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The biggest headache in operating a partnership or flight club is often the scheduling of aircraft. Someone has to keep the schedule and there is invariably confusion about what is scheduled, who said what to whom, and most of all the hassle of having to reach someone on the phone or drive to the club office to schedule an airplane.
But it doesn't have to be like that. Wilder Engineering's FSS Touch-Tone Scheduling System ("FSS" is the name of the product; it has nothing to do with Flight Service Stations) is a simple and easy-to-use system to automate the scheduling of aircraft. It allows club members to call a central computer (almost any PC will do) which will take their call and prompt the caller through the process of scheduling aircraft, checking schedules, canceling a previous reservation, even get the phone numbers of other members so you can call them to resolve a scheduling conflict. And all you need is a touch-tone phone.
How it works
To set up an FSS scheduling system, you need the FSS software and a special board which
is installed inside your computer. To have 24-hour scheduling capability, the computer
needs to be devoted to the task and needs to have an incoming phone line dedicated to it.
The computer can be located anywhere - at the club office, at a member's house,
wherever.
When a member calls the computer, the computer picks up the line, verifies who the caller is (via a personal identification code), then offers the caller a menu of choices. From the main menu the caller can access the aircraft reservation system; get information such as aircraft status, other member's phone numbers, even the local airport ATIS; record voice messages and receive messages from other members; access a voice buffeting board which includes a flea market, a flying companion search (a handy exchange for members offering and looking for open seats on scheduled trips), and a number of other scheduling and informational features. Just like a voice-mail system, the caller can navigate all the system features by pushing buttons on a touch-tone phone.
Administrative features
In addition to the above, club managers can use the touchstone system for a variety of
administrative functions. Aircraft can be taken off the schedule for maintenance, member
accounts can be de-activated and locked out, and more. In fact, it's possible to do all the
day-to-day administration of the club over the phone, which means the club manager can
run the club from anywhere there's a touch-tone phone.
"FSS" also offers a complete audit trail of all operations and actions and records them as standard database and text files which you can read and import into many common spreadsheet and accounting programs. If you're a club manager, "FSS" provides a very comprehensive means of managing and controlling club operations while not locking you into having to answer the phone and wallow in paperwork.
The FSS Touch-Tone Scheduling System is available from Wilder Engineering (800) 867- 7533. Wilder Engineering maintains a demo scheduling system you can call to experience the system for yourself; call Wilder Engineering to get instructions and the number to call for a demo.