Working groups (WG) composed of airline experts were key to driving the detailed definition of business requirements of Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS). All but one working group have concluded defining their requirements; the E-Invoicing WG will continue the definition of electronic charge codes through November.
The WGs and the SIS project are guided by a Steering Group, which is responsible for setting the overall direction and scope of the project and ensuring that the project remains aligned with the business goals.
The Steering Group is composed of representatives from Air France, Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia, Lufthansa, SWISS, United Airlines, IATA, and the Airline Clearing House (ACH).
The project has broken interline settlement into five distinct areas and assigned a WG to define specific requirements:
- The Passenger Billing WG will remove the paper from all primary passenger billing processes, including FIRST & FINAL™ and Sampling.
- Represented: Air France, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, Delta, Iberia, JAL, Lufthansa, SWISS, Yemenia, and IATA. Representatives from ARC, ATPCO, and Kale participate as observers at the invitation of the chair.
- The E-Cargo WG will ensure that interline cargo can be processed completely electronically, including both primary and rejection billing. It will examine the use of IDEC or any alternative processes.
- Represented: Air Canada, British Airways, Cargolux, Emirates, Lufthansa Cargo, and IATA.
- The IDEC WG will expand the IDEC data exchange standard with new records in order to include additional transaction types and the ability to link to an image repository of supporting documents. It is also responsible for the validation rules underlying the record structures.
- Represented: Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Korean Air, Lufthansa, TAP Portugal, Virgin Atlantic, and IATA.
- The E-Invoicing WG will set standards for paperless Miscellaneous invoices and supporting documents. The working group will liaise with IATA experts to ensure international tax and legal compliance and will monitor the financial control aspects.
- Represented: British Airways, Delta, Emirates, Lufthansa, Northwest Airlines, TAROM, and IATA.
- The Paperless Support WG will concentrate on standards for passenger rejects and alternative billing processes for any non-IDEC items, including any supporting documents.
- Represented: Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Northwest Airlines, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Yemenia, and IATA.
SIS Subgroups
Additionally, the WGs identified the need for two ad-hoc groups that come together when needed. These subgroups generally bring together members from several WGs to make recommendations on specialized aspects of SIS. Those recommendations are forwarded to the group responsible for the topic to be integrated into its requirements.
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Integrated Settlement - Validation - The Validation Subgroup made recommendations for the required elements in a billing submission, the processes followed when elements are invalid, and ways to improve overall quality. Additionally, the sub-group recommended ways in which validation could be phased in over a period of time.
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Represented: Air France, Air New Zealand, American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, SWISS, and IATA.
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Sampling - The Sampling Subgroup examined the existing processes within the context of the proposed SIS, including
auto-billing. They made recommendations for the forms and codes to be used in the future, plus revised timelines for the invoice and rejection processes.
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Represented: Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Lufthansa, SWISS, and IATA.