U.S. CUSTOMS PULLS PLUG ON AIR AMS UPGRADE

U.S. CUSTOMS PULLS PLUG ON AIR AMS UPGRADE    U.S. Customs started to implement significant, long-awaited upgrades to its Air Automated Manifest System this weekend, but had to pull back at the last minute when a problem was discovered.
   “We’re disappointed,” said Jerry Russomano, executive director of software of development at Customs’ Office of Information and Technology in Newington, Va. “Lots of people worked long hours on this.”
   The agency shut down its Automated Commercial System on Saturday to install the Air AMS upgrades. During one of the numerous checks during the implementation process, Customs discovered a problem with the Air AMS messages to the industry.
   “We concluded it was a significant problem that we didn’t want to hastily fix,” Russomano said. “We decided to roll back to the old version of Air AMS.”
   The setback was particularly disappointing to Customs, which had spent many hours testing the enhancements with a group of industry volunteers.
   The air cargo industry was disappointed by the failed attempt to upgrade Air AMS, but sided with Customs’ decision to back off the implementation.
   “We’re glad Customs made the decision to pull back to avoid implementing bad software,” said Michael R. White, director of facilitation at the Air Transport Association of America. “Customs made a good business decision.”
   “I’m glad Customs had the ability to pull the upgrade back before it caused any damage,” said Steven R. Graham, vice president of Micro Software Services, a Miami-based Air AMS software developer. “We look forward to fixing the problem and implementing the upgrade in the near future.”
   Russomano said Customs plans to complete an analysis of the problem this week. “Hopefully, by the end of the week, we’ll know better what the problem is,” he said. The agency will then consult with the industry to schedule another weekend to implement the Air AMS upgrade.