Caerphilly County Borough Council has used mobile
technology to increase the proportion of repairs to roads and paths
that it completes within central government targets from 70% to
95%.
The improvements have reduced the chances of members of the
public having an accident, leading to a £500,000 fall in the money
the Welsh council pays out each year in claims to people injured by
potholes and loose paving slabs. In addition, more efficient
working practices are saving the council an estimated £120,000 a
year.
"The system enables approximately 375 repairs each month that
previously exceeded the target completion date to be completed well
within target. This has reduced the average number of days it takes
to repair defects from 28 to 18, resulting in a £500,000 reduction
in claim costs," the council said.
The IT department used systems integrator APD Communications to
adapt the council's highways management system to run on Tablet
PCs, which are used to direct repair staff to the most urgent
jobs.
Project managers, who used the Prince 2 methodology, defined the
project's requirements through conversations with senior managers
and the people fixing the roads.
The council equipped vehicles with Global Positioning System
devices to guide the people doing the repairs to each new job. The
council's contact centre also uses the system to ensure that
repairs are tackled in the most efficient order.
Council chief engineer Mark Rees-Williams said, "We are already
seeing a return on our investment and expect payback within 12
months. The field teams effectively have access to a whole array of
applications that were previously only available from a central
office-based location.
"Based on savings of 31 hours a day over 10 teams, the council
estimates that mobile working will save it £120,000 a year."
Every month, the council finds about 1,500 new problems with the
local roads and paths. By automating the practice of sending people
to carry out repairs, the council has complied with the auditing
requirements of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Highways maintenance at Caerphilly
Challenges of
setting up mobile access to applications
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