Alma Rail Streamlines KPI Reporting Using Gather
21x
return on investment
60+
site records captured per month
100%
company-wide rollout
About the project
Having suffered from the inefficiencies of traditional reporting methods, rail track specialist Alma Rail switched to Gather, formerly known as Raildiary, to manage site records across its diverse project portfolio.
At Llandudno Junction, Gather facilitated reactive and preventative maintenance across three sites. Alma Rail also rolled out Gather for the Breedon CapEx 2021 and Arriva Train Care CapEx projects. The key objective was to gain real-time insights into site progress and streamline the process of reporting key performance indicators (KPI) with clients.
Highlights
Monitoring KPIs was the reason why Alma Rail chose Gather. This has enabled proactive decision-making and helped identify productivity issues faster.
Automated reporting was achieved through using Gather, significantly reducing resources needed for admin tasks to focus on more strategic ones.
Communication between site and office teams improved after adopting Gather through automated, easy sharing of site information.
With an estimated annual turnover of £7 million, rail track engineer and maintenance contractor Alma Rail has been searching for ways to improve the communication lag between office staff and clients.
In the past, Alma Rail relied on paper and Excel records to document site activities. This created a large amount of administrative work and took away valuable resources from more strategic tasks.
Another inefficiency of this time-intensive traditional record-keeping method was the lack of consistency and structure in its production data. Site diaries and allocation sheets were collected in different manners to various levels of detail. This made it difficult to analyse site data systematically. Tracking actual project progress against KPIs was next to impossible.
Adopting best practices
Switching to Gather has given Alma Rail an industry-leading tool to record site activities in a consistent, streamlined manner. With a robust, accurate database of planned versus actual progress, Alma Rail was able to proactively monitor and measure KPIs in real time, whilst making collaborative decisions to drive project progress.
Leveraging Gather's dynamic analytics and reporting tools, Alma Rail gained key insights surrounding access issues, worker efficiency and productivity. The contractor was able to identify and address issues impacting project progress with real-time intelligence on site activities.
"Gather has been a game-changer for us. It allows us to record shift details and track inspection output in real time. It's a massive time saver for us. It keeps our clients happy. Using Gather's automated KPI reporting, we have streamlined our processes, improved communication, and accelerated project progress. The powerful data-led insights and real-time visibility have transformed the way we work."
Richard Walker, Managing Director of Alma Rail
A modern way of teamwork
Along with switching from clipboards and pens to Gather, Alma Rail also upgraded their on-site record-keeping method from paper to iPads. This has transformed the project reporting process at Alma Rail, reducing manual admin tasks and providing a clearer picture of on-site events.
With site information updated automatically as the field users submit the day's work on their Gather app, Alma Rail has found a scalable solution to automated reporting. This has led to more consistent reporting aligned with standard measurement methods, improved benchmarking for team and project performance, and more accurate reporting of Cost Value Reconciliation (CVR) through direct integration with shift record data captured on site.
Gather also brought together Alma Rail's entire team, regardless of location or role. Internal stakeholders were equipped with powerful, accurate, consistent insights into all projects they were involved in. By bringing all the site information into one centralised platform, teams could stay on the same page and make decisions together more quickly and effectively.
Furthermore, Gather gave instant access to detailed reports, reducing the need for shuffling papers and piecing together unstructured, broken spreadsheets. By replacing manual data processing with automated progress tracking, Alma Rail transitioned to a modern, efficient way of collaborating with minimum back-and-forth manual work and communications.
Improve communications with clients
Alma Rail recognised that there were communication gaps with clients. This was due to the hitherto reliance on paper site diaries and spreadsheet records, which entailed double work, consumed valuable staff time, and impeded project efficiency.
Gather gave real-time visibility on site progress with consistent, quality digital site records, details on close calls, and geotagged media. Alma Rail's project team gained the clarity needed to make informed decisions promptly and mitigate delays.
By significantly reducing manual data collection and analysis, Alma Rail was able to proactively monitor key productivity metrics, identify trends, and turn risks into opportunities. This in turn improved Alma Rail's communication with clients, because they could update clients with real-time progress and notify them of any variances, as well as the reasons behind these delays.
For instance, Alma Rail could proactively inform clients of any variances between planned and actual works completed by sending a detailed, professionally presented progress summary report automatically generated using Gather. This transparency was key to building better relationships with clients based on trust.
In conclusion, the company-wide rollout of Gather has successfully resulted in improvements in tracking, managing and reporting KPIs both within the team and with clients. The site and office teams saw the amount of their paperwork alleviated and replaced with more modern, efficient ways of record-keeping.