"Monarch provides our office with the reassurance that no matter how much data we need to pull, Monarch will assist us with getting the information quickly and easily, allowing staff more time to focus on the analysis of the data, rather than the extraction".

 

The Maintenance Data Systems Analysis Department based at Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany purchased Monarch data mining software published by US software developer Datawatch. Spangdahlem Air Force Base is home to the 52d Fighter Wing, the largest fighter operation of the United States Air Force in Europe.

It comprises three fighter squadrons; 22nd Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Squadron and 81st Fighter Squadron, backed up by 606th Air Control Squadron. Their Mission "We are constantly ready to promote stability and thwart aggression to achieve US and NATO objectives" is the focus of the 5,000 serving US personnel stationed at the base and the 7,000 dependents, who are all valued members of "Team Eifel."

The history of the United States Air Force in Europe (USAFE) goes back to 1942 and World War 11 and its origins as the 8th Air Force when the command flew heavy bombardment missions over Europe. In August 1945 the current name was adopted. USAFE has been committed to NATO since it was formed in 1949 and the United States undertook to defend Western Europe. Responsibilities eventually expanded into French Morocco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy and Spain. Humanitarian relief efforts have formed a large part of the requirement, beginning with the Berlin Airlift to more recent airlifting of flood victims, food and medical supplies in Mozambique.

Spangdahlem AB located to their present site in 1952. At the time RF-80A Shooting Star and RB-26C Invader airplanes were operated. Later in the 1950s, Canberras, Thunderjets and Destroyer aircraft were deployed. Today F-16 Fighting Falcon and A-10/OA-10 Thunderbolt 11 will be seen in the skies of southern Germany.

The Maintenance Data Systems Analysis Department is responsible for producing daily reports and special studies for Headquarters USAFE and Wing leadership. They analyse data on the 60 aircraft stationed at the base. Ssgt. Christopher Schaeuble identified the need to streamline the extraction of data which is used to provide valuable information for planning and budgeting in the future.

Chris chose Monarch to assist with this task. He had used Monarch in a previous job, which once implemented, had increased productivity there by 75 The most recent version 6 Professional Edition builds on the proven ability to quickly and easily import, analyse, join and export data from almost any data source, which makes it a powerful business intelligence solution for managers, analysts, accountants and IS professionals.

Chris realised that in an office with only five people, it does not take long for requests to pile up. Staff had to look through lines and lines of printed data to extract the important and significant information in order to construct reports. Chris suggested integrating Monarch into the department and was not surprised that "No one had even heard of the software before, so I decided to gather all the information on Monarch, available from the Datawatch web site www.datawatch.com, with the aim of educating my colleagues on what can be accomplished using this software". Chris was asked to justify the purchase, comparing it to other methods of data extraction such as Visual basic programming and Microsoft Excel. "Technical support, training, and ease of use by non-technical people are all I had to point out and they were sold on the idea". Chris went on to get approval for the software from all department heads and it is now used on all government computers in the USAFE command.

Monarch was extensively tested by the IT department before being installed. The Datawatch Training Manager, ran an on-site training course for all users. Chris quotes "We had two wonderful people come and train us on the use of Monarch relating to our day-to-day data. Shortly after the class, I had people calling saying how wonderful the software was and how it makes days much easier. Since we have implemented the software here in Analysis, our productivity has increased by 40 I feel once we create a few more models and macros, our office could be up to 85more efficient (which is a personal goal for me)." Chris concludes that "Monarch provides our office with the reassurance that no matter how much data we need to pull, Monarch will assist us with getting the information quickly and easily, allowing staff more time to focus on the analysis of the data, rather than the extraction".

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