Ideagen teams up with Connect Plus for M25 process and safety management project

May 30, 18

Ideagen’s Coruson software becomes the system that underpins safety and quality reporting processes behind the motorway works and operations

Connect Plus, one of the major firms involved in the 30-year project to renew, improve, and maintain the M25, has teamed up with UK software firm Ideagen.

Ideagen’s Coruson software will be implemented by Connect Plus to enhance processes relating to safety, quality and environmental management.

Connect Plus is in the middle of a long-term upgrade and maintenance project to enhance the M25 motorway route. They are involved in supervising contractors as well as providing maintenance work and small improvement schemes.

Coruson will become its health, safety, sustainability, environment and quality management system, with around 650 users reporting into the system.

Phillip Ross, Head of HSEQ at Connect Plus, said: “Originally the Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) project was set up to widen the M25 motorway. That DBFO still exists but the widening work has all been completed and we have now entered into a 25 year-phase of maintaining and improving the motorway and surrounding areas.

“It became very clear to us a few years ago that, in order to truly modernise processes for reporting and other areas, we had to implement a software solution that would allow us to be masters of our own destiny so to speak.

“We have seven operational depots around the M25, so you can imagine the amount of paperwork that is generated for things like permits to dig for example. We have between 30 and 50 permits a month just for digging holes to replace fences and so, an online, electronic system will remove that and the time and effort associated with managing it.”

The M25 upgrade project was launched in 2009 and involves around 400km of carriageway. The project has already led to the motorway being widened from three lanes to four and has also included the introduction of a ‘smart motorway’ project to ease congestion and enhance the experience for drivers. The project has now entered a 25-year phase of maintenance and improvement schemes which Connect Plus is managing.

Phill added: “This whole contract is built around processes. That can range from a process for repairing a pothole in the road or a process for completing an actual payment so the attractiveness of Coruson being a process-based system was very appealing for us.

“Primarily this is a Health, Safety, Sustainability, Environment and Quality project and Coruson will be the system that underpins all of that. Accidents and investigations will be our primary target, including hazard spotting and incident close out. This project will be about modernising these processes and using an electronic, modern system to access, manage and maintain them going forward.”

Phill continued: “The area that excites me the most about this project is around providing a central and easily accessible area for our documentation – and there are thousands of records in this system. We have 1500 process maps and Coruson will bring those documents to life, ensuring that they are read and acknowledged and also that appropriate staff are aware of their existence and become familiar with them. It all comes down to competency and history of knowledge. These processes will become a form in an electronic world and removes the need for hundreds of email exchanges by bringing everything under one system – increasing efficiency.”

Connect Plus is a consortium including Balfour Beatty, Egis Road Operation UK and Edge Orbital Holdings Ltd, providing highways asset care from finance, through to design, build and maintenance as well as day-to-day operation.

Ideagen provides quality, safety, audit, performance and risk management software and expertise and has operations in the UK, the European Union, the United States, Middle East and Southeast Asia. The company helps the world's leading brands to improve operational efficiency, strengthen compliance and oversight and anticipate and manage every detail of risk. It currently has over 3,000 clients globally, including support from a global network of partners.

Its Coruson software is used by some of the most prominent organisations globally including Ryanair, British Airways and Telefonica.

Phill added: "This project is all about longevity. We are looking at the potential of a 22-year relationship between ourselves and both Ideagen and Coruson."