What we did
The project
Every year, more than 1.25 million dangerous goods are transported by air. With air cargo growth predicted at 4.9% annually over the next five years, the volume of dangerous goods shipments is expected to rise significantly. Ensuring adherence to safety regulations is critical.
The management system for tracking and updating dangerous goods rules and regulations was historically paper-based, and when ported to a digital environment did not meet the needs of the many staff working in the system at one time. Translation teams also struggled to find the most up-to-date versions of the regulations in the system.
To prevent critical errors that would compromise cargo safety (overwriting newer changes, missed edits, lack of translations, etc.), we worked with ICAO’s Dangerous Goods experts to redesign their technology and workflows.
Process audit and assessment
We audited both the data and processes behind the changing regulations, identifying many workflow, data architecture, and rule improvements to improve the regulatory review process and track the changes of regulations over time.
System design and development
The workflows and rules engine were designed by diving into the technical nuance of dangerous goods management. We mocked up all the workflows and developed the data architecture, frequently testing with ICAO’s experts. The system was then built to enterprise standards, generating over 4,000 pages of regulations which would take four hours in under 12 minutes.
Planning and de-risking
To meet ICAO’s enterprise systems requirements, we developed a business continuity and disaster recovery protocol, as well as multiple backup procedures. All documentation was delivered digitally on a microsite; we also delivered several training sessions on site for users, translators, and admins.
After months of testing, the system was approved for production use to manage all information related to Dangerous Goods regulations for all 193 member states, centralizing the rules and instructions necessary for the aviation industry to safely transport dangerous goods. After delivery, we were retained to provide support for seven years.
Foresight into 203x
As part of our assignment, we worked with the ICAO technical team to envision what an ecosystem of partners, funders, technology providers, and private sector would look like in the future to promote safer transportation of dangerous goods. We helped map out potential political, environmental, and organizational scenarios to create a strategy that would lead to a safer aviation industry.
In turn, we identified opportunities to leverage ICAO data and combine it with supply chain technologies, customs portal, geospatial mapping and AI tools. We formed the base of a strategy that will be developed in the coming years to shape the industry.
