What really happens when an aviation SMS is run on spreadsheets and inboxes, and why operators and Part-145 organisations are moving to modern aviation SMS software instead.
Across Europe, operators and maintenance organisations are working under increasing pressure. Oversight is deeper, audits are more structured, and with SMS now firmly embedded across all EASA domains—including Part-145—safety teams must now demonstrate not just that they manage safety, but how effectively those processes perform in practice.
Despite this shift, many organisations still rely on tools that were never designed for modern safety management: spreadsheets, shared drives, email threads, or legacy platforms built long before SMS became performance-based or data-driven.
In this article, we’ll look at the operational costs of running your aviation safety management software on spreadsheets and email, and how modern aviation SMS software can change that.
On the surface, these tools look harmless.
They are familiar, inexpensive, and already installed on everyone’s computer. But underneath, they create friction, delays, and blind spots that cost organisations hundreds of hours each year and increase exposure to regulatory risk under EASA’s performance-based oversight.
This is the part few people talk about: the hidden operational cost of inadequate SMS tools.
How Slow Reporting Impacts Safety & Compliance
Speed matters in safety.
When reporting relies on manual tools, delays are unavoidable:
Staff must locate the correct spreadsheet or folder
Data is often entered twice
Reports queue in inboxes
Spreadsheets grow too large or fragile
Safety teams spend more time formatting than analysing
One European airline reported spending more than ten hours each month simply consolidating safety reports from multiple spreadsheets before any analysis could even begin.
During that time, emerging hazards were effectively invisible.
The impact goes beyond inconvenience:
Delayed risk visibility – hazards sit in inboxes instead of entering the risk register
Reduced reporting culture – if reporting takes effort, fewer people do it
Slower CAPA follow-up – actions stall because information is hard to find
Weaker management engagement – leadership sees outdated or incomplete data
Modern aviation SMS software removes this lag by allowing frontline staff to submit reports in minutes—from any device—feeding structured data straight into the safety workflow.
REDiFly mobile-first reporting App. Sumit reports in under 2 mins, anywhere, anytime.
Fragmented Tools = Fragmented Safety Data
Many aviation organisations have grown their SMS organically.
A typical setup might look like this:
Safety reports stored in one shared folder
Risk assessments in a spreadsheet
CAPAs tracked via email
Audit schedules in another system
Safety KPIs built manually in PowerPoint
Individually, each tool functions. But collectively, they create a disconnected system.
A safety manager in a European MRO summarised it perfectly:
“We spent more time finding information than using it.”
EASA expects a connected safety cycle—hazard identification, risk assessment, mitigation, follow-up, and effectiveness monitoring. Fragmented tools make this nearly impossible, while integrated aviation SMS software makes it effortless.
Why Traceability Is Now Essential Under EASA Oversight
Traceability is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a core expectation under EASA.
Inspectors use structured assessment models such as the MSAT to evaluate whether the SMS is present, suitable, operating, and effective. Manual systems typically meet only the first two.
Spreadsheets cannot reliably show:
Who made a change
When it was made
What the previous value was
Why the mitigation changed
Who approved it
During audits, inspectors frequently ask to see hazard evolution, approval history, and decision rationales. Manual tools break down here.
Digital aviation SMS software captures everything automatically, creating a complete, audit-ready record and acting as true aviation safety and compliance software rather than just a reporting tool.
Every change, approval, and closure has a timestamp and an owner, which makes it far easier to demonstrate that the SMS is actually functioning—and improving—over time.
The True Cost of Manual Follow-Up and CAPA Management
A safety action that isn’t completed is as dangerous as a hazard that isn’t reported.
Manual CAPA tracking (via inboxes, spreadsheets, calendars, or notebooks) results in:
Missed deadlines
No visibility on status
No automated reminders
No escalation
Unclear accountability
This leads to safety drift—when processes gradually erode because the system cannot support them.
EASA requires clear, evidence-based proof that safety actions are assigned, monitored, and closed effectively. Digital workflows solve this by automatically reminding assignees, escalating overdue actions, and linking CAPAs directly to hazards.
For many operators, replacing manual CAPA tracking with aviation compliance software is the simplest way to regain control over deadlines, ownership and evidence—without adding more admin.
The Hidden Admin Burden Nobody Talks About
Inadequate SMS tools create a significant administrative load that rarely gets quantified.
Safety teams often spend hours re-typing reports from email into spreadsheets, searching for the latest version of a file, or consolidating multiple documents to prepare dashboards.
Reports must be reformatted, charts manually built, and spreadsheets cross-checked to ensure no data was missed. These administrative tasks consume time that should be spent on real safety work—trend analysis, investigations, audits, and proactive risk management.
Digital SMS platforms remove this repetitive labour entirely, giving safety teams the capacity to focus on actual risk control rather than document handling and admin.
The Problem With Bloated Legacy SMS Platforms
On the other end of the spectrum, enterprise SMS platforms promise everything but often deliver added complexity.
Too many modules, multi-step workflows, steep learning curves, and dashboards requiring specialist knowledge lead to low adoption and slow reporting. When frontline users struggle, the entire system weakens.
As one safety manager put it:
“It feels like flying a wide-body when all we need is a turboprop.”
A system is only effective if people use it consistently.
How Modern Aviation SMS Software Solves These Problems
Modern SMS platforms directly address the friction points above:
Mobile-first reporting speeds up frontline submissions
Unified data links hazards, risks, actions, audits and safety KPIs
Automatic traceability captures every change and approval
Structured workflows ensure CAPAs are assigned, monitored and escalated
Real-time dashboards provide instant safety visibility
Aviation-specific design avoids unnecessary complexity
This is one of the reasons why many operators and Part-145 organisations are now looking to move away from spreadsheets and legacy systems. The operational cost has become too high.
REDiFly SMS: Designed for Real Operations, Not Theory
During development, we spoke extensively with safety managers, compliance leads, accountable managers and frontline users. Their feedback was consistent:
Existing tools were too complex
Reporting was too slow
Traceability was weak
CAPA follow-up was inconsistent
Adoption was low across teams
REDiFly SMS was purpose-built to remove friction across the safety workflow. It provides mobile-first reporting, linked hazards and actions, full traceability, audit-ready documentation and a clean, intuitive interface tailored specifically to aviation operations
Conclusion: Poor SMS Tools Cost More Than You Think
Spreadsheets, shared folders and outdated systems may seem cost-effective.
In reality, they:
-
Slow down reporting and risk visibility
-
Create fragmented, unreliable safety data
-
Fail to provide the traceability EASA now expects
-
Increase the workload on already-stretched safety teams
-
Make it harder to prove that your SMS is effective in practice
Modern aviation SMS software isn’t just “nice to have” technology. It’s a way to reduce operational friction, strengthen reporting culture and meet regulatory expectations with confidence.
If your safety team is spending more time managing spreadsheets than managing risk, it may be time to reconsider the true cost of your current SMS tools.
We’re partnering with a limited number of operators and maintenance organisations through our early adopter group.
Members receive exclusive pricing, hands-on implementation support, and early access to upcoming features — with direct input into how REDiFly continues to evolve.
Schedule a call through the button below to get a walk-through of the system and see if REDiFly SMS is a good fit for your operation.