More With Less

In the midst of intense competitive and financial pressures, the Department of Airport Operations of a major US airline company found itself in a losing struggle to expand the scope and speed of its analysis, while at the same time absorbing severe, though planned, headcount attrition. Discontinuing these mission critical analyses was not an option. For example, the team managed a complex network of spreadsheet processes involving input from hundreds of airport managers to schedule skilled maintenance, customer service, and baggage claim labor across all of their airports domestically and internationally. Weather, price promotions, regional convention schedules, and scores of other factors impact labor on a continuous basis. Bottom line, the team needed a highly customized solution, but couldn't afford the cost and business interruption of completely replacing their spreadsheets and attempting to create a solution from scratch with one of the leading packaged applications.
 
A3 Modeling was a great fit. It capitalized on their existing models and the deep Excel expertise of their administrators. In fact, ROI calculations predicted that the team could achieve their total solution, including software, training and services, for a fraction of the cost of the leading packaged applications. In fact, in the midst of budget cuts and downsizing, the team justified A3 Modeling based on predicted current year cost savings, thereby avoiding C-level approval altogether.
 
In the end, the team beat its own cost estimates. After a single training session and less than 10 days of outside consulting support, they achieved production with the labor allocation solution. This solution, which is now run more frequently and reaches more users while consuming just one-third of the administrative labor of the original spreadsheet system, has since expanded to include numerous other spreadsheet processes including capital planning, compensation and benefits modeling, expense budgeting and revenue forecasting.