TUSAŞ Aerospace Industries Inc. has implemented the OpenText SMAX ITSM Project with the consultancy of Basistek Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. to elevate its IT infrastructure quality to the highest level, manage all IT service management (ITSM) processes under a single system, automate workflows, and respond to potential issues as quickly as possible.
Turkish Aircraft Industries Corporation (TUSAŞ) was established on June 28, 1973, under the Ministry of Industry and Technology to reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign defense industries.
Following the decision to use F-16 fighter jets for the Turkish Air Force, TUSAŞ Aerospace Industries Inc. (TAI) was founded in 1984 as a Turkish-American joint venture for a period of 25 years. The company was responsible for the production, system integration, and flight testing of F-16 aircraft before delivering them to the Turkish Air Force.
Before the end of this 25-year period, in 2005, Turkish shareholders acquired the foreign shares of TAI, leading to a restructuring process. As a result, TAI and TUSAŞ merged under the TUSAŞ – Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. umbrella, expanding operations to become Turkey's technology hub in aviation and aerospace system development, modernization, production, system integration, and lifecycle support processes.
A Strategic IT Transformation for Enhanced Efficiency
With a strong focus on customer experience and a goal to provide faster and more efficient access to its IT infrastructure, TUSAŞ initiated the ITSM Project with BASISTEK Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. The project aimed to consolidate all ITSM processes within a single system, ensuring rapid response to potential issues and efficient problem resolution. Additionally, the project facilitated the widespread adoption of discovery and automation tools integrated with ITSM.
By consolidating all ITSM processes into a centralized system, TUSAŞ successfully managed IT processes through a single service catalog. This allowed end-users to submit and track their requests more efficiently while enabling decision support mechanisms and approval workflows via both desktop and mobile applications—resulting in significant productivity gains.
A Well-Defined Roadmap through Comprehensive Analysis
At the start of the project, TUSAŞ and BASISTEK teams collaborated on the architecture, consulting, and operational planning to build a faster and more efficient infrastructure. After a successful Proof of Concept (POC) process, data was analyzed, and a detailed project task list was developed.
Key Actions Taken with a Focus on Efficiency
The project, which positioned OpenText SMAX as the core enterprise application, enabled the definition and consolidation of inter-process relationships across ITSM processes operating on different secure networks. The approach also ensured information security by allowing only authorized departments and teams to access their relevant records. Furthermore, with every new record created, corporate memory was systematically built and maintained.
Customized Planning for Maximum Impact
A key aspect of the project was the "maximum contribution" approach, which emphasized careful planning and execution with the guidance of BASISTEK consultancy.
To achieve this, the project followed an "integrated timeline approach", defining tasks based on:
The installation and configuration of the selected ITSM solution.
Deployment of redundant infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
Development of custom dashboards tailored to organizational needs.
Bottleneck identification and resolution for improved system performance.
This structured approach ensured that TUSAŞ contributed effectively to the transformation process.
Ensuring Visibility Across IT Infrastructure Components
Using OpenText Universal Discovery and CMDB solutions, configuration items (CIs) spread across different environments were successfully centralized into a single database. This enhanced infrastructure management, allowing for a clearer understanding of interactions between components.
With the automated discovery and updating of configuration items, the system consistently provided accurate and up-to-date information. Furthermore, automated integration with the ITSM platform enabled the tracking of infrastructure changes, errors, and improvements, leading to increased operational efficiency and decision-making accuracy.
Automation-Driven Productivity Gains
By implementing automation solutions, the project significantly enhanced speed, accuracy, and efficiency in business processes. It minimized errors stemming from manual tasks and eliminated unnecessary time losses. IT processes were streamlined and could be executed in real-time, reducing the operational workload on teams and enabling a stronger focus on strategic decision-making. This resulted in cost savings and improved workforce productivity.
Creating End-to-End Value with Measurable Impact
With the project's implementation, ITIL best practices were adopted to analyze and quickly identify root causes of potential failures, disruptions, and other incidents. The introduction of a KPI-driven service model improved monitoring across TUSAŞ's services and infrastructure components. Additionally, the "Service Tree" and "Topology" views provided visual tracking of related components and their status.
By ensuring end-to-end process management, the project significantly enhanced operational efficiency and service quality. With effective reporting mechanisms, operational awareness was increased. Over a 7-month period, the project was successfully implemented by a 12-member team from TUSAŞ and BASISTEK, including IT managers, IT specialists, technical consultants, and project managers.
Furthermore, the project achieved:
24/7 incident management capabilities
Minimized response times for ITSM requests
A streamlined and centralized IT service ecosystem
Through comprehensive automation and integration, the project enabled TUSAŞ to strengthen IT operations, improve service delivery, and maximize efficiency across all levels.
