Believe me, if EFPS works and is 'user friendly', then I'm all for it.
Many Heathrow ATCOs are worried because of the problems we've had here with the introduction of new kit in the last few years. It really doesn't give one confidence. Additionally, Stansted and Gatwick can keep putting off the introduction of EFPS until it's a decent system, but we're working to a deadline with the new tower. We've been told that Gatwick have 'dropped out', and that we'll be next after Stansted.
Our new ATM, as delivered, was very, very poor. Our previous, ancient ATM didn't have problems converting callsigns. Our previous, ancient ATM didn't allow aircraft AND their trail dots to drop off the screen for several seconds at a time. The same was true with the VCCS as delivered. It was laughable.
I don't have a problem with EFPS as a concept. I have reservations about it's implementation at Heathrow. The past record isn't good. We must have six or seven different types of LCD screen in the tower, and each has it's own button/menu/submenu/select process to decrease the brightness and contrast for night time. There's such a big variation that it's impossible to know which buttons to press in which order to get the desired result. Thus you end up with your 'head down' looking at the screen and those fiddly buttons along the bottom for literally a minute or so getting the screens changed. And if you don't get it done while there's still ambient light, then there's no chance of figuring out which buttons to press in the dark. Is it just me, or is it unreasonable to expect someone to have enough common sense to manage to buy the screens from the same manufacturer and range so the menus and buttons were all in the same place?
Cossack, we need to be anal about it because if Ops don't get a sheet with all the faults on it they don't believe us! In fact after a year or so we stopped reporting RIMCAS faults, nobody bothered to do so because everyone knew they kept ocurring. Someone in Ops was surprised recently when someone mentioned the RIMCAS faults still happening; they assumed the problem had gone away!