually writing and tirelessly filing through endless pages of paper manuals.
We caught up with one of our longest standing clients, who has been using Web Manuals’ digital documentation library since its launch in 2012. Headquartered in Västerås, OSM Aviation Academy is one of the largest flight schools in Europe and has delivered professional flight training for individuals and airlines for close to 60 years. As you can imagine, learning how to operate an aircraft requires vigorous safety training, as well as several examined modules to test students’ theoretical understanding. Paired with internal and legal documents, the academy requires access to a multiplicity of extensive paperwork.
Long story evolving
10-years ago, the company opted to digitize this administrative burden, condensing thousands of pages into a singular online platform. Hans-Erik Viklund, head of training, OSM Aviation Academy, illustrates a time before Web Manuals. He explains how the school would spend several hours locating new revisions, as well as writing, formatting and distributing internal training documents on Word. Not only was this time-consuming and inefficient, identifying mistakes after the manual had been printed was almost excruciating.
Hans-Erik says: “Web Manuals has been a huge benefit to our operation in simplifying our regulation management, which would be an extremely tedious process otherwise. When your tasked with monitoring multiple manuals, each with hundreds of pages of text, it can be tricky to feel like you’re in control of the latest regulations. Web Manuals eliminates this stress, allowing us to have 100% control on what’s happening in our authority, down to the smallest alteration. As a flight school this is particularly valuable to our safety operation.”
Due to the extensive number of manuals that the academy stores in its digital library, the company limit a select few who can access the platform. However, that’s not to say that the application isn’t instrumental to the school’s students.
Hans-Erik elaborates: “We aim to make the learning process as smooth as possible for our trainee pilots. With Web Manuals, we can export relevant chapters from our training manuals to support our students at each stage of their course. Instead of handing them a huge pack of paper to read through, we can allocate specific information in an easy-to-read format. As a pilot myself, I’m aware of the huge number of flight manuals, particularly related to training. To have a digitized process that enables us to allocate key documents and efficiently update our manuals is hugely effective.”
As one of the first customer acquisitions, Hans-Erik reflects on the last 10-years: “We’ve been with Web Manuals for more than a decade and the company has continuously adapted its interface to make the process simpler and our operations more streamlined. Web Manuals is extremely fast and easy to navigate, its automated technology means that we can digest new information in a matter of seconds – it really is as simple as that. We look forward to the decades to come!”
Though it has been 10 years since OSM Aviation Academy switched to digital documentation management, the benefits continue to prevail in the form of advanced admin processes, operational efficiency and training provision for its students.