Enhancing Efficiency and Effectiveness
Throughout 2014, the Organization undertook various initiatives to improve efficiency and effectiveness in order to better meet the evolving needs of Member States and the global aviation community. Further detailed information can be found on the pages of the individual Supporting Implementation Strategies.
To enhance the overall effectiveness and responsiveness of the Organization in Human Resource management, continuous efforts were undertaken to streamline administrative processes. Structural optimization activities further increased the efficiency of operations in human resources management, and the introduction of a pilot project on flexible working arrangements assisted staff in improving their work/life balance. Leaders and managers were trained in a specialized, high-level course to improve managerial skills and succession planning. The Council also established time frames for the completion of the recruitment process. ICAO remained an employer of choice in the global workforce market, allowing it to offer best services to its Member States.
The provision of effective and efficient language services is key to facilitating SARP and PANS implementation by ICAO Member States and to ensuring that the Organization fully meets its Strategic Objectives. Under the new triennial budget, available resources in language services were optimized through enhanced planning and management, in particular through improving electronic managerial tools and dashboards, by introducing upgraded IT tools and software, and by providing technical training to enhance staff skills. In cooperation with Member States, specialized cooperative programmes for interpretation and translation were established to provide experience to junior professionals as well as to support succession planning. Regular meetings were held with Council Members to discuss language-specific issues and to provide a forum for valuable exchanges to enhance the quality of language services for all ICAO stakeholders. With the introduction of a paperless State letter system, Member States and international organizations are able to receive official communication from ICAO in a fast and efficient way. ICAO’s public website now offers all six UN languages on select meeting websites to further support its multilingual community.
With these efforts, high-quality language services continue to be provided by the Organization to Member States, international organizations and meeting participants.
The Secretariat continued to develop new and innovative tools in information and communications technology for use throughout the Organization, with an increased focus on modern collaborative tools for process management and effective communication within ICAO, with Member States and with other stakeholders. Most notably, expert communications systems have been developed for the Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD) — Traveler Identification Programme (TRIP), as well as for the Global Aviation Training Office (GAT). Other key accomplishments include interactive multimedia devices (iKits), online courses, training management systems and the ICAO Air Services Negotiation Conference (ICAN) system used during the ICAN 2014 event. ICAO’s Secure Portal has been updated to include electronic versions of ICAO publications previously available in hardcopy so as to facilitate their access by Member States and promote a paperless environment.
Several organization-wide data management initiatives were also successfully implemented in 2014. All integrated statistical database forms, as well as several data sources including the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), World’s Air Services Agreements (WASA), Performance-based Navigation (PBN) and Aircraft Type Designators (Doc 8643) are now available in a newly-established “Data Mart”. “Data Mart” greatly enhances the delivery of programmes and services to Member States, through round-the-clock data accessibility and improved resilience of the hosting platform. Within the Secretariat, a centralized and enhanced Service Desk, a new Customer Relationship Management application, as well as an upgraded Enterprise Resource Planning system have been introduced to modernize administrative processes and enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the work of ICAO’s staff. A prime example of immediate gains in efficiency and cost savings is the Organization-wide introduction of internet protocol (IP) telephony.
Conference facilities continued to be improved through the interactive linkage of conference rooms, the deployment of information display systems in the conference centre, as well as the introduction of electronic conference management tools to improve the quality of services and experience for Delegations and meeting participants. Major renovation and construction projects were completed to optimize space utilization for Delegations and staff, and maintenance and repairs were completed in order to improve working conditions for ICAO personnel and visitors.
