South East Water Tackle the Traffic Management Act (TMA)
Tuesday June 26th 2007
Filed Under Exor Corporation
South East Water one of the UK’s leading water suppliers saw the Traffic Management Act (TMA), and its new codes of conduct, having a significant impact on its business processes. As an organisation covering Kent, Hampshire, Berkshire, Sussex and Surrey – a geographical area in excess of 3,000 square kilometers - it needed to up-grade its IT systems noticing capability, and fast.
The water company, in common with all utilities, faced a potential increase in costs due to the challenges in delivering accurate noticing. South East Water had developed an in-house system based on the property address, not the National Street Gazetteer (NSG), which meant inaccuracies existed on the physical location of the work – due largely to the rural location of the geography covered. This resulted in incorrect notices being sent to the Local Authority.
The increased demands in TMA legislation meant that without change significant costs could be incurred. Consequently a new way had to be found to minimise the significant risk and potential cost to South East Water. With these increasing demands from legislation, as well as the business community i.e. the Highways Agency and Local Authorities, South East Water sought an IT supplier that would help them comply with these increasing demands.
South East Water reviewed the open market for a COTS (Commercial of The Shelf) system, Martin Giel Applications Manager, of South East Water commented, “under the TMA it became evident our existing system simply no longer did the job we needed. The cost of developing it in line with changing legislation was just not commercially viable any more. That said we also wanted a system to integrate our GIS with our noticing systems, along with the NSG so the preferred supplier had to fit with these strategic plans to future proof our technology choice and meet our strategic requirements.
“We liaised with the local authorities in our region to establish and agree best practice principles to move forward. We negotiated a six month window of opportunity with our Local Authority’s to initiate a new software system that would deliver against our stringent criteria. We evaluated the market and Exor was the clear winner.”
One key aspect to the appointment was Exor’s commitment to Oracle’s open Spatial technology that fitted South East Water’s long term GIS connect strategy. Giel added; “with this solution we have the ability to look beyond the limitations of our internal system and build on our GIS and Asset Management strategy. In my opinion Exor were way ahead in their GIS technology strategy and far more advanced in comparison with other suppliers.”
Exor and South East Water went through a rigorous trial and proof of concept period with Hampshire County Council to ensure integration would not only solve immediate issues of noticing, but also take into consideration a long term approach in improving South East Water’s business processes.
South East Water had a fixed time frame in which to place the order and go live. Exor’s services and project management teams were onsite shortly after the order was placed in November and went live on time and on budget.
-ends-About Exor:
Exor Corporation was founded in 1995 and is the global leader in infrastructure asset management solutions for Government and 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).Photography available on request Alun HuntMarketing & Communications Exor Corporation Ltd, Clifton Heights, Clifton, Bristol, UK, BS8 1EJ Telephone +44 (0)117 900 6200 Mobile/Cell +44 (0)7887 594 354 Fax +44 (0)117 900 6222 Exor Leading the way in Infrastructure Asset Management Solutions… www.exorcorp.com