Ground Services Overview


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See also: Reservation Type Parameters Ground Services Parameters View / Delete / Revise Reservations MyFBO.com Current Rates

Ground Services

Ground Services are enabled by an Administrator in the Reservation Type Parameters on the Admin Tab / Parameters & Settings Menu. Once enabled, there will be an additional parameter set available named Ground Services. These Ground Services Parameters are where the various ground services offered are defined and priced.

There are two different ground service options available:

Internal Ground Services Reservations
For internal resources, i.e., owned and managed aircraft (no additional MyFBO charge)
External Ground Services Reservations
For transient and other local ground service reservations (chargeable MyFBO option)

Ground services are divided into categories:

Pre-Arrival (external / transient flights only)
On Arrival
During Layover (external / transient flights only)
On Departure
Automatic Ground Services for Scheduled Flights

Ground services can be scheduled independently or attached to flight reservations.

Internal ground services might be used by charter operators, fractional operators, and even flight schools for attaching ground services to existing flight reservations. Since ground services items can be defined by the subscriber, this is a good way to handle frequent special requests. For more information about adding a ground service to an existing flight reservation, please see View / Delete / Revise Reservations.

Automatic Ground Services is an option often used by flight operations to add a specific service and/or fee automatically to every aircraft rental reservation. The most common use of this option is to automatically attach and charge for headset rental. For more information, please see Ground Services Parameters.

External ground services are primarily used by FBOs to schedule and manage line service operations. The remainder of this document focuses on the external ground services process.

Creating a Ground Services Customer

Before any type of reservation can be created for a customer, whether local or transient, first a customer record must exist. The fastest way to create a customer record for a new ground services customer is by aircraft tail number. MyFBO will attempt to retrieve associated aircraft information and registrant information directly from the FAA Registry.

The first way to create a new customer by tail number is to use the small aircraft icon located on the FrontDesk Tab. Simply click the icon, enter the tail number, and select the option to Create New Customer.

The second way to create a new customer by tail number is to use the Select Customer / Create New Customer option available on the FrontDesk Tab. On the resulting Create New screen, use the From Registration Lookup option to enter the tail number.

Either of the above methods will result in the same selection screen to find the customer in the FAA registry. For example, if N1234 is entered as the tail number, the resulting selection screen would look like the screen shot shown below.

Aircraft Selection Screen

Notice that multiple listings appear for N1234. To confirm that N1234Q is the new customer to be added, simply click on that row in the report to continue the customer creation process.

Creating Ground Services Reservations

Once enabled, ground services reservations can be made as simply as making any other type of reservation. In the example below, a reservation is created for an incoming transient customer, but the process for a locally based customer is basically the same.

Put the customer In Focus.
Select Reserve, then Local Departure or Transient Arrival to start the scheduling process.
Select or input tail number.
Set expected arrival date and time.
Set expected departure date and time if known, otherwise select None/Unknown.
Continue.

Reservation Creation

The next screen is used to enter the details of the services that will be included on the reservation, regardless of whether or not the customer will be charged a fee.

Enter the contact information.
Select the services to include on the reservation. This can be accomplished by selecting a checkbox or selecting a button.
The advantage of selecting a button is the ability to enter remarks related to the service. This is the perfect opportunity to record the details of Concierge Services. Details entered in the remarks field will remain available throughout the fulfillment process. If hotel or auto reservations are made for clients, appropriate remarks would include specifics of the reservation needed. If catering is offered, appropriate remarks would include client preferences. A printer-friendly version of the final reservation is available (with remarks included), making it easy to hand off or fax these details to a third party provider.
Create Reservation.

Select Ground Services

Important Information for Concierges
Proper handling of sensitive credit card information in a manner that meets the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard is essential. PCI Compliance requirements apply to ALL organizations, regardless of size or number of transactions, that accept, transmit or store any cardholder data.

If your organization uses Online Credit Card Processing through MyFBO, then credit card information should be properly recorded in the Online Charge Information section of the customer record for later use.

Recording sensitive credit card data in any field in MyFBO other than those specifically designated for that purpose conflicts with both PCI Compliance and MyFBO Terms of Service.

If you accept customer credit card information for purposes other than collecting directly for services supplied by your organization, you are also at risk of noncompliance. You should not accept and store credit card information by any non-secure means (e.g., written, faxed, e-mailed, entered into software not intended for that purpose) and should never pass it on to a third party.

Once the reservation has been created, the resulting screen (shown below) allows for review of the included services. Individual services can be edited or deleted, and other services can be added. Once reviewed, confirmation of the reservation can be emailed to the customer.

Ground Services Reservation

Once a ground services reservation has been made, it can be revised as needed from the Reservation Details page. This page is shown below, and can be accessed from many locations in the system, including by clicking on the reservation block on the Ground (Concierge) Schedule available from the Schedules Tab / Ground Schedules menu.

Reservation Details

On the Reservation Details shown above, note the following:

The Services link is used to edit or add ground services.
For each service there is a corresponding action. Once a service has been fulfilled, marking it Complete signifies that the item no longer needs action.
The Open option is used to change the status of a ground services reservation from pending to work in progress. Some tasks, such as Concierge Services, may be completed and marked off the "to do" list well in advance of actually opening the ground service ticket.
Completion of certain services will automatically open, or dispatch, the ground service ticket. For example, notice that the Refuel service has a corresponding Fuel action button, which is used to indicate that the fuel has been pumped. Since the details of this action need to be promptly recorded in the ticket, the ground service ticket opens automatically and the status changes from pending to work in progress.
Once all ground service items have been fulfilled / marked as completed, the ground service ticket opens automatically (assuming it was not opened previously) and the status changes to incomplete, meaning it's time to collect payment and finish the ticket.

Review Tab / Dispatch Status

View Ground / Line Services Schedules

Ground Schedules can be viewed from FrontDesk Tab / Schedules button, or from the Schedules Tab / Ground Schedules menu.

Ground Schedules Menu

Ramp Schedules show arrivals and departures sorted by time. When viewing the daily ramp schedule, clicking on an Arrival or Departure link will provide details of the reservation. Clicking on a tail number will provide aircraft registration data.

Ramp Schedule

Multi-Day Ramp Schedule (5 days)

The Ground (Concierge) Schedule is the one stop spot to see all ground reservations with clear indicators of arrival and departure time, services needed, and layovers. Clicking on a reservation block provides details of the reservation and options to take action on services included in the reservation.

Ground Service Schedule

The Ground Service Events list is a listing of pending services with multiple sort options. Action to complete individual services can be taken from this list, and the Reservation Details can also be opened from this list.

Ground Service Events

The Transient Arrivals and Departures list provides a simple view of all scheduled arrivals and departures with tail number and customer name included. Clicking an arrival or departure time will provide details of the reservation.

Transient Arrivals and Departures

The Fuel Truck List can be sorted by time or tail number, and includes details of reserved fuel services so line personnel can be prepared for fueling in advance.

Fuel Truck List

Line Personnel Access

MyFBO has an access level available called Ground Services Access. This access level is for line personnel. When they log in they will see the staff side of the system, but only menus related to ground services. For more information, please see Allow Employee Access.

04/21/11 cli