Process
Infrastructure Services
Users
Mobile Maintenance Crews
Hardware
Gotive: Rugged Hand Held
Software
BBIS REDCap (in-house)
Location
Nationwide (UK)
Business Problem Clear accountability to the public on road safety is not possible without visible assurances that all highway maintenance and incident response operations are receiving the correct levels of service. Most managing agents report on their activities in an inconsistent variety of formats, leaving clients overloaded with disparate datasets. Business Solution With the management and reporting capability of HiMaSSS and REDCap, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services can carry out its incident response (ISU), routine maintenance and gullycleansing activities more effectively – and substantiate it with promptly-delivered, comprehensive job data for the client.
Select Insert | Picture and browse for picture. To resize,
Background / Process Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services (BBIS) is a leading provider of highway maintenance and management services in the UK. Deploying services such as gully cleansing, road gritting and emergency response requires an instantaneous knowledge of the fleet’s whereabouts at all times, for which analogue radio systems are often slow and unreliable. In addition, as part of BBIS’s commitment to improve safety and increase client satisfaction, there was a requirement for developing an Automatic Vehicle Location System and provide a more cost / time efficient paper trail. These situations triggered the development of bespoke software, such as HiMaSSS and REDCap.
Solution - HiMaSSS and REDCap HiMaSSS (Highway Maintenance Satellite Support System) is a sophisticated fleet management system founded on vehicle-based global positioning system (GPS) technology, enabling BBIS to pinpoint the entire fleet to within 3 metres. On its own, HiMaSSS is a useful supervision tool, checking the activity and whereabouts of the fleet. In the hands of trained depot supervisors and augmented by other BBIS systems such as REDCap, it helps BBIS to provide a more responsive, informed service. With REDCap (‘Really Easy Data Capture’), operatives are guided through a client-tailored, query-led workflow using a Mobile Data Terminal (MDT). The REDCap software prompts the user for simple button press or drop-down menu item selections (Fig.1). The rugged MDT is fitted to the vehicle and, augmented with the HiMaSSS GPS technology, transmits time and location stamped job data back to a BBIS central data store. This provides a manageable, consistent and quickly accessible evidence trail of all BBIS operations that won’t turn into a paper chase.
Fig.1 Screen shot of the simple REDCap user interface BBIS can tailor the standard menus for any activity, including ISU, gully-cleansing and routine maintenance operations, by adding new questions and data-entry fields to suit the client’s requirements. To ensure that clients are always aware of work progress, REDCap offers near real-time reporting. Information such as site arrival and job completion can be delivered instantaneously to the client via a BBIS data centre, with the more in-depth job details automatically uploaded into the Works Order system ready for invoice, or processed into reports as required. The systems are designed to reduce paperwork, improve productivity and efficiency, and make information more accessible. They are bespoke and highly configurable, and can be operated successfully by workers with no ICT skills.
Benefits •
Greater accountability for customers
•
Increased efficiencies and administrative rationalisation
•
Intelligent data
•
Improvement in employee and asset safety
Case Study
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services