Morrison Water Services has been a valued triopsis client for several years, using the powerful workforce management solution on its Severn Trent Water contract. Having previously relied on spreadsheets, paper forms and phone calls – a drain on time and prone to error – their adoption of triopsis significantly boosted operational efficiency and improved business intelligence too.

When it came to managing their traffic management subcontractors, however, spreadsheets were still the order of the day. According to Rob Page, Performance and Planning Manager at Morrison Water Services, this left the firm hoping, rather than knowing, that a job was proceeding properly. He explains:

“Jobs would come in from our client and we’d pass them to our traffic management subcontractors. They’d then deliver them, but we’d have no visibility or understanding of whether the jobs were on site, set up, on route, maintained or off site until they told us by email the following day.”

The obvious next step for Morrison Water Services was to speak to triopsis, Rob admits: 

“We didn’t look at alternative options, but that’s because our previous experience with triopsis had been so good.”

The result was the development of a specific triopsis product called Subcontractor Management for Traffic Management – a solution designed to benefit both utility companies and traffic management subcontractors.

In common with all triopsis solutions, the product’s development involved working closely with Morrison Water Services to make sure it delivered what they needed. Rob says:

“That was one of the reasons we signed up with triopsis. We knew it was always going to be a collaborative approach.”

Rob Page backs up Andy’s observation, confirming that the new triopsis solution has transformed the billing process, he says:

“triopsis has made it really easy, the visibility and evidence are there, and that’s all we need to be able to pay our subcontractor. And it’s the same with our client – all we want to do is get paid for the work we do. With triopsis, we can demonstrate that to our client, then we can get paid and also pay the supply chain.”

A key feature of all triopsis solutions is that they never stand still. Rob confirms:

“That’s how we’ve always worked with triopsis, it’s always been a developing product and that’s what we bought into.”

For Andy Hutt, the visibility over billing is a key feature, but he’s also keen to emphasise that the product’s functionality can expand with the client’s needs.

“If clients want to use more of our functionality, they can overlay things like scheduling and enhanced business intelligence. So you’re not just getting day-to-day visibility of the site, you get intelligence that tells you, for instance, how one traffic management company’s performance compares to another. This is a product for any organisation that uses traffic management, including local authorities, highway authorities, utility companies and tier one contractors.”