1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
Communication and Collaboration Solution
Helps Low-Fare Airline Do More with Less
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Transportation and logistics—
Airline
Customer Profile
AirTran Airways is a low-fare airline
designed to meet the needs of business
travelers. Its 9,000 crew members operate
the youngest all-Boeing fleet in the country
with more than 700 daily flights.
Business Situation
AirTran Airways wanted to improve
communication and collaboration among
its geographically dispersed employees and
with its business partners. It also wanted to
streamline business processes.
Solution
AirTran used Microsoft® Office SharePoint®
Server 2007 as the foundation for its new
intranet and extranet. The solution enables
better communication and collaboration
and streamlines business process.
Benefits
 Improved communication
 Greater productivity
 Lower costs
“We are just at the beginning, and already, Office
SharePoint Server 2007 is truly enabling us to do
more with less.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software Engineering, AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways, a growing, low-fare airline focused on the business
traveler, prioritizes efficiency in all aspects of its business. Even
during an economic slowdown, the company continues to make
investments that promote long-term cost savings. AirTran invested
in Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to improve
communication and collaboration among its geographically
dispersed employees. Now, the company is able to deliver critical
operations notifications instantly to nearly 10,000 people.
Employees have access to tools that significantly streamline
everyday tasks and minimize paper costs. Finally, Web-based
collaboration sites have simplified communication with external
partners and help AirTran reduce operational costs. The company
expects the solution to deliver ongoing operational cost savings
while improving its ability to best serve its customers.

2. Situation
AirTran Airways is a low-fare airline that
provides service to more than 56 cities,
coast-to-coast, in the United States. With
approximately 10,000 employees, the
company operates more than 700 flights per
day and serves nearly 20 million passengers
each year. AirTran caters to the business
traveler with a modern fleet of Boeing planes
and amenities such as XM Satellite Radio, in-
flight Wi-Fi, and expanded leg room. The
company is headquartered in Orlando,
Florida.
AirTran experienced double-digit growth
annually, from 2000 to 2007. This steady
growth, while boosting AirTran as a strong
industry competitor, challenged the
company‟s ability to foster effective
communication among employees at its
dispersed airport locations, or “stations.”
“Our operations are very spread out,”
explains Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering at AirTran. “It became difficult to
communicate information to a dispersed
employee base.” The growth also impeded
the company‟s ability to conduct some of its
business processes with efficiency.
In 2008, volatile fuel costs and an economic
recession led the company to adjust its
overall business strategy and to reduce
capacity and capital expenditures. “At this
juncture, it was more important than ever for
the company to do more with less,” says
Rodriguez. So, despite the economic
slowdown, the company‟s leadership realized
that smart investments in technology could
help the company reduce costs, maximize
operational efficiency, and, ultimately,
increase long-term profitability.
Inefficient Communications, Content
Management
The quest to achieve more efficient
communication was largely driven by the
needs of the company‟s Human Resources
(HR) department. The department relied on e-
mail to send scores of important
communications daily (including operations
alerts, career opportunities, announcements
about the opening of new stations, or
updates to the company‟s brand and
marketing information) to individual station
managers, who then printed the information
and posted it on a bulletin board at the
station. “It was time-consuming for the
station managers and difficult to ensure that
communications were being read,” says
Rodriguez.
AirTran also relied on an intranet solution,
based on static HTML code, to publish
company information and updates. Because
the airline industry is highly regulated, the
company also had a technology system in
place to ensure that crew members read and
acknowledged mission-critical operations
information. “But we didn‟t have a good
vehicle for communicating other types of
time-sensitive information,” says Rodriguez.
Operating without a centralized content
repository also made it difficult for employees
to find the most current versions of forms and
other documentation. “We store millions of
files throughout the company,” says
Rodriguez. “People had a hard time even
finding the latest company newsletter.”
AirTran stored maintenance records for its air
fleet on the intranet, and managing version
control and user access was a continual
chore for the IT department. On occasion, a
document file would become corrupted. A
workaround was to rename the file, and while
this would enable a user to open the file,
access to the file was through a static HTML
page. The IT department had to then modify
the HTML code to present the link to the re-
named file. “This could take a day or more to
resolve,” says Rodriguez.
“Every week, System Administration was
spending time tracking down maintenance
“Our operations are very
spread out. It became
difficult to communicate
information to a
dispersed employee
base.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering, AirTran Airways

3. personnel to find out which manuals or
schematics were locked or corrupted,”
continues says Brantley Edwards, Manager of
Data Center Operations at AirTran. “It was a
very crude system that could result in
delaying a plane‟s service or worse, incurring
fines.”
Paper-Based Processes
The HR department also relied on a highly
manual, paper-based process for handling
employee vacation requests, departmental
requests for new hires, employee
terminations, name changes, equipment
procurement, and other such tasks. To
initiate one of these requests, an employee
filled out a Personnel Access Request (PAR)
form. “The form itself, which included many
carbon copies, was expensive to produce,
and it was also expensive to move the copies
from point A to point B within the company,”
says Rodriguez. As the employee base grew,
the HR department had to manage a rising
tide of these paper-based requests, and
delays in the approval process were common.
If an approver was out of the office, a PAR
could sit in an interoffice mailbox for days. “A
process as simple as a name change request
could take months,” says Rodriguez.
External Collaboration Challenges
AirTran has relationships with third-party
vendors who augment the company‟s
products and services. For instance, through
its frequent flyer rewards program, AirTran
partners with hotel and rental car companies
which offer AirTran customers promotions
and discounts, while other companies provide
in-flight services such as satellite radio and
Wi-Fi access. For some of these partners,
AirTran provides XML code that enables them
to post AirTran offers on their own Web sites.
AirTran created and maintained extranet sites
to share such code and other information
with its partners. But without a centralized
storage area for documentation, AirTran had
to field and answer the same requests for
information or assistance from each and
every partner. “We were answering the same
questions over and over, and providing the
same documentation again and again,”
explains Rodriguez.
The extranet sites were also costly to build
and maintain. “It took many hours to build
each site,” says Edwards. “We had to apply
the requirements to a static site, get a
certificate, set up security, establish
connectivity with the partner, address issues,
run multiple tests to ensure proper
application workflow, and then launch. It
could take weeks to complete. Conflicts and
delays were common. It was a frustrating
process.”
In general, AirTran wanted to improve the
ease of communications both internally and
with external partners. It also wanted to
simplify time-consuming business processes.
Solution
The company‟s senior management,
relentless in meeting operational efficiency
goals that allow AirTran Airways to pass cost
savings on to its customers, mandated that
the IT department help improve overall
communication and collaboration. “It was
part of our technology roadmap,” says
Rodriguez. Even in a constricted economy,
implementing solutions that would improve
efficiency in the long run was a top priority for
AirTran. “And management wanted this
solution deployed in less than two weeks,”
adds Rodriguez.
AirTran evaluated different technology
options. But because it already had prior
success with Microsoft® Office SharePoint®
Products and Technologies in implementing a
small, localized intranet solution, “we went
with the proven and familiar option,” explains
Rodriguez. AirTran decided to build a new
intranet and extranet solution using Microsoft
Office SharePoint Server 2007. Rodriguez
“A process as simple as
a name change request
could take months.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering, AirTran Airways

4. adds, “Approximately sixty percent of our user
base is made up of hourly or flight crew
employees—many of whom possess very little
technical background. We needed something
that was easy to use, easy to implement, and
easy to integrate—especially in light of our
two-week timeframe.” Further, the cost-
conscious company wanted to minimize
training. “We didn‟t want to have to spend
lots of time and money educating people on
the new technology,” says Rodriguez.
AirTran signed a Microsoft Enterprise Client
Access License (ECAL) Suite agreement,
which gives access to a broad range of Office
SharePoint Server 2007 features, including
capabilities to help build an enhanced
business intelligence infrastructure, and tools
for accelerating business processes through
the use of electronic forms. “The ECAL
afforded us the flexibility to meet senior
management‟s current expectations to
address our intranet and extranet needs,
while also allowing us to be ready to meet
future requirements,” says Edwards. “For a
few dollars more, we are able to realize a
longer-term advantage.”
AirTran also enlisted the help of Idea
Integration, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
and 2008 Partner of the Year award winner.
Idea Integration provides professional
consulting services across a number of
specialty areas and industries. An Idea
Integration consultant helped AirTran with the
following:
 Installation and configuration of the Office
SharePoint Server 2007 server software
 Design and implementation of a central,
all-company portal landing page and
departmental SharePoint sites
 Design and implementation of an
automated process that relies on InfoPath®
Forms Services and Office SharePoint
Server 2007 workflow to automate the PAR
process
 Implementation and integration of security
and access requirements using Active
Directory® Domain Services
 Formulation of a plan for companywide
user training
The solution was implemented in two weeks.
“Idea Integration was our knowledge expert,”
says Rodriguez. “We wouldn‟t have been able
to meet this aggressive deadline without the
company‟s help.” After the initial deployment,
Air Tran spent an additional three weeks
further customizing ShareTran with company
branding, and spreading news of the launch
to all employees.
Companywide Information Hub
AirTran dubbed its new internal collaboration
and communication environment
“ShareTran.” ShareTran exposes a wealth of
information, applications, and efficiency-
enhancing tools and puts them at employees‟
fingertips. When employees log on to the
ShareTran intranet site, they are greeted by
the company portal, which delivers frequently
updated information, including AirTran
corporate and industry news, through a Really
Simple Syndication content feed.
The site also displays real-time alerts and
indicators about weather and on-time and
delayed departures. Site administrators enter
these statistics into Microsoft Office Excel®
2007 spreadsheets, which are centrally
managed and made available through the
browser, using the Excel Services component
of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Users can
also see, through a color-coded display panel,
the airline‟s overall operational status. These
statistics are managed by the company‟s
Operations department and made available
to all users through Excel Services.
From within ShareTran, employees can
access departmental sites, which are
individually managed by each of the
company‟s business units. These portal sites
“We needed something
that was easy to use,
easy to implement, and
easy to integrate—
especially in light of our
two-week timeframe.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering, AirTran Airways
“A ticket agent can use
ShareTran to quickly
find the phone number
for a station manager or
a ticket counter agent at
any of our stations
across the country.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering, AirTran Airways

5. give AirTran the ability to disseminate
department-specific information. ShareTran
also supports a “Crew Lounge,” where
employees (also known as “Crew Members”)
can find perks and benefits like employee
discounts from the airline‟s travel partners.
The Crew Lounge also provides
announcements about company-sponsored
events and links to role-specific information.
For instance, there is a site that is pertinent
to pilots only.
ShareTran supports a network of sites that
contain information specific to each AirTran
station. These sites include station location
and contact information, agent profiles, and a
library of photos of the different areas of the
station, including the ticket counter, gate,
and ramp. “A ticket agent can use ShareTran
to quickly find the phone number for a station
manager or a ticket counter agent at any of
our stations across the country,” explains
Rodriguez.
Additionally, AirTran used Office SharePoint
Server 2007 to automate the PAR process.
The PAR is now a Web-based form, enabled
by InfoPath Forms Services. Using the form,
employees can instigate a variety of HR-
related requests such as vacation time,
additional departmental headcount, pay
increases, or equipment procurement. When
an employee completes and submits the
Web-based form, a workflow process in Office
SharePoint Server 2007 is automatically
initiated whereby the request is routed to the
appropriate individuals for approval.
ShareTran provides employees with
centralized access to a number of links to
other HR-related applications and resources,
including the company‟s ADP payroll system.
“Everyone goes through ShareTran to clock in
and clock out,” says Rodriguez.
Centralized Document Repository
AirTran uses Office SharePoint Server 2007
to store and manage approximately 5,000
documents. The company expects this
number to grow at a rate of 3 percent each
week. Many of these documents are used by
agents in the reservations, check-in, and
boarding processes. For instance,
reservations agents refer to documents on
ShareTran to keep passengers informed of
promotions or to tell them about new or
revised travel requirements. Gate agents use
ShareTran to launch a „denied boarding‟
application for procedural documentation for
managing oversold flights or denied
passengers.
ShareTran is also being used to store and
manage highly detailed airplane maintenance
records and manuals used for servicing the
company‟s Boeing fleet; marketing design
resources; brand media such as
commercials, literature, and promotions
information; IT architectural design plans;
knowledge base information; and the
contents of help desk contact information.
Finally, all of this information is easily
searchable through out-of-the-box SharePoint
Enterprise Search functionality.
Partner Collaboration Portals
Utilizing Office SharePoint Server 2007,
AirTran has created an extranet for sharing
information with its partner affiliates. Now,
third-party vendors can access sites that
contain information specific to their
partnership arrangement with AirTran. Using
these extranet sites, AirTran can provide
access to example code and Frequently
Asked Questions documents that enable
partners to be more self-sufficient in
implementing AirTran code on their sites.
Through the extranet, partners have access
to a discussion forum where they can directly
ask AirTran developers questions.

6. Training Process
AirTran was able to help employees become
proficient with Office SharePoint Server 2007
in a short amount of time. “We partnered with
our corporate training department to develop
documentation and create a simple training
site within ShareTran,” says Rodriguez. The
corporate training department offered hour-
long sessions, twice a week, for three months
to all employees. The department also
offered longer, more in-depth training
sessions for site owners to teach them how to
deploy and manage Office SharePoint 2007
sites.
Benefits
AirTran Airways has maintained steady,
sustainable growth by adhering to a long-term
strategic vision of “doing more with less,”
says Rodriguez. The company‟s decision to
adopt a solution based on Office SharePoint
Server 2007 that improves operational
efficiency, streamlines processes, and
reduces costs strengthens AirTran‟s industry
position and encourages ongoing success.
Improved Communication
Important alerts and information are
disseminated quickly to a widespread
audience through ShareTran. “The
communication benefits have been huge,”
says Edwards. “It‟s difficult to put a dollar
amount on getting an entire company on the
same page. That‟s what Office SharePoint
Server 2007 has done for AirTran.” The
ShareTran intranet is employees‟ primary
source for information. The company relies on
it for centralized storage of documents and
data, and as a communications vehicle for
delivering news and alerts to nearly 10,000
people in real time. “Beyond that, because
Crew Members have the ability to create,
customize, and share information among
their own teams and with other departments,
there is a renewed sense of pride and
ownership,” Edwards adds. “And the greatest
benefit to IT is that Office SharePoint Server
2007 has gotten us out of the content
management business and empowered users
to manage their own sites.”
Greater Productivity
With corporate communications, documents,
and employee information consolidated and
made easily searchable on ShareTran,
employees spend much less time finding
information and more time putting it to use. “I
really think that Office SharePoint Server
2007 Enterprise Search capabilities are a top
benefit of the new solution,” says Rodriguez.
“People can search for information among
millions of documents very easily. All they
need to know is one keyword. They can also
search for other crew members, station
information, and more.”
By automating the submission and approval
of PAR forms, AirTran has significantly
streamlined everyday business processes.
“The HR department was getting flooded with
paper-based request forms,” says Rodriguez.
“It used to take months to complete an
approval; with Office SharePoint Server 2007,
it can take less than a week.”
Lower Costs
ShareTran brings about numerous cost
savings. For instance, the automated PAR
process reduces paper costs. “The solution
helps considerably reduce paper
consumption and related costs,” says
Edwards. And AirTran realizes savings in IT
labor through simplified deployment and
maintenance of partner extranet sites. “Now,
we have just a half of a page of
documentation that we send to the partner to
help with the configuration on their end. We
are now minimally involved with the site
creation process. Also, with Office SharePoint
Server 2007, we can save up to $750 per
site in certificate costs alone. We‟ve created
10 partner sites for a $6,750 savings thus
far.”
“It‟s difficult to put a
dollar amount on getting
an entire company on
the same page. That‟s
what Office SharePoint
Server 2007 has done
for AirTran.”
Brantley Edwards, Manager of Data Center
Operations, AirTran Airways

7. The company‟s IT department also spends
less time helping partners implement code on
their sites to enable joint marketing efforts.
What used to take weeks to set up now takes
the department 15 to 20 minutes. “This
information is centrally located now. Partners
can access it in a self-service fashion rather
than contacting IT every time they encounter
an issue,” says Rodriguez.
It is easy for the company to keep training
costs low, because employees become
comfortable with the new system very quickly.
“It takes about one hour of training to train
an average user and about 10 hours to train
a site owner,” says Rodriguez. “The new
intranet is easy to learn.”
AirTran has also been able to more efficiently
store data with Office SharePoint Server
2007. “We‟ve been able to centralize storage
for both intranet and extranet sites,” says
Rodriguez. “We used to have many duplicate
copies of documents stored on the intranet,
consuming storage space. Now, everything is
stored in one repository and duplicates are
eliminated.” AirTran also used to rely on
costly network attached storage (NAS) to
share documents through file transfer
protocol (FTP) uploads, but with the
implementation of the new solution, it has
minimized the number of FTP sites it
maintains and moved to a storage area
network (SAN). “The NAS drives required
additional investments year after year,” says
Rodriguez. “With Office SharePoint Server
2007, we‟ve increased our SAN capacity, but
we‟re also using it in a much more efficient
manner because the files it contains are
easily visible and searchable by our users.”
“This project was part of our long-term
strategy for reducing paper costs, storage
costs, and administrative costs, and helping
the company run more efficiently overall. We
are just at the beginning, and already, Office
SharePoint Server 2007 is truly enabling us
to do more with less,” says Rodriguez.
“It used to take months
to complete an
approval; with Office
SharePoint Server
2007, it can take less
than a week.”
Alex Rodriguez, Manager of Software
Engineering, AirTran Airways

8. Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office system is the business
world‟s chosen environment for information
work, providing the programs, servers, and
services that help you succeed by
transforming information into impact.
For more information about the Microsoft
Office system, go to:
www.microsoft.com/office
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 426-
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about Idea
Integration products and services, call
(800) IDEA.COM or visit the Web site at:
www.idea.com
For more information about AirTran Airways
products and services, call (800) 965-
2107 or visit the Web site at:
www.airtran.com
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published July 2009
Software and Services
 Microsoft Office
− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007
− Microsoft Office Excel 2007
 Technologies
− Excel Services
− InfoPath Forms Service
Hardware
 IBM BladeCenter HS21, H chassis server
computers
 Dell/EMC CX3-80 storage area network
Partners
 Idea Integration