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Summary

A station is an Organization that provides flight or passenger services to an airline at an airport. This includes caterers, cabin cleaners, and other ground handling service providers as well as passenger lounges and ticketing agencies. In order for a Station record to exist, there must first be an Organization and OrganizationSite to which that Station can be linked.

Create organization

Organization refers to the company as a whole e.g. Lufthansa, Gate Group, or Coca-Cola, underneath the Organization there can be multiple OrganizationSites (see below). In order to be linked to a Station, the Organization type must be "Caterer/Service Provider". First, please check if the Organization already exists in SkyLog. Here you can find the list of all Organizations [link]. If the Organization already exists please move to the next step. Organizations are centrally controlled and maintained to avoid duplicate organizations being created across multiple operations, therefore if the Organization does not exist contact a Global Administrator or raise a support request. [For more details about Organizations click here]

Organization Sites

An Organization site represents a physical location from which the Organization operates, the site record contains the physical address of the location as well as the main site contact details and the timezone of that site. The site record must exist before you can create a Station record or for that matter any other supply chain participant type such as AirlineSupplier, Warehouse, etc. Firstly Please check if a site is already created in SkyLog with the same address and linked to the same Organization, it is important not to duplicate organization sites. [For more details about Organization Sites click here]

Stations

The station setup contains specifications of that station's operations such as the frequency it should report inventory of airline-owned items and a list (StationItems) of the airline-owned items it needs to provide the services to the airline. Against each item, we record the par levels e.g. how many days of inventory to hold, the frequency of replenishment, the replenishment source and lead time, etc. SkyLog allows you to define at the station level many parameters to customize stations processes. For example, automatic stock count approvals, different ways of RMA management, and the level of automation within process flows.

Stations creation

To create a station record a few things are required to be confirmed: station setup, Supply sources, You can start creating a new station by going to Reference Data/Airline Participants/Stations

SkyLog allows advanced customization of the station processes. To deliver the most productive setup please consult the guide below which explains each customization option on the page

Supply Source

Supply sources define which warehouses will be supplying stations with goods and which modes of transport are used. It is possible for stations to be supplied by multiple warehouses and this could be defined at the item level in Station Item / Par Level tables. Multiple modes of transport could be assigned for each supplying warehouse with different transportation and handling lead times and a priority ranking to determine the preferred mode of transport.

The Supply Sources button is found in the Reference Data/Supply Chain Participants/Stations. Select desired station by clicking on . At the bottom of the new page will be File:SupplySourceButton.

Add Warehouse

To add a warehouse that will be supplying station:

1. Select
2. Select Warehouse

3. Set as active

Add Transport Methods

1. Under the Warehouse-Station Link, next to set up warehouse select to expand the field as per below and select to add mode of transport from selected warehouse.

2. Select accordingly
   1. Method of transport from drop down list. Note that there are more options then seen on the screen, use scrolling down option to see all modes of transport available.
   2. Preparation time – days it takes the warehouse to pick and pack.
   3. Transport duration – days it takes from dispatch until station receipt.
   4. Rank – priority / default option.

Complete table should look like this.

Station Count Category

Station count categories define which items are counted by the Station and how often they are counted. It also allows you to set the tolerances between expected and actual count quantities (count variances) at which a count line is set to "Query". The level of automation in the count and approval process and also be set – some counts can be set up as auto accepted after they are submitted, a useful feature for stations like lounges with little turnover. Station Count Category can be found under Daily Activities/Inventory Counts/Station Count Categories.

1. Select in the Station Count Categories page
2. Select station requiring new station count category


Field	Sample	Description
Count Category Description	Full	Description of the count category. The station could have multiple counts with different parts under each, so naming of the count category is useful to avoid confusions. A typical example might be to set up a count category called "Major Equipment" for all technical equipment such as Trolleys/carts or to have a category "Disposables" for all disposable items.
Count Schedule Option	Automatic Schedule	There are 3 options "Automatic Schedule" (repeats based on provided frequencies), "Manual Schedule" (follows manual dates listed in manual schedule table on the bottom of the page) and "None" (stock counts generated only manually)
Automatic Schedule Options	Specific Day/s of the Week	You can pick between days of the week or days of the month, days of the week or days of the month [that new inventory counts will be due]
Specific Day/s of the Week or Month	--	tick/specify days when stock count should be triggered; if specifying days of the month, each must be comma-separated. Note: you can not specify consecutive days; there has to be at least one day's gap between inventory counts [it's not allowed to instruct a station to perform a new count each and every day
Weeks Between Counts	1	Number of weeks between counts (if 'Automatic Schedule Options' = "Specific Days of the week", rather than Specific Days of the Month)
Notify Days	3	Number of days the stock count will be generated before the expected count date, the station will get an email notification at when the count is generated and then has the notify days to prepare for the count.
Next Count Generation Date	September 28, 2023	Select next/first stock date for a count to be scheduled. This date is automatically updated each time a count is generated but a user can re-sync the schedule by editing the date
Value Tolerance for Count Variances	100	Not mandatory, select variances in value per line to tolerate as ok. Meaning if, for example, there is a 100 GBP tolerance and the discrepancy from the expected stock count is 99 GBP, the count will appear as ok. Different tolerance levels can also be set at the item level and the count category tolerance will only apply if there is no item-level tolerance defined.
% Quantity Tolerance for Count Variances	10	Not mandatory, select variance in quantity % per line to be tolerated from the expected count. Meaning if, for example, there is a 10% tolerance and the discrepancy from the expected stock count is 5%, it will not appear as a query. Different tolerance levels can also be set at the item level and the count category tolerance will only apply if there is no item-level tolerance defined.
Person Responsible for Counts	--	Select the person (out of those assigned to this station/organization site), that will be responsible for counts and will be receiving notifications related to it. Leave this field blank if you would prefer alerts to be sent to ALL points of contact associated with the station. If no point of contact can be found, alerts will be sent to the station provisioning manager (in lieu of being sent to caterer / groundhandlers with links to the station).
Include Floating Qty	Yes	Float stock represents the stock that is in the inbound, outbound, and production areas of the station often known as "WIP" (Work in Progress), it does not include stock that is in a storeroom/warehouse area of the Station. If selected "Yes", columns will appear on the stock count page to count both Backup stock and Float stock and report both quantities separately. Backup stock is the stock in a storeroom/warehouse area). If selected "No" then only the Backup stock is expected to be counted and reported.
Include Breakages	No	If yes, will add a column for breakages to be filled by the Station during the stock count. This reflects any losses at the station since the previous count as a result of breaking/damaging products (to an extent they can no longer be used) - e.g. cracked glass, chipped chinaware, etc.
Attach Count Sheet File When Notifying Station	Yes	Advise selecting Yes, which will attach an excel file to the notification email, that when filled could be uploaded to SkyLog for submission. It is a good tool to avoid manual entries in the portal. Note, for new airlines, additional setup is required to enable this - please raise a support ticket and ask for this option to be enabled though.
Consumption Trend Span (Days)	180	Default value is 180, and if left blank it will generate a value of 180 days. This value is used in the calculation of the "smooth" average past daily consumption, if set to 180 it will look at the last 180 days when calculating the daily average but it can be set longer or shorter.
Generate Automatic Requisitions Upon Count Approval	Yes	If Yes, the system will generate an automatic requisition after the stock count is approved (although this is dependent upon the station itself being configured to support automatic requisitioning too).
Include All Items in Automatic Requisitions	Yes	Yes, will include all active items in any auto requisition (even if the suggested order is 0)
Delay (Hours) For Automatic Requisition Generation	0	This is the number of hours after count approval before which any automatically triggered requisition should be triggered
Include All Station Par Levels In Counts	No	Only select YES for "special" counts which are additional to the regular counting cycle, such as a coordinated global stocktake. Thus for regular counts, this setting should be set as NO. Only count categories where this configuration setting is set as NO will appear as a valid option when defining a default count category (See 'Station Defaults' section below).
Update Station Par Levels	Yes	Only select NO for "special" counts which are additional to the regular counting cycle, such as a coordinated global stocktake. So for regular counts, this should be set as YES. Only count categories where this configuration setting is set as YES will appear as a valid option when defining a default count category (See 'Station Defaults' section below). When set as YES, assuming that the count is approved, the approved inventory figures will be copied across to the station par levels and will be used as the starting inventory figures for the next iteration of the count. Additionally, with this configuration flag set as YES, it will also mean that average consumption figures are calculated and may have a bearing on RMA functionality too (depending on station-level configuration tho).
Count Auto Approval Option	Review Required	Review Required - will request that the Station Manager does a full review of every stock count submitted by the Station for this count category, even if there are no lines on the count that are flagged as outside of tolerance Auto-Approve When No Queries - stock count will be automatically approved by the system if all count lines are within the defined tolerances (i.e. no queries were generated by the system. Auto-Approve Regardless - this will mean that even if there are lines on the count that are flagged as being outside of tolerance, the count will automatically approve - the station provisioning manager will not be alerted and will not need to review the count, thus there can be no re-count process. Approval NOT Required - only select this option for "special" counts which are additional to the regular counting cycle, such as a co-ordinated global stocktake NOTE: You can only select the 'Approval NOT Required' option when the 'Update Station Par Levels' flag is set to 'No'. IMPORTANT: Be warned, this is the final configuration flag when you add or edit a station count category record, if you select this option, you will find that it will toggle (update) the settings for "Include ALL Station Par Levels" and "Update Station Par Levels" - so you may find that your resultant count category is not as you had originally specified it because of this final setting. If you want regular (standard) counts to always sail through, skipping the approval step then choose the "Auto-Approve Regardless" option instead; thus, the station provisioning manager won't be notified to review the count when the caterer has submitted their inventory figures.

Sample of complete Station Count Category setup

Station Defaults

Station defaults are used whenever doing a mass creation of Station Item records, for example - when copying the items from one station to another, or when the forecasting system, as a result of loading or flight schedule changes, creates new items for that station. The criteria in station defaults will be applied to all items copied or created from forecasting but can be edited item by item as required.

1. In the Stations page (Reference data/Supply Chain Participants/Stations) select a station in edit mode.
2. Fill Station Default table accordingly. Table with descriptions is presented below

Field	Sample	Description
Transport Method/Duration (Days)		Select default method of transport
Security Stock (Days)	14	Security / safety stock of the item to be held at the station in days
Days Needed for Preparation	1	This is the number of days needed to get stock prepared for for a flight.
Days Needed to Recycle	1	This is the number of days needed to recycle stock from inbound flights to be ready for re-use e.g. the separation & and washing time
Specify Order Frequency Type		Days between delivery/orders or days of the week.
Days Between Delivery/Orders	7	This field will only appear if the Order Frequency type is "Days between delivery Orders" and it represents the number of days between regular replenishment orders.
Ordering days of week		This field will only appear if the Order Frequency type is "Days of week" and it represents the days when the automatic requisitions need to be generated taking into account the planned delivery date and the lead time in the system. For example, if the order needs to be delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays and the total lead time to the station (including preparation time and transit days) is three days, then you should select Sunday (Tuesday's delivery) and Wednesday (Friday's delivery). If the working days for the station are Monday to Friday, then Skylog will generate the requisition on the previous working day.
% Loss at the Station	10	This is used by the forecasting system. Any percentage here will be applied and deducted from the calculated recovery of the item at the Station. So if the forecasting system has calculated that a quantity of 200 should be recovered from inbound flights but this field is set to 10% then only 180 will be considered usable to meet future demand.
Count Category	Full	Selects a stock count category (set up in previous chapter) to which the item will be added. PLEASE NOTE that only counts where "Update Par Levels" is set to YES and "Include All Par Levels" is set as NO will appear as a choice on the drop down list.
Round Requisition Quantities?	Yes	Yes, means and suggested requisition quantities will be rounded up to multiples of the default unit of issue
Include Target Floating Stock For Automatic Requisitions	No
How Is Item To Be Requisitioned?	Events	Event refers to auto requisitions, Manual to manually raised requisitions
Default Requisition Confirmed Qty to Zero	No

 

Stock Items / Par Levels

Station Par levels refers to items a Station would be allowed to place orders for and receive into stock. These can be created in a few ways: copy Par Levels from identical/similar station or do it one item at a time

Copy Par Level from existing station

1. in Station Par Levels select a stations you want to copy whole par level from
2. At the bottom of the screen press the button "Copy"

3. In field “Use Destination Station Defaults?” mark to “Yes”.
4. Select station you want to copy par levels to.

5. Confirmation screen will appear.

Adding Items to Par Levels

Station Par levels are available for review and edit under Daily Activities in Provision section. Please select the Station with . To add a new item press and complete filling in the table to finalize the setting up, make sure that the item status is marked "Active" on the bottom of the page.

Closing Station

In order to close an active station, prior to marking the Station as not active, few very important steps need to be taken to make sure the MRP forecast is reflected correctly for material planners, and that all the assets are accounted for, the below steps need to be taken;

Stock In transit is accounted for

Any stock that is in transit to the Station needs to be receipted and moved via RMA to another location (another Station or Warehouse), used up at the station, or scrapped with a scrap order. There should be no stock left at the station before the station can be closed

Station Stock Counts are closed

All station stock counts need to be closed, and most importantly, the last stock count needs to have all items showing zero - the last stock count qty of each item needs to be 0. This is important to reflect correct consumption and asset valuations.

End of the forecast

Any manual forecast uploaded in SkyLog related to the Station you want to close needs to be removed from SkyLog.