IATA’s Head Office is in Montreal with their main executive office in Geneva. Regional offices are in Amman, Brussels, Dakar, London, Nairobi, Santiago, and Washington D.C. In addition, there are 57 offices around the world responsible for Agency Services, Billing and Settlement Plans and Cargo Account Settlements.
IATA’s mission is to represent and serve the airline industry. In fulfilling that mission, IATA services four groups interested in the smooth operation of the world air transport system: airlines, the general public, governments, third parties such as travel and cargo agents or equipment and systems suppliers. For the general public, IATA simplifies the travel and shipping process. By helping to control airline costs, IATA contributes to cheaper tickets and shipping costs. Thanks to airline cooperation through IATA, individual passengers can make one telephone call to reserve a ticket, pay in one currency and then use the ticket on several airlines in several countries – or even return it, for a cash refund.
Paul’s Accomplishments
- Developed a Short Range Strategic Plan for the Data Centre including the technical architecture, hardware and telecommunications directions, management practices, job descriptions and project plans.
- Developed a strategy, project plan and budget for the migration of users from the Wang office automation system to a PC LAN system. This was known as the ‘Office Automation Upgrade’ project which encompassed 150 users in 15 countries – budget of CHF 1.2 Million.
- Coordinated the implementation of the Office Automation Upgrade in the Geneva and Singapore offices.
- Developed hardware and software standards for all PCs purchased at IATA offices worldwide.
- Implemented various systems management disciplines: problem management, change management and inventory management.
- Developed a series of Anti-virus & Security Awareness Policies and Procedures for all IATA offices worldwide.
- Participated in numerous airline and travel agency committee meetings related to information technology.
- Designed wide area network connectivity alternatives for linking the voice and data networks of IATA’s offices in London (UK), Montreal (Canada), Washington (USA), Miami (USA) and Geneva (Switzerland).
- Conducted technical evaluation and design reviews for a major (multi-million US dollar) systems development project being developed for the IATA Tariff Conference Department. Involved numerous visits to the offices of the development organisation located in Dallas, Texas.
- Initiated an assessment & conducted an evaluation of the feasibility of outsourcing all data centre functions (including PC systems and support) to EDS.
- Coordinated technical aspects for the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) data centres in Hong Kong, Athens, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
- Provided technical support (on-site and phone support) for the BSP data centres.
- Negotiated prices, delivery schedules and contracts for numerous hardware and software products for the BSP data centres in several countries.
Paul’s Responsibilities
Budget: CHF 3 million
Staff: Operations Staff (5); Operations (3): Technical Support and Telecommunications (4)
Reporting:
- Office Automation Upgrade – Recommendation & Budget
- Monthly management objectives and achievements reports
- Staff objectives, job descriptions, training plans and performance appraisals, salary recommendations
- Short Range Strategic Plan – Data Centre
- Outsourcing – Evaluation and Recommendation
- Anti-Virus & Security Awareness Policies and Procedures
- Tariff Conference System – evaluation assessment
- WAN design and Request For Quotation