With so many different companies supplying our road network, the way each team operates – shaped by years of managerial choices – is as varied as the cars on the roads
Innovation, compliance, and oversight
Priorities also differ. Some firms are developing new divisions while others are aiming to work with national bodies and pushing hard for accreditations like PAS 2080 or any number of ISOs.
When Traffic Management Installations (TMI) sought a digital solution, they were experiencing significant growth. Their new surfacing division needed to meet demanding client audit requirements, and for a time some sites were struggling to keep up. To address this, they decided on an end-to-end management solution for their entire workflow, encompassing job setup, asset management, safety forms, and reporting.
As they needed a flexible system that fitted their way of working, some decision makers might presume that only a bespoke system could really have done the job.
But Jamie O’Sullivan, TMI’s business development manager, found that while alternatives were trialled, Re-flow’s approach to field management – built on years of experience working with highways clients – fitted perfectly.
Re-flow is designed to be flexible. One particular feature allowed TMI to quickly address their on-site auditing needs, without the requirement for expensive bespoke development (though support was available if they needed it). Jamie O’Sullivan simply leveraged an intuitive but powerful tool within the software that had the potential to quickly adapt, improve, and streamline unique workflows and meet even the most complicated demands from clients.
An auditing revelation that led to improved standards
To counter the trend of sites failing audits, Jamie O’Sullivan leveraged Re-flow’s powerful custom form builder to create a clever custom audit form.
This form, based on the TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) Road Safety Audit, was highly automated. ‘It worked really well,’ O’Sullivan explained. The form is now used by TMI’s in-house audit team, and allows them to generate site ratings based on their compliance needs.
Automations take the data and instantly process multiple calculations and assign the results via an in-company marking system, tallying final scores for pre-approved items related to site quality, vehicles, operatives, PPE, and paperwork.
These precise datapoints were the key that unlocked a more robust management of sites. Now TMI had visibility of their teams and the standards these teams were maintaining – or not.
Naturally, this led to truly informed decision-making and the ability to address weak spots, improve standards, and ultimately end TMI’s audit worries. Developing the form on Re-flow was like using cones and barriers to set up a site – it was made possible by using the right tool for the job.
‘Every quarter the supervisor’s grade is tallied up and used as a KPI,’ Jamie said. These KPIs have allowed for justifiable pay rises or the enforcement of additional training where needed.
A higher level of organisation
TMI also implemented Re-flow to enhance various other organisational and reporting processes.
A single vehicle acquisition document dynamically adjusts fields, showing fuel levels and internal IDs during off-hire, and mileage and post-use condition changes during off-hire. Photos can be attached, with results stored in a database, fully accountable to individual users.
When it comes to streamlining, digitisation enabled TMI to combine multiple forms into single, comprehensive documents that cover entire processes, which can be passed back and forth between operatives and supervisors.
The results of these forms are also instantly logged, accountable to individual users, and accessible on an easily filtered dashboard, simplifying administration and making reporting and information retrieval effortless.
Elsewhere in the business, Abdul Hajji, TMI’s HR administrator, manages over 120 staff daily. Re-flow has provided him with geo-stamped timesheets and full visibility over completed method statements and risk assessments, enhancing management oversight. Holiday requests, daily worksheets, and task assignments are streamlined through the system, and automated alerts for expiring qualifications have eliminated any record-keeping worries.
Beyond visual enhancements like company branding on client reports, Re-flow allows TMI to categorise every aspect of their business through the software – operations, safety, and commercial matters – using a colour-coded system on the schedule, forms, and records.
This, combined with searchable and filterable records, significantly boosts efficiency in navigating information.
For highways companies, operating in diverse ways, TMI’s experience demonstrates how industry-tailored digital tools only truly excel when designed with flexibility in mind. It’s the only way to tackle the huge variety of needs that we see day in day out across the sector.
Discover more companies using Re-flow
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