The Story:
We've been getting feedback from users who are struggling with the Aircraft Availability section in Air Maestro. What's happening is that users open up the Aircraft Availability tab expecting to quickly understand their maintenance schedule, but instead they're met with confusing predictions that don't make immediate sense.
What's Going Wrong:
The current system shows predictions like "(in approximately ___ days)" which pulls data from the Maintenance Forecast based on Airframe Hours carried forward. While this calculation is technically correct, users are getting lost because they can't easily understand how these numbers relate to each other. For example, when they see "LH H.S.I PCE-PA0041" due in 21 days and then "Phase 2&5" due in 14 days, they're left wondering if that's 14 days from today or 14 days after the first inspection. This forces users to manually calculate relationships between tasks, which defeats the purpose of having an automated system.
The Technical Reality:
Behind the scenes, the Aircraft Availability tab is showing the total number of days until either the Airframe Hours Due or the Scheduled Maintenance Event Date. For subsequent events, the system calculates additional time after the first task, but this logic isn't transparent to users. They're seeing the end result without understanding the journey.
What We're Proposing:
We need to make this information more intuitive for users. The first improvement would be adding visual representations or timelines that show how these predictions are calculated, giving users a clear breakdown of tasks and their relationships.
The second enhancement would be implementing tooltips or additional information boxes that explain the logic behind the predictions. More specifically, we could add descriptive text that clarifies timing relationships, such as "in approximately 14 days after the LH Inspection" or "in approximately 14 days after the Previous Inspection" when a specific reference can't be used. This would eliminate the guesswork and make the interface much more user-friendly.
The End Goal:
By implementing these changes, we'll transform what's currently a source of confusion into a clear, actionable tool that helps users make informed maintenance decisions without having to decode the system's logic themselves.