Mobile data steps up a gear, enabling Traffic Management Act compliance
Written by Exor Corporation
Tuesday, 14 March 2006
03 March 2006 – Exor Corporation, APD Communications and Caerphilly County Borough Council (CBC) today announced the successful implementation of a mobile data solution for the maintenance of the Council’s highway network. The Authority will see efficiency savings of up to 25 percent through better competitive rates and workflow productivity, and also expects to benefit from a reduction in the Council’s liability claims of around half a million pounds.
The mobile solution is the most comprehensive of its kind in the whole of the United Kingdom and the first such technology deployment in Wales. The all-embracing mobile application will proactively target the risk management strategy at Caerphilly CBC and will continue a long term trend of reducing network defect repair times.
With Exor Corporation technologies in situ Caerphilly CBC has over the last five years’ already reduced network average repair times (and the claim opportunity time-frame) from 28 days to 18 - resulting in a half million pound claim reduction cost. The joint mobile partnership between Exor and APD Communication will further reduce this repair schedule to as little as 9 days and see a greater reduction to the claims figure. This time reduction will also be reflected in significantly better best value performance indicators (BVPI’s).
Mark Rees-Williams, Chief Engineer at Caerphilly CBC states: “Every authority is keen on setting ambitious and challenging targets and we’re really at the forefront of this by using innovative technology to improve repair times. With this mobile application I really do not think it is unreasonable to see our average repair time down to a single figure digit. Over the last five years we’ve seen this go down considerably, this is simply the next evolution in technology that will change the way authority’s work and will be welcomed and embraced.”
Over the course of a typical month Caerphilly CBC receives approximately 1500 standard safety notifications. The target date for completion has been 18 days which has on occasions presented a problem for overruns on repairs. The new mobile solution automatically flags attention to defects which may exceed the target date so resources are directed most appropriately to proactively meet the set target. The result is a highly significant drop in the average number of days to repair defects in turn further reducing the potential claims opportunity.
Previously there was an information time-lag of up to ten days between the office based management team and the field workers. Exor and APD’s mobile solution has removed this time lag and as a result the number of repairs completed, and on target, is confidently expected to increase form 70% to 95% in the process reducing the amount of paperwork and overhead costs will fall dramatically.
To deliver these savings Caerphilly CBC’s Highway maintenance vehicles are now fitted with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracking unit and tablet PCs that record all workflow patterns down to a five meter location point. Staff based at the council’s offices can select and allocate work according to location, priority and the skills of the individual team. Live information is sent to and from the mobile devices and the council offices via a GPRS network so teams do not have to return to the office to complete paperwork or pick up details of the next job.
Eugene Clarke, product manager, mobile information solutions, APD Communications adds, “APD’s Mobile Information Platform provides an ideal mobile interface to Exor’s highway management software. The result is a system that saves the council over £120,000 a year, enables it to improve its performance by 25% and greatly reduces the paperwork field workers have to complete. It provides true benefits for citizens, council management and all system users and is popular with all of them.”
“We’re delighted with the way the project has progressed.” comments Lawrence Darke, Exor Product Director. “This has been a real opportunity to demonstrate the flexibility of our software through creative applications and deployment. One of the major requirements of Caerphilly had was to move their network management system out into the field, and through this partnership with Caerphilly, APD and ourselves we’ve provided one of the UK’s most comprehensive mobile applications for road management providing a fully electronic medium of communication between field workers and the central management team.”
The mobile systems will assist in the County’s compliance with the UK’s Traffic Management Act (TMA) in meeting the audit, reporting and management requirements. It is the first time a mobile data system has been used to comply with the Act anywhere in the UK.
About the solution:
The Highways by Exor solutions in situ Caerphilly CBC has over the last five years’ already reduced network repair times (and the claim opportunity time-frame) from 22 days to 14 - resulting in a half million pounds claim reduction. The joint mobile partnership between Exor and APD Communication will further reduce this repair schedule to as little as 9 days and see a greater reduction to the claims figure. This time reduction will also be reflected in significantly better best value performance indicators (BVPI’s).The mobile solution is the most comprehensive of its kind in the whole of the United Kingdom and the first such technology deployment in Wales. The all-embracing mobile application will proactively target the risk management strategy at Caerphilly CBC and will continue a long term trend of reducing network defect repair times. The solution is based on APD’s INCA and Mobile Information Platform products, running over a Vodafone GPRS network and connecting to customised Itronix in-vehicle mobile data terminals.
About Exor Corporation:
Exor Corporation was founded in 1995 and is the global leader in infrastructure asset management solutions for network centric industries. Exor established its operating base in highways management and is rapidly expanding into other strategic markets including rail, water, power distribution and oil & gas. Based on world-class Oracle technology Exor provides clients with a modular approach to their individual technology needs. Exor Corporation operates worldwide in Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific and in September 2005 was included in the Software 500 list of the world’s foremost software and service providers. Exor systems manage 1,000,000 miles of roads with an asset value in excess of $750 billion (USD).
APD is a specialist provider of proven Mobile Information, Resource Location/Tracking and Control room solutions. We have over 20 years experience in delivering mission and business-critical incident/job despatch, fleet management and communications applications, fine-tuned for the specific needs of the Local Authorities, Public Safety, Building Maintenance, Cash-in-Transit and Contractors markets. Our customers include over 80% of the UK Police forces (Metropolitan Police, Merseyside Police, Sussex Police etc) and organisations such as Iceland Government, May Gurney, North Ayrshire Council, RCS, Securitas and Swedish Police.
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