A joint venture between Morrison Utility Services and Skanska began 8 years ago and as the contracts nears completion, Develop caught up with Joanne Green, Training and Competence Manager at tRIIO to talk about the distance travelled and how working together to continue to improve the way training and competence is managed, led to perfecting an award winning booking system.
tRIIO works in partnership with Cadent to maintain and improve the supply of gas to millions of people living and working in North London and East of England, specialising in the delivery in the design and contracting services for the UK’s gas distribution network – replacing old mains, laying new ones, installing new connections to houses and commercial premises and helping with emergency response services.
What were the challenges?
The project was huge; on a scale like nothing before it, and when tRIIO and Develop Training agreed a five-year contract in early 2016 for the delivery of a programme of over 200 compliance, health and safety, and bespoke training courses to around 4,500 front-line operatives – it was always going to be a challenge for both businesses – but one they were both certainly ready for.
Develop had provided training to tRIIO in the past, prior to 2016, however, tRIIO’s training department scheduled courses, and delegates on those courses, using their own in-house system. This work was then necessarily duplicated on Develop’s systems, a process that was both time-consuming and inefficient for both companies. Such a process also left little time for tRIIO to manage the wider training and development needs, in conjunction with Develop, of nearly 2,500 staff.
What were the solutions and benefits?
Develop and Joanne worked together to build on the BookIT system and streamline the course booking process and provide easy access to data on gap analysis for sub contractors and to ensure ongoing contract compliance, with a suite of reports sent automatically to all managers/sub contractors with a gap action report. This new system was created, driven by Joanne, striving to want to improve what was on offer from off the shelf solutions. It is this vision that led to Joanne and her team working tirelessly with Develop to ensure the system was seamlessly and securely integrated between tRIIO’s and Develop. This instantly removed any duplication of effort and provided straightforward access to training records and data.
tRIIO has also been able to delegate much of the day-to-day responsibility for training to line managers in the field. Managers can now access BookIT directly. They can compare course availability with the identified training needs of operatives and make bookings directly onto appropriate courses. In the event that specific courses are unavailable line managers can now instantly request additional training via the portal. These requests are passed directly to tRIIO’s.
Learning & Development teams are able to review them quickly and efficiently, authorising or declining training as appropriate in line with legislative and corporate requirements and available budgets.
Data relating to course attendances and outcomes can now be easily accessed and, where necessary, management action taken quickly and effectively. The portal also provides a clear view of the compliance levels of operatives and a time-line for their reassessment or further training.
Comments on the project
Jo, said: “Using BookIT has had a massive impact on the efficiency and delivery of our technical training services. In particular, the user friendly web-based platform provides our users with a quick and easy method of identifying training requirements and booking courses. This has resulted in us streamlining the overall process, through which we booked almost 2,000 training dates on within the first three months of using the system a huge achievement in a short space of time. An integral part of BookIt was the creation of the PDR portal, this revolutionised the way personal development was managed within the business, taking it from a time consuming spreadsheet based system to a fully automated, paperless, efficient and intuitive system. Automated emails were triggered at various points in the process to ensure a holistic approach was maintained through the whole PDR journey; it proved to be extremely efficient and saved countless hours and without a doubt improved the whole management and impact of PDR’s”.
“We also worked with Develop on an online induction booking process, this added efficiency to tRIIO’s business through increased data accuracy, with the added benefit of supporting our drive to become a greener company by reducing the amount currently used in association with booking training.”
John Kerr, Managing Director, Develop Training, said: “I remember back in 2016 first discussing the project with Joanne and distinctly recall her enthusiam for the project, despite its scale she knew even then it had the ability to change the way training was managed, designed and delivered; and it most certinaly has. Joanne should be exceptionally proud of this project; 8 years is a long time in any sector, especially utilities and seeing this project through from concept to project completion is a huge acheivement. It’s also testament to the open and honest relationship we have had throughout and I am especially proud of the difference BookIT has made to tRIIO and the savings it has made as a consequence”.
The system – BookIT
Develop managed and delivered the training of 5,596 operatives working across 88 different subcontractors. BookIT was shortlisted for an award for innovation. The system enabled a self service booking facility for all sub contractors as well as real time data on gap analysis and contract compliance.
Develop has a dedicated team for key accounts such as tRIIO which gives a single point of contact for booking, planning and ongoing support making planning seamless. In addition, Develop now offers innovative training solutions both blended, virtual and classroom.
