The TAV Earth project is being carried out in order for all traffic in a structure like Istanbul Atatürk Airport to be managed productively. First of all, can you tell us about the allocations, which occupy an important part of the project and about the needs in this field?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: The TAV Istanbul Area Allocation and Contracts Department deals with the allocation of all areas to be used by the main customers of the airport; that is to say,by airline companies and airline tourism companies. TAV Operations Services deals with the allocation of all commercial areas to be used for advertising, by banks, car rental companies, etc, on behalf of TAV Istanbul Terminal Operations. Therefore, what is in question is a great variety and a great number of contracts from the point of view of both operations and activities. We need to be able to differentiate information on the basis of a great deal of parameters; such as the type of usage for areas, the type of location and what kind of needs there are in each location. In spite of their limited human resources, up to now the architectural office has always tried to meet all our demands concerning area allocations. But eventually we needed a more intelligent platform that will achieve an increase in productivity. Prior to TAV Earth, because of the very nature of the business, it was not possible to see the names of customers and their details on the projects drawn by the architectural office. TAV Earth has made it possible for these architectural drawings to be transferred to an electronic platform for easy analysis.

From the point of view of the TAV Istanbul Area Allocation and Contracts Department, what kind of transformation will you undergo when you start implementing TAV Earth?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: The architectural office works on normal locations and forms, but with the previous project structure, we were not able to search a location using an account number or its customer, because all that was visible on the projects was dimension numbers and drawings. When we integrate the TAV Earth infrastructure with these drawings, we can see our customers, their activities, their location and what part of the whole airport they use. We can also differentiate among types of locations within the airport terminals. In other words, we can provide answers to questions such as how many ticket sales, front offices, how many sales offices and how many storage areas there are. We can see on a map their objectives of use and we can obtain differentiated reports by pressing a few keys. Moreover, authorized employees can enter information into the system and update it.

BİNNUR GÜLERYÜZ ONARAN: Now we can conduct very rapid searches on the basis of different parameters. You can write the name of any customer, airline company or tourism company and obtain the information on a map.

Who will be able to benefit from the possibilities provided by TAV Earth?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: Everyone can make use of this map. Just as Google Earth has become part of the life of people around the world, TAV Earth will facilitate the life of everyone who will pass through the airport. For example information staff, and therefore clients applying to the information staff, will be able to benefit from it and be forwarded to the right place.

ELİF MELİKE KAPTAN: For example, orientation programs are organized by the human resources department for new recruits and the whole area is visited. TAV Earth can easily take over this duty. We will see the realization of this and many other similar ideas via TAV Earth and we will benefit from it.

DİLEK GÜRSOY: We will also start seeing its physical benefits soon. For example, the Data Processing team provides services such as ADSL lines and internet lines to these areas. When a customer leaves an area and another one arrives, the new one generally asks the Area Allocation department for updated statements about the ADSL line, the internet line and for internal or external lines. If you have entered the lines in that area into the comments section, then it does not matter whether that customer leaves or not. When a new customer asks for these lines, we can say to the Data Processing Team: “Such and such lines were installed on such and such date, the new customer requests such and such, what would you like us to do for the statement?”

This program must also facilitate the follow-up and management of contracts, right?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: We have defined for the system all sorts of alerts regarding contracts. We are able to add more alerts or to renew them later on. This is a structure that facilitates the follow-up of contracts. You can immediately see end dates, costs, occupied and free areas. We therefore will be able to market areas that we can actually see on a platform, on the basis of sound data. This is a change that will influence business transactions and profitability.

BURHAN TANIŞMAN: At this point it is necessary to talk about the system’s benefits from the point of view of the architectural office. Different units can require the same information. For example, On-Duty Terminal Management, the Electricity Department and the Mechanics Department can ask for the same things. But the number of our AutoCAD licenses was limited to five and only five people could access the software simultaneously. No one apart from those five people could access the projects and make use of them. TAV Earth is online and therefore open to everybody. This approach decreases costs arising from the use of licenses to meet increasing demands. Moreover, the real business user, who needs that information and who will be turning that knowledge into an income, is able to access updated information without the need to get in touch with us.”

Are there other examples of this system in the world? Have you had the opportunity to conduct research?

BURHAN TANIŞMAN: When TAV Earth was first brought up in the light of our needs, we went to the Venizelos Airport in Athens to analyze it. They were using a similar program but we have taken the system a step further with TAV Earth. We know that TAV Earth occupies a unique place among the few similar systems

How will the process proceed now?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: We will send our requests to the architectural office on TAV Earth and the architectural office will draw a plan as necessary and send it to the Repairs and Maintenance Department. At this point the Construction, Mechanics or Electrical-Electronics departments will become involved. Once the work has been carried out the Repairs and Maintenance Department or some other technical unit will send a report to the member of staff who drew up the plan; the proposed plan and the work carried out on location will therefore be compared. After that it is our turn at the Area Allocation and Contracts Department to open up the area for allocation. Thanks to the technical teams’ integration with the system, we will be immediately informed.

BİNNUR GÜLERYÜZ ONARAN: All processes have been defined and activated in the system. The key word for TAV Earth is “integration.” For TAV Earth to function properly and be successful there needs to be integration and cooperation among all units and companies. We have on hand the strong and flexible technological infrastructure needed to achieve this

DİLEK GÜRSOY: TAV Earth is a living organism and we at TAV will develop and expand this organism all together, enabling TAV to proceed on its way with sustainable productivity

What do you think about the system’s influence on the creation of corporate memory?

DİLEK GÜRSOY: Information is becoming corporate and independent from individuals. Anybody with authorization will be able to access past and present information easily. We will be able to see what was done in the past simply by pressing a key, without having to seek somebody “who knows.”

BURHAN TANIŞMAN: For example, let us say that you have installed a cable or a hydrant line on the apron. Answers to questions such as “When was the pipe installed? how many centimeters is it below ground?” and “what life span does it have?” will be in the system!

When was TAV Earth launched and what stage is it at now?

SERDAR GENÇ: The project was announced in October of last year. Subsequently the purchasing process began for the equipment, software, license and consultancy. Two months later the need analysis began being conducted. Following that process--which lasted two months--we began the development process. The development of the product is continuous and we have now reached the testing phrase. As new ideas emerge from the various units and as the system is used, new needs will arise. The development process will therefore be continuous

MAYA K. GÜNGÖREN: We are going to continuously evaluate new ideas and realize those that can be implemented. With this project we have surprised even our business partners who provide us with our technologies. They too have acquired a great deal of know-how thanks to TAV. They have seen what else can be done with their technologies. With this system we in the TAV family will be able to put to good use many other innovative ideas

THE CORPORATE PORTAL PROCEEDS IN ITS DEVELOPMENT “Connectivity is Productivity” The corporate portal makes use of newly-enhanced SharePoint infrastructure turning the corporate contact point of TAV members into a fundamental instrument that serves business productivity. The team managing the Portal Renewal project--as well as the TAV Earth project--collects all TAV employees companies under a single umbrella, as a large family speaking the same corporate language. TAV Airports’ renewed portal, which was put in service in August, makes use of the latest version of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and is based on the Oracle E-Business Suite infrastructure. This structure means that employees are able to use business implementations such as Human Resources, Document Management, Messaging, Daily Follow-Up and Project Management via the portal. TAV IT Implementations and Systems Manager Serdar Genç states that, especially when one takes into consideration large corporate structures such as TAV Airports that are spread throughout a vast geographical area, the infrastructure required for this transformation was completed by the Portal Project Team in a very short time. The team held meetings throughout the process with all of TAV’s companies in Turkey and abroad to provide and obtain information, included representatives from the Corporate Communications Coordination Department, so that a common corporate language and a design reflecting the TAV companies could be developed. The process to develop software was only begun once an efficient consolidation process among all companies was achieved. As a result of all the work carried out, a productivity platform was implemented that collects all structures under a single umbrella that is integrated with the systems of all these companies. TAV IT Customer Services Chief Maya K. Güngören emphasizes that they intended to develop a platform that would not permit any security breaches. The team has worked meticulously on all necessary precautions so that any TAV employee anywhere in the world is able to connect safely to the corporate portal. “Connectivity is productivity” The Portal Project Team describes their goal to form a portal that would correspond to the statement “connectivity is productivity,” as frequently pointed out by TAV Airports CEO Sani Şener, and that would reflect TAV’s character with its design and corporate language. They also emphasize the importance of feedback and of following technological innovations for the continuity of the portal. Future objectives The next stages of the project are to form the necessary infrastructure to enable a communication environment where audio and video communication will take place via the portal. Remarking that in following combined communication systems, Serdar Genç points out that with this type of project they expect a considerable drop in communication costs. The team develops business processes not contained within Oracle via SharePoint’s business flow implementation. Other items planned for the future include forum areas on the portal, educational documents and training through video. Costs decrease and efficiency rises Decreasing costs is of primary importance for corporations. The SharePoint infrastructure plays an important role in decreasing costs, providing a powerful platform for the implementation of projects that aims to decrease operational costs.