Technical information about occurrence reporting

Today, reporting to CAA Norway can be done via NF-2007 in Altinn or with E5X files via secure file transfer protocol (SFTP). Reporting via Altinn will soon no longer be possible.

Manual reporting will be possible through the aviation safety reporting portal for small organisations and individuals. If you file an occurrence report in the European portal, it is automatically transmitted to the correct channels. CAA Norway will, in due time, inform you when the switch shall happen.

As an alternative to manual data entry, Europe has developed a standard interface to comply with the requirement to report in an Accident/incident Data Reporting (ADREP) taxonomy and ECCAIRS Software compatible format. This interface is specially designed for organisations reporting a significant volume of incidents and/or targeting organisations with extended IT capabilities. This method of data file exchange is a standard interface and an E5X file.

The E5X file to be submitted is constructed and named in a particular way so that ECCAIRS can process the file automatically. The XML sits in the outer layer of the E5X file alongside a folder of the same name. This folder contains the complete PDF (named after the E5X file and folder) and may include any additional attachments that can be named independently. One of the aims of introducing a compliant format and the Reduced Interface Taxonomy (RIT) is to reduce the manual entry of routinely reported attributes into ECCAIRS by Safety Data teams. To achieve this aim, all attributes that form part of your regular reports and appear in the RIT are mapped into the XML file. Depending on the aviation sector you are reporting from, specific attributes can be hardcoded into your XML file.

If your organisation creates E5X files, these must be transmitted via SFTP.
Note: E5X files allow attaching files to the occurrences in the file. However, this feature should be carefully implemented as it is impossible in the current setup to limit the size of the attachments.

In preparing the implementation of this technical solution, there are two aspects clearly distinguished:

1. The technical support to build a compliant E5X file (IT wise) and transfer it via SFTP to the authority. Technical support:  TechE5X@caa.no
2. The agreement with the competent authority on the content of the E5X file (aviation-wise). Content support: ContentE5X@caa.no

Occurrence Class "Accident" and "Serious Incident" will still automatically be forwarded to the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN).

Use of taxonomy

To ensure a minimum quality of the data transferred from your reporting system to the national authority, as required by Regulation 376/2014, it is necessary to define not only the attributes to be sent but also the minimum content of those attributes and some basic directions to follow while filling them in.

These directions should be followed in the use of the RIT:

1. Each attribute in the RIT and value list value contain its definition and rules of use. Definitions and rules are included in the documentation items in the XSD scheme. Your reporting system should use attributes and provide their values consistent with those definitions.
2. Should any attribute's information be unknown or irrelevant, the attribute should be transmitted blank or with the value “Unknown”. However, “Unknown” should be only left to those cases where an effort to get the information will be made, and therefore the correct value could be expected in a later report. This rule should also apply to those mandatory attributes listed in Annex I of Regulation 376/2014.
3. In a value list with more than one level, the tree's lowest level should always be envisaged. However, failing to find an appropriate value in that lowest level, the immediate upper level should be checked. This escalation should be iterated until the most adequate value, though more generic, is found.
4. Some attributes may contain more than one value; hence the complete information should be provided.
5. Some attributes allow code value and free text. In this case, the free text should be used to complete the coded value where the coded value is not entirely describing the intended information.
6. The free text fields should not contain personal information like the names of individuals. In any case, your reporting system may agree with their competent authority deviations from these basic rules.