This week, we focus on five helpful tips for Paxia Specifications.
Tip 1:
Why use Spec Tags?
When creating new specifications for a specific or limited purpose, you can quickly identify them using Spec Tags.
- Create a Spec Tag to identify a grouping or type of specification, e.g., Halal / Vegan / Protein / Emergency / Special Handling, etc.
- Assign the Spec Tag to the corresponding specifications.
- Utilize an enhanced search capability for specifications using the Spec Tag to enable faster review, download, or other actions.
- Note – Spec Tags can be applied to existing specifications without requiring a new version.
Tip 2:
How can I end or remove specifications which are no longer needed?
Over time some specifications may become no longer used or needed. When a specification has been Approved or used in the past, you cannot delete that specification; however, you can make the specification ‘Inactive.’
- Inactivating a specification prevents it from inadvertently being used in the future and applies to all versions of the specification.
- An inactive specification prevents:
- Adding as a component to another specification
- Being used in a scheduling rule
- A user assigning to a future Service Order or Invoice
- An inactive specification will remain in an Approved status with an indicator identifying it is ‘inactive.’
- Inactive specifications can be made active at a later time if required to be used again.
- To inactivate a specification, ensure it is no longer used in any Active parent specification or a current FSS, current SPML assignment, etc.
- Any Service Orders or Invoices where a specification inactivated already exists will be unaffected by the ‘inactive’ indicator.
Tip 3:
Did you know that an administrator can limit the sections of a specification that are shown and used based on the type of specification?
- An admin user can determine which details apply to a specification per Spec Type.
- If a ‘section’ of the specification does not apply to that Spec Type, those sections can be set up to be hidden from view.
- This limits the screen congestion and eliminates updates to certain sections for that Spec Type.
- For example, an Ingredient Spec Type is the lowest level specification and does not contain further components, the section for ‘Component’ specifications can be hidden from view to simplify the specification and will remove erroneous data being entered.
Tip 4:
How do I know what has changed between two versions of the same specification?
- Using the ‘Compare Spec Version’ function, any two versions of a specification can be compared.
- Using the ‘Show Spec Version Changes’ option, you can perform a quick check to view changes between the chosen version and the first previous Approved version of that same specification.
- Within the chosen specification, click the icon to ‘Show Spec Version Changes,’ and all additions, deletions, and modifications are highlighted for immediate visibility of changes.
- The changes can also be downloaded or printed with this function,
Tip 5:
How can I limit the number of scheduling rules required for scheduling a specification that only varies based on aircraft type?
Some specifications vary due to the aircraft they are scheduled on. For example, ‘Handling’ specs may be representative of the same service, but depending on the aircraft type, they may have different pricing.
- If scheduled individually, many rules are required to schedule each specification code per aircraft type.
- To reduce the number of scheduling rules, a ‘generic’ spec code is set up in addition to the aircraft-related specification codes.
- Using our mapping screen, the ‘generic’ spec can be mapped to each aircraft-related specification, forming a link between them.
- In the scheduling rules, one rule can be defined to assign the ‘generic’ specification.
- In the Flight Service Scheduling creation process, the generic specification will be replaced by the aircraft-related specification using the defined aircraft type mapping.
Stay tuned for our next blog, where we will continue providing helpful tips.
Up next: Part 1 of the Top 10 Tips for Paxia Scheduling.