The Office of Rulemaking’s Automated Exemption System (AES)
tracks and stores the status of exemptions to FAA regulations.
AES’ presence on the World Wide Web opens the information up
to petitioners who can use the system to track their own
exemptions. The AES web application contains all information
associated with an exemption, including documents, revisions,
relevant dates, and much more.
This document will cover all aspects of AES. It will
describe in detail what each component is, how to use it, and how it fits into
the system.
The AES application screen has three primary areas: the
command buttons on the left side, the navigation tabs on
the top, and the main application screen.
Figure 1.0 - AES Opening Screen
The buttons on the left side reflect what functions are
available in the main application screen; for example, when the
Search page is loaded into the main application
screen, the available buttons are Search and Clear Form,
both of which apply directly to the Search screen.
Different screens, however, would not have these buttons.
The same concept is true for the tabs. There is a tab for
each application screen, however, tabs are available only
if there is information there. For example, when the
application is first opened, the only available tabs are
Search, Lookup, and Contact. After you enter search criteria
and run a search, an Exemptions tab is available.
Figure 1.2 – Sample Application Tabs
The logic behind the tabs is that because the application
has so many states, you may wish to move backward, forward,
and back again, all the while preserving the original search
criteria. The tabs allow you to move through the application
without having to re-enter data or run the same search over
and over again.
Figure 1.3 – AES Search Screen
AES allows end users to quickly and easily find a set of
specific exemptions with a simple search. The search page
provides the most common attributes of an exemption –
petitioner, equipment, regulation, and others – as
searchable fields. A user can enter as much information
as desired, narrowing the results to a single exemption
that fits specific criteria, or a collection of exemptions
sharing one or more common attributes.
This section will cover:
- Each of the searchable fields in detail, with a description of what purpose the field serves, sample values illustrating what type of information the field requires, and any specific information pertaining to that particular field
- Documentation for how to use the lookup page, which, while a separate part of AES, is used solely for helping you to manage and find specific search criteria
- Ordering search result sets
The searchable fields are generally self-explanatory,
although some have additional functions that are worth
mentioning. This section describes them in detail.
The
Petitioner field allows you to search for exemptions
based on full or partial text of a petitioner’s name.
If you are unsure about a certain petitioner’s name,
click the ellipsis (…) button to the right of the field
to conduct a petitioner lookup. For specific details on
how to use the
Lookup page, see
3.2.
Figure 1.4 - Petitioner Field
The Petitioner field expects text as its input, you only
have to enter a few letters from the desired petitioner’s
name or title. For example, boe, boeing, and boeing co
would all return every exemption submitted by Boeing.
Boe, however, in addition to returning Boeing, would also
return any petitioners whose last names were Boeheim, as
boe is part of Boeheim.
Again, the petitioner field is supported by the Lookup page.
If you are unsure of a petitioner’s name, or wish to be
absolutely specific, run a petitioner lookup before
proceeding with a search. For more information on the
Lookup page, see 3.2.
The
Office field allows you to search for exemptions
based on full or partial text of an OPI Office’s title.
If you are unsure about a certain office’s title, click
the ellipsis (…) button to the right of the field to
conduct an office lookup. For specific details on how
to use the
Lookup page, see
3.2.
Figure 1.5 – Office Field
The office field expects text as its input, so you only
have to enter a few letters from the desired OPI office’s
title. For example, AFS, AFS-1, and AFS-100 would all
return every exemption handled by AFS-100. AFS, however,
in addition to returning AFS-100, would also return
AFS-40, AFS-47, and AFS-300, as AFS is part of all those
office titles.
The office field is supported by the lookup page. If you
are unsure of an office’s title, or wish to be absolutely
specific, run an office lookup before proceeding with a
search. For more information on the Lookup page, see 3.2.
The
Equipment field allows you to search for exemptions
based on full or partial text of the equipment associated
with an exemption. If you are unsure about a certain piece
of equipment’s description, click the ellipsis (…) button to
the right of the field to conduct an equipment search.
For specific details on how to use the
Lookup page, see
3.2.
Figure 1.6 – Equipment Field
The equipment field expects text as its input, so you
only have to enter a few letters from the desired piece
of equipment’s description. For example, A-300,
A-300-600, and A-300-600R would return every exemption
that had A-300-600R as an associated piece of equipment.
A-300, however, in addition to returning exemptions that
had A-300-600B as an associated piece of equipment, would
also return exemptions that had A-300, A-300-600, and
A-300-B as equipment, as A-300 is part of all those
equipment descriptions.
The equipment field is supported by the lookup page.
Is you are unsure of a piece of equipment’s description,
or wish to be absolutely specific, run an equipment
lookup before proceeding with a search. For more
information on the Lookup page, see 3.2.
The
Expiration Date fields allow you to search for
exemptions based on when they expire. This pair of
fields takes a start date and an end date, and returns
all exemptions that expire between the two, up to and
including the dates entered.
Figure 1.7 – Expiration Date Field
By default, exemptions that never expire are not included
in search results. To include exemptions that never
expire, click on the Change From pulldown next to the
Expiration Date fields, and change the value from Exclude
Never Expire to Include Never Expire. You can also return
only exemptions that never expire, by changing the value
of this pulldown to Never Expire Only.
You must enter dates in a MM/DD/YYYY format. For
example, 1/1/2000, 12/31/2001, and 06/07/1999 are all
valid. 1/1/00 is not valid.
You do not have to enter both dates. If you enter only
one date, the system will search for exemptions that
expire before or after the entered date, depending on
whether it was the starting or ending date, respectively.
For example, if you enter 1/1/2000 into the starting date
field, and nothing in the ending date field, then the
system will search for exemptions that expire after
1/1/2000. Conversely, if you enter 12/31/2000 into the
ending date field, and nothing in the starting date, then
the system will search for exemptions that expired before
12/31/2000.
The
Issue Date fields allow you to search for exemptions
based on the date that the exemption is issued. This pair
of fields takes a start date and an end date, and returns
all exemptions that were issued between the two, up to and
including the dates entered.
Figure 1.8 – Issue Date Field
You must enter dates in a MM/DD/YYYY format. For example,
1/1/2000, 12/31/2001, and 06/07/1999 are all valid. 1/1/00
is not valid.
You do not have to enter both dates. If you enter only
one date, the system will search for exemptions that were
issued before or after the entered date, depending on
whether it was the starting or ending date, respectively.
For example, if you enter 1/1/2000 into the starting date
field, and nothing in the ending date field, then the
system will search for exemptions that were issued after
1/1/2000. Conversely, if you enter 12/31/2000 into the
ending date field, and nothing in the starting date, then
the system will search for exemptions that were issued
before 12/31/2000.
The
Disposition field allows you to search for exemptions
based on their disposition. Because the list of dispositions
is relatively short, and infrequently altered, the different
dispositions are available from a dropdown box.
Figure 1.9 – Disposition Field
In order to conduct a search based on disposition, you
just have to select the desired disposition from the
dropdown menu, and click Search. This will return all
exemptions that have the specified disposition.
The
Exemption/Docket number field allows you to search
for exemptions based on full or partial text of an
exemption or docket number.
Figure 2.0 – Exemption/Docket Field
First, you must select which you want to search on:
exemption or docket number. Then, you can enter full
or partial text of the desired number, and the system
will return all matching exemptions.
The exemption/docket number field is text, and has no
associated lookup functionality.
The
Regulation field allows you to search for
exemptions based on the associated FAA regulation(s).
Figure 2.1 - Regulation field
Regulations are stored in the same format they are entered.
For example, this particular regulation was entered with a
space between 103.9 and (A)(1).
Because the AES search is designed to accept any combination
of input fields as parameters, the results will be as
specific or as general as the user prefers. Once a user
has entered criteria into the desired search fields,
clicking the Search button at the bottom of the page will
retrieve all matching exemptions.
Figure 2.2 – AES Lookup Page
Because the AES database contains specific information, you
can use the lookup page to find a specific value for certain
fields from a wide range of similar values.
This search-within-a-search allows you to easily return search
results when you know exactly what you are searching for.
For example, say a user is searching for exemptions that
were petitioned by Boeing. AES has literally hundreds of
exemptions petitioned by Boeing, and this user has a
specific employee or department of Boeing in mind. The
user could use the lookup page to run a search on all
Boeing petitioners contained within the AES database, then
pick the desired value from the result set, and use that
as search criteria.
Three searchable fields have the lookup function: Equipment,
Office, and Petitioner. You can look up values for any
of these fields by clicking the ellipsis (…) button
immediately to the right of the desired field. Clicking
this button will bring you to the Lookup page, with the
clicked field selected in the Type dropdown.
Figure 2.3 – Choose Type Dropdown
Alternately, click on the Lookup page tab, select the
desired field from the dropdown, and continue.
>
Once you have selected a field (office, equipment, or
petitioner), enter at least three letters of the associated
field’s description, title, or name. For example, conduct
a lookup of Equipment, and enter a-3 into the search field.
This would return A-300, A-300-600, A-300-600B, and all
other equipment that had the letters a-3 in the title.
Figure 2.4 – Search Criteria Field
A list of all the options meeting you’re a-3 criteria will
appear at the bottom of the page, along with convenient
scrolling controls that allow you to page through the
results. When you find the desired value, click on it;
the program will reload the search page, and the system
will automatically load the selected value into the Lookup
field.
Figure 2.5 – AES Lookup Results
For example, if you conduct an equipment lookup, enter a-3
as the search criteria, and select A-300 from the result set,
then the program will load the search page with A-300 in the
equipment field.
You can order the search result sets by the following fields:
Exemption Number,
Expiration Date,
Issue Date,
OPI Office,
Disposition,
Petitioner, or
Regulation. The default is
exemption number, although to change this, select a new field
from the
Order By dropdown box on the search page, and run the
search again. The results will be ordered by the selected
field.
Figure 2.6 – Order By field
Once you run a search, a set of exemptions matching your
criteria will be returned and displayed on the
Exemptions
page. Depending on what information you are looking for,
there are a variety of different options from this point,
in terms of what else can be done, what is displayed, and
what you needs to do.
This section will cover:
- The functions associated with a set of exemption search results.
- The Exemptions page, the Revisions page, the Detail page, and the View Document page.
- The value they add for the user.
Figure 2.7 – AES Exemptions Screen
The Exemptions page displays, ten at a time, the exemptions
that match the your search criteria. If you are seeking an
exemption that is not immediately available on screen, use
the page scrolling control at the bottom of the screen to
move to a different page of results.
Alternately, you can possibly save time by specifying a sorting
order for the results set. For more information on how to
sort result sets, please read 3.3
Once you have found the exemption you are looking for,
click on it, and the available command buttons will be
activated on the left of the page.
Figure 2.8 – Selecting an Exemption
It is important to note that the search separately lists
every revision of every exemption in the system.
The command buttons that are available for exemptions are
Detail, View Document, and Printer Friendly. Each of these
commands brings the user to a new page in the application,
and each of these pages is described in detail below.
The
Detail page displays all of the immediate information
the system contains for a specific exemption. This includes
the
exemption number, the
docket, the
subject,
disposition,
region, and
pertinent dates.
Figure 2.9 – AES Detail Screen
The only piece of information associated with an exemption
that is not available on this page is the text document
associated with a particular exemption. To see the document
associated with the current exemption, click the View Document
button at the bottom of the page.
The
View Document page displays the text document associated
with a particular exemption. This particular screen is optimized
for screen viewing, however, if you require a hard copy of
the document, click the
Printer Friendly button at the top
or bottom of the
View Document page and the system will
open the document in a new window.
The view page also allows you to download and save a copy
of a document onto their computer. Clicking the Download
button will open a standard browser File Download window.
The file will be saved as text, and can be opened with
Notepad, Microsoft Word, or any document editing software.
Figure 3.0 – AES View Document Screen
All pages within the AES application, with the exception of
the
Search page, have a
Printer Friendly button on them.
This button opens the current screen into a new window,
optimized for printing hard copies of the various result sets,
exemption details, or documents.
Some pages have a 500 count limit to the number of records
that can be printed. This does not apply to the printer
friendly pages for Exemption Detail and View Document.
Figure 3.1 – A sample printer-friendly page
The
Contact page gives you the ability to send suggestions,
ideas, or general feedback to an email address monitored by
the FAA Help Desk.
