The Flying Hour Program (FHP) Suite of Tools is a powerful set of tools – offering units and commands a range of time and cost-saving features, while also improving audit readiness. Each August and September, we work closely with our government customers to close out the fiscal year effectively and efficiently. These are just a few ways the FHP Suite of Tools helps with end-of-year close out:
Reduce the Surprises
As Benjamin Franklin so wisely stated: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The FHP tools enable flying organizations to plan their programs, monitor the programs during the year, provide the transparency to adjust as necessary during the year, and facilitate coordination across stakeholders when things do need to change. The result is a well-executed program.
Back to Back Success: During both 2022 and 2023, one of our government customers successfully executed 100.1% of their President’s Budgeted (PB) hours for the Flying Hour Program using less than the budgeted funding amount! That is what you call optimizing your government resources!
The Flying Hour Program does just this. Prior to the start of the fiscal year, units layout out their plan to fly over the course of the year based on what has been allocated in the President’s Budget (PB). When planes are flown on training or other missions, the hours are recorded in various systems. The Flying Hour program management tool will aggregate the data from the system, apply business rules to validate the data and support the user base with robust analytics. Surprises are minimized where programs are monitored throughout the year. The use of automated tools makes this easy. In the end, programs hit their mark, the government optimizes the use of budgeted funds and those managing the programs can do so while saving time and money
Make Confident Decisions
Decision confidence is bolstered by confidence in data. The Flying Hour program’s goal is to maximize allocated flying hour costs in the form of flying hours to ensure pilot readiness. That means every hour counts.
Tracking flying hours across hundreds of locations around the world is no small task. Hundreds of thousands of flying hours per year flow through our systems for planning and execution purposes. The cost to fly during those hours can be challenging to calculate, especially with dynamic fuel prices. To help with this, a composite fuel rate is used to ‘project’ when to ‘stop flying’ to come as close to the allocated funding amount without going over.
Thanks to the accuracy and transparency of data collected through FTPM (Fuel Transaction Program Management) and FHPM (Flying Hours Program Management), it is easier than ever to calculate a ‘stop fly date’ using real rates rather than the composite rate. By using better data, fly units optimize funding use by flying up to a precise stop fly date, contributing to pilot readiness.
Back-to-back success: During both 2022 and 2023, one of our government customers successfully executed 100.1% of their President’s Budgeted (PB) hours for the Flying Hour Program using less than the budgeted funding amount! That is what you call optimizing your government resources!
Every Hour Counts – Infinite Technologies, Inc (infintech.com)
Catch What You Can for a Clean Cut-Off
While the end of the fiscal year brings an uptick in activity, it is important for organizations to continue to properly track transactions – crossing fiscal years adds complexity that can be minimized through proper transaction identification and recording. These are just a few ways in which the FHP tools can help with this:
Verify that all Transactions have been Billed
Both FTPM and Fuel In-Flight Program Management (FIPM) are effective at identifying unbilled transactions. The tools match transactions across systems. FIPM, for example, will compare what the tanker receives to the billing data for offloads and efficiently highlight disconnects. Logic is in place to detect when billings are late or even when transactions have not been billed. In fact, thanks to FIPM, customers are now billing and collecting refueling transactions in less than 20 days as compared to the historical average of 60 days.
Verify that Transactions have been Billed Correctly
FTPM is highly effective at automating the accuracy of transactions by scrubbing the “Who” is billed, “What” is billed, “When” a billing has been made, “Where” the correct location was (and should have been) and “Why” it is billed. This is done through systematic comparisons of data across systems and through the application of a complex series of codified business rules. When billing errors are detected, alerts are posted for review and remediation. As a result, transaction data is much cleaner. In fact, the system can more than pay for itself just through the detection of one or two simple errors.
Accurately Record Carry-Over and Deferrals
There will inevitably be transactions that will cross the fiscal year end. This may take the form of ‘deferrals’ – that which was planned but has not been started – or transactions that have taken place but just have not been paid for. Both FTPM and FIPM can help confidently identify and calculate which should be recorded in the current fiscal year or carried over to the next year.
Bottom line, the end of the fiscal year is a flurry of activity across the government as agencies work to finish the fiscal year strong. The transparency and data fidelity provided by tools such as those found in the Flying Hour Suite make it that much easier.
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